Between now and December 20th, the winner of this contest will receive a Limited Edition Giclee of Jennifer's "Girlfriends in Paris".
In the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas, the winner will be the person who is judged to have done the most generous charitable deed in this time period. We will recruit the same esteemed judges as before:
Please email the description of your gift to others to tadd@jennifergarant.com. And, don't be surprised if in the same spirit of giving, many more prizes will be added as we go, because everyone who participates will be a winner with their contributions.
Here is a recipe extraordinaire!! (I must give credit to my pal Laura for this one). It was served for the first time at my annual CHRISTMAS IS FOR CHICKS, CHOCOLATE & CHAMPAGNE PARTY this past December.
Toss all ingredients into a crystal bowl and use your hands to really mix everything up so the apple and chocolate bits are totally covered in cool whip. Lick your fingers to sample the results.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Open can of cresent roll and unroll the dough. Place one triangular piece of cresent roll on a baking sheet or cooking stone.
Put a cocktail weenie in the wide end of the dough triangle; roll the dough around the sausage (you should have one layer of dough covering it completely - leaving the 'toe' end exposed). Taper the other end to look realistic at the base of the toe. Use a knife to score 'knuckles' on the dough in the center.
Place the toes in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. After baking, add a dab of ketchup at the exposed end of the toe and press an almond slice onto the ketcup for the nail.
Melt the chocolate bark for 90 seconds (or longer to melt throughout). Dip each sandwich cracker into the melted chocolate half way and lay on to wax paper to cool.
When the chocolate has hardened, melt the vanilla bark and dip the opposite side, laying the cookies back on the wax paper to cool.
Cut squash in half from stem to bottom. Deseed. Place squash cut side down on pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until outer edge is soft to the touch. Let cool. Use fork to scrape squash from shell.
Saute regular garlic in 1/4 stick margarine. Add cream and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. In another pan, saute roasted garlic, and remaining butter. Add spaghetti squash to this mixture of roasted garlic. Saute in pan and occasionally mix squash to cook more evenly. Then add cream and cheese mixture to roasted garlic and squash. Add more salt & pepper if needed. Serve.
Note: You can add fresh diced tomatoes and parsley for garnish and color. Toss this in at the end prior to seving.
Submit your recipe to Jennifer at info@jennifergarant.com to be posted here on our blog. The person with the most comments will be sent a microslice cutting board. It's that easy!!
Maggie Murphy (40pts)Maggie is the winner of Jennifer's original 22"x30" painting "Swine, Wine, So Fine," mixed media on watercolor paper. Congratulations Maggie, Jeramy (with an "A"), Josh, and Jonah!!
You are the host and Chef of "The Perfect Dinner Party". You pick four well known people (can be anybody, living or not - could be writers, actors, politicians, sports people, astronauts, statesmen, whoever that would make up the perfect dinner party).You are preparing the 4 course dinner and will submit the menu and one recipe as part of the contest. The menu should have something to do with each of your dinner guests. Submit your dinner guests names and their conversation as a script, (i.e., Henry Kissinger replied "blah, blah, blah" to Suzanne Sommer's poignant question) . Each person should say at least 4 things.
"The Perfect Dinner Party" guests should be chosen to ensure an interesting and/or funny dinner conversation. So, submit a 4 course dinner menu (with one recipe), names of guests, and their conversation as a script.
P.S. Our Dinner party would be Winston Churchill, Dana Carvey (as the Church Lady), Cher, and Sylvester Stallone.
Drawers that don't slide right and get hung up... makes me want to yank them right out of the cabinet
Contest Rules:You can comment as many times as you'd like to this post on Jennifer Garant Studios Facebook wall, but have to wait for 3 posts between your posts before you can comment again.
Comment results for Contest #2: Quickfire I on Ryan's coverage of Jennifer Garant's painting "Bad Habits in Venice" are in.
The nun clutching the Bible has a red stain on her dress!! She must have been involved somehow... who would ever suspect her with that innocent get up on, holding the Word of God?! How low does a person have to go to cover up a murder? Someone order a DNA test on that stain, STAT.
We all know that SOMETHING crashed in the desert outside of Roswell, New Mexico that hot afternoon in July 1947. It is quite possible that the extraterrestrial life forms got so fed up with the publicity and alien mockery that their little visit caused that they decided to pick up ship and camp elsewhere. I am banking they choose ‘The City of Light’ to call home. Coincidence that this painting took place in the very same city? And, now we have a murder investigation on our hands. I don’t think so. I have heard that aliens, unlike humans, don’t have to depend on air for survival. And, what better place to lurk and spy on unsuspecting prey than in the Venetian canals themselves. What’s that?! I see one of them now!! Camouflaged on the side of the orange building near the skyline!! Wow, who knew they were capable of changing color in an effort to conceal themselves from their victims. They obviously haven’t mastered their technique, however. I can still see the outline of his green head and limbs. Oh, the horror… Oh, the humanity!! Run for your lives folks… RUN, RUN, RUN!!!!Thanks to all who participated in this round!
The person with the most interesting conspiracy theory or funniest comment in the comment section of Ryan's coverage of Jennifer Garant's painting "Bad Habits in Venice" has a chance to win some points during this challenge. See article links below.
You may not post 2 in a row; you must allow at least five others to post before you can post again. Remember, this is not a contest of who can rack up the most comments... it's the content that counts!
Thanks to everyone who had a chance to participate. The pictures were absolutely priceless!! Everyone did a great job!!
Second Place - Maggie Murphy: Third Place - Robyn Service: The remaining contestants in order of placement:
Challenge Name - "The Royal Tenenbaums" This is one of our favorite movies. If you have not seen it, you should, but that is totally optional! It is a family full of wonderful dysfunctional people.
Contest Participants: We want you to find a character in that movie and do a make-over to look like that character. If you can include more than just yourself to do this, that would be great, but they would have to be a diferent character than you. After you are dressed as one of the characters, you must get a photo in a public place posing as them (i.e., in a restaurant, at a park, etc.) If you have more than two of your family and/or friends do this with you, you will receive an extra point by each judge.
You will be judged on a number of factors including funniest, most true to character, most unusual location for the shot, etc. You will be awarded a score between 1 and 10 if you participate. This is a great chance to increase your point standings.
If you missed this part of Contest #2, there will be plenty more legs to make up the points, some even worth 20 points! So, everyone is still in contention to win a Jennifer Garant original.
Arrange a plate of food to look like something artistic: a face, a Van Gough, an abstract, your dog, etc. Take a picture of the plate and send to info@jennifergarant.com.
4) The person with the most points at the end of the contest will win an original painting by Jennifer.
Note: There will be a total of four big contests and a number of quickfire contests; we will have five unbiased judges to award points for each contest.
Bill has been in the art business for over 20 years, and is currently the Gallery Director of Artevo Corporation in Calgary as well as the Corporate Sales Director.
Sandy is an independent freelance graphic & print designer since 1995. She specializes in small business planning, advertising, menu, and form development. She has an extensive portfolio in menu design for small to medium sized restaurants and has provided print design services to the hospitality, medical and educational fields of business. In 2006, she became a founding designer of the D.A.I.S.I.E Company which began a career in digital graphics and downloadable print products for personal and commercial use. She designs original printable templates and works with digital art from internationally known artists. Her products are now also featured in BELLA Scraps Magazine.
Ryan is the General Manager of French Art Network and Rue Royale Art Partners of New Orleans. With galleries in Carmel by the Sea, California, Santa Fe, New Mexico, New Orleans and Key West, Florida; the company’s family of galleries represents 54 artists from across the globe. With his office in the center of the French Quarter at 541 Royal Street, Ryan has managed to surround himself with some of the most beautiful aspects of New Orleans: its artists. “Artists mold the way we think and live on a daily basis; they are one of society’s most prized possessions."
Ryan has been featured on several commercials for New Orleans Public Access Television, encouraging people to “spread the love” while evacuated for Katrina. An avid participant in local charities, Ryan has managed to raise thousands of dollars to help multiple charities of different venues. He is also the Arts and Culture editor for Neworlean.com, where he writes a weekly column and blog, “Around with Ryan” , featuring what’s good about the art, the artists and the galleries of The Big Easy. He also highlights groups and businesses in New Orleans like, "The Big Easy Roller Girls," in his video segments, showing locals and tourists what to see and do in the city. An artist himself, Ryan centers his work on graphite and ink sketches and collage. Ryan says he is most inspired by his family, “all of them, they are the center of my jokes, my columns, my stories and everything that is me. Even when I want them to… they never go away. I am super lucky."
Nancy has over 10 years experience doing Product Development and sales in the wall art industry for retailers, formally PD manager for Dayton Hudson Marshall Fields Dept stores and a Buyer for Target in Home Textiles.
Louise Mikkelborg Melybye worked for 10 years in the television industry in Canada where she was an award-winning news anchor and reporter. She left broadcasting after the birth of her children, but has remained active in the volunteer sector. She is passionate about the environment, politics, and the welfare of children. Louise lives with her husband Scott, and three children, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Rosemary says: I saw your work for the first time a few years ago when my Mom picked up your "Chef in a Tub" picture. I've always loved the "Fat Chef" series and have recently decorated my new house in them.
Jennifer is encouraged and inspired by the creativity and enthusiasm of her collectors. To have your Jennifer Garant kitchen featured here, please mail or email your name, printed or digital photos, and a brief statement about what you love about your Collector's Kitchen to:
Note: By submitting this information, you are granting permission for these materials to be published here. We reserve the right to edit quotes for brevity and grammar. Not all materials received will be published.
After the frightening ordeal with baby Gates, this sweet story was balm for my soul. My friend Wendy (baby Gates’ aunt) introduced me to this sweet couple and asked me to photograph their adoption. It was such a sweet blessing to witness the joy of the placement and see the story of adoption unfold. This is baby Seth, the new son of Sara & Mike.
I asked Wendy/ Sara’s BFF to write this blog post since she has been there as a best friend to Sara since childhood! She wrote this about her friends, Mike and Sara, and their journey:
“Mike and Sara have longed to be parents and after 8 years of infertility and a failed adoption, the beginning of 2013 brought a new path for Sara and Mike. They had finally and peacefully resigned themselves to the fact that it was okay that they were not to have their own children. Death looks like that…peace. There was no bitterness, no anger, just peace.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” John 12:24
After disillusionment from looking at various adoption agencies, a couple of years ago I introduced Sara and Mike to Covenant Care (CC) with the statement, “This is not like other adoption agencies…trust me just talk to them.” So they did and they agreed. Essentially Christians were enabling other Christians to adopt. They had not found anything like CC in Kentucky. Sara grew up in Georgia and her parents and brothers still live in Georgia. Due to her strong ties still in Georgia, CC was willing to take them as prospective adoptive parents.
The hard thing about being a prospective adoptive parent is that you have NO idea if anyone is looking at you. Well, just a few weeks after Sara and Mike were both at peace with their decision that they would not be parents, their sweet case worker named Kayla called to tell them that a birthmother wanted to meet Sara and Mike in the next couple of weeks and wanted them to have her child. WHAT? Are you kidding me? This had to be a joke? This could not be happening to them? Surely, the birthmother would change her mind. Well, 4 days after Mike and Sara met the precious birthmother and grandmother, little Seth was born and she had not changed her mind! Then, Seth went to the sweetest foster family for the 10 day waiting period, then Thursday, April 25th, Sara and Mike’s family was expanded.
Mike is a pastor in Kentucky and his wife Sara is a special education middle school teacher, they have about 10 dogs (jk) and chickens and now they are parents to a precious little boy, Seth Michael. I think you can see the joy and love that is overflowing from this couple and waiting to be lavished on this precious child who was anointed by God at just the right time for them.”
The foster parents (Jenny & Phil) that took care of Baby Seth and loved him for the first few days of his little life.
Steven, the Director of Ministry Development lead the group in a sweet devotion and prayer on Galations 4:7.