Customized Hat Boxes for a Baby Room

Throwback Thursday! Here are some paper maché hat boxes I decorated for my daughter's baby room ages ago, and that I featured in my book Inspirational Home:

They were the round cardboard boxes found at most craft stores. I printed out uplifting Bible verses using a pink and brown color scheme. The brown box top was painted with acrylic paint, then banded across the diameter with one wide pink satin ribbon. This was trimmed and glued on the underside. Atop it, I layered papers with the verse for the centerpiece:

It's sides were decoupaged with striped tissue paper. I cut it in strips and glued down one side, across the bottom, then up the opposite side until completely covered.

The pink box has a decoupaged tissue paper cover in a coordinating pink and brown polka dot. I printed "May the Lord's face shine upon you and bless you" from Numbers 6:24-25, on pink paper and wrapped horizontally around the sides. A pink ribbon tied simply is the finishing touch!

Have a blessed day!

Fill a Shoebox for Operation Christmas Child

It's that time of year!

I know there are so many wonderful charities and organizations doing great work out there. Just wanted to mention one in particular that helps my kids as we set a tone of sharing for the Thanksgiving & Christmas season. They really get into packing a shoebox for a child of their age as a Christmas gift.

Operation Christmas Child sends millions of shoeboxes, filled with toys, school supplies and toiletry items to needy kids around the world. Collection week begins today. If you'd like more information, please visit Samaritan's Purse.

Welcoming Card for House Guests

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!

Kids' Christmas Keepsake Handprints & Thumbprints Ornament

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. :-)

3rd Annual Kids' Christmas Party - Part II

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!

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

Fall Scripture Cards - FREE Printable!

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!!!

Giveaway! New Art Canvases!

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!

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!!

Decorate Glass Vases with Cross, Wire & Beads

Simple pewter cross charms give amber glass vases a custom look:

String the cross charm on silver wire, looping both ends through, then wrapping smoothly around the neck of any colored glass vase:

Add assorted sizes and colors of glass beads – contrasting or complimentary. Curl the ends around the end of a thin paint brush to get smooth, decorative ends to complete the look. I think they look nice with or without flowers. 

Travel Goody Bag for Kids' Friends

We are SO enjoying our summer break from school these past few weeks! I hope you are as well! Gorgeous weather and loads of fun activities, festive gatherings and relaxed conversations. Also with summer vacation come lots of family trips. Very often our kids' friends have travel plans that don't coincide with our own, so they are sad to see their little companions going away for weeks at a time. My two are starting to experience that this week. We decided to send off two of their little Besties with a treat bag for the road trip:

Since we didn't plan ahead, but were heading near their house today, we used what we had on hand – 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of bright colored paper. Each of my kids drew pictures and decorated the paper, which we simply folded in half and stapled to make a pocket. They each selected an appropriate coloring page to color and cut out:

My son colored pictures of Bey Blades to decorate the outside and to tuck inside for his little buddy. My daughter drew more elaborate scenes on the outside and coloring page art for the inside. Then they hand-selected two suckers and a Fruit by the Foot for each Goody Bag:

They found a few other gift treasures for their friends, we sealed the top with instructions to not open until they were on the road and away we went to deliver our "We'll miss you while you're away Vacation Goody Bags." 

Happy May Day!

Have a wonderful May!!!!