Show Us Your Life - Things That Make You Happy

The Show Us Your Life Series at Kelly's Korner is all about things that make you happy. Right now I am so happy to be a teacher! I had a wonderful school year and am officially on break. Oh my goodness, when I sat down to think about what else makes me happy, the list got quite long. I guess that is a good problem to have!
Here are a few...

My little girly girl princess,

my sports fans,

good teachers,

snow,

painting,

traveling,

new accessories,

decorating/cleaning/taking care of my home,

new babies,

my hubs,

hand made gifts,

swimming,

and cooking.

All of my family, going to church, my girlfriends, getting to eat out from time to time, museums, nice hotels, new clothes, new shoes, the beach, farmer's market, my pets, quiet time alone, hot tubs, vanilla in my diet cokes, flavored cream in my coffee, going to the movies, singing along with the radio, scrubbing dirty toes, haircuts...I told you this list could get long!
Ya'll have a great holiday weekend!

The Last One...

Here it is...the last teacher canvas! It seems like I did so many this year. Thank you all for the orders! Jenny Yankovich wanted a little 5x5 in the red, white, and blue for her child's teacher. She was so nice and even blogged about it. She's got the cutest little blog about her family. Check out her link over on my blog list.

To see some of our school year memories, please visit my school blog.

Summer Monograms

These two summer monograms are for Tammy Young to give to her children's special teachers. I love that she thought to do something for their homes, not necessarily their classrooms.

This way they have a little something to take home and use throughout the summer. These would actually look great anytime of the year.

Thanks, Tammy!

Hopping Right Along...

...into my last four days of school! I've had a really good year with some super smart students, the absolute best coworkers, and some fun times. It has gone by fast. I am still so looking forward to summer and taking a deep breath and slowing down.
When both of these canvases were ordered, "summer colors" were requested. I was happy to get out the lime green, kelly green, hot pink, purple, orange, and all those beautiful shades of aqua. I am ready for some summer colors myself!

Jessica is Collierville, TN, is a new customer who wanted a cute little frog for her front door. She tells me that her kids like spending time outdoors in the summer looking for frogs. Mine, too!

Lesley Nash wanted a frog for her son's teacher. They've had a great year with Mrs. Penny at Hickory Creek and she wanted to show her appreciation.

Thanks, ladies, for both of these fun orders! Now, I've got a bajillion things to do today before this last busy weeks starts!

Chelsea and Andy

I love this canvas! I would love to see it done in chocolate brown and taupe...or maybe shades of blue...or how about some green...ooohhhh, the possibilities are endless! This one was done in black, cream, and a deep shade of red for a special reason. It matches the wedding invitation.

My mother and sister ordered it as a wedding gift for Chelsea O'Kelly and Andy Knowles. They are getting married in July. I've known Chelsea since she was a little girl and just think the world of her. I am so happy to see her taking this step in her life. I wish you two all the best!

Graduation Gifts

My baby girl is graduating from preschool this Friday. (Sniff, sniff!) I can't believe that she will be off to kindergarten in the fall. It really does feel like I just had her.

Lauren loves to give. She is always making little gifts and cards to give away. She had to make a gift for each student in her class (even the boys) and her teacher. She absolutely wore me out until we found the right project.
She fell in love with these little plastic sun catchers. The "BFF" and "Girls Rule" sealed the deal. I had some glittery sun catcher paint and the little suction cups left over from a long ago school project. Luckily, these things are like $0.38 at Wal-Mart!

Here she is creating her little masterpieces. She lined up her bottles of paint. Where does she get that?

Cuter Than A Cupcake

One cute little cupcake custom created to matched striped bedding. I added a little sparkle with a coat of glitter and a few rhinestone sprinkles. Brand new customer, Ashley Tucker, ordered this one for her niece's birthday. Thank you and enjoy!

To see the pastel version of the cupcake, click here.

Mother's Day Gift

Okay, so my mom fave me this all black metal sign to paint for her two years ago. Yes, it sat in my garage for two years. I've been cleaning out for my big yard sale this Saturday and found it. I decided it was time to break down and paint this thing.

The first step was sanding and cleaning. Then I taped off and painted the cream background. The third step was to actually start the fun part - the lettering. After I got that all done, it had to be sealed.

I love the finished product!

Check out my new porch furniture! All of my white rocking chairs will be in the yard sale. You all need to come see me!

Anden

Kristin Green ordered a couple more canvases to go with the ones she already has in her son's nursery. Click here to see those.

I love the quote she chose.

They look so cute together. Thank you, Kristin! Enjoy!

Pink and Brown

Pink and brown is such a pretty color combination. New customer Bridgett in Calhoun, Georgia wanted the pink and brown with blue and red for her special teacher, Mrs. Hayes. I had to sit and think a bit about how to work in all of those colors without it being too busy.
I love the design that I came up with in the end. The red and the blue are just tiny accents on the front, but the surprise is on the border.

Angela in Rockvale, Tennessee wanted pink and brown with lime green for her special teacher, Ms. Badger. She also requested polka dots. I love the big polka dots in the background!

Thanks, ladies, for the orders. I will be painting teacher canvases right up until the end of May. If you just can't decide, I have a cute new gift certificates printed. Speaking from experience, teachers love gift certificates!

Beach Blues

When I painted this little surprise for Susan Helms, I had the beach on my mind. Susan is a recent college graduate. I am so proud of of all of the ladies I know who are going back to college either for the first time or for an advanced degree.

I've got a bad traveling jones - it happens every year at about this same time and it always seems to have something to do with the beach. Do you all ever get that feeling where you've just gotta go somewhere?

Summer vacation is my bread and butter! I love the packing and the planning. Maybe I'll be a travel agent when I grow up.

I am planning all kinds of adventures in my head. I wonder where we'll end up?

Bright Ideas

Yellow and gray...so pretty. There's just not another word for this one but pretty. I love yellow and yellow fleur de lis background. I love the sheer white bird in the center. I love the font for the family name. Can you tell that I am wanting one of these for myself?

This one is actually a surprise. New customer Katie Brooks ordered a canvas and I messed it up. She had to send it back to me for corrections. I decided that when I returned it, I would send her a little gift as well. I took a chance that a Louisiana girl would like the fleur de lis.
Thank you, Katie, for being so sweet. I hope you enjoy your gift.

In other news, I am featured on Tip Junkie today! I so enjoy visiting Tip Junkie. They have great ideas and, well, tips. Laurie is so on top of things!

Pink Punch

Cathy Moore loved the Purple Punch design from a little while back, but her granddaughter's teacher loves pink. That's what puts the custom in Dream Custom Artwork! I am happy to tailor designs to fit your needs.
I took that design and did the purple in pink - no problem. The pink, lime green, and black look really cute together! Thank you for the order, Cathy. I was glad to do it.

I Love Weekends

It's been a good weekend for many reasons. First of all, it's Mother's Day. The kids made me a pop-tart and chocolate milk this morning. I also got several really sweet hand made gifts - the best kind! Second, Carter had a ballgame Friday night and knocked in the winning run! Third and finally, we didn't have anywhere else to go the whole weekend. That's right! A whole free weekend! I got a lot done around the house, painted, and just rested.

I couldn't sleep last night. Usually, I lay there and toss and turn. I decided to get up and be productive. Here's what I accomplished. It's amazing what you can get done when everyone else is asleep.

Here's a couple of the completed teacher canvases that are being shipped out tomorrow. They are going all over the place. I guess I've covered all of the teachers in Warren County so now I'm working on the whole United States!

I Promise...

...that I am still painting. Here's the photographic evidence! I know it seems like a while since I have actually taken a name off of the list, but I really am still painting. Many of you know that May is a busy month for us teachers. Between that and ball season starting, I just haven't had as many nights at home.
I am focusing all of my painting energy on getting those teacher's gifts finished since the end of the school year deadline is looming. There are a few of you who need things for weddings and birthdays. I have your due dates marked as well! As for you all who told me "whenever", it may very well be after school gets out.
Thank you all so much for the orders and for being so patient with me. I appreciate each and every one of you and want your artwork to be something special.

Now, back to painting!

In Love With Lime

Aaahhh, lime...the perfect color for summer.

Lime cool and soothing.

Lime doesn't really go with anything, therefore, it goes with everything!

These two cuties are an 8x10 for Pam Shelton to give as an end of the year teacher gift and a 10x10 for Miss Emily's front door.

Handpainted Clothing at Et Cetera

I have been doing some serious cleaning out. I am getting ready for my annual yard sale. This year, I have focused on my attic and really dug deep. I think Mike is hating it! Anyway, I came across all of these clothing items and decided it was time to do something with them.

I posted the ones that were already painted earlier. I also took custom orders for a while. Everything that didn't sell, I have painted, washed, dried, ironed, and tagged. They are now available at Et Cetera and are sooo cute!

The above tees are for Bridgett Crouch's daughters. She came up with the design and the colors. I did add the polka dots - that's just what I do! I love the initial on the front and the whole name on the back.

Here's my "clothes line" as I was finishing up all of the details. I dropped all of these off yesterday. If you see something you like and you are local, they are all at Et Cetera. If not, let me know and I'll be happy to ship it to you.

This is my new flamingo design. I love flamingos! There is a little sparkle to them that is just beautiful.

Someone else in my family loves flamingos, too!