MARY JANE BUCHHEIT -- ACTS AND CRAFTS QUEEN

Mary Jane Buchheit stands in her storage room where she keeps dozens of flowers used to make her floral arrangements.

These are two of the Santas that Buchheit has made.

Buchheit's home is full of things she's created, including floral arrangements, wreaths, Santas and angels.

One of buchheit's most popular items are these angels.

Buchheit loves creating Santas, and she has several different kinds of Santas to choose from.

A display of some of buchheit's crafts sits in the "Peach Room."

Several rooms in Mary Janes Flowers, Gifts and Crafts have color motifs, including the "Mauve Room," the "Peach Room" and the "Blue Room."

Arts and crafts have always interested Mary Jane Buchheit of Old Appleton. Four years ago, she decided to make it her livelihood.

She's turned her home that sits on the outskirts of the small town into Mary Jane's Flowers, Gifts and Crafts.

"I've always loved doing these sorts of things," she said. These "things" involve floral arrangements, oil paintings, home-made Santa Clauses, wreaths, swags (crafts that hang over pictures), and countless other crafty ideas.

If you were to walk around her house, you might walk into rooms with color motifs -- the "Blue Room," the "Mauve Room" or the "Peach Room."

Everything in these rooms are made up entirely of one color, from the carpet to the drapes.

Buchheit knows how she began being creative. She had seven children and was responsible for homemaking and she tried to make their home as nice as possible, picking up craft ideas as she went along.

When she decided she needed extra income, she opened up her shop -- and Mary Jane's Flowers, Gifts and Crafts was born.

"And I've never regretted it," she said, smiling. "I love it."

She calls oil painting her "one true love," though, and she spends many hours sitting at her work table in the kitchen painting old farms from photos and memories.

She's been painting with oils about 18 years. She took one year of art classes at Southeast Missouri State University and several "short courses" from private instructors.

But she also enjoys creating floral arrangements. She uses silk and dried flowers and she combines all kinds of floral combinations -- magnolias, roses and lots of babies breaths.

"People really enjoy coming in and designing their own arrangements," she said. "They can do it any way they want to -- they like that."

Her home-made Santas are another popular item. She creates these from scratch, starting with a cardboard form body and cutting out all the materials.

She adds all the little accessories herself, from the "little curls" in his beard to all the "glitzy stuff" in his suit. She says her Santas are "all the rage" now.

Buchheit says most of her business comes from about a 30-mile radius but she's been known to paint for people as far as 100 miles away.

"One person from St. Louis wanted me to do an oil painting for them."

Jane Buchheit moved from Perryville to Old Appleton in 1936 when she was 2 years old and she's lived there ever since.

"I really like the town."

Her father was a big influence on her. He makes furniture from wood and she says that was an inspiration for her. Some of the stuff he makes is simply gorgeous.

"I just really enjoy doing it," she says, "and I hope to do it for years."