Inspiring Ideas with artist Jeanne Winters

Fashion Barbie Aqua Zebra Stripe 8 Year Old Girl Birthday Party! (part 2)

2013-05-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

The Fashion Party fun continues! The table is prepped for the first craft activity:

The girls got to create a work of art to take home! I painted a sample canvas using the dress art on the birthday party invitation as our model:

I cut out a dress form template so each girl could trace the dress outline onto their canvas as a starting point. I went around and sketched the hanger for those who wished.

Then each little artist designed their own fashion using acrylic paint, glitter glue paints and gel tube paints.

We offered buttons, mini silk flowers and ribbons to embellish their art masterpiece as they liked.

While the last artists finished their dress fashions, we sent the girls out to jump on the tramp. When all were done, I told them they could hunt for blue eggs hidden around the yard. They all contained little zebra striped candy mints and a couple had other prizes:

Meanwhile, we cleaned up the paints and readies the table for the next activity: bottle cap jewelry:

I had bought a kit so it was really easy. Just pass out the supplies and everyone could make at least two items of bracelet, necklace or earrings. We then moved on to the snacks and cupcakes. Next up was opening gifts, followed by Fashion Bingo!

I threw together these bingo pages the night before when we thought it might be too windy to swim, but was pleased with how they came out.

Mini-marshmallows were a fun marking item:

The prizes were "the latest" fashion accessories! :-) Assorted animal print hair bands.

To see the fashion party decorations, zebra-striped theme accessories, birthday cake and snack foods visit the first post Fashion Barbie Aqua Zebra Stripe 8 Year Old Girl Birthday Party!

Fashion Barbie Aqua Zebra Stripe 8 Year Old Girl Birthday Party!

2013-05-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

My daughter recently celebrated her 8th birthday – playing and creating with 8 sweet friends. She chose a festive aqua and zebra stripe color theme for her "Barbie Fashion" birthday party!

We gave her this dress form jewelry holder for an early gift / party decoration. She decorated it, the coffee table and mantel herself and was SO excited! We used aqua tulle, silver disco balls and turquoise and zebra stripe napkins liberally. A name banner made from large printed letters in aqua and zebra stripe and strung with shimmery aqua ribbon hung below the mantel display.

Here's the invitation on which I sketched a dress for our theme:

Personalized water bottles are a long-time staple at all our parties:

The turquoise frosted cake is accented with zebra striped sugar paper cut into a strip to wrap around the cake side. Elegant pearls create a simple embellished top.

Cupcakes with [again] store-bought zebra stripe sugar cake decorations:

Plates and napkins carry out the color scheme:

We took a break midway through our activities for treats:

Birthday girl chose her favorite fruits: strawberries, kiwi and Cuties [sweet mandarin oranges]; and favorite snacks: Chex snack mix, homemade Puppy Chow [chocolate peanut butter Crispix] and Cheetoh Puffs. And heart-shaped sandwiches:

Teal candy sticks were a parting "Thank You" favor for the 8 girls.

We played fashion themed games and the girls sure got their artsy craft on, too! I'll post those photos next time so this one doesn't get too long. [Note: the stores all have TONS of zebra stripe stuff right now!]

Welcoming Card for House Guests

2013-04-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Had to share the lovely card my daughter made for her grandparents on their recent visit:

set on the side table in the guestroom along with two treats sacrificed from her leftover Easter stash. :-) What a sweetie!

Easter Egg Paper Craft Tutorial for Kids!

2013-03-26T14:33:00.001-06:00

After school the kids had fun doing a messy Easter egg paper craft:

We used shaving cream to create custom marbled designs on paper Easter eggs.

First we cut out a bunch of egg shapes from card stock.

They each had a glass pie plate and a can of shaving cream in their station

After filling the plate with shaving cream, use toothpicks to swirl drops of food color around.

Press the paper egg flat into the cream, pressing down to remove air pockets.

Here's what it looks like after squishing the paper into the design:

Carefully peel up your egg keeping as much cream in the plate or bowl as possible. Here are some of our paper egg patterns drying:

Once they're dry, take a dry napkin or paper towel and wipe off any remaining shaving cream residue. Then you can turn your masterpieces into Easter cards, place setting accents or home decorations. We'll be stringing ours together on a pretty ribbon to decorate!

BUT ... while your pretty designs are drying ... fill another pie plate or glass bowl with clean shaving cream for the kids to dig in and play with!!

Celebrate Christ! Easter Decorating With Meaning

2013-03-11T10:00:00.000-06:00

Our living room mantel features our traditional candle representation of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross - the real reason we celebrate Easter. Only one without sin could pay the penalty for our sins, so the white candle is symbolic of Jesus' purity:

(And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. II Corinthians 5:15)

The three pieces of wood, of course, represent the crosses upon which Jesus and the two sinners [red misshapen candles] were killed. The vines are a picture of the crown of thorns. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice! Praise God for an empty tomb!!

Free "Love" Printable for Valentine's Day

2013-01-28T11:58:00.001-07:00

... here is a free printable download about God's love:

(free LOVE printable download @Jeanne Winters)

I John 4:9 states "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."

This is a 5x7 print you may download and print for personal use. Frame it to decorate your home for Valentine's Day or make it into a card to share with a friend. Enjoy!

May Your Christmas be Blessed!

2012-12-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Christmas to all!

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." ~ Luke 2:10-11

Kids' Christmas Keepsake Handprints & Thumbprints Ornament

2012-12-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

Two years ago at our first Kids Christmas Party one of the crafts was capturing our little ones' handprints on an ornament:

Those of us with two kids were able to do one hand of each kiddo on the same glass ball ornament. One red, the other green. Then we wrote their names underneath the appropriate handprint and the date at the bottom with red and green Sharpie pens.

That year we also had a thumbprint station. I had a stack of small white tags and a display of ideas. The kids could make gift tags or ornaments using assorted colored stamp pads and their chubby little fingers. :-)

Christmas Gingerbread Houses

2012-12-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Do you make or decorate a gingerbread house at your home during Christmas? If you have kids, its a fun treat – kids of any age, right?! Sunday afternoon my kids tried their hand at decorating this adorable Christmas snow cottage:

They're a little young for the build-your-own gingerbread scene, so pre-assembled works great for us. About the second of November I picked up this gingerbread house on clearance at Target for about $4:

But, naturally we go in our own direction. :-) The kids get to eat the orange gumdrops and black bats while they decorate since they're entirely inappropriate for our sweet snow cottage! :-) I dyed the orange frosting brown and used it as the ground cover in which to stick all the cereal, marshmallows and assorted lawn trimmings. I piled oodles of possible decorating candies and snacks and treats on the island from which they could pick whatever they wanted.

They did almost everything by themselves. They had been filled with inspiration after a Friday night on our downtown's Gingerbread Christmas House Tour. Have to capture it quick with the camera, as at this age, they are mostly just interested in eating it! :-)

Meaningful Christmas Decorating

2012-12-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but at our house we hope to keep the focus of this Christmas season on CHRIST.

We discuss Jesus' birthday with the kids and celebrate with a birthday cake, we read Christ-focused Christmas stories, we share with them that people all over the world exchange gifts because Jesus' birthday is the biggest party of all! We give to the poor and needy as Christ asks us to. We go experience a live nativity play.

We have nativity scenes throughout our home. The crocheted set above was a hand-made gift to my kids from my mother-in-law.

I bought this brass set in Mexico many years ago:

We display Christmas art. :-) Here are two of my paintings:

We decorate our tree with a great variety of ornaments. Keepsakes my mom made or bought us as kids and throughout the years, mementos from special places we've visited or lived, lovely gifts from friends and, of late, treasures crafted by our sweet kiddos. :-)

One of our several advent calendars is on the fridge for the kids:

and a pop-up one from DaySpring in our family room:

Printed ribbons decorate one of our mini-trees:

And in the kitchen scripture ceramics are sprinkled throughout – bowls, platters and plates:

I hope you enjoyed this little snapshot tour of meaningful Christmas decor around my home! What are some ways you keep the focus on Jesus this Christmas?
Visit Imparting Grace for Home for the Holy Days 2012. Joining the fun Christmas Home Tour 'linky' at The Inspired Room and Cottage Magpie.

3rd Annual Kids' Christmas Party - Part II

2012-12-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

My kids were excited to try their hand at the second of three crafts we'll be doing at our upcoming Kids' Christmas Craft Party!

This one is pretty straightforward and we get to capture the year with a photo ornament of our sweet kiddos!

My local Michael's had a stash of unfinished white ceramic frame ornaments.

We removed the cheap red ribbon they come with and began to paint them with glitter paint. I think I may use regular acrylic at the party because the glitter paint remained tacky for quite a while.

Once this base coat had dried completely, we began to add the decoration and pizzazz:

I'll be keeping this simple at the party by offering a rainbow variety of glitter glue pens.

What's fun about these is that the kids can do them completely themselves, so you capture their artistic skills at their age level, all while creating a timeless, quality keepsake.

I let them completely select their own colors as I really wanted it to be THEIR ornament. I love that they chose bright happy colors! These particular frames had some raised swirls in the design, which gives the kids a place to begin.

When fully dry, we glued a "First Day of School" photo to the back, then selected classy ribbons to complete our ornament craft project.

Here's a link to my previous post about the first of our three ideas for the Kids' Christmas Craft Party.

3rd Annual Kids' Christmas Craft Party!

2012-12-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

We Winters are busy bees this week. We're planning our 3rd Annual Kid's Christmas Craft Party! This is so fun for my kids to treat all their friends to a fun party to celebrate Christmas. We host it the first weekday afternoon of Christmas break.

Today we practiced one project - a version of a button Christmas tree ornament idea I found here.

My kids LOVED it! Both were able to do it completely themselves after a few simple instructions and wanted to make a second tree immediately! They had a blast picking out sizes and colors from the button heap.

It was quite easy for their little hands to thread the buttons onto pipe cleaners.

We used a pipe cleaner bent in half, so both ends went through two holes of each button. This held everything together nicely and surprisingly fit through even quite small button holes. They completed a tree in 15-20 minutes. Topped with a star bead and then accessory ribbon.

The supplies list:

10-11 flat buttons for the tree, plus 3 small ones to make the trunk.

pipe cleaner

star bead or other cute charm

ribbon for hanging

BONUS IDEA: Some of the moms have their kids give their collection of handmade treasures from the party to the Dads at Christmas.

We have two more ornament crafts we'll be making samples of for our guests and I'll show you those soon! To see some of our past Christmas projects - here are links to last year's kid's party:

Kid's Christmas Craft Party
Kid's Christmas Craft Party Alphabet Block Ornaments
Kid's Christmas Craft Party Glitter Ornaments Tutorial

and at the first year's party our main project was this:
Kid's Christmas Craft Party Silver Fingerprint Pendants

Christmas Shopping - Charity Giving - and Cyber Monday

2012-11-25T20:08:00.003-07:00

Black Friday Shopping - charity style:

I love this format from Samaritan's Purse. Their Gift Catalog is full of photos and detailed descriptions of all the charity work they do throughout the world. I sat with my kids and read about the building of schools, providing of clean water so families have LESS far to walk for their daily water supply - which will now also be sanitary, baby chicks that grow to produce eggs for eating and selling, doctors & medical supplies so poor children will have care. . .

We had a great discussion of how thankful we should be for living in this country of abundance and to understand how Jesus has called us to care for the poor and needy wherever they may be. The Thanksgiving Holiday meaning right into the Gift of CHRISTmas. We gave each of our kids an amount of money that they could spend on one or more of these gifts for others. My daughter chose school supplies and seeds/tools for farming, while my son wanted to give baby chicks and warm blankets for disaster aid.

What are some ways you instill in your children compassion and a spirit of giving? Please share your ideas in the comments. Thank you!

. . . . . . . . .

and now for my Cyber Monday special:

25% off in my art Etsy shop TODAY and TUESDAY.

enter coupon code:

BG25BFCM

at checkout.

Dessert Time!

2012-11-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a peek at some of the desserts we've been treating ourselves to recently.
Deep-Fried Banana:

My wonderful husband surprised us with these fruity concoctions one night. Individual servings of deep-fried banana sprinkled with Ghiradelli chocolate chips and a dusting of powdered sugar. (Keep the batter light in order to cook quickly and not turn the banana to mush.)

I decorated this Angry Bird birthday cake for my son's family birthday dinner:

A simple 2-layer round cake. Marshmallows for his top feathers. Two pieces of chocolate for his tail feathers. Slices of marshmallows for his white eyes. Orange gel beak. All outlined with chocolate piped from a baggie with the corner cut out.

And with fall comes the classic – Apple Pie:

Love to use Granny Smith apples to give my apple pie some attitude. Serve with drizzled carmel and a dollop of whipped cream. Mmmmmmmmmm!

Featuring YOU & a Giveaway Winner

2012-10-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'd love to feature YOU!
Two ways: ONE – if you have any of my art in your home, office or wherever, I'd love to see pics and share how you've decided to display it! I've begun posting photos on my Art page. Here's the adorable Lisa in her remodeled kitchen:

She has a knack for meshing vintage and modern and I'm honored she chose one of my pieces to grace her aqua walls. Thanks so much, Lisa! On the page tabs at the top of this blog click on "Art" and see more examples of others' decorating. Please send your pics to jeanne @ jeanne winters dot com and I'll add them to the page. I'm excited to see your style!

TWO: If you have a fun and/or inspiring idea showing your faith at a celebration or in your home decor or gifting, email pics and a description and you may get featured in a blog post! If you're a blogger we'll link back to your own site, of course. Thank you!

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GIVEAWAY WINNER: Congrats to Tina, who wrote: "Hey Jeanne, These are great. Love the retro feel of them. I always love looking at what new things you are creating. It really inspires me to make my home more encouraging for all who are here. Thanks for the chance to win." You win your choice of 8x10 from my Etsy shop! Thanks, all!

New Art Prints & A Giveaway!

2012-10-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

I have a few new pieces available in my art shop! Numbers 6:24-25 "shines" in this new retro styled art print:

"May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine on you and be gracious to you." I've designed these two coordinating pieces with vintage posters in mind. Classic fonts read "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight" from Proverbs 3: 5-6 in this second one:

I've also added a new color choice for the "This is the Day" painting. I had a customer request to coordinate my art with retro fabrics going in their 'new' vintage camper. Pale blues and grays blend in a soft feel with a pop of pink in the white peony. I liked it so much I've added it to my shop:

Would you like to win an 8x10 art print of your choice from my Etsy shop? Please leave a comment on this post to enter. NOTE: you must include your email so I can contact you. Enter until midnight Saturday the 27th. US shipping address only. Winner announced here shortly after. Thanks so much!

Fall Decorating with Gourds

2012-10-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

Pumpkins and gourds – are they fall decorating staples at your house? We picked up a mixed bag of interesting gourds the other day and turned a few into this coffee table centerpiece trio:

I can't handle the ones super warty ones, but some of the shapes they come in are pretty cool. I like the one on the far left above. I'm using vases and a footed plate from my pewter collection that normally sits atop my kitchen cabinets.

How are you decorating with little pumpkins and mini gourds this year? See lots of fall ideas at this linkup.

Fall Decorating with [re] Purpose!

2012-09-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

Time to move indoors for fall! I took these metal cross tablecloth weights from our patio table ...

and re-purposed the cross in decorating a deep eggplant-colored candle!

Note:
DaySpring online is offering one of my most popular art canvases at 30% off this month! 3 days left to get this large best-selling wall canvas at a great price!!

Fall Scripture Cards - FREE Printable!

2012-09-19T09:11:00.000-06:00

I have been so lax in my blogging I thought I'd make a little treat for you all to celebrate FALL!! A new season always brings a freshness to our lives and homes, and with it a little excitement ... although I must admit I'm totally a summer girl [yes, I know, I married a "Winters!" How did that happen?!]

Anyhoo, I put together a little page of themed tags with fall/harvest/thanksgiving Bible verses as a free printable!

(Click to Download the "Fall Scripture Cards" PDF)

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

I Peter 1:2

He provides ... and fills your hearts with joy.

Acts 14:17

To every thing there is a season.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Let the whole earth be filled with His glory.

Psalm 72:19

In everything give thanks.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

The works of the LORD are great.

Psalm 111:2

Tie them as tags around a gift. Paste them to the front of a handmade greeting card. Tuck them into your bathroom mirror. Glue them onto magnets. Laminate them as bookmarks. Print two sets and play Concentration with your kids. :-)

I hope you find a use for them! Enjoy!!!

Memory Keeping with Online & Traditional Photo Books

2012-08-23T11:31:00.004-06:00

How many of you are making photo books online? I started with a little book of our summer adventures in 2008 and just thought it came out so well I've been creating them ever since. The hardcover could withstand the kids looking at it over and over again and I could order another two copies so that when – someday never – they leave home they can each have a set:

At the time, I researched the competing companies – Kodak, Snapfish and a couple others – and went with Shutterfly. As a graphic designer I'm pretty picky about how the finished book will look. I didn't want tacky, busy, clip-art backgrounds distracting from the images of my two little angels. :-) I also didn't want a too-slick, portfolio-looking black and white style. Shutterfly's process allowed me to customize just enough – fonts, background textures, etc.

I begin by sorting through kajillions of photos stored on my computer and uploading the best several hundred. Then, using a storyboard, I drag pictures by occasion onto pages – 3 to 10 a page. Then the program will generate a layout for you. You can still change the layout to something of your own choosing, as well as crop each photo, delete, add, rearrange pages, add captions, etc. Pale blues, greens and neutrals, all in textures fill my backgrounds and I use the 8x8 hardcover format.

Last week the kids started school, and getting a book created of our 2011 adventures was high on my project list. Two years ago a friend suggested I try to fit one whole year into each book, so it doesn't get out of hand and in the long run will be more organized, make more sense and not require a moving truck for our adult children to transport. :-) For 2010 I managed it, but prior to that had 2-3 books covering each year. Oh, fellow moms, isn't it SOOOO hard to not include EVERY adorable photo of our darlings?!

To capture the sweet memories of my kids "First Year" I had already created a traditional scrapbook-like photo album for each. I found these two cute quilted-fabric-covered books at a Hobby Lobby I believe:

With these books comes that more hand-made creation. I hand-wrote on every page and felt like I fulfilled my mommy duty. :-) Even though I'm obviously an artsy-craftsy gal, I'm not excited about big scrapbooks for some reason. Too labor intensive perhaps. BUT, for my Baby's First Year, I did it!

Hopefully I'll get my 2011 photo book designed just perfectly very soon! I'd love to hear about your experiences with memory-keeping photo books! Which company do you like best?

Kids Junior Olympics Party Games - part 2

2012-08-09T05:00:00.000-06:00

Today I'll share more about our Junior Olympics Party we held last week in our backyard.

We had 21 kids – most of them between ages 5 and 11.

We had to start our games with an Olympic torch relay, of course! :-)

We ran around the cul-de-sac, set our torch in it's cauldron and started right off with Track and Field. Kids were paired up for a 3-legged race:

Shot put found 8 kids at a time rolling bocce balls, striving for closest to the golf ball target.

Our littlest ones got to try from up close:

Hurdles was all about the numbers – the colored bars of this lawn game are 1, 2, 3 top down:

Discus was a frisbee toss into concentric circles on the grass. For some of the games, we adjusted for the age differences by having the younger children stand a little closer than the older kids. Similarly we used a ring target for a child's lawn 'dart' game, counting points for the win.

We also had a badminton individual competition – how many vertical hits each child can get in a row.

In gymnastics we competed in a test of balance – standing on one leg for as long as possible:

Into the pool we went to cool off on this blistering hot August afternoon. We started with individuals competing against the clock two at a time, down and back the length of the pool. This should have been an age-adjusted race, 5-7 competing and the 8-10s competing. We also did kick board races and relays with teams of 4 kids of assorted age and ability.

After each group of events we held a medals ceremony beside the pool, in front of a large U.S. flag.

It was so sweet to see all the kids up on the 'podium' receiving their medals with pride.

I went with simple felt circles and assorted red, white and blue ribbons:

Of course, with the actual 2012 Olympics going on, I had plenty of tv time to work on a stash of medals. A little fabric glue and you can see the back side with just a little overlap:

I learned so much from this party, we'll have to do it again next summer and it'll be really smooth! Ha! The game ideas are really limitless, so have fun being creative with your events! We don't really get snow here, so I'm not sure we can do a Winter games, but that would be equally fun! See my first post for more about our Junior Olympics Party!

Kids' Junior Olympics Party Ideas

2012-08-07T05:00:00.000-06:00

My kids and I just hosted 21 kids here for a backyard Junior Olympics Party.

They had so much fun! We've been enjoying all the events on tv and it's totally inspired my kids to get out and compete! This is the first Olympics they can understand, so each night as we watch the array of sports it's a real education.

Water bottles with the athletes' names keeps things simple and organized.

Girls in red, boys in blue along with "Junior Olympics 2012" and the iconic Olympic rings:

Our Olympic Torch was a sparkly silver party hat turned upside down. Orange paper and pink tissue paper create our "flames." An old jar candle holder becomes our Olympic cauldron centerpiece:

The party 'favors' and cheering accessories were ribbon wands:

Both Michael's and Lowes had 5/16 inch wood dowels. This was a good diameter in which to screw little eye hooks in one end. I believe they were 3 feet long and we sawed them in half.

I used leftover jewelry supplies – two silver connecting rings on which to safety pin three assorted ribbons in our red, white and blue. I'm not even sure the rings are that necessary if you want to keep things simple.

Ribbons flowed about two feet and were arranged in a bucket until our first medal ceremony:

The kids' ages ranged from about two to 11, not counting one precious newborn. :-) Our party was scheduled to go 4 hours – from 1 to 5pm. Half way through our competitions we retreated to the Olympic Village commissary for snacks:

The olympic rings' colors and design formed our food theme. We offered plain and blueberry bagels covered in cream cheese and colored cake decorating gel. Nutella colored our black 'ring.' The kids had their fill of bagels and bowls of similarly-colored fruit, thankfully brought by the moms.

One lovely friend used her pastry skills to treat us all with these scrumptious creme-filled cupcakes!

Go Team U.S.A!! 'Til next time when we look at the medals and games!

Art Giveaway Winners!!

2012-07-31T13:51:00.004-06:00

Thank you ALL so much for entering my Art Giveaway sponsored by DaySpring.com and leaving your sweet thoughts!!! So kind of you - what a lovely response! I want to congratulate our three blog winners:

Krissy, Tristine and Cassaundra have their choice of the following 16x20 gallery wrapped art canvas:

Ladies, please email me your mailing addresses and choice of art so we can get these on their way! And if you didn't win ... :-( ... Today is the last day for DaySpring's July 25% off sale ... Enter "Joy2012" for the discount!

Please visit my Jeanne Winters Facebook page to see who the winner is over there!! Thanks again everyone for entering and sharing your comments! I'm busy setting up a Junior Olympics party for about 20 kids who'll be "competing" here tomorrow! Fun, fun! :-) Remember, use my Topics cloud over on the right to see all my previous craft and creative idea posts for all sorts of occasions!

Giveaway! New Art Canvases!

2012-07-25T10:51:00.000-06:00

So excited to announce these new offerings from the most fabulous Christian gift company!

DaySpring selected 9 paintings of mine to offer in their online store!! :-) Yay!! They're gallery-wrapped canvases in a terrific 18x22" size!

Refresh Your Spirit is one of my personal favorites. This photo was taken in my art studio. I love happy art and this one captures a lot about me – my favorite colors, a cool lemon and who doesn't love a striped straw! :-) My spirit is refreshed just looking at it and I hope it evokes similar feelings for you!

Ever since I was a teenager perusing home design magazines, I've always been drawn to rooms that are clean and bright with a touch of vintage thrown in. A fun, retro sign hung over a sofa or the breakfast table always made the perfect design statement.

But what about the message? It's so important to have God's Word visible in our homes –why not make it meaningful and stylish? I'm inspired by the passage in Deuteronomy 6 "these words which I command you today shall be in your heart ... write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Surrounding ourselves and our family with His Truths can help instill them in our hearts.

Expressing our faith throughout our home is central to my work – in the art I paint, products I design, the ideas in my book, and in this Inspiring Ideas blog. My work is about meaningful style. Putting God's Word in our heart is easier to do if we see it often, right? We can influence a life for the better through our home decorating!

My art combines uplifting scripture with that classic vintage style that goes anywhere. To create the look of retro signs I paint a background of multiple layers of color on wood panels. Then design art and type based on a Bible verse or uplifting phrase that speaks to me. I put each piece through an aging process to give it an authentic finish.

DaySpring.com is reproducing a selection of my works in 18x22 gallery wrapped canvas. The art flows around the sides and they are such nicely crafted wall pieces! I love the wrapped canvas style that fits with any decor and the corners are tucked to perfection. I know you'll be so pleased with DaySpring's quality! They put so much labor into these American-made canvases and still they're so affordable!

GREAT NEWS for YOU!! –

1 – Save 25% the rest of July at DaySpring.com! Use coupon code "JOY2012" to receive 25%!! off your entire purchase - these new canvases included!!!!

2 – Three random commenters on this post will win the canvas of their choice compliments of DaySpring. Comment through Monday 7/30 midnight MT. (Please leave your email so we can contact you.)

3 – We'll have a Facebook winner, too! Please also comment on JeanneWinters facebook post for another chance to win your choice of canvas!

So ... which art canvas do you like best!!?? I'd love to hear your feedback!! Thank you!

Hostess Gifts and Giveaway News For Next Week!

2012-07-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

We just returned from a two week vacation – visiting friends and family in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was SO refreshing to chat with long-time friends, while enjoying the casualness that is classic midwest summer. The kids had such a good time and bonded quickly with little ones they hadn't seen in a year, or some even longer. Happy kids make for happy travels!

With this trip came a fair share of house hopping - staying with good friends and being blessed by their warm hospitality. In some situations a hotel is the best choice, but it's such a treat to stay with dear, dear friends. It's a memorable night when the kids are all tucked in and the adults linger over heart-to-heart conversations.

Due to packing light, I wasn't able to carry hostess gifts with me on the plane. When visiting in the summer I'm sometimes able to thank the hosts with a fresh flower bouquet from the local farmer's market – which I was able to do in Minneapolis:

We selected a few souvenir gifts for the children from the airport or our local gift shop that reflect something about our life in the southwest. We take others out for dinner to say "thank you." And for all, I'll be getting out a proper Thank You card in the snail mail ... soon! :-) When I have a moment to go through the trip photos I'll design a card using one that perfectly captures the joy of our travels!

What about you? Do you have any go-to hostess gift ideas you use when traveling?

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NEWS: stay tuned next week when I show you what treasures arrived on my doorstep and announce a big GIVEAWAY!!