Annie Lang's Blog!

 

 " I Found It So I'll Keep It! " is a fun children's story filled with vividly colored whimsical characters with easy to read text for young readers that will keep them engaged with each turn of the page.  Doug the Bug takes a walk and discovers a few lost treasures along the way.  He will eventually face a social and moral challenge as to whether or not he should return lost items to their owners or keep them for himself.  It's a simple life lesson in decision making that we all face from time to time presented in a way that demonstrates that the value of making the right decision can be a reward in and of itself.    This is a great read-it-together book that is sure to spark some very interesting home conversations with inquisitive youngsters.  You can find ordering and book detail page at my Book Store .  Feel free to share this post with your friends and family and I hope you'll ENJOY!

  When the weather heats up, it's time to get tropical!  Make anyplace your own Sunny Paradise with creative clipart, paper prints, handcrafted home and patio items,  Pineapple Passion Fashions, line art patterns and more.  It all starts with creatively fun art because Annie Things Possible with Sweet 'n Sassy pineapple characters and a little DIY imagination.      So let's get your Tropical Pineapple Party started!

Get ready to serve up your tea in style!  Choose from dozens of mix and match patterns from sweet and whimsical teapot sets to "design your own" teacups and teapots to fun wordart for tea room signage, you'll find everything you'll need to brew up some creatively magical tea time adventures.  Lots and Lots of Teapots available now in paperback and printable .pdf format editions at Annie Lang's Books! 

Whether you draw traditionally or digitally, now is the perfect time to get those bunnies hopping along the bunny trail!  If you need line art patterns to get you started, I've got some cuties for you in "Kitty Cats, Pups and Bunnies".  Available as a paperback edition you can use for tracing and transferring or in digital .pdf format. The digital format allows to to easily import pages directly to your Photoshop, open and save pages with your Adobe Reader to import and edit in other image editing programs.  If you import images, you can skip the step for digitally tracing as shown in the video.  The bunny character used in the video was used as a lineart pattern used for the book.  So jump right in and hop right into spring!  ENJOY...  

Download this free "Mr. Lucky " character line art pattern and make this your lucky day!  This design was originally hand painted as a calendar art project and it's a timeless image guaranteed to make you smile.  I transferred the design onto tracing paper, placed the tracing over a sheet of graphite paper and then transferred it onto a sheet of Acrylic Paper.  The entire design was colored using acrylic craft paints that were thinned with water to create this sample project.   Here's an expanded view of the paper used to paint this sample project.  I've use this acrylic paper for years with all types of mediums including watercolor brushes, markers, inks, gouache, tempera and tube acrylics.  This paper has a smooth linen weave finish and canvas-like texture that grabs the medium and holds the vibrancy of your colors.  It's a quality heavy weight paper that doesn't bleed through to the backing and best of all, doesn't curl when wet!  I seems a bit pr

Spring will be here soon so now is the perfect time to get ready for the return of our fine feathered friends!  I made my first gourd birdhouse in 2017 and it's time to replace it with a newer model.  I'm pleased it held up this long under the harsh winter and summer weather events we've experienced here in Michigan over the past few years and I expect it will be the same for this new gourd.  Unlike many of the wooden birdhouses I've had, the original gourd birdhouse has been continually occupied by a variety of nesting bird families for the last four years.  I can hardly wait for the snow to melt so I can hang my new one up amid the blossoming tree branches.  I wasn't able to locate a dried gourd locally, but was fortunate to find one to order online from Gourdaments  .  I hope you enjoy and happy birdwatching! UPDATE It only took a few days after hanging the new gourd birdhouse before a new family of birds began using it!  Within the next several weeks, the tree w

  Turn plain paper mache eggs into fun little owl characters to enjoy year round.  You most likely have most of the craft supplies you'll need on hand to complete this heartwarming DIY project yourself.  Here's how I made the sample project... Enjoy with a Smile!

Had enough of the ice and snow?  There's quite a few penguins who would agree with you!  Annie Lang sweatshirts, tee shirts, totes, pillows and more are now available in your choice of colors and styles exclusively through Amazon Fashions .  So go ahead and join the polar penguin club and make a fashion statement today.  You won't even need to bundle up before heading out to shop for your "Anywhere But Here Penguin" merchandise and Prime members get free shipping, too!

Here's an enchanting project that will fill the air with a music box tune!  I designed this paper mache music box as a fairy garden collectible with my granddaughters in mind and I can't wait for them to add it to their rapidly expanding fairy village.  The project requires only a few basic craft supplies along with a paper mache house and wind-up music box.  The paper mache house was easy to find locally, but you can also order it online from Factory Direct Craft or  Amazon .  However, I had quite a difficult time locating wind-up music boxes at a reasonable price and finally stumbled onto an online source with fast service, good prices and easy ordering at Glaser Ceramics  .  I ordered several and mix and matched the tunes in the event I want to paint another Enchanting Musical Cottage for the Holidays.  So grab your brushes and get ready to create your own magical cottage and fill your days with a happy tune.  Enjoy!   House photo from Factory Direct Craft   CLICK PHOTOS TO

I've never crafted my own snow globe so I thought I'd give it a try to see if it's as easy as my Pinterest research assured me it would be.   I did try using an "Instant Snow" recipe as suggested by one posted project and it was an absolute disaster!  I also learned through trial and error that using super glue to seal the jar lid works MUCH better than hot glue which tends to build up unevenly around the rim of the jar causing it to leak.  I already had most of the necessary supplies on hand and found a wide assortment of jars, smooth styrofoam balls and assorted plastic aquatics at the local Dollar Tree store.  After trying this globe project with great success, the grandkids and I are now ready to work on making "Enchanted Snow Fairy" globes using silver tinsel and a few of their figurines instead of aquatic themed trinkets.  This is most definitely a project the entire family will enjoy making any time of year.  Give it a try and enjoy!

Whether it's for a rainy day, group project, keepsake gift or just for yourself, give this project a try and you'll surely fill your heart with music! I haven't made music boxes in quite a few years so I recently decided to introduce the grandkids to this super fun DIY craft.  I had the paper mache heart boxes in my craft closet so all I needed were some wind-up music boxes.  I had a difficult time finding them locally at a reasonable price but I stumbled upon a super selection of boxes and tunes online at Glaser Ceramics .  Best of all, I could buy them in bulk at a great price so I mixed and matched seasonal tunes for holiday projects along with some of the girl's fun favorites. I was pleasantly surprised when the order arrived on my doorstep a few days later. Whether it's for a rainy day, group project, keepsake gift or just for yourself, give this project a try and you'll surely fill your heart with music! 

Looking for quick and easy crafting ideas that anyone can make?  Here are 8 fun ideas that will trigger your imagination and keep you smiling!  You can buy  wooden ladybugs that are already painted, but it's more creative to paint them up yourself with any color imaginable.  I purchased the 3/4" wooden ladybugs shown and the and mini woodlet sign and bug shape online from Woodpeckers Crafts and the wooden laser cut butterfly wings from Factory Direct Crafts .  Paints and other supplies used were items I already had on hand in my craft room.  So let's get started!   Glue some moss onto a wood slice round.  Set your votive in the middle and then glue  a  circle of ladybugs onto the moss around the votive base. For my wooden ladybug sample projects, I used true red and black as my base colors.  I also blended just a touch of yellow onto the center of the ladybug bodies to make them "glow" just a bit brighter before adding the dots and patterns to complete each