Annie Lang's Blog!

There's nothing quite like an Autumn day out with the girls because you just never know what you'll discover until you get there!  This year, downtown Howell, Mi was our destination and we took the scenic route to treat ourselves to all the vibrant colors of the season.  Our first stop of the day was  Black Iron Coffee Roasters and we were greeted with the aroma of freshly brewed artisan coffee to start the day right.  There were plenty of tables to choose from and the coffee was nothing short of amazing and served up with style in hearty mugs!  I happened to choose their maple cappuccino which I highly recommend for a chilly autumn morning.  You can also purchase their coffee and gifts from their online website .    Unlike cookie cutter chain stores, there's something special about boutiques because they invite store browsers, tend to easily engage in friendly conversation and their staff members seem more than happy to answer questions and make helpful recommendations. 

Now is the time to celebrate the Autumn harvest and to spice up the season with gingerbread smiles and peppermint stick delights!  Three new designer fabrics by Annie Lang have just been made available that will bring a warm and welcoming feel to your creative holiday projects. All the new prints were created with my hand rendered digital clipart so I've also included links to the art with samples to give you ideas as to how you can use these coordinating designs to make themed companion crafts and products for your DIY projects.   Welcome the Autumn Harvest with this wonderfully seasonal design with  sunflowers, pumpkins, plaid bows, corn and more in rustic Fall colors.  It's absolutely perfect for making potholders, napkins, basket liners, aprons, candle and jar wraps and so much more! It just wouldn't be the holiday season without sweet fabric gingerbread characters and peppermint sticks all jumbled together with whimsical smiles and holly!    If all our kitchens were

With the household budget so tight this year, I decided to use only the stored autumn decorating items I have on hand instead of purchasing anything new.  The planter used for this photo was simply 2 stacked paper mache pumpkins glued to a plain wooden box.  All it took to spruce it up for use this year were a few leaves snipped from a fall garland, a seasonal greeting card front and a little glue.  I may even add a strand of fairy lights later!  If you like the greeting card I chose to use, you can find it along with many others suitable for Autumn decorating from September through the Thanksgiving season.  I think I also might try this with a few silk poinsettias and small fake evergreens for my Christmas decorating, too!  

Autumn is now upon us as we pack up the pool toys, send the kids back to school, harvest our gardens and get ready to make our Fall homes happen!  Fall themed goods, pumpkin spiced food and drinks and Halloween costumes have been out on the store shelves for the last few months, but most of us prefer to simply make our own homespun season at our own pace.  I've just started my creative to-do list for upcoming home project planning and I thought I'd go ahead and share some seasonally themed publications and how-to draw videos all in one place to inspire your upcoming creative Autumn adventures. Enjoy the season and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE, Like or leave Comments on my YouTube Channel !   

  One of my favorite Autumn themes are harvest time Scarecrows and gatherings from the pumpkin patch.  Not only do scarecrows stand guard over our gardens, but they do a marvelous job of displaying a wide array of colorfully repurposed clothing!  Best of all, the theme carries through from the first days of autumn until the Thanksgiving harvest celebration concludes.   I decorate my home and outdoor living spaces with all the incredible colors and textures of the season, from leaves, acorns, woodsy animals, happy scarecrows, leaf wrapped lanterns, apples and pumpkins galore and bows of calico and plaids.  So fire up your imagination, gather up the harvest and let's simply Fall into Autumn smiles!   Need some fabrics for seasonal inspiration?  You'll find my fabric, wallpapers, home decor items and more in my Spoonflower Shop!  The above image features  Starecrows Scarecrows print, Brush Stroked in Ivory print,  Pumpkin Patch Scarecrows print, Naturally Brown Burlap print, 

Have a little creative fun by dying and decorating fake eggs for Easter this year!  I'm always on the lookout for new crafting surfaces so when I stumbled on these fake eggs that were pre-packaged in cartons at Walmart, I just had to take them home to play with.  Unlike shiny plastic pull apart eggs, these are actually solid lightweight plastic with a lightly textured realistic feel matte surface.  Unlike real eggs, you don't need to boil them or keep them refrigerated until Easter, they don't crack when you drop them and the price is right.  It so happened that my 4 year old granddaughter was visiting the day I tested this new product and thought it would be a fun crafting project for us to work on together.   Here are a few supply suggestions and tips if working with this kit.  Make sure the work area is covered with plastic.  Dye will wash out but you should have plenty of paper towels and baby wipes nearby.  Pitch the tiny little plastic bags that come with the kit and

While recently doing an internet search, I accidentally stumbled upon a Halloween project Crafts 'n Things published in their October 2001 magazine 20 years ago.  I was simply amazed at how many images of the completed clay pot projects were posted anonymously by crafting enthusiasts over the years, making this a timeless project that continues to make the Halloween season fun.   Though Crafts 'n Things magazine is now considered as a vintage craft magazine publication collectible, you can still find variations of many of the finished projects it has inspired being sold today through online EBay and Etsy stores, at craft fairs and bazaars as well as numerous Pinterest board pins.  There are also several sites offering a variety of back issues of the publication which can be purchased.  While I cannot provide the original patterns and instructions for the original project, I can provide basic project instructions so you can make your own.  You can use any size clay or plastic po

If you enjoyed my  Wishing Witch project, here's a few more ideas as to what you can make for Halloween with basic craft items you may already have on hand.  All the projects shown here were originally published in magazines nearly 20 years ago and the directions/patterns are no longer available but with the character project ideas are timeless.  Hope you enjoy...and don't forget to share this link! This Candy Holder was made with painted flower pots.  The cape can also be made with a black plastic table covering or black felt. This project is just as easy as can be...just sponge paint a canning jar and add the face with a black permanent marker if you don't want to hand paint the details. My Peek-A-Boo Pumpkin character pattern can be found in Annie Lang's Scarecrows in the Pumpkin Patch line art design book and you can download the pdf from my Annie Things Possible website!    These pumpkin characters were painted on gourds, but you can appl

It's that time of year again so grab the spices and let's make something as sweet as pumpkin pie today!  You can use the images in Annie's Pumpkin Spice Clipart collection from Creative Market to spice up your creative Autumn DIY projects.  

Anyone can paint up this fun DIY wood project to decorate any way you wish for any season of the year!  Here's the basic step-by-step project to get you inspired to welcome the Autumn Season.  So grab your craft supplies and get started...no pattern needed!  You can find the  10" x 20" Door with Panel Kit used for the sample project online from Cupboard Distributing (also comes in smaller sizes!)  Just click the images below to see full size how-to instructions. Please Enjoy and feel free to SHARE THIS PAGE LINK!

Let's have a little fun and get ready for Fall!  I painted up this whimsical little project on a quiet afternoon and can't wait to hang him up once the Autumn decorations come out after Labor Day!  Here's the FREE step-by-step project along with the character lineart ( right click the image and save ).  You can find the 4" x 6" Pumpkin Hollow Ornament I used for the sample project online at  Cupboard Distributing .  ENJOY AND FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS PAGE LINK!

It won't be long until the leaves begin to fall and the Autumn Pixies Characters come out to play!   The pumpkin harvest will soon be happening soon so it's time for a visit to Pumpkinville so you can get started on your Autumn themed DIY projects.  You'll find all Annie Lang clipart collections along with prints and fonts at the Creative Market Store because Annie Things Possible with a little imagination!  ENJOY!

The Christmas Holidays will be here soon so do you know where your House Mouses are!  Watch this NEW line art pattern book trailer to get a look at what you'll find in this publication.  Christmas Holiday House Mouses pattern book is now available in paperback and downloadable .pdf editions at Annie Lang's Book Store .  Ready to use clipart collections are also available for the book characters at Annie's Creative Market Store!

September is here so it's time to get your scarecrows on!  They're fun, they're silly and they're so easy to make.  Just grab your autumn colors, your brushes and your imagination and let's GO wherever the creative winds may blow us!  You'll find dozens of seasonal scarecrow characters and autumn pumpkins at Annie Lang's Book Store .  You can download the .pdf version of " Scarecrows in the Pumpkin Patch " right now or order the paperback edition from Amazon.   Want to draw your own characters?  See how Annie Lang creates her Scarecrows with a digital pen in Photoshop in this short YouTube video.  If you work with digital art, you'll enjoy mix and matching Annie's Scarecrows Character Clipart to make your own Autumn fun!  You can download these characters and more at Annie Lang's Creative Market Store. Hope I'll see y'all in the Pumpkin Patch!    

Home is where you hang your hat so here's how you can jazz up an old straw hat in no time at all with items you may already have on hand!  The pictured project was made with a straw beach hat I had tucked in a closet and had long forgotten.  The silk flowers were purchased off season at a local department store and I used a cardboard ring cut from a shipping box to attach them to the hat.  You can attach the flowers right onto the hat, but if you want to easily change them out with seasonal colors, you can simply remove the cardboard ring and use the same hat all year around.  Whether you hang it on the door, wall or garden fence you'll find this craft quick, easy and so very fun to make.  This is a project that's been around crafting circles for decades so it's absolutely timeless!  Enjoy... SUPPLIES:   You'll need a straw hat, silk flowers and leaves with stems removed, cardboard cut into a wide ring to glue flowers to (optional), glue gun, ribbon color of

Team Greeting Card Universe has just announced my " Baby Arriving in February Announcement" as their chosen card of the day and I'm simply thrilled.  This is one of twelve monthly baby cards so be sure to check them out!

Creating magical memories of the Christmas Season can be as simple as reading holiday stories together. I'm gearing up for this Holiday season's classroom reading of my children's book,  A Little Elf Upon a Shelf .  This year, I'll be wearing a "Believe in your Elf" t-shirt along with my elf ears.  All that's left to do is make 30 more sets of "listening ears" and 30 fun kid sized elf projects to top off this year's event!   'Tis the season for sharing a story along with a holiday smile.   You can download your own elf ears papercraft project for free right now.  Wishing you hours and hours of Happy Holiday Reading!

It's time to get your Jolly Jacks on with Annie Lang's fun pumpkin character clipart now available through the Creative Market Store!  They think they can fool us by masquerading trick or treaters, but we all know there's a Jolly Jack character hiding in all of us!

We're enjoying a few day of Indian Summer here in Michigan.  Yesterday seemed the perfect time to head on out to spend a little time in search of a few of our local autumn delights that will quickly disappear within the next few weeks.  The autumn colors are not as bright and vibrant this year due to the recent weather, but every now and then, Mother Nature provided us with a surprising display of reds, oranges and yellows scattered along some rural country roads.  We spotted a few pheasants along with a flock of wild turkeys crossing the road and watched several farmers hard at work harvesting their crops.  This year, my son wanted to visit the Holly,Michigan area which just happens to be the town where he grew up. We made a stop at the Mitchell farm which featured a surprising display of pumpkins, florals and autumn decor naturals for sale like indian corn, hay bales and cornstalks.  In years past, the Mitchell farm sold produce and goods from their barn, but they've s