Jenni Price illustration

Taking a Break

2012-02-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

Jonah and the Whale pancake I made for my kids last year

I'm writing today to let you know that after a lot of thought and prayer, I've decided to take a break from blogging. I have several personal art projects I'm working on....and some around the house that I keep meaning to do. Maybe if I take a blogging break I will get them done....maybe...and maybe not! hee he!

Over the past year I have really enjoyed blogging and sharing the pancake art that I've made for my kids with you. It's been an artistic outlet for me but also it's pushed me to think of creative methods of teaching my kids about our faith in Jesus.

I hope that you (or your kids) give pancake art a try because it's really fun.....but more importantly, I hope that I've inspired you to use your gifts (whether they are creative or something else entirely) as a way to teach your children about the Lord. After all, teaching them about Jesus and helping them to grow a faith in Christ that is heaven bound is the best gift that you can give to your kids.

Thank you so much for blessing me with your friendship!

Jenni

Balloon Hearts

2012-02-14T01:00:00.000-08:00

Check out this box full of artsy balloons! My personalized balloon artist is making yet another appearance on my blog....she showed up last year around this time too HERE. So who is this mysterious gal? My little girl!

She set up a crazy fun balloon shop at her school recently and sold her awesome balloon creations. I was so excited to hear at the end of the day how her shop went and I was so happy to hear that it went well and that she even had a line for them.

She totally picked up this cool skill on her own..pretty awesome don't ya think? So, I'm just going to brag on her a little bit here because, well, I'm allowed to you know, since she's mine and all :)

Any comments on her balloons.....I'll pass on to her. She'll Love them!

Oh...and before I forget, Happy Valentine's Day friends!

Shop Update

2012-02-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

Hi all, I'm stopping in to let you know that I've re-opened my Etsy shop! I've still got more illustrations to post and I'm working on new artwork to put up soon also.

These are mini printable cards that are in my shop. They've been handy for me to have printed and ready for when my kids go to parties because I can just grab one real quick and go. That's pretty nice!

Happy Weekend!
Jenni

Ice Cream Cone Lunchbox Pancakes

2012-02-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

I packed up some ice cream cone pancakes in my kid's lunchbox recently and thought I'd share with you a video on how to make them too!

I used a partial whole wheat flour in my pancake mix, organic milk and vegetarian fed eggs to make it as healthy as possible.

We are working on this Bible verse to go along with the pancakes. I made a matching note for it and put it in the lunchbox.

O taste and see that the Lord is good:

blessed it the man that trusteth in him.

Psalm 34:8

My daughter wanted peanut butter in hers so I made it into a pancake sandwich for her lunchbox.

That's a cut grape on the top of the "whip cream" and I stuck it on with more (natural) peanut butter.

I hope you give it a try and if you do, send me some photos or your link! I'd love a see!

Your kids are going to love them......have fun!

Blessings,

Jenni

Owl Painted Fondant Cookie

2012-02-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

....that ye might be filled with the knowledge

of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Colossians 1:9

I thought this verse above was fitting for a wise owl....however, this is my character, Oliver (from my banner) and he is a wee bit clueless and not really a typical wise owl.

Anyhow, I've been working on this new painted cookie topper. I love owls, and poor, clueless Oliver is close to my heart afterall.

Shall I show you some of my process?

I think I heard a "yes" or a "I guess so".....either way, here we go!

So I began sketching and sketching with my brown soft gel food coloring.

Lets take a big leap to the part when I put down my base coat layer for all the colors. I let every color dry before adding shading layers.

I always paint at least three layers of shading (but usually more) and then a few texture layers.

I better stop this painting fun to show you that I did make a fresh batch of almond vanilla sugar cookies-YUM!

Now I have a cookie "base" for my fondant painting.

I've been asked several times how long these usually take to make so here is the run down:

1 hour to paint the fondant topper
1 hour to bake the cookies
3 hours to make the homemade fondant and roll it out.....

Whew! That took awhile but now Oliver Owl is complete and happy BUT a little worried looking and I'm sure I know why!

Munch...Munch....Crunch!

Blessings,

Jenni

Valentine Hearts Pancake Tutorial

2012-01-26T06:58:00.000-08:00

Red, Pink and Heart's Day is just around the corner and I created a very simple and fun pancake tutorial to help you celebrate with a special breakfast on Valentine's Day!

I'm so excited to have it on Amy's blog and you can view it HERE.

And because Valentine's Day is full of treats, I have a few ideas to make this goodie-filled day well, a little healthier with pancakes.

I used partial White Whole Wheat Flour
Safflower Oil instead of Vegetable Oil
Organic Milk
Eggs from Vegetarian Fed Chickens
Give your kids unsweetened Applesauce with cinnamon to dip their pancakes in instead of syrup
Serve with fresh fruit

Are you excited to give it a try? Your kids will LOVE it! I know :)

Happy early Valentine's Day!

Jenni

Winter Snow...Finally!

2012-01-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

We finally got some snow and it was very exciting! Here are a few of the fun things that have gone on over at my house (left to right):

My kids made a "Frosty" the snowman out of train tracks! Seriously? That was so awesome! I had to share.
My daughter's real snowman...which by the way, she decided to bring into the house once she figured out how to pick him up and carry him inside! Yikes-No!
I tried out a new healthy cookie bar recipe, made with partial whole wheat flour, mixed nuts and mixed dried fruits. My daughter liked it, my son pretended to like it but I knew better because he didn't want any more of it.
I've been enjoying bird watching from my kitchen window. It's hard to exactly tell from the photo but this is of a cardinal on a wooden stump in the backyard.

Blessings,
Jenni

Raining Pink Raindrops

2012-01-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

I love decorative artwork with scripture on it and it's really surprising how little there is out there for children's rooms, unless you want to decorate you child's room in a Noah's Ark theme. There's not more than that out there that I could find, especially something pretty for a little girl's room.

So I painted this for my daughter's room and I hope that the scripture in it will be something that she reads often and keeps close to her heart.

In this painting, the bunny is falling in the pink raindrops and isn't sure where she will land. So I thought that would fit well with this Bible verse, where we need to put our trust in the Lord, believing that if we trust Him, he will lead us.

I will be putting this in my shop later this week as an illustration print.

Blessings,
Jenni

Sledding Bunny Painted Cookie Topper

2012-01-06T18:31:00.000-08:00

I finished my most current project of painting these painted cookie fondant toppers and now all I need is to bake the sugar cookies to go with them. You see...I have the rolling pin out all ready now I actually need to use it!

Once again, I was inspired to create the pink bunny based off my daughter's favorite stuffed animal. We aren't getting much snow this year so I'll just have to paint my own :)

I took a few photos of my work in progress. Those are soft gel paste food colorings and I like to use a little bit of clear vanilla and lots of water to dilute the paint with.

I was sketching out my design in this photo with a diluted black.

Food coloring works like watercolor in many ways and I like to put down several "washes" of color. It would be really challenging to put down as many washes as in traditional watercolor, but you can paint several nevertheless. The paint gets disturbed quickly so you need to make sure each layer is dry before adding another layer. The small amount of clear vanilla really helps speed up drying times.

I've noticed that although clear vanilla is great for making smoother paint and quicker drying times, it does tend to get grainy on the paint "pallette" and you'll need to get fresh vanilla often. So, keep and eye on that because you don't want grainy colors.

This was my last in-progress photo and now all that's left is cookie baking time!

Happy Weekend!

Jenni

Goodbye Gingerbread House

2012-01-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

I started working today on putting away our Christmas decorations but I made sure to tackle this while my kids were in school. Last year I took them down when they were home and I heard tons of complaints so I learned my lesson!

My house is starting to feel back to normal and after all the Christmas rush, it feels really good....normal...back to regular ol' life again....nice and refreshing!

I will miss the pretty lights though, such as this little gingerbread house of ours that lights up but normal is a good thing too!

Blessings,

Jenni

New Beginnings for a New Year

2011-12-31T20:48:00.000-08:00

Hello again blog friends and Happy New Year! I'm starting off the New Year with a few new beginnings. Don't worry, you are at my blog, it just looks a little bit different. Hee! Hee! My hubby took the kids for a Daddy-day out and I had a glorious full day to paint! That was so wonderful! So during my art-fest day I painted a new blog banner and a mushroom pattern for the sides.

Before Christmas I printed out these Christmas cards with my snowman "No Peeking" painting on it to give out to family and friends. It was so much fun to see my art on greeting cards!

I'm looking forward to all the fun new art challenges ahead for the New Year! I hope your New Year is off to a wonderful start!

Blessings,
Jenni

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-20T19:32:00.000-08:00

Luke 2:7

And she brought forth her first-born son,

and wrapped him in swaddling clothes,

and laid him in a manger;

because there was no room for them in the inn.

May you hold close to your heart the true meaning of Christmas.

I am signing off of my blog early for the holiday season......

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

A Revisit from the Past

2011-12-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

We finally got around to putting up our Christmas tree last weekend. I'm not going to want to take it down in a few weeks....some of you know that last year I kept our tree up until March! I'm certainly not doing that again but it's so hard to say goodbye to all the pretty lights you know?

And speaking of getting out things that have been packed away, I rummaged through my old watercolor portfolio the other day and it was interesting to see how my style has developed over time. I have a digital copy of the above painting now and it's funny because I forgot about the yellow text area that I digitally took out. I wonder why I did that? If I recall, I wanted to put "Season's Greetings" in it.

And I also found by rummaging, this painting which is an old logo of mine that I scanned in and put my name in the yellow box. It's fun to revisit things like this! I painted this about 9 years ago. Wow! Where has the time gone?!

I've had a few features this week from two blogs that I know you'll enjoy and I just want to take a moment to say thank you to Meaghan and Jill

Blessings,
Jenni

Christmas Angel Pancake Tutorial

2011-12-13T01:42:00.000-08:00

I recently created this Christmas Angel Pancake for you to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas! Thank you again Amy and Steph for featuring it on your blogs! This is for personal use only. Enjoy!

Luke 2: 10-11

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.

Griddle or large skillet

Pam Cooking Spray

Large mixing bowl

Water

Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix (the just add water mix)

Electric mixer

Three Condiment Squirt Bottles (can be found at Walmart)

green and yellow soft gel paste food coloring

Paper Towels

Spatula

Spoons for mixing

mini chocolate chips and mini M&Ms for decorating

Measuring Cup

Toothpicks

Mixing cups

Get out your large bowl and stir with a spoon 2 cups plus 1-3 Tbsp of pancake mix with 1 ½ cups of water. You want your batter thick enough to “draw” with but not too much where it wont squeeze out of the squirt bottle (you can add more pancake mix if it's too runny). Grab your electric mixer and stir until it's well blended. If you have too many lumps, they will clog up your squirt bottle. Divide up your batter into three mixing cups. Refer to the above squirt bottle graphic for a rough idea on how much pancake batter should be in each squirt bottle. Mix in a small amount of green food coloring (a little bit goes a long way) into one cup, yellow into another cup and the white has no color in it. Mix each color until well blended. Pour each cup of batter slowly into the squirt bottles making sure to keep paper towels handy for any drips.

Spray your griddle with cooking spray but do not turn it on yet. Keep toothpicks nearby to release any clogs in the squirt bottles.

Step One: With the yellow batter, draw the angel's hair.

Step Two: Switch to the white batter and draw the angel's face and a dot for her nose.

Step Three: Using the green batter, draw her dress but leave room for her arm.

Step Four: Draw her arm with the green batter, then switch to the white batter and draw a large dot for her hand and a little dot to represent her thumb.

Step Five: Taking the green batter, draw her wings off to the side. Do not connect them to the angel as it will make it tricky to flip the pancake.

Step Six: Turn your griddle on to the lowest heat setting (200 degrees) and let the outlines cook until they are puffed up. Now turn off your griddle. Take your green batter and fill in the angel's dress.

Step Seven: Take your yellow batter and fill in the angel's hair and draw a halo above her head.

Step Eight: Switch to the white batter and fill in the angel's face and wings. Turn your griddle back on to the lowest heat setting (200 degrees) and let your angel, wings and halo cook until they are bubbly and loose most of their shine before flipping them. When your pancake is fully cooked, decorate the angel with mini M&Ms and place a mini chocolate chip on her face to represent an eye.

Romans 10:9

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,

and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,

thou shalt be saved.

Disney's Gingerbread House

2011-12-09T00:14:00.000-08:00

Over Thanksgiving my family and I visited several of the Disney hotels and Wow, they really know how to decorate for Christmas! During that time we saw this awesome life sized Gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian hotel and there were people inside selling goodies. Pretty cool huh?!

Anyhow, I noticed that Disney's gingerbread recipe can be found online and I'm so curious to try it! You can find it HERE.

I looked up close at one of their Christmas trees and noticed that the ornaments were wrapped tightly around the branches with what looked like wire to secure it. Very smart with all the children and visitors that come along. I guess I was interested in looking up close because they used breakable looking ornaments and as a Mom, I was surprised since I know that I put all the breakable ornaments at the TOP of our tree.

This hotel, the Dolphin, smelled just like the gingerbread house that was in the Grand Floridian hotel. I asked the front desk about it and they told me that they put a Gingerbread smell into the air. Interesting!

Blessings,

Jenni

A Lunchbox Santa

2011-12-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

Winter has officially come today because we woke up to it snowing! So exciting! Driving my son to school was seriously scary though because they hadn't plowed the roads much and it was definitely slick but...it was a pretty drive.

On a different note, I made extra Santa pancakes the day that I created my muffin tin (and froze them) so that I could pack them in my kids lunch boxes for a fun surprise.

I snapped a quick photo of my daughter's lunch before I packed it for her: a homemade recipe of a Santa pancake, grapes and Kiwi. My son got the same thing.

And as promised, I finished up my Santa tutorial and it's available in my shop now. So fun!

The tutorial makes mini Santa's too!

I love how my son used a mini M&M for Santa's eye! So funny!

Also, thank you Steph for featuring my Angel pancake tutorial! Check it out HERE.

Blessings,

Jenni

Santa Muffin Tin Snack

2011-12-05T01:19:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile but I finally got around to making my kids a Muffin Tin after school pancake snack. I didn't have very much time so it had to be pretty simple.

Since I ran out of time before school was out, I just put the apples in the tin without cutting them up. I wondered if that would work....

My daughter DID eat the apple uncut.

My son did NOT-but he did eat the apple after I cut it.

I used a homemade recipe for the pancakes that I was relatively pleased with. I'd like to tweak it some though. Also in my tin is organic blueberry yogurt.

P.S. I'm currently working on a Santa Pancake Tutorial similar to this one so check back soon for it!

Blessings,
Jenni

Candy Cane Apple

2011-12-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

I'm going to cheat a little in this post by re-posting this candy cane apple that I made up last year. Why? Well, maybe you didn't see it last year.....and I totally used this idea again today so it's on my mind.

After school I asked my son, "Would you like an apple?" to which he replied a definite, "No."

Then, I remembered making this candy cane last year and I decided to cut one up for him even though he didn't want an apple.

"Here's your candy cane!" I called......He took one look and there was excitement galore! And.....to my happiness, it was completely gobbled up enthusiastically! Amazing what a little altering can do.

Give it a try-it might work for you to :)

Also, I have a new Christmas Tutorial featured on Amy's blog. Check it out HERE.

Blessings,
Jenni

Peppermint Ice cream Cookies

2011-11-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

Every year the grocery stores carry holiday seasonal ice cream and I often don't buy any (maybe because there are already tons of goodies going around) but wish I would have. Not this year! I bought Peppermint ice cream and it tastes just like a candy cane, seriously! I love it! Anyhow, it tastes great coupled with those Sugar Almond cookies I made and wrote about before Thanksgiving HERE.

If you make the cookies and freeze them like I did, you can save them and the ice cream for after the holidays when all the Christmas goodies have dissapeared....I might buy a few cartons of this ice cream before it too dissapears after Christmas.

Last year I bought from Sam's Club three huge containers of seasonal gingerbread biscotti after Christmas (on Sale-yes!). It seemed like a great idea at the time but then by summer, they were tasting more like dog biscuits and less like gingerbread cookies. So that was a lesson learned!

Blessings,

Jenni

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-12T01:39:00.000-08:00

I took the kids outside for a Fall photo shoot and they had fun in our un-raked yard! There just doesn't seem much point to rake them until they all fall off. So there is a large abundance of leaves and those leaves became like toys, some of the best kind of toys.....free ones!

Here my little guy made something like a leaf bouquet

These leaves were stirred in a pot...sorta like a leaf stew!

And now it's officially time to celebrate Thanksgiving because we have put up our Thanksgiving flag!

So my friends, I'm signing off of my blog early for the holiday. Enjoy your time with your loved ones as we thank the Lord for all our abundant blessings!

Psalm 118:24

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Snowman Cookies

2011-11-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

I got a chance to finish the painted fondant snowman cookie toppers I was working on in my last post. I'd like to do more for gifts but maybe some other types of Christmasy themes, time permitting.

Last month I made a batch of Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies (recipe HERE) and froze them so I'm just putting these fondant toppers on the cookies to see what they'll look like for later. The cookies have a nice almond flavor that remind me of the Christmas cookies my aunt is so famous for making.

Did you know that there is a white food soft gel coloring? I didn't until not that long ago. It's great for little highlight touches.

It was a cold day when I painted these and a cold day today...fitting I guess for these snowmen.
Blessings to you!
Jenni

Painting a Snowman on Fondant

2011-11-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

It was such a cold day the other day that I was inspired to paint snowmen as fondant cookie toppers. It's been an entire month since I painted last and it was so good to get my food coloring paints back out!

Since I use clear vanilla to paint with, it smells like dessert when I'm painting!

It's important to paint with as dry of a brush as possible. It seems like most of the food coloring painting sources I see say to mix lots of water with your paint (which is good for lightening the color) but I find that makes big wet blobs and not much else.

It's a finicky paint and in the beginning, I wanted to throw in the towel many times and give up but I'm so glad I didn't. I'm really loving it now!

I didn't have much time to paint and this is about all that I got done so this will have to be continued soon.

My plan so far is to give them as Christmas gifts as cookie toppers so I'll need to bake the cookies too (later of course). I bought individual clear cookie wrappers to put them in but I haven't yet decided on how to package them securely and decoratively after that. I guess that I still have time, Christmas is still another month away.

I'll show you more of these snowmen when I get a chance to work on them again.

Blessings,
Jenni

Hot Chocolate on a Cold Day

2011-11-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

It was such a cold day here and raining that it felt like a perfect day to break open my brand new box of hot chocolate for the holiday season.

Yep, that's one of our small Christmas trees in the background....I took it out when I was gong through some of my Christmas decor for a pancake tutorial photo shoot (coming up soon!) and we are enjoying it too much to take it down. So, it really feels like Christmas!

My son claimed that his hot chocolate was too spicy and wouldn't drink it (seriously??). Yes, seriously! Well, he is my picky eater....but he does love art pancakes!

Blessings,

Jenni

Gnome Party Time!

2011-10-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the gnome fondant cookie toppers I was working on painting last month in THIS post? I loved working on that project....it was so much fun!

Anyhow, after I mailed them, I couldn't wait to see how the party turned out. And now my wait is over....and I'm excited to share it with you too!

Nichole from Tradewind Tiaras put this super adorable party together....she is a party planning genius! Seriously. You must go check out her blog HERE. It's full of wonderfully creative inspiration and ideas!

The little girls must have felt like they were entering a miniature gnome world where make believe is a wonderful reality!

Look at this dessert table full of miniature goodies! I love the little pies and the Oreo cookie cakes and the Gnome cake! Love, love, love it all!

This is my favorite color scheme! Those balloons are way cool!

Such a fun, whimsical party.......so, so neat to see how it all came together!

Greeting Cards and Missing Fall

2011-10-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

I love greeting cards. I can spend a long time looking at them and sometimes I buy them just to tape up to my desk and enjoy.

Anyhow, my folks recently gave me a greeting card from Daysprings that had these sweet little sheep and a scripture verse on it and I loved it!

After seeing this card, I was inspired and I was thinking of printing out some of my prints as greeting cards (especially because Christmas is coming up). I would love to put scripture in the cards but so far, I don't know how to achieve this. Does anyone know of a good printer for their art as greeting cards?

Shall I admit that my above watercolor painting, "Chilled Socks" has been sitting in my dark closet, hiding in an art box? Ummm....poor squirrels!

On another note, I think I missed the Fall color peak at our local park. I missed it last year and I "hear" that I missed it again this year. It's not because I haven't gone, (several times in fact ) but I never go at the right time.

I took the above photo at the park when it started changing this year so at least I saw some of it right?

The thing is, I can't just swing by the park. If I go to the park, my kids beg to play, so what I intended to be a 10 minute look-and-see, becomes a 1 1/2 hour visit. So that's why I've only gone a couple times so far this Fall and that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Butterfly Pancake Video

2011-10-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

The kids and I cooked up some new art pancakes to help them learn their Bible verse this week. The butterfly is made of heart wings to go with loving the Lord with all our hearts.

If you've never made art pancakes before and you're thinking about jumping in, this is a great tutorial to try. It's so simple, I promise!

Check out my latest video....I know that you can totally make this....I dare you! Hee! Hee!

To be honest on this one, I was really surprised that my son took my easy tutorial and made something much harder than what I showed him how to do. He's my little guy and I was really amazed by what he thought of.

My daughter made twin butterflies, a cloud and a sun. I really like how she was inspired to make extra art pancakes as if it was a painting and the plate was her canvas.

Blessings,

Jenni

Sandcastle Pancake Video Tutorial

2011-10-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

This week we made Pancake Sandcastles and the castle represents God's kingdom for the above Bible verse. I've made a Video Demo for you if you'd like to make one at home also!

When my kids make Art Pancakes, I realized that it really helps if they see a pancake demo first to get a basic idea on how to make pancakes around our theme.

So I tried something new this time and had them watch the Demo Video I made first and I really think it helped my younger one with his pancake art.

Time for some Sandcastles in October....who would have thought?!

I'm keeping a photo scrapbook for my kids of all the Art Pancakes that they've made and the Bible verses that go along with them. This way they can look back and hopefully be reminded of their verses.

Blessings to you,

Jenni

Pumpkin Pie PancakeTutorial

2011-10-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

I've had the honor of creating this Pumpkin Pie Pancake Tutorial for Amy's blog just in time for harvest and the Thanksgiving holiday! Pop on over....and have some pancake fun!

See it HERE

My daughter came up with the idea for this tutorial. I had my own ideas but in the end, her sketch idea worked out much better than mine.

In other news.....we were busy last week with revival at our church and the Holy Spirit really pressed upon my heart the importance of praying for my husband. He is my covering, my spiritual leader, the head of our family and I really realized that praying for him daily is something I need to be doing.

Another thing that was so amazing was seeing my daughter down at the isle, praying and worshiping the Lord and being filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit....Wow. Incredible! I just praise Jesus for this!

Blessings,
Jenni

Feeding Francesca

2011-10-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of how people will say that the messiest homes are of those who clean other peoples homes for a living? Maybe I'm mixing this phrase up but you get the idea right? Well that's me, the concept anyway, but with my artwork.

Now my house is filled with my art but....I have tons and tons of paintings that I just have never gotten printed to put up in my kids rooms. I've just been really thinking about this a lot and it's time to do it! It's time to get my artwork off the computer and printed and put into my kid's rooms for goodness sakes!

So, I created most of my previous paintings in these really odd sizes which I'm now kicking myself for. The above painting I did is no exception, titled "Feeding Francesca." I created it 9"x12" with a pretty fall border but then I took it off to print it in this 8"x10" format and I've got to say that I'm really missing the border. Now, I just don't have the heart to frame this print without it so....I've must reprint it, funny size and all....because that's the way I love this painting, in it's entirety.

Okay.....here's the border....In my heart, this is much better and feels right to me!

Blessings,

Jenni

Good Things for Kids

2011-10-08T01:43:00.000-07:00

I have two good things to recommend today for kids and the first one is paper mache ornaments. I bought mine for about $1each at Hobby Lobby and gave my kids the whole bag of them along with paint and later after the paint dried, they added embellishments with Sharpie markers. I was so surprised that they ended up painting the entire bag and it kept them happily creating art for quite awhile!

One thing I want my kids to feel is to be free to express their own creativity. I'm always telling them, "This is YOUR art, make it the way YOU want it." After all, God made us special in our own individual way and art is an expression of who we are.

The second good find that I bought is this illustrated Bible. I noticed lately that my daughter was starting to get a little too old for her beginner's children's Bible and I wanted to find something more advanced. So I went on a mission to find her one that had illustrations that were fun and whimsical and this one mostly fit what I was looking for.

Such pretty illustrations!

The great thing about this illustrated Bible is how much my daughter LOVES it! She's been reading it and reading it.....she even got up Saturday morning and read it before coming out for breakfast. Now that makes me happy! I bought this at a Christian bookstore locally but I noticed that you can also find it on Amazon HERE

Have a Happy Weekend!

Jenni

Reindeer Pancake Video Tutorial

2011-10-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

I've made my first ever pancake art video tutorial! I'm still working on my video instruction skills but I'm learning. Check it out......

My kids are having some reindeer pancake art fun! Here is the Bible verse that went with our theme this week.

I'm starting a scrapbook for each of my kids of the art pancakes that we make together and the Bible verses that go along with it. I'm hoping that this will help my kids remember their Bible verses when they look back on their scrapbooks.

My daughter's reindeer pancake

My Son's reindeer "interpretation"

And...my daugthter's miniature reindeer pancakes that we froze and are putting in her lunch this week to show to her friends.

I realized that my kids needed me to actually demo how to make these pancakes first in order for them to understand how to make them. Originally I just drew pictures of the instructions but then after showing them myself, my daughter understood it better and made these mini reindeers.

So, if you make these with your kids, show them how to do it first and then let them have a ball making their own....kids love to make art pancakes!

Blessings,

Jenni

A Walking Box

2011-09-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Title, "Flying on a Reindeer"

As promised, here are two more of my gingerbread paintings. They are all available as prints if your interested (check out the new Art Prints page listed above). I've got a lot of paintings in my Children's Art Portfolio that I'll be adding to it as I get time.

For some reason, this painting reminds me of a dreamy scene from the Nutrcracker. It's been awhile since I've seen the ballet but I don't recall any gingerbread in it....yet somehow, I think it would fit right in.

I also must say, that this Gingie is doing a fantastic job of balancing his cupcake hat while controlling his flying reindeer. Now that takes skill!

Title, "Treats and Tactics"

These two are playing an intense game of Checkers....so I'll type quietly so as not to disturb their concentration.

It appears that they are using jellybeans for game pieces. Very practical since they can have a treat when they tire of playing!

And last but not least, while rushing to get out the door for school this morning, I turned around to find that I had a walking vacuum box in the kitchen. WHAT???

I was in a rush

My son was not in a rush

The walking vacuum box was also not in a rush for school

Okay, okay, I give in....grab my camera and stop rushing for a minute. My son has been circling my new vacuum box for a few days, now I know why. So, I promised to cut some holes in the box for eyes today when he comes home from school. No doubt the walking vacuum box will return!

Blessings,

Jenni

Painting again

2011-09-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

It's occurred to me lately how little I've talked about my actual children's illustrations here on my blog. Don't get me wrong, I love making art pancakes and my kids love them too, but I've been missing painting. If you've been around since summer, you know that I painted softies that are sitting on my kitchen counter but I haven't painted an actual painting in awhile....Wow, I'm surprised at myself on this.

Painting is my favorite art medium and I always, always go back to it. Like so many creative personalities, I enjoy many different types of art but painting has always been my favorite.

These are a few sketches that I made for the following paintings.

So....I think that it's time for me to start introducing you to some of the artwork from my painting portfolio. It has been feeling very neglected!

"Sprinkles for a Sunday Shower"

I'm going to likely be entertaining myself here but this painting totally makes me smile because my little Gingie is totally convinced that he's getting all clean in a sugar sprinkle shower!

Grabbing Gingerbread Georgie

I love the popcorn/cranberry string as a life saving Gingergread rope!


Decorating a Dancing Dress

This Gingie can dance and have a costume designed on her at the same time and not even miss a step. Now that's impressive!
I have a few more paintings in my Gingerbread Collection that I'll share soon. Right now I'm working on a new painting for my daughter's bedroom. No doubt, I'll have to figure out a way to include a panda bear in it.

Blessings,

Jenni

Painted Cookie Toppers for a Gnome Party

2011-09-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

I've been painting on fondant again this week creating cookie toppers for a Gnome Party coming up. These were painted on homemade fondant, which was by far, superior in flavor to the store bought variety. My kids absolutely LOVED how it tasted and were begging for more.

So, I say this because if your looking for a delicious fondant recipe, HERE is the one I made (I also think it was great to paint on).

The Girl Gnome is my daughter's favorite.

The house on the Right is my son's favorite. I told my kids that I could repaint them again for them if they'd like me to.

The mushroom house on the Left is my favorite.

I'm letting them dry one more day before mailing them out. I've never mailed fondant before and I'm pretty nervous about it (but I'm praying!). I'll be happy when they arrive safely!

Blessings,
Jenni

Painted Sunflower Gingerbread Cookies

2011-09-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being."

Rev. 4:11 (NIV)

There are two things I love about September and the first one is that the weather starts to cool down, and it spreads hope that Fall is on it's merry way. Yes!

The second wonderful thing is the abundance of wild sunflowers growing all over the place....at least I think they're sunflowers. See what you think in the following photos.

I snapped this sunflower photo alongside the road near my house. I love driving by them every day. They are so cheery!

I'm really glad I zoomed into this flower instead of getting up close to it because I didn't realize until after downloading my photos that this one had a bunch of tiny bugs. Yikes!

So after seeing these bright, bold, happy sunflowers every day, I was inspired to get out my edible paint and capture their likeness on little fondant hearts.

The fondant hearts are placed on top of small, moist gingerbread and sugar sprinkled cookies with a powdered sugar glaze in between the layers.

I made these as a gift for my daughter's teacher and placed the heart cookies in a heart shaped glass dish.

Have a Cheery, Happy, Sunflower kind of day,

Jenni

Harvest Squirrel and Wreath Pancakes

2011-09-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.

Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 34:12-13 (NIV)

My inspiration this week for muffin tin mom is Fall and I'm looking forward to it! Here we have a pancake squirrel in a pile of leaves who is hanging up a bow on a harvest wreath.

So, did you guess correctly as to what the pancake pieces made?

I read the above Bible verse to my kids as they ate their after school snack. It doesn't really tie into my harvest theme but it really stuck out to me as I was reading my Bible at breakfast time.

I've been mixing in a little lemon, vanilla extract and a small bit of sugar to my Krusteaz pancake mix lately. It really adds a nice flavor, especially because my kids almost never use syrup.

Inside my muffin tin are oranges, yogurt raisins, and colby jack cheese squares.

Blessings,
Jenni

Painting a Bunny Cookie

2011-09-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

I'm seeing a pattern in my art and it's inspired by my daughter! Here we go...this year I:

-Painted the above bunny cookie for my daughter's school lunch

-Made a stuffed bunny ornament this summer that you can see HERE

-Cooked up some bunny pancakes last spring that you can see HERE

Do you see a bunny obsession here? Ha! Ha! My daughter's favorite stuffed animal is a pink rabbit with a white mouth named Rabby, so it shows up in my art a lot.

When I was a kid, my parents tried explaining to me on Easter morning that there was no such thing as an actual Easter Bunny. As they were attempting to tell me the hard truth , a bunny rabbit (probably owned by a neighbor) showed up in our front yard! I'm sure it was hard to convince me after that! Ha! Ha!

Blessings,
Jenni

It's Guessing Time!

2011-09-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

Let's have some guessing fun again!

My pancake pieces are all set out ready to be put together onto my muffin tin.

What do you think this will be?

Painted Christmas Puppy Cookie

2011-09-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

As I'm typing this, the weather is slightly chilly and I have the windows open. What a treat!

This past week I've started listening to Christmas music already. Is that a little too early do you think?

I'm still painting on fondant and this little Christmas present puppy is based off my childhood dog. I used to draw this dog all the time as a kid. A friend of mine and I used to trade drawings. I would draw her a picture of my dog in exchange for a picture that she would draw of a girl with a frilly dress. Funny, I haven't thought about that in a really long time!

A special thanks to everyone who gave me good advice from my last post about fondant. After I get the hang of these edible paints, I plan on trying those things. That will be exciting!

Can you believe I still have these candy canes from last year? No doubt Walmart will be getting new ones in soon. That's almost embarrassing that I have a whole box of them.

Blessings,
Jenni

Painting a Teddy Bear Cookie

2011-09-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well I'm pretty certain that I'm officially hooked on painting fondant. Wow is this ever fun! I've always loved to paint and to be able to put that together with cookies (which I LOVE)-now that's way cool!

Here's a recent teddy bear cookie that I painted and put in my daughter's lunch this week. She loved it! Yeah!

Since I'm really learning how to do this, I'm making myself start small with store bought cookies and frosting but my mind is swirling with the possibilities.

Last weekend I bought a ton of Americolor food coloring gels. I love how I can just squeeze it out instead of the Wilton brand where I had to get the coloring out with a toothpick. I've had several mishaps with flinging color out of those things.

Generally I work on my creative projects right before my kids get home from school and because I'm trying to rush, that's probably why I have had so many messy "issues" with toothpick flinging paint colors.

There is definitely a learning curve to painting on fondant and I feel like such a newbie here but right now, it's just too much fun to stop anytime soon unless......my kids get tired of cookies. Ha! Ha!

I would sure love any tips on working with fondant if anyone has any to share or helpful links to direct me to.

Also, has anyone ever mixed flavors into fondant?

The weather is suppose to be cooling down after today so that will hopefully make for a nice Labor Day. I hope yours is a great one!

Blessings,
Jenni

Apple Pancakes for the end of Summer

2011-09-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

I'm back tracking today.....For the first day of school I wanted to try a new recipe, one that would add a nice cinnamon apple flavor to my favorite Krusteaz pancake mix.

This recipe didn't work well for art pancakes so I just gave up on that idea. The batter was just too apple chunky and kept clogging up the squirt bottlles.

But, we all enjoyed this recipe (even my picky boy). You can view it HERE.

I added melted strawberry marshmallows in between the pancake layers. This really tasted delicious and there was no need for syrup.

May I confuse you a bit and show you the rest of what we did this summer (which has nothing to do with apple pancakes)?

This summer I bought a new pretty embroidered skirt for my daughter's first day of school. I love making her hairbows but I didn't have one that really went with her new outfit so I decided to make a new matching one.

Here's the new hairbow next to her embroidered skirt. I painted the panda because of her fascination with them lately.

I got into making hairbows several years ago as a fun project that my daughter and I did together. That was how I started....now I have a huge bin full of them. Making them is a great way for me to unwind.

My daughter made endless art this summer. Her grandpa gave her an art painting book and she LOVED it! I let her use my art table and gave her uninterrupted creative time in the sun room. She thought that was way fun!

Check out this sweet red panda softie that my little girl made. She amazes me with her creativity. Her art inspires me!

So goodbye summer fun.....I miss you (but please summer heat, go away!)

Aren't you ready for the Harvest season?

Blessings,
Jenni

Oreo Chocolate Snowflake

2011-09-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

While looking through my photos today I realized that I had this cookie that I made with the previous ones but I didn't post it. This was created from melted almond bark (using a candy squirt bottle) on a piece of wax paper and then attached to an Oreo cookie.

Should I tell you about the purple almond bark?

Let's just say I learned a lesson with it.

What's the lesson? Well, you can't mix colors with almond bark because it stiffens it up. Too bad. So I couldn't actually design anything with it but I could use it as a base. So if you want color, I'm guessing it's best to use candy melts.

Blessings,
Jenni

Oreo Chocolate Pandas

2011-08-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

When I was first leaning about pancake art, I bought some candy squirt bottles which I tried using for pancakes (Ummm, bad idea!). The opening was so small that my pancake batter just kept clogging it up but I was still able to create an art pancake and was encouraged to keep going (even after the frustrations). It was my first experience feeling like I had some real control over the batter. Anyhow, after that I bought condiment bottles and my candy bottles began collecting dust.....until now.

So what your seeing is purely experimental but often times, that is totally the fun of it.

So I like asking myself, is this even possible?

Will this be a dissaster?

I had no idea but I will say that the combination of the below three ingredients are so rich and so amazingly delicious. If you have a sweet tooth like I do, one cookie will completely satisfy it, just like one piece of fudge does.

Oreos + Almond Bark (Vanilla) +Almond Bark (Chocolate)

I melted one squirt bottle each of the chocolate and vanilla almond bark. I had to keep re-melting them though because they hardened really fast. I made my design on wax paper and let them dry for a few minutes.

I've got to say that this little project was a little messy simply because my almond bark was too big to fit in the squirt bottle so I had to melt it in a separate dish and then transfer it. So melted chocolate did get on my hands and the table (such a shame really because my only choice was to eat it-Uh I'm crying chocolate tears!).

The little pandas dried pretty quickly so I was able to peel them off the wax paper and attach them to the Oreos using more almond bark.

If you don't want to fuss with the design but you want to enjoy the taste, you could just melt the almond bark and dip the Oreos in them. I might do that myself for a quick dessert. Yum!

Blessings,
Jenni

Decorating a Gingerbread Dress

2011-08-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun on my last post HERE with you all as you guessed away with what these pancake pieces created when I put them together! We totally have to do that again!

Did you guess correctly? So many of you were right I was amazed! WooHoo!

My gingerbread tin (for Muffin Tin Mom) this week was based off of a sketch for a painting that I drew several years ago. I LOVE gingerbread.....

creating gingerbread Art

gingerbread Decor

gingerbread candles

eating gingerbread biscotti and cookies

Okay, you've got the idea. Now if only I were brave enough to make a real gingerbread house. I've thought about it for years. Decorating milk cartons with graham crackers doesn't count right?! That I can check off my "completed" list. Ha! Ha!

I was short on time when I was making theses pancakes and I wish that I could have added more details but the good news is that I got them done in time for an after school snack.

Inside my muffin tin are cut up apples and some yogurt covered raisins.

I gave the girly gingerbread a heart in her hand to represent *Love* and she looks like she's reaching up as high as she can. I used this to introduce the Bible verse that I'm teaching my kids:

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

Psalm 103:11 NIV

This verse really spoke to me this week while I was reading my Bible. Wow. To be loved so greatly by the God of everything, is so amazing! You are loved. I am loved. Thank you Lord for loving us that much!

Hello candy corn......you are totally about to be eaten so watch out!

Don't you just love candy corn season? Now that it's sort of approaching fall, I noticed that our Walmart is getting out their pumpkin candy (you know, the kind that tastes like candy corn).

Well, I warned that candy corn and yep, it was the first to go....surprise, surprise. And I'm not exactly the guilty one, but there is a little hand in the photo who probably is.

I think candy corn tastes like very sweet honey. Is that strange? Maybe it's just me.

Blessings,
Jenni

What do You think these are?

2011-08-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

My pancake pieces are laying flat all jumbled together...

ready and waiting to be assembled...

It's time for some guessing fun! So the question is...what do you think these pancake pieces will make when I put them together?

Were you concerned also?

2011-08-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

Things aren't always what they seem.....

Trickery is in full force at my house........

--My husband was tricked

--My kids were not (hmmm?)

What's the deal? Edible paint is what I mean. My husband was very concerned when he saw these cookies and just stared at them for a second because he thought that I had used my actual fine art paints. Oh no. Not so!

Lately I've been intrigued by the idea of decorating food with edible paint. I totally had to give it a try.

So to make it easy on myself, I bought sugar cookies at Walmart. They were soft, and had a nice sugary flavor with a hint of lemon. I also bought a whipped, butter cream frosting. Delicious!

I rolled out fondant using a little bit of powdered sugar to prevent sticking and cut them out with the end of a drinking glass. I then attached the fondant to the cookie using the butter cream frosting to keep it in place.

You can use Wilton's food coloring paste with a little bit of water for the paint color. I bought a new paintbrush that I washed before using, just in case.

The paint works somewhat similar to traditional watercolor paints. However, I noticed that the food colorings didn't mix very well. For example, I couldn't mix yellow and blue to get a nice green. Nope, not happening. Maybe a muddy greenish brown, but not green.

You have to wait a few minutes to let the first layer of color dry a bit before adding some shading. That's not a big deal since I just worked on the other cookies while waiting.

When I was finished, I let the paint on the cookies dry for several hours on the counter.

I think this is a project that kids would enjoy too!

I've seen some other really cool edible coloring projects lately. Check out how Meaghan uses food markers to make super cute marshmallows HERE

Blessings,
Jenni

Minature Panda Pancakes

2011-08-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Taste and see that the Lord is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8 NIV

I love miniature pancakes! They are a little challenging because of their tiny size, but they are just so cute! Here's some tiny Pandas that I made for my kids. I'm enjoying my new Wilton black food coloring!

The pandas are made completely out of pancakes...even the black eyes which were itty bitty.

The bottom little guy looks a little worried. Perhaps he knows he's about the get eaten...Hmm?

Has anybody ever tried making birthday cake pancakes? I've seen several recipes online and I'm interested in giving them a try to see how they work for art pancakes. HERE is the recipe I'm thinking about trying. They looks sooooo delicious don't ya think?

Blessings,

Jenni

Watermelon Pancakes for Your Child's Lunchbox

2011-08-16T01:31:00.000-07:00

Just in case you didn't see my watermelon tutorial over at Domesticated I'm sharing it here on my blog. I made these for my daughter to take in her lunchbox last year and since school will be starting soon, you too can pack them in your child's lunch. You might like to make some extra for their school friends too, who will love them also!

This recipe serves about 4 people and the mini watermelon pancakes in this photo are 2”x2” (the wedge) and 3”x1 ½ “(wide slice). If you are packing them in lunches, I suggest wrapping them individually with plastic wrap. You can make the pancakes ahead of time, freeze them and reheat them in the microwave as needed. Wait to sandwich them with the strawberry cream cheese and decorate them with the mini chocolate chips until you are ready to pack them in your child's lunch or eat them.

Griddle or large skillet

Pam Cooking Spray

Large mixing bowl

Water

Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix (the just add water mix)

Electric mixer

Three Condiment Squirt Bottles (can be found at Walmart)

red and green food coloring

Paper Towels

Spatula

Spoons for mixing

Miniature chocolate chips

Measuring Cup

Toothpicks

Strawberry Cream cheese (for the sandwich filling and this can be bought at Walmart)

Mixing cups

Get out your large bowl and stir with a spoon 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp of pancake mix with ¾ cup of water. You want your batter thick enough to “draw” with but not too much where it wont squeeze out of the squirt bottle (you can add more pancake mix if it's too runny). Grab your electric mixer and stir until it's well blended. If you have too many lumps, they will clog up your squirt bottle. Divide up your batter into three cups. Refer to the above squirt bottle graphic for a rough idea on how much pancake batter should be in each squirt bottle. The green color needs 6 drops of food coloring, the red needs 13 drops of food coloring and the white doesn't have any coloring in it. Pour the batter slowly into the squirt bottles making sure to keep paper towels handy for any drips.

Spray your griddle with cooking spray but do not turn it on yet. Keep toothpicks nearby to release any clogs in the squirt bottles.

Step One: For the wide slice, draw the Watermelon rind with the green batter. Because these are so small, I suggest making several of them at the same time.

Step Two: Draw a second watermelon rind line with the white batter.

Step Three: Draw the watermelon top with the red batter.

Step Four: For the watermelon wedge, draw the rind with the green batter. Again, since these are so small, I suggest making several of them at the same time.

Step Five: Draw a second rind line with the white batter.

Step Six: Complete the watermelon wedge shape with the red batter.

Step Seven and Eight: Turn on your griddle to the lowest heat setting (about 200 degrees) and let the outlines cook. Wait until they seemed puffed up before continuing. These cooked outlines keep the batter from spreading out so that the shape stays in place. Now turn off your griddle.

Step Nine: Fill in the wedge with the red batter. Turn your griddle back on to 200 degrees and wait to flip it until the pancake looks bubbly and looses most of it's shine.

Step Ten: Fill in the watermelon wide slice with the red batter and wait to flip it until the batter is bubbly and looks mostly cooked. If you plan on making more watermelons, turn off your griddle and start at step one again but wipe down your griddle with a paper towel and respray your griddle with cooking spray when it has cooled slightly.

Step Eleven and Twelve: Let the mini watermelons cool a little bit and then make them into sandwiches using strawberry cream cheese as a filling. Decorate them with mini chocolate chips.

Happy lunchbox packing!

Jenni

FREE Back to School Pancake Tutorial

2011-08-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to be featured this week at Amy's awesome site with my Back to School Book Worm Pancakes! Thanks Amy! You can check out my free downloadable pancake art tutorial HERE
And...be sure to check out Amy's blog HERE...it's full of fun, ispirational ideas!

My daughter helped me brainstorm ideas for these and I've been enjoying showing her my sketches and talking about art with her. I know I'm her Mom, but she seriously has great ideas!

My poor kids had to wait....and wait....and wait while I took about a thousand photos of these pancakes just in case, before they could eat them. I was just so afraid I wouldn't get some good photos (you know how that goes right?). I finally delivered these pancake pops to my kids while they were playing outside. I had to snap this above photo real quick before my son ate this. He was worn out of waiting-Ha! Ha!

If you want to make these ahead of time and freeze them you totally can. I do this all the time! Your kids will never know. Freeze the pancakes after they have cooled down slightly but don't wait too long or you'll loose some of the fresh flavor. Just don't had the chocolate chips until right before serving them. HERE is a post that I wrote with a little more info on freezing pancakes (at the end of the post).

So, I'd love to know how this goes if you make these. Did it work for you? Do you have any questions? If you do make these I'd love to share them so send me your link!

Blessings,
Jenni

Smart Little Pig with Bricks Softie

2011-08-13T01:11:00.000-07:00

I John 3:18 NIV

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

This is the last pig softie in my Three Little Pigs series. It's funny because I actually drew this little smarty first but I ended up painting him last.

Here's a few in progress photos.

I finished painting the pig in this photo and my stuffed Rockabye Giraffe is checking out my handy work. If you didn't see my post on making my Giraffe, you can check it out HERE.

I'm enjoying my colorful pigs sitting on the kitchen counter. They make me smile, especially the pig with the sticks who accidentally took the baby birds and the nest. My son loves that one the best. I wish that I would have put a base on the bottom of that one so that it could stand up on it's own but I learned and did that with the other ones.

Blessings,

Jenni

Panda Bear Pancakes

2011-08-08T02:16:00.000-07:00

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear...

Psalm 46:1-2 NIV

Since Pandas have been such a hit over at our house with my daughter, I wanted to give one a try.

This panda was the first time I tried Wilton's food coloring for the black and red. I was really pleased with them. In the past when I've used the Walmart brand of coloring, it takes forever to mix enough coloring in to get a dull black color so the Wilton colors were such a nice change!

Lets back up to the starting point with my sketch which I kept nearby as reference.

I've got the outlines drawn in this step.

The outlines have cooked at this point and I'm quickly filling them in.

Blessings,
Jenni

Santa is Confused

2011-08-03T01:39:00.000-07:00

Santa is a little bit confused....he left trains hanging on our Christmas stocking hangers from the fireplace mantle. It's summer still right?

Okay, this was just waaaay too cute not to post. My son very enthusiastically pretended to be Santa (with the voice and everything), and hung these on our mantle. He was so excited to tell me about it. Ahhh...so cute!

Have yourself a "think outside the box" kind of day!

Blessings,
Jenni

Colorful Whoopie Cookies

2011-07-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

James 4:8 NIV

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

The above photo is my colorful version of a whoopie cookie (sort of). Actually it's just colorful cookie dough sprinkled with large sugar sprinkles and sandwiched together with frosting. Yum!

The first time I had a real whoopie cookie was years ago in Lancaster, Pennsylvania made by the Amish. It was so delicious and definitely worth buying if your ever in Amish country.

Blessings,
Jenni

Say Hello to my Pig and the Straw Softie

2011-07-25T01:28:00.000-07:00

My second little pig softie is finally finished and sitting next to my first, Pig with the Sticks softie (based on the three little pigs story). This project started first with my pig pancake...did you see that one? If you want, you can check it out here. I made sure to create a base on this one so that it could stand up and not have to be leaning against something else.

Here's a close up of the little flower on her hat that I sewed. A few years ago I started learning how to make hairbows for my daughter so I used some of those techniques on this flower.

My softies have met each other and they are happily sitting on the kitchen counter next to each other. They might even share tips on how to get the wolf to stop following them. I think they better wait for the pig with the bricks to be made for the best tips though.

Say hello to the tiny mouse at the corner who was feeling slightly left out.

Here's a little sneak peak at my 3rd pig softie which is coming right along.

Blessings,

Jenni

Hand Painted Panda Purse

2011-07-20T01:27:00.000-07:00

I John 5:3 NIV

This is love for God: to obey his commands.

I've been reading out of the book of Joshua lately and how under Joshua's leadership, the Lord gave victory to the Israelites in successfully conquering 31 kings (as of Joshua 12:24). Wow! That's really amazing but they needed to be obedient to the Lord in order to walk in his blessings and victories. Obedience is extremely important to the Lord and not only in our daily walk but in our thoughts too.

2 Corinthians 10: 5

...we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

So that's what's been on my mind lately. Now about this new purse. I like small purses because I can wear them constantly without putting them down and forgetting about them. So when I saw that Hobby Lobby sold these small purses, all ready to decorate, I snatched two up. My daughter wanted one of them and she ended up making hers first. While I was still thinking about how to decorate mine, my daughter inspired me with hers.

I sooo LOVE hers! It's playful, whimsical and full of happy sweetness. She's been very interested in learning about world cultures lately, especially China. My husband visited China a while back and bought my daughter a Panda Bear stuffed animal back so that was the inspiration for her purse.

My purse in progress......

This is the panda bear stuffed animal that started this theme.

Princess Castle Pancake

2011-07-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

We've had quite a few little princess things in our house over the years, and still do. Several years ago I created a large Tinkerbell for my daughter's wall out of foam, cardboard paint and plaster. It was quite a hodgepodge of materials, but it turned out okay. She was just a little girl at the time and loved to pick at it when I wasn't looking! It lasted longer than I thought it would though. I wonder if she even remembers it anymore?
Now that she is older, I would like to make her some new wall art but I just haven't decided on what to make yet. But that's another day....

What's the largest thing you've made for your child?

Blessings,
Jenni

Coming Up....for your little Princess

2011-07-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a new Princess Castle pancake tutorial right now and I'm hoping to get it up next.

Because I'm such a visual person, I'm pretty reliant on my sketches as a starting point. Even if I have all the steps worked out in my head, I still tend to need my sketch nearby as I make pancakes. Often times I don't stick completely to my sketches but it's nice to have them close by to glance at. You could call my sketchbook a visual crutch I suppose.

I'm like this with sticky notes too...I've got to have my little reminders all over the kitchen and by our garage door. It's not that I don't remember things really, it's just that I like to "see" what's coming up.

Is your house filled with sticky notes too?

Blessings,
Jenni

Coffee, Gingerbread Biscotti and a Paintbrush

2011-07-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Summertime brings tons of beautiful Queen Anne's Lace flowers in the field behind our house. They are so dainty and pretty!

Now that the fourth of July is over, it's seems like I'm seeing more and more back-to-school things. Summer is just flying by so fast! I got up early this morning to have some quiet time to paint and it went something like this...

5am
Roll out of bed and wonder why in the world I'm making myself get up? You'll be glad you did (I tell myself)

5:30am
I've had some coffee but my eyes are still blurry, the sun is coming up and I'm still wondering why I got up?

6am
It's pretty light out now, I'm starting to wake up after drinking more coffee, eating a gingerbread biscotti and I'm enjoy painting. It's quiet so I have time to pray while I'm painting. I am feeling a little bit frustrated with my new paint brush which just wont come to a point and its making painting a challenge. So, I switch to my old one for awhile

7am
I'm fully awake now, getting in my paint groove and I'm glad that I got up....especially since my kids all decided to sleep in! I've had time to paint, think and pray without interruptions. What a treat! I think I'll do this again tomorrow.

Blessings,

Jenni

Rocketship Pancake Dippers

2011-07-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

My son had fun with this one and I saw him running through the kitchen with the rocket pancake pretending to make it blast off.

I put away my fourth of July decorations this week and pretty soon I'll get out our back to school wreath. It looks like it's still in great shape so I won't need to make a new one just yet. Summer is just speeding on so fast!

I'm working on sketches for pancake tutorial ideas for the fall and Christmas. Have any ideas?

Linking up to:
http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/
http://www.iheartnaptime.net

Blessings,
Jenni

Another Rocketship

2011-07-05T01:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a little sketch for a new pancake tutorial that I've been working on. This is the second time I've made rocket ship pancakes. If you didn't see my last one, check it out HERE.

These pancakes will be much simpler than the last ones I made but they will be just as fun! So that will be coming up soon.

I want to thank these great blogs for featuring my pancakes! Thank you so much...it's meant a lot to me!
http://todayscreativeblog.net/
http://www.livinglocurto.com/

Blessings,
Jenni

Happy Fourth of July!

2011-07-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,

and has made us to be a kingdom and priests

to serve his God and Father-

to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Revelation 1:5-6 NIV

Happy Fourth of July holiday! It's a great day to be thankful and celebrate our Freedom to.....

Worship

the Lord freely

Dream

freely

Hope

freely

I'm working on painting a new three little pig softie. I guess they are really more like artsy stuffed pillows. So this is the little pig that made the straw house. My daughter was really wanting me to paint this one next because I was making it a girl.

Just like my last softie, this one is painted on muslin as well. I'm really enjoying painting these!

I'm just about done painting this and I'm excited to get it put together and stuffed!

Happy Celebrations,
Jenni

Beauty in the Unexpected

2011-06-28T01:06:00.000-07:00

Messes can be.................

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L, so..............

Now that your convinced how pretty the messes at my house really are, would you like to be inspired and come help me pick them up??Any offers? Hee! Hee!

Have a happy day my friends!

Jenni

Introducing my new little Pig Softie!

2011-06-24T01:31:00.000-07:00

I finished my little pig softie and now he's happily keeping me company on my kitchen counter! I had to move my last rockabye giraffe softie to my desk to make room for this little guy. I'm still planning on making all three little pigs but that might be too ambitious so we'll see.

So let me back up a bit and at this stage I had finished painting my softie and it was cut out, put together and I was in the process of stuffing it.

I felt that it needed a little embellishment so in this photo I'm working on creating a sunflower out of ribbon.

One happy little ribbon sunflower all done!

Here he is surrounded by my paints just before I moved him to the kitchen. My kids have been begging for him so I let them hold it for a few minutes each, making sure that little yogurt covered hands didn't embellish him any more! Now I think of my softie as "art" and my kids think of him as a toy so I'm not sure how "safe" he is on the counter! Hee! Hee!

Anyhow, because all my kids wanted my little softie for themselves, I've been thinking about the possibility of printing off fabric panels to basically put together several softie copies. Next time I'll scan in my painting before I cut up the muslin fabric but does anyone know a great place to print your designs on fabric?

Linking up to:
niftythriftythings.blogspot.com

Blessings,
Jenni

In Progress...An artsy Little Pig Softie

2011-06-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

Keep your lives free from the love of money

and be content with what you have,

because God has said,

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5 NIV

This verse has really been speaking to me this week because as artists, our careers are really uncertain. I think it's too easy to look at other artists and wonder if I'll ever achieve what they've achieved....and even wonder why I haven't yet (and then question myself in the process)...but the Lord knows, he's in charge and he cares. I just need to remember that and to be content with where I'm at with my art. If you really think about it, your happiness is a choice in many ways. You can wake up in the morning and stress about the day or grumble about how early the kids got up (okay I'm speaking to myself seriously), or you can start the day praising the Lord and choosing to do so no matter what comes up in the day. I think that this kind of outlook not only helps you feel better, it's pleasing to God too. Alright, I'm going to work more on this (Lord help me!).

Okay onto this new project here...I've been using the same sketches from my recent pig pancakes to paint this pig on muslin fabric to create into a cute little artsy softie. It's fun to see my sketches take form in all sorts of ways (ie pancakes, paintings, softies....). My Mom recently told me that my late grandma used to enjoy painting on muslin and making them into dolls. So maybe that's who I got this enjoyment from.

So here's my little guy all painted and ready to be cut out and made into a softie. I'll show you the finished product soon so stay tuned!

Have yourself a happy day in the Lord!

Blessings,

Jenni

A Little Pig and the Brick House Pancakes

2011-06-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

For no one

can lay any foundation

other than the one already laid,

which is Jesus Christ.

I Cor. 3:11 NIV

I'm in a new summer phase now with my pancakes because beforehand my kids were in school and weren't able to suggest any ideas while I was making them (even though they sometimes had requests) but now that has all changed. My daughter watched over my shoulder as I made my muffin tin for this week and she was pretty insistent that I make the pig a brick house (who is holding bricks if you can't tell). So, after giving it some thought on execution, I made her one and I'm glad that I took her creative advice!

The three little pigs story is mostly about creating a firm foundation.....which will be great for teaching my kids how we need to build our lives on a solid foundation in Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus,

the author and perfector of our faith,

who for the joy set before him endured the cross,

scorning its shame,

and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 NIV

My muffin tin has oranges and strawberries in it.

The little pig's eyes are made from mini white pancakes and chocolate chips.

I almost forgot the chimney, which my daughter reminded me about. Woops! See, if my kids were in school, there wouldn't have been one! It wouldn't be much of a story if the chimney wasn't there because the wolf would just have to stay outside instead of climbing down the chimney and landing in a big cooking pot.

Don't you just love children's book stories?!!! The three little pigs story is such a fun one!

I'm linking up to:
Muffin Tin Mom
Nifty Thrifty things

Blessings,
Jenni

The Three Little Pigs Sketch

2011-06-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

I've been working on all sorts of projects lately and my mind is going in more creative directions than I seem to have time for. But that is a good thing, to feel inspired but I'll have to slow down and chisle away at my lists one baby step at a time. You know what I mean?

I love the whimsical-ness of the Three Little Pigs story although, I would have preferred for all the pigs to have survived and hid out in the brick house. The version I read the other day online had the wolf eating the two pigs from the straw and stick house. So, no, no I don't think I'll retell that version to my kids.

Anyhow, these are a few sketches I'm working on for both pancakes and for more stuffies. I might even make them into painted illustrations, if I don't wear out from the story or get inspired to do something else.

Blessings,
Jenni

July 4th Pinwheel Pancake

2011-06-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

I just decorated for July 4th this week around our house (after I finally took down the Easter decor! LOL!).
It took me such a long time to take down first the Christmas decor, then the Easter decor, so I wonder how long my patriotic decor will stay up? Maybe until Thanksgiving! Hee! Hee!

I just want to take a moment to thank http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/ for the feature this week! A Big thank you!!

On the fourth, our local college has a nice fireworks display that we can see from our driveway and our church hosts the absolute best fireworks I've ever seen about a week before July 4th. Homemade ice cream has been a family tradition on the 4th since I've been a kid and now my kids and I make it. Yum!

How do you usually celebrate the 4th of July?

Blessings,
Jenni

Stuffed Rockabye Giraffe

2011-06-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a week filled with this rockabye giraffe. It started with my art pancakes, then my son drew it, my daughter embroidered it and now I painted and stuffed it! Whew!

I painted the giraffe on inexpensive muslin, cut it out and created a felt backing to it. I stuffed this with beans so that it would be heavy enough to kind of sit up on it's own.

I outlined the painting with glitter glue and attached a ribbon with hot glue to the giraffe's neck. Now that it's all done, my little giraffe is keeping me company on our kitchen counter. I finally took down our Easter decorations so it's nice to have a little whimsy on the counter to replace it.

Linking up to:
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/
http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/
http://www.flamingotoes.com

Blessings,
Jenni

A Rockabye Giraffe Pancake Morning

2011-06-08T01:03:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 10:19 NIV

he who holds his tongue is wise

Instead of art pancake after school snacks, my kids had an art pancake morning breakfast! I stayed up late the night before making these rocking giraffes, froze them and then dethawed the pancakes in the morning. With summer in full force, I'm working on finding time for art pancakes for them and night time seemed to work.

I attached all the pieces together with strawberry cream cheese. The drawing underneath the pancakes I created for my kids. It has our weekly Bible verse on the top and the drawing steps to make a rockabye giraffe if they wanted to draw it.

Whoooop, there goes a nose!

Here are the steps if your kids might like to give it a try. Step number six got enthusiastically colored on! Click on this photo to see it bigger.

Mommy pride is showing through....this is my son's Rockabye Giraffe!

Linking up to:
http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/
http://www.flamingotoes.com/

Blessings,

Jenni

Crafting on the Cheap

2011-06-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

My daughter really loves to sew and this is a skill that I don't know much about. So this summer we are learning together and it's been a great way to spend quality time with her. Just this week, I learned several new stitches! We got a really good sewing book at the library for kids that has really inspired her.

I bought 3 yards of muslin for her, which is really cheap and I did some painting and sewing of my own with it too. I painted my bunny pancake logo on the muslin with inexpensive Acrylic paints. Then I cut it out and sewed it making it a pillow ornament. The whole craft hardly cost me anything and it was really fun!

These are the books we are having fun with this week and the sewing one my daughter is CRAZY about. My daughter and I made a fettuccine recipe in the Paula Deen book and it was delicious!

A little touch of whimsy!
Linking up this week to:
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com

http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com
http://www.iheartnaptime.net/

http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/
http://www.flamingotoes.com/

Blessings,

Jenni

A Mystery

2011-06-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

What does this plant look like to you? I started noticing this plant last year in our front yard and now it's in our backyard and It's a mystery to me. It looks sort of like a cross between a strawberry and a berry because it's so small. It's a pretty little thing though.

Blessings,
Jenni

Happy Birthday Pancake

2011-05-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

I'm having fun with birthday pancakes this afternoon!

Linking to:
iheartnaptime
flamingotoes
niftythriftythings

Blessings,

Jenni

A Swinging Sheep Art Pancake

2011-05-28T01:11:00.000-07:00

I am the good shepherd;

I know my sheep and my sheep know me

-just as the Father knows me and I know the Father

-and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10:14-15 NIV

I decided to try something new by using a picture frame for my pancake background with a coordinating decorative paper. My daughter told me that she liked it this way but missed the extra snacks that I always include when I decorate with pancakes around a muffin tin. So I cut up some apples to go with this snack and she liked that.

There were a lot of pieces to this pancake and this photo is when I first started out with the sheep.

The picture frame was pretty large to create pancakes around and the tree needed to be tall enough to cover the left side of the picture frame. So that was pretty tall and it took up a large portion of my griddle. I was afraid to flip it and break the branches. I cooked the tree trunk on a higher heat to make it sturdier to flip and it worked! No limbs were broken.Yeah!

One of the trickiest peices to this pancake collage was the rope for the swing. It wanted to bend a certain way and I had to keep adjusting it so that it would stop knocking over the other pieces. It was made out of very skinny pancake batter.

The apples and the flowers were pretty tiny so they took some extra concentration.

Everything in this pancake collage is made out of pancakes except for the frame, the decorative paper and the sheep's eyes. I mixed up an extra large amount of pancake mix but I still ran out of green batter right at the end. Whew!

Blessings,
Jenni

Classroom Ice Cream Cone Treats

2011-05-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

My daughter wanted me to bring in art pancakes for her class this week for show and tell. That meant making about 30 pancakes!

I tried to convince her that maybe I could just make some special ones for her friends to pass out at lunch time but, no, she just couldn't be swayed. So...I was off to make 30 art pancakes but I love making them anyhow, so I enjoyed it.

At first she wanted me to make daisy flowers but I told her that boys might not like that so we decided on ice cream cones.

I used my family basic homemade pancake recipe (listed above on my top bar) and it made about 33 small pancakes total but I had to thin out the batter at one point because I was for sure I would run out. I was really praying that I would have enough and I did. Whew!

Here she is holding a few of them before I wrapped them up.

This is about the time that I realized that I would run out of batter if I didn't thin it out with milk.

My kids were all home from school running around while I was trying to individually wrap up these pancakes with plastic wrap. That was a little challenging! It's best to freeze pancakes as soon as they cool off to keep the taste as fresh as possible. I then wrapped then in tin foil and put them in a freezer bag before freezing them over night. I sent them off with my daughter the next day and she said that the kids enjoyed them! Yeah!

Linking up to:
I Heart Naptime
flamingotoes

Blessings,
Jenni

Celebrate Summer!

2011-05-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

They will celebrate your abundant goodness

and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and rich in love.

Psalm 145:7-8 NIV

School is just about out for both of my kids and Summer is almost here! Yeah! Happy Summer!

I was recently asked... if it's possible to use day old batter to make pancakes so this post is dedicated to answering that question. Now I have used day old batter before but it is definitely a challenge because it's a little runny the next day. I'm not crazy about the taste honestly but I've tested it on several kids and I don't think they seemed to notice.

Usually when/or if I pre-mix my batter, I do it an hour or so before I make the pancakes and leave it on the counter until I get an uninterrupted moment to make them (I wouldn't do this with my homemade recipe that contains eggs though, just the pre mixed, add water kind). But anyhow, this post is dedicated to using day-old batter, not one-hour-old batter so let's get started!

So in this photo I started with freshly made batter that I used and had leftovers of. Before storing these squirt bottles in the refrigerator, take off the lid. Rinse the batter off the lid under the sink, then screw it back on. Put the tiny cap on the tip of the squirt bottle on to keep it as fresh as possible and store the bottles in the refrigerator over night.

The following day, take your bottles out of the refrigerator just before you need them. They need to be as cold as possible because the warmer the batter gets, the runnier it will be so don't leave them on the counter for too long. Take off the lids and stir each bottle with a knife. Put the lids back on.

I've discovered that with day old batter it's best to start with a warm griddle to prevent the runny batter from spreading too much. When I use fresh batter, I always start with a cold griddle so it works opposite with old batter.

I had a lot of day old batter left to use up!

This rose and the embellishments (including the dots) are made entirely out of day old batter. Though the runny consistency makes it challenging, it's still workable.

In conclusion, if you are wanting to save time on making pancakes for a special event, I would suggest creating them the day before with fresh batter and then freezing them after they've cooled off.

If you have any questions your wondering about, please let me know and I'll be happy to answer them.

Blessings,
Jenni

Summer Schedules

2011-05-23T01:22:00.000-07:00

A rose and little flowers picked by my son for me

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the lord;

my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 84: 1-2 NIV

My son is out of school for the summer and my daughter is just about to join him. Every time summer rolls around, I do the same thing. I come up with a "schedule" that I hope to follow but usually don't after the first week. This time, I'm only coming up with a tentative one instead of a minute-by-minute schedule. I'm not a real scheduled person but I always want to be. I think my kids like structure but they certainly don't want to follow a schedule without some resistance.

So last summer part of my schedule included setting my alarm for 5:15am so that I could have some quiet art time to paint. I've never been a morning person and this was a challenge at first...especially because I don't like to go to bed early either. But, with all my kids home, I just found that I never knew if I would have any free time during the day and I was too tired at night to do much of anything. Anyhow, I used to have two rabbits that would come over to my window early in the morning to visit me. I love rabbits and this was such a nice treat!

I snapped this above photo of a new little rabbit that visited our back porch this week and it reminded me of my early morning rabbit friends from last summer.

And....we had a deer that visited us in our back yard field this week. I took this photo while the deer just stood in our burn pile watching me. I think the deer stuck around for several hours because I kept seeing it around here and there all afternoon. Pretty cool!

On a totally different note, one thing that I just LOVE is when people send me links or photos to the pancake art creations they've made. So....I want to start sharing those with you! If you have a link to a blog post of pancake art that you've made, let me know so that I can share it!

Angel Street Mom
Memories By Anna Dawn
A Bushel and a Peck

Blessings,
Jenni

Pancakes for Boys

2011-05-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

I've been busy creating several boyish pancakes lately and this Train Engine, Car and Caboose is one that I just finished up. My son and his friends love trains so I think this was a fun one for them.

A Monster Truck Pancake

I showed my son and his friends how to draw this monster truck using the steps that I created for the pancake tutorial. The boys enjoyed drawing their pictures after they ate their pancakes. I noticed that my son woke up the next day and drew another monster truck. I know I'm his mama, but I think he did a great job and I was honestly surprised because he usually just draws smiley faces....except last Saturday when he drew a picture of a frown face and slid the picture under my door to let me know that he didn't like it that I was sleeping in! Hee! Hee!

A Tractor Pancake

Here's my little mini sketch that I drew before creating the tractor pancake.

Blessings,

Jenni

Pancake Art Teacher Gift Basket

2011-05-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Summer is on it's way and I've been busy putting together this Pancake Art gift basket for my son's teacher as a thank you gift for her. This is the second time I've ever put one of these together and the first one was for my daughter's teacher. If you are curious and didn't see my my first one, you can see it HERE. I visited my son's school this past winter and did a demo for his class on art pancakes and then the kids ate them for snack. I think his teacher enjoyed our visit so I thought that she might like to have some of the supplies to make them too. I hope she likes it!

I think art pancake demonstrations is something that I might do more of and I'm considering putting together workshops on them in the future. It's just so much fun!

My logo serves as a gift tag

These gift baskets are super easy to put together and if you have purchased any of my tutorials, you can easily print one off and include it in the basket. This makes for a fun and unique way to say Thank You! Inside my gift basket is:

My Owl Dippers Pancake Tutorial
My Teddy Bear Picnic Pancake Tutorial
two bags of mini chocolate chips
food coloring
spatula
pancake mix
three squirt bottles

I made the "Thanks" banner for the basket by printing off the word on cardstock, cutting it out and hot gluing the letters to a white foam sheet. Then I just cut the words out of the foam sheet, punched a hole in it and strung it with ribbon. So simple!

Blessings,
Jenni

Bee Cool Art Pancakes

2011-05-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

We are the clay,

you are the potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8 NIV

It was a very tight squeeze to get my art pancakes for Muffin Tin done this week. I think I must have spent too much time mixing up colors, daydreaming and watching the Jetson's movie on Netflix which was playing on the tv in the background. Anyhow, by the time I had all my colors mixed up, it was getting close for my kids to come home from school so I had to make pancakes extra fast!

Also, thank you so much for all the feedback I received this week on the sketch for this. It was really awesome to bounce ideas around like that to get my mind thinking!! I got my title this week, "Bee Cool" from Sonoma Bento. Thanks!

Because I was in a time crunch, I only have this in-progress photo. The pineapples were so tiny that I had to use a toothpick to draw the inside lines.

Our theme this week is all about "bee-ing cool" to God. My daughter was upset this week about the fact that she is the only one in her class who doesn't wear jeans. Well, she has them but they aren't comfortable to her so she wears softer pants. So we talked about how we don't have to be like everyone else and that the Lord made us all special just the way he made us and we are cool to him!

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

Psalm 139:13-15

My kids and I also talked about how not only are we special to God, but he gave us all special gifts to use for his kingdom.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

Romans 12: 4-6

My muffin tin has pineapples with marshino cherries inside. I was going so fast that I just grabbed the pineapple and afterwards, I realized that it worked well with the tropcial theme. My picky eater son actually ate a pineapple! I also have yogurt covered raisins.

God LOVES you!

You are made UNIQUE by the master potter!

Since this was a tropical theme, I gave my kids faux flower leis while they ate and listened to our Bible reading and discussion. My son played around with the pancake pieces and pineapple and made this.

My kids have now requested pancakes with a tropical bird holding a pineapple with a cruise boat. Any ideas on how to combine these?

Blessings,

Jenni

Little Hands

2011-05-14T03:20:00.000-07:00

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

Psalm 63:3-4 NIV

My Little People toys from childhood made such adorable finger puppets on such a cutesy little hand! It's fun to see my kids enjoying the toys I played with so much as a child. I want to thank several websites for featuring my art this week and also for all of you who stop by and say hello. It has meant so much to me!
Tastespotting
Edible craft gossip
Celebrations and Holidays

Blessings,
Jenni

Advice?

2011-05-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

I could use some advice today because I'm feeling a little stumped. Originally I was thinking about creating tropical themed pancakes with this little penquin as the main focal point for snack this week but my son told me that he wanted a bee. My son is probably my biggest pancake fan out of my kids because pancakes are one of his favorite foods but my daughter might argue that. I don't know.

Anyhow, yesterday my son grabbed a bee that was sitting on a dandelion and much to his surprise, he was stung! For him this is a really BIG deal! He's been talking about it quite it a bit since then and so that's why he asked for a bee pancake.

So, now I have this penguin sketch that I drew that I would like to combine somehow with the bee idea for a pancake but it's leaving me a little stumped.

Do you have any ideas?

Blessings,
Jenni

Blessings on this Mother's Day!

2011-05-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer. I Peter 3:12 NIV

Before I became a Mom, I thought that if I had children, they would just play quietly next to me and that they would just entertain themselves. I just don't know where I got this notion but it's pretty funny to think back on now! Children are a lot of work but they are so worth it! One of my many favorite things about motherhood is watching my children discover new things. So, here is a photo of my daughter seeing the very first ladybug of the season.

I love the above verse because as Moms, we are in constant need of the Lord's wisdom in raising our children. Isn't it amazing that the Lord really cares about us and hears our prayers!

Happy Mother's Day my Friends!

Jenni

a Quick Hello

2011-05-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

I'm just stopping in to say a quick "Hello." We've got roofers busy pounding away today taking our shingles off and I can hardly think of anything else. I tried blasting loud music but that didn't drown out the sound much. This is an exciting day for the kids though. They are loving watching the pieces fly off the roof.

Blessings,
Jenni

Requested Rocket Ship and Sheep Pancake

2011-05-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life... Philippians 2:14-16 NIV

Just in case you didn't see my last post, my son requested a rocket ship pancake with a sheep in it so I made this into my Muffin Tin for the week. While my kids ate their rocket ship snack, we talked about the above Bible verse and how we need to be good examples for Christ and part of that is having a positive spirit and to work on not arguing. A positive spirit starts in our hearts first and is reflected in our actions....a good reminder for me too! There are so many things to be thankful for! Praise the Lord!

So lets back up some. I mixed up seven colors this week for my pancakes which is more than I like to do but I just couldn't execute my sketch if I didn't. So seven colors it is!

There are quite a few tiny layers in this rocket ship and sheep. The sheep's white eyes, ears, nose and arm are all separate layers. The buttons on the rocket ship and he embellishments are also layers. The only candy on this is the mini chocolate chips in the sheep's eyes. I've always liked working on art projects in layers so this is right up my alley!

Inside my muffin tin this week is cut up apples and yogurt covered raisons, some of my picky eater's favorites foods.The stars and the moon have toothpicks cooked into them so that I could stick them into the apples underneath the blue swirls.

One last thing, I've added a *custom* pancake tutorial in my shop if you would like a specific themed tutorial then this is a fun option for you!

Now, I wonder what kind of pancakes my kids will want next!

Blessings,
Jenni

Rocket Ship Pancake Coming Up

2011-04-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's Friday already! Today we are getting the supplies for our new roof that should be put on next week so there's a lot of banging around up there. I heard my son comment on the racket.

My kids are frequently making pancake requests now and my son recently asked for a rocket ship with a sheep inside. At first I wasn't so sure about the sheep and I told him so but he was pretty insistent that it needed a sheep. So, here are a few little sketches I've been coming up with for my rocket ship pancake and the colors needed to mix up for it.

Have a Happy Weekend!

Blessings,
Jenni

New Mini Watermelon PancakeTutorial!

2011-04-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to be featured today as a guest chef at Ucreate Foods! I've created a brand new miniature watermelon pancake Tutorial just in time for summer so go check it out! These bite sized pancakes are super fun packed in school lunches as mini sandwiches stuffed with strawberry cream cheese! Summer Time Watermelon Fun!

Blessings,
Jenni

Little Stories

2011-04-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Grandma sent these cute little stickers in the mail and they ended up being used as finger nail art on my daughter. It was too cute. I just had to take a photo!

I thought I would start sharing a few little stories about me. Hopefully they will be interesting enough to skim through! Hee! Hee!

I'll start off with my Television debut! Wow, that actually sounds pretty prestigious but it wasn't really. We live in a somewhat rural area and our neighborhood water well had gone out. It was actually out for 2 weeks and then we had to boil the water until it was declared clean. So all in all, the water issue lasted for about 5 or 6 weeks. Boiling water for baths was a really big challenge for having kids and my husband and I joined the YMCA so that we could use their showers. I filled up water jugs on a regular basis from a friend's house and we just survived as best as we could.

During the water troubles, we had a news reporter knock on our door looking for people who would do an interview. I think they liked the fact that I had children because it made the whole “no water” issue seem more newsworthy. I was super nervous and I remember repeating the same thing over and over which thankfully they carefully edited out! The amazing thing was, a few weeks later, I was shopping at Walmart and someone recognized me from the news! Isn't that so funny! So that's my little story for the day.

Blessings,

Jenni

It's all about Presentation

2011-04-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

I hope you had a nice Easter! We finally got our Easter eggs colored in the nick of time on Saturday night. My daughter really loves hard boiled eggs so I've been packing them in her lunches this week. My son, my picky eater, did try eating a colored egg but I think he mostly just picked at it. I'm thankful he at least sort of tried it. It's all about presentation.....I don't think he would have ever on his own tried a white, non-colored hard boiled egg.

This is kind of funny, my son likes applesauce and I wanted him to try apple butter on his toast. So I told him it was applesauce jelly and he tried it and liked it! It's amazing to me how just the way something is worded, or presented to a child makes such a difference in whether they will eat it or not. For example, If I make pancakes that look like vegetables, my son wont eat them even though pancakes are one of his favorite foods. Isn't that so funny?!!!

Oh, by the way, I've added a new “sneak preview” page on my top buttons. I'm often working on new pancake tutorials behind the scenes so now you can see what they are even before I get a chance to list them in my shop! Fun!

We seriously had a real bunny in our back yard on Easter morning! That was an awesome treat for everyone!

Blessings,

Jenni

Owl Pancake Dippers

2011-04-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished up with these Owl Pancake Dippers with the lollipop stick cooked right in the batter! These were a hit with my son who really enjoyed dipping them in syrup!

I know I've mentioned this before, but you can make pancakes ahead of time, freeze them and reheat them in the microwave (making sure not to decorate them with mini chocolate chips until your ready to eat them). I've frozen many of my pancakes for my kids and my daughter has even passed out extra ones at school to her friends during lunch time.

It's Been Found!

2011-04-23T01:39:00.000-07:00

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name

under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12 NIV

I totally found it! I found the Easter bunny hiding in our backyard tree but don't worry about it.......

I caught it!

Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen and he LOVES you!

Blessings,
Jenni

A Beautiful Mess

2011-04-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 NIV

My kids are professionals at making royal messes everywhere and I have become a professional at cleaning up after them! I walked into the kitchen the other morning to find that my kids had gotten into an Easter basket, dumped out all the eggs and then left to go make more messes somewhere else. I don't even think they played with the eggs. As I stood there staring at the mess, I realized how beautiful the Easter egg colors looked all over the floor. So I grabbed my camera and took a bunch of photos. This got my kids attention from their professional mess making fun to come see why Mommy was on the floor taking photos. After this, I was noticing beautiful messes all morning!

Blessings,
Jenni

Beauty from the Cross

2011-04-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:9-13 NIV

What a wonderful week to celebrate what Christ did for us! We are forgiven and beautiful in God's eyes because of Christ's sacrifice! I worked on a new pancake technique for roses and that was a fun challenge. The tiny yellow "flowers" are just pancake dots and there are three pancake cross layers. I didn't think about this when I made them, but there were three crosses at the time of Christ's crucifixion (the two robbers on either side of Jesus) and that's really fitting for the three layers of pancake crosses so that's neat!

Since I was experimenting, this is the only in-progress photo that I have. I tried several techniques for making pancake roses, and this is just one of the ways.

I truly hope you have a wonderful week of Easter celebrations!

Blessings,
Jenni

The Start of Easter Week

2011-04-18T01:37:00.000-07:00

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said." Matthew 28:5-6 NIV

I can't believe that it's Easter week already! I am definitely not prepared for it. We haven't colored any eggs and I don't have the kid's Easter baskets ready either but really that doesn't matter. This is the biggest week for Christians and I really want my children to know the true meaning of why we celebrate Easter. So, we read the Bible about Christ's death for our sins and resurrection and I told them how this is such a love story of God for us.

This past weekend we played an Easter game. Do you know that typical one where you have your kids balance an egg on a spoon and walk across the room? My daughter tried all different types of kitchen spoons and eventually gave a teaspoon a try.

On Saturday, we took a drive to a local lake and let the kids run around and throw rocks in the water. Then we went home and grilled some steaks and hot dogs and the kids played outside. These dandelion seeds looked so pretty all glowing in the afternoon sunlight. My son loves picking them and all week he has brought them in the house many times (which I stopped immediately before the seeds could go flying!).

I love how my son is wearing rubber bands on his wrists (I can't say bracelets because that's too girly!).

Blessings,

Jenni

Today was Party Day

2011-04-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have

peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ... Romans 5:1 NIV

I spent some of the afternoon today at my daughter's school celebrating her teacher's birthday. It was cloudy and cold today, which is ironic because I just started putting away our winter clothes yesterday. One of the kids kept showing me their "class pet" which was really just a worm she had brought inside. I'm not sure why she kept showing it to me. Maybe she wanted me to hold it....uh, not today (or ever, thanks!). There was a mom who had brought the kids decorative cookies on sticks as party favors. I totally admire anyone who does this type of cookie art because I know it's very time consuming and involved.

Anyhow, I brought with me the Pancake Art gift basket I had made for my daughter's teacher. I know I talked about this in my last post but here it is finished. I did give her the gift tag that I had made in the last post but I took this photo of a printable tag so that I can easily make more as needed. This gift basket was just so much fun to put together and I definitely plan on giving out more of them as gifts!

Blessings,
Jenni

Teddy Bear Pancake Gift Basket

2011-04-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song: he has become my salvation. Psalm 118:13

My daughter's class is celebrating her teacher's birthday this week with a little party so I've been busy working on putting together a pancake art gift basket for her.

We are having just the nicest weather this week! Praise the Lord! It's been a dark winter which is unusual for this part of the midwest. And speaking of weather, we had a really terrible wind and rain storm on Friday night. It completely woke me up in the middle of the night and around here, if the wind is bad, I'm always concerned that it's a tornado. So I got up and went to our front door to see if I could hear the tornado siren or not. We live in a somewhat rural area so we can't always hear the siren. Anyhow, I didn't hear anything so I went back to sleep but the next day we noticed that the storm had blown over a bunch of our roof's shingles. After some investigation, it's looking like we are going to need a new roof. So that will be going on over the next week at our house.

I went to Walmart on Monday to grocery shop and my kids each got a Walmart sticker at the entrance. I always let them get a sticker but I'll tell ya what, those stickers almost never stay on my kids. At some point while shopping, they often end up on ME! I don't know if it's just way more fun for my kids to see me walk around with a bunch of stickers on my shirt but it pretty much always happens. Please tell me I'm not the only one! Anyhow, it's not too bad as long as I remember to take the stickers off my shirt and not wear them all day while I'm running errands right?!!!

I made the gift tag/ornament using round paper mache ornaments that I bought at Hobby Lobby during Christmas time. I cut up cardboard ears and mouths and hot glued them onto the ornament. The nose is made out of black foam.

I then painted the gift tags and hot glued ribbon on them and put white felt on the ears. I made three of these because I plan on giving a gift basket to my son's teacher too at the end of the year and then I'll have one left over as an extra for later. Well my kids really wanted one so I let them have one to share. I like to have back up gifts handy because you just never know when something last minute will pop up. So I'll need to make more gift tags....an excuse to do more crafting!

Here is what's in the gift basket:
-Large Mixing bowl
-My new Teddy Bear Pancake Tutorial
-Teddy Bear gift tag/ornament
-two squirt bottles
-Pancake Mix
-M&M's for decorating

I hope she likes it! Have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Jenni

Teddy Bear Picnic Pancakes

2011-04-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 NIV

It's official, today my pancake tutorial SHOP is now open! Yeah! I'm working on adding more tutorials so check back often! My Mom is a preschool teacher and they just had a teddy bear picnic party at her school and I thought that sounded like so much fun! Plus picnics are a fun part of summer, which is just around the bend now and I'm looking forward to it. So that is what inspired me to write this new tutorial.

We have tons of dandelions in our yard right now and my son keeps picking them for me. So, I threw some in the picnic basket for these photos. Actually, my kids never ate these teddy bear picnic pancakes because we shared them with our new neighbor kids. It was a fun way to "meet" them!

I also want to take a moment to thank two awesome websites that have featured my pancakes this week and I'm just so very grateful! Thank you so much! Below is my feature but you'll definitely want to surf around their blogs and check out all their other wonderful ideas and features!
http://ucreatefoods.blogspot.com http://ucreatefoods.blogspot.com/2011/04/bunny-pancakes.html
and
http://iheartnaptime.blogspot.com/2011/04/bunny-pancakes-tutorial.html

Blessings,

Jenni

Interviews, Mickey Doily and Swirly things

2011-04-06T02:50:00.000-07:00

I am so thrilled to have recently been interviewed at two really inspiring sites that I know you'll enjoy visiting! Thank you so much!!! You can visit my interviews at:

Cute Everything

Keeping Life Creative

With all the strawberries I have been trying to get rid of (that I talked about recently) I made another glass of strawberries but with bananas added in this one. I made a Mickey doily to dress up this plain glass dish and added pancake swirls to the bowl to make it really fun. You can see the swirls hanging down there.

Here are some of the swirls and the doily cooking on the griddle. The swirls are so easy and they make a great impact to the overall look of the bowl of fruit.....like a pancake fruit party, one bite at a time!

Blessings,
Jenni