SUN CITY – Janice Strain, N.20, finds decorating and enhancing birdhouses very relaxing. Janice is retired and has been a resident of Sun City for five years now, after having lived in Algonquin for a short time.
âI love my home in Sun City,â she proudly states.
Janice is from southern Illinois. She attended Eastern University and the University of Illinois and Carbondale. She majored in Home Economics and taught Elementary Art for thirty-four years.
Neighborhood 20 resident Janice Strain makes and decorates interesting bird houses for sale from her home. (Photos by Kay Clark/Sun Day)
Besides adorning birdhouses, she enjoys gardening and putters in her garage on her scroll saw. Some of the items she has created with her saw are bookends, small pumpkins, angels, and Santa Clauses. She then paints them with acrylic paint that she mixes into her own colors.
âItâs rewarding to be able to do things. Iâm very grateful to God for the artistic ability,â said Janice.
Regarding one of her favorite pastimes of decorating birdhouses, Janice said, âItâs very relaxing and sometimes challenging. If I donât like something, I will take it apart and start over.â
At first she began with a log cabin bird house using her scroll saw. Then she made a plain one.
âSomeone gave me my second, and that was it. Then I started to add adornments and decided to group them together.â
Janice has been working with her bird houses for about fifteen years and will sell them, but she doesnât advertise.
âThey are mostly sold by word of mouth,â Janice said. âSomeone had a plant sale in the area, and I bought some plants. I put them in the trunk where I already had two bird houses, and when the lady saw them, she wanted to buy one. Since then she has bought four more.â
Later on the woman called Janice because some of her friends wanted their own birdhouse too. At the time, she didnât have any created, so she had to go to work and put them together.
Janice shops for her embellishments at Michaelâs and Jo-Ann Fabrics. She uses wood glue to assemble them.
Among her other art projects, she used to have an old, large loom that she made placemats, tablecloths, quilts, and tree skirts on. She had to get rid of it owing to its sizeâshe would need a whole room for it! Janice also has a cookie cutter collection, and among them are antique as well as Hallmark cutters.
If youâre interested in purchasing her birdhouses, give her a call at 847-515-2886.
