12 x 12 canvas for a sweet girl

My niece turned 13 and we needed to make a special gift to commemorate her birthday.  I made her a canvas to match the invitations for her party...Here is what I came up with.

"Call me maybe" 12 x 12 phone canvas

I made this canvas as a gift for my manager.  It is a 12 x 12 canvas and is dedicated to the fact that my current role is dependent upon being on the phones with clients a lot of my work day. I love the vintage /"girl Friday" feel to it.  Most of the products that I used is from a discontinued line from, "October Afternoon" and I fell in LOVE with it.  I bought as much as I could when I decided that I wanted to a phone inspired collage.  I hope you like it!!

Preschool Pinwheels!

My little man just transitioned from one classroom to another at his preschool. I really love his teachers because...well, they really love him.  I wanted to create something special to let them know how much I appreciated the way they cared for and truly loved my son.  I came up with these fun pinwheels on a 12 x 12 canvas.  I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.  However, I kind of went crazy with the canceled stamps underneath the paint and I think I will go a little lighter on my future creations.  I think part of the fun of collage is to have all of those unique elements of surprise. On the other hand, sometimes they can make the end-product look a little busier than I would have preferred.

Once again, I used my favorite paint, "spa blue".  I just can't get away from it.  I really do try and experiment with other colors but I never end up liking the way they turn out as much as I do the ones I create using, "spa blue".  And, in all honesty, who really cares?  If I am making them for different people, it's unique to them, right?  :)

Flowers for a dear, sweet friend!

I created a 12 x 12 canvas for one of my dear friends who also happens to be a co-worker. We met about two and a half years ago when I moved into a different position within my company.  We have one of those friendships where we almost can finish each other's sentences. We are each other's go-to girl whenever we need to get something off our chest's.  I have a lot of great friends of course but there is something different about this friendship.

Sometimes we just need to have the kind of chat, where we just are there to listen to the other without giving advice.  And, of course, like any good friend would (or would not) do, we never judge the other.  I wanted to make her a special canvas to let her know just how much I love her to pieces. I started looking for a quote on friendship and I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this one. It was perfect.  This has to be one of my all-time favorite canvases to date.  I hope you like it too!!

A bunting with an amazing quote!

I ran across this quote recently and just knew that I had to create a canvas to go along with it.  It really spoke to me because it is so very true.  I can read it over and over and each time it makes me stop to ponder how true it really is. This is the largest canvas that I have created up to this point, it is 16x20 inches and looks great in my office!  It's for sale if you know of anyone interested!

Fourth grade flower!

Yes, it's been a while.  Sigh.  I have not touched a canvas since the beginning of February because I simply don't have the time. However, I LOVE being able to create these for so many reasons but with two daughters in elementary school, an infant and a full-time job I just have not been able to squeeze it into my schedule.  And, shhhhh, don't tell anyone but I am a bit of a work-a-holic. I really am trying hard to find a work-life balance but it's not going so well as you can tell by the lack of activity on this blog!  Can you say life coach?  I think I need to go see one to get it figured out!

I had started this flower for my daughter's fourth grade teacher in December and it sat in my office/craft room for six months due to the reasons I mentioned above.  The school year came to an end and I just knew that I had to get it finished so we could give it to her as a gift on behalf of the entire class.

It felt so incredibly good to spend a couple of hours working on a canvas.  I decided that I need to find the time to create.  I have so many ideas that I want to get on paper canvas and this last project got my creative juices flowing again. Woo hoo!

I blurred out the name of the teacher and school for privacy reasons but you can get a good idea of how this one turned out.

Happy summer!!

Pretty pinwheels

I was so excited to step out of my "flower" comfort zone and try something new.  I love, love, love pinwheels, buntings and cute little flags.  I thought it would a lot of fun to make a canvas with pinwheels accompanied by a quote that speaks to me.  I love Emily Dickinson quotes and thought this was the perfect sentiment for my happy little pinwheels on this 12x12 canvas.

12x12 "Cant's into cans" girl!

This is a 12x12 canvas that I made with one of my favorite sayings.  The base of this collage is made of real canceled postcards that are all from the same person.  There is quite a story behind those but it makes this canvas unique and different from some of my other pieces.  It is available and for sale!  What a great gift for one of your valentines! I donated this canvas to an auction for the non-profit organization, "Sibling House" for their auction.  It sold for over $100!  My husband and I went to the dinner and auction and what a cause to be part of.  You can learn more about Sibling House by visiting:  www.siblinghouse.org

Custom Sister Canvas #2

Here is my second of a set of two sister canvases someone custom ordered from me.  This is 12x12 and I LOVE this one!  This is for her sister that lives several states away which explains the quote that I chose.  You probably cannot read the little poem I wrote that I placed on the blue polka dot heart.  It says " even though you're not always near, in my heart, you'll always be, my dear".

This was a very fun piece to work on because I did something I have never done with hair as you can see here!  I was not quite sure how it was going to turn out but apparently it's "super cute" according to my two sweet little girls.  I have their stamp of approval and I look forward to hearing what my client thinks!!

Time to get some sleep!

Custom Sisters Canvas #1

I received a custom order from somebody who wanted to have me create a custom 12x12 canvas for two of her sisters.  Here is canvas number one and I will do a separate post for number two!

I am not in love with the quality of my photos so I apologize in advance.  It's late and the lighting is not favorable but I need to get this post up and ship her order of three custom canvases across the country ASAP!

Custom Mother Daughter Canvas

This is a 12x12 custom order canvas that I did for a Mother to give to her grown daughter as a birthday gift.  She loves her only daughter to pieces and wanted to give her something unique and special for her birthday.  I love being able to "interview" my clients and incorporate special, yet subtle, little details into the piece.  If you look closely, you might be able to see a date on the Mother's dress which is her daughter's birthday.  It was a lot of fun to create and I hope they both enjoy it!

Hope

As a follow up from my previous post, here is the second canvas that I finished tonight.  I LOVE Jane Austen and "Sense and Sensibility" is one of my all-time favorite chick flicks which is where this quote originated from.  I think this is a beautiful quote and fits well with the embellishments that I chose to place on this 10 x 10 canvas.

For Sale!

A garden of flowers

I have been plugging away at two floral canvases after work (or in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep!) all week.  I finally was able to finish them tonight and am excited to share them both with you!

This canvas is 10x10 and is such a good reminder that we truly must look within to find happiness.  I try and live by this but it is always nice to have a reminder.

For sale!

A collage inspired by & made for my sweet girl

This is one of the first canvases I ever made.  I made it for my daughter who had just turned nine on the 29th of October.  The colors tell a story about the day she was born and the "29" on her dress symbolizes just that!

Because sometimes we need a friend

I love this canvas because I know so many of us feel this way about our friends.  We would do anything to make their world brighter when they're going through a time time.  The green in this canvas photographed brighter than it actually is unfortunately. The green is nothing but happy and cheerful which is perfect for this little pick-me-up!  For sale!

A girl who knows what she needs to do

This "girl" canvas was inspired by one of my most favorite quotes of all time.  I had a Mary Engelbreit card with this quote framed that I would look at daily while I was working toward my bachelors degree.  I love this quote so much as it can mean different things to different people.  This 6x12 canvas is a great graduation gift for someone who is ready to head off to college...or maybe someone going through a divorce.  It is a one-of-a-kind original and is FOR SALE.