Snowmen

Here is Julia Moore's beautiful snowman! You may notice that I took the snowman orders off of the "Orders to be Filled" list. I am putting the finishing touches (glitter and ribbon:) on them. If you have ordered a snowman, you'll be hearing from me soon for delivery arrangements. Thank you and enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

It is hard to believe that it is not even December yet. If I have this much Christmas spirit now, I don't know what I'll be like by the middle of December! I think the early Thanksgiving threw me off!
My fantastic new customer, Julia Moore, ordered this one. She wanted the stripes and I (always wanting to try something new:) did a little variation. I added the little dots in the stripes. She really liked it...and so did I!
Thanks Julia and once again, Merry Christmas!

A Day at the Zoo

We love to go to the zoo. While we were in East Tennessee, we visited one of our favorites, the Knoxville Zoo. Even though I was so sick, I still had a wonderful day. Here are some of my memories from the day...

Home Sweet Home

This is a more neutral version of the Home Sweet Home I did for myself a while back. It was lime green to match my fabulous new welcome mat:). I love it in tans and browns, too.
It seems like I have done several of these lately! Lindsey had two or three in her holiday order. Brandi Murphy also ordered one as a gift. I can't remember exactly who this one belongs to!
When I can, I do canvases in batches. Right now I am doing a batch of snowmen, assembly line style. I do the all of the light blue skies, the white bodies and snowflakes, the gray shading, all of the eyes, mouths, and top hats, and so on. It saves me a lot of time in getting out the bottles of paint and the right sizes of brushes. If you have a snowman ordered, it will be ready very soon:)!

Happy Holidays

Tis the season! This one is for you, Jaime Ashby! Everybody have a wonderful week...30 days until Christmas!

Florida Fun

Stephanie Keith ordered this tropical themed snowman as a gift for a friend. I am not sure if they live near the beach or if they are just big fans like me. Maybe someday I can retire to the beach!
I just appreciate all of my customers so much. It makes me feel so good when someone needs a gift for a close friend or loved one and they call me. I go to church with Stephanie and her family. They are just the best!

A Junior Auxiliary buddy, Jennifer Sain, needed a gift for her secret "Pumpkin Pal" at work. She drew Brent Estes and sometimes it is hard to shop for a guy, especially a surprise! She knew he was a Florida Gators fan. She asked me to do him a small snowman for his classroom in those colors. What a great idea! Thanks Jennifer!

Back in Black

I don't get too many requests for black canvases. I've gotten two in the past few weeks. Aren't they beautiful? I love the way the colors really pop against the dark background. A fantastic new customer, Julia Moore, ordered the top one for her front door. As a matter of fact, she hung it there as soon as I gave it to her! All of the metallics look so good on that black!

Brandi Murphy ordered this quote for a friend who works in the health care industry. She thought it would be something inspirational to hang in her office and keep her going every day. I used primary colors on the black for this one. I also used several small ribbons to pick up all of those colors again.

Happy Birthday

Candace Smith also ordered this canvas for her home. I thought it was a great idea! She wanted something to hang on her door when someone in her family was celebrating a birthday.
I used this pretty new shade of hot pink that had a coral tint to it. I also used the lavender, aqua, and lime in the present and cupcake. The ribbon I chose features those colors in the stripes as well.
It is hard to see, but all around the cupcake, present, and even all of the lettering are little dots. They started off a cupcake sprinkles, but now I think they look more like confetti. Either way, I like them!

Chilling Out

The Mansfield family will be vacationing in the Smokey Mountains for the next few days. We may be literally "chilling out". I've heard reports of snow up there already!
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Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Candy's Girls

Carter's teacher, Candy Beaty, ordered a couple of little canvases for her girls for Christmas. They are for the doorknobs to their bedrooms. Leela's was done to match her pillowcase. Glenna's room in navy, tan, maroon, and hunter green. She loves to ride horses so we did the horseshoe on hers. I also did small dots to keep it fun and a little feminine!
These are perfect stocking stuffers!

Dots for Saylor

One of my very best customers, Miss Mandy Byars, ordered this polka dot canvas for her niece, Saylor Hodges. I hear Saylor is having a birthday!
All of the dots and letters in fun pastel colors just look like Saylor. I got to know her through art class. She was a joy to be around!
I used a dotted ribbon and a sheer ribbon to top it off. The big advantage to this canvas is that it goes with just about anything. As Saylor grows up and changes her room decor, this will still match!

eHappy Birthday Sweetie!e

Go Pioneers!

Candace Smith ordered this sign for her husband's office door. For those who don't know, he is the high school basketball coach for the Warren County Pioneers.
To be honest, I can't remember the name of this font. I looked at so many to find just the right one! She wanted something cute, but not too feminine.
I really like this one. I think my favorite part might be the gingham ribbon. It adds the perfect finishing touch. Another good thing about this one, the colors can be changed for just about any team!
Thanks Candace and "go Pioneers"!

Letters to God

My friend Cindy Rogers (she is such a sweetie!) sent me these today. I was feeling a bit down and it was just the "pick-me-up" I needed. Children are always good for a laugh:)! Maybe that is why I teach. Have a great day!

All My Crafty Friends

Here I am with my crafty friends! We did the Christmas Closet at Covenant Academy and had a really good time.

LeAnn's beautiful bows...

Sonya's pretty frames....

and Tabetha's lovely jewelry.

Maddi takes this craft show business seriously! LeAnn, Sonya, and Tab will all be at the Civic Center this weekend. Stop by and shop! Good luck girls:)!

Life Is...

I can't say who this one is for, but it is another part of Lindsey Matheny's holiday list. She wanted something cool and kind of funky in red, black, and white with a verse or inspirational saying. I was trying to think of some thing other than stripes or dots. That was not so easy! I came up with paisley and loved it!
I took one of my sister's favorite quotes, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away". So true!

The Tooth Fairy Visits

The Tooth Fairy made her first visit to our house last week. Carter finally pulled his loose tooth! Our Tooth Fairy, Esmerelda, left Titans tickets for Carter and his dad. Carter is already working his second one!!

Lunch Lady Land

Does anyone else remember that Adam Sandler skit for SNL where Chris Farley is the lunch lady and they sing the "Lunch Lady Land" song? It is one of our favorites! Every time Mike walked through and saw me working on this, he had to sing it!

Everybody knows Joy Tubb and about her wonderful food! She has Lunch Lady Catering and does box lunches which she delivers to you at work. My favorites are the croissants and chocolate covered strawberries! She also has her wedding/party catering business called Simply Joy Catering.

She wanted a couple of signs for the upcoming Civic Center craft show in chocolate, cream, and "Tiffany box" blue. She also requested a very clean, classic design.
Thanks, Joy, and good luck!

Christmas Closet Craft Show

Tabetha, Sonya, LeAnn...girls, I am getting ready for Saturday! We are all participating in Covenant Academy's Christmas Closet Craft Show. It is this Saturday from 9:30-1:00 at the school. Come and visit and do a little Christmas shopping. We all hope to see you there!

Our Halloween

Carter had a tough time deciding between Vince Young and Peyton Manning. In the end, Vince won out.

Lauren, however, never had a doubt. It has been Cinderella from the start!

Don't you just love Halloween?

Stars and Stripes

The new special education teacher at Bobby Ray, Mrs. Lisa Prater, ordered these two canvases for her classroom. I absolutely loved the color scheme she chose. Blues, aquas, and greens are colors I naturally lean to, so I really enjoyed doing these two. I have done several of the star canvases, but the little monogram on the striped one was new for me. They look fantastic in Lisa's room!

One From Way Back!

My iBook recently crashed and I did not have my photos backed up. Lesson learned! I have finally gotten it repaired and returned and everything was recovered. I am so happy to have it back.
This was one of the photos I thought I had lost. I did it a long time ago for Holly Elkins to give to her mom as a gift. Her mom is the secretary at Centertown school, so she wanted it in their colors of red, white, and black.
Anyway, I really liked how it turned out and I am so happy I now get to share it!

Laura's Big D

I have had several people ask me about the "Laura's Big D" that was on my orders to be filled list for a while. Well, here it is! A new customer, Laura Dunn, ordered this for her bedroom. She wanted it large enough to center over her bed. It is the biggest canvas I've done at 30"x40". It beat out the ladybug by a few inches!
My whole family enjoyed watching me do this one. It took up the entire kitchen table and I would have red paint all over me. When I wasn't working on it, it stood in the kitchen window. The sun would shine red through it! The memories my kids are going to have:)!