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.