Claire

Pam Ifhe in Texas needed some pretty pink flowers to give as a gift. She like the look of the canvas painting combined with the three dimensional flowers that I had done in the past. Click here to see those.

I took the dots and stripes from one design and combined it with the flowers from another. I also used about four shades of pink. The light gave it an almost peachy tint, but it's pink!

I love the font on this one. It is my standard cursive, but just not connecting the l to the a made a world of difference. It's just so sweet and girly! Thank you, Pam!

Aiden

This 16x20 canvas is off to the Cameron family in Texas. It was specifically designed to match Pottery Barn Kids' Junior Varsity bedding. Sports bedding is so often done in primary colors. I love that this is in earth tones.

Since the bedding features a quilted look with lots of visible stitches, I made sure there was some of that on the canvas, too. These stripes took forever and a day, but it was totally worth it!

Here's the bedding. That canvas is going to look so cute hanging over the bed. I've got several more boy canvases coming! Stay tuned!

Beautiful Bedding

If I were doing a boy's nursery now, I would love to use navy and lime. If I were doing a girl's nursery, I would use lavender and lime. Those are just my favorite color combinations right now. If we ever get to move, maybe Lauren will let me redo her room! I know Carter will never part with his football bedding.

This bedding, like Carter's, comes from Land of Nod. They have some of the prettiest kid's room stuff that I've ever seen. This bedding is so pretty and I love that the mom is using a mix of the lavender and lime.

Shannon Shelton in Cookeville ordered a matching canvas as a gift but also to use on display at the shower. I think that's a great idea! She put some pictures on facebook for me to see and it looks so cute on a easel on the gift table. I have to add that I have the shadow on this picture. I didn't realize it until it was too late! Sorry!

Here's a close up - minus the shadow!

Life's Moments

The textured canvases are becoming quite popular! That's fine with me...I love doing them! To get the textures, I cover the plain canvas with handmade paper. I usually use Modge Podge to be sure that it is sealed down nice and flat. After it has completely dried, it can be painted over.

My good friend, Tiffany Keeton, wanted a large 2'x4' canvas textured and painted with her favorite quote. She tells me that this going over her mantle. I can't wait to see it! Her walls are sort of a tan/taupe color. She wanted the writing in that color and the background in chocolate brown. So pretty!

I had the kids hold it for so you could see the whole thing at once and also just how big it is! This was one project that I can't do on my art table. This size canvas is about the size of my kitchen table and I have to be able to move all around it, so it gets painted in the kitchen!

Projects On The Table...

I do all of my projects on a big art table that is covered with heavy brown shipping paper. By now the paper is worn soft and completely paint spattered. Still, I love my table! It's my space and I spend a lot of time in that seat. There are several projects on the table right now.

I've decided to do my classroom for this coming year in a jungle theme. I'm thinking lots of bright colors and animal prints. I even found the cutest bulletin board set of a big tree house and it even had ziplines! Perfect! I do a big theme and leave it up all year. Last year it was a sweets/candy shop theme with pastels and chocolate brown polka dots. I'll keep you posted!

I try to choose canvases off my list that are similar in subject or color and do them all at once - kind of like an assembly line. I have been working on these three at once. They are all stripes, have some colors in common, and a sports theme. Stripes are way harder than polka dots for me. These three have definitely been a challenge, but I love how they are turning out!

Collins Rider Clarke

Can I just say right off the bat that I absolutely love this bedding? Navy and lime is a favorite color combination of mine, but I've never seen it in a nursery. So pretty! This is by Bananafish and is available at Target.

Megan Clarke is expecting her sweet little boy and wanted some custom artwork to hang over the crib. She decided on three large 16x16 squares.

I love that idea! There is a lot of flexibility with three canvases. I chose to coordinates them with the large dots on the outsides and small stripes on the inside. There is also a small border of navy with white piping, which is the same as the bedding.

Here they are all side by side. The plain and simple font is in keeping with the clean, crisp design of the bedding. I can't wait to see them on the wall! Thank you so much, Megan! Congratulations to you and your family.

Philippians 4:13

Many of you know the verse just by seeing the book, chapter, and verse. I love this popular verse as it has given strength and inspiration to so many.

Monica Lindquist had the idea of giving to two boys who have been newly baptized. I think that is a fabulous idea! Now they can have this hanging in their rooms as a daily reference in their new faith. Thank you, Monica, and congratulations!

We all need strength in the highs and the lows. I've happened to had both over the past couple of days. As many of you already know, our sweet dog of fourteen years died a couple of months ago. Now our cat of sixteen years has passed away as well. Dee was my baby and we are all just heartbroken. I'm tearing up as I type this! I never knew I was so attached to these animals. I know we'll be fine and move on, but right now it feels like a part of our family is missing.

On the same day, Carter celebrated his tenth birthday! We spent the day at the ballparks where his team ended up as the runners up to the State Championship. I can't believe how much my little man has grown and matured. I can't believe that ten years have passed since I had him. His recent health scare has made me very appreciative of life and the time we have together. Happy birthday, Carter!

Zebra Crazy!

Everybody loves zebra print! I don't think it ever goes out of style. I am thinking about using it in my classroom next year and was surprised to find all kinds of zebra bulletin boards. I also just got a sneak peek at Kelly's Kids fall line. Guess what? Tons of zebra!

This sweet little 5x5 zebra print was ordered as a baby gift by new customer Ashlyn Hill. I love the size and the yellow with the zebra. I also think this font is pretty cute!

Gwen McCormack ordered the zebra in a 10x10 for Shelbie. She wanted her print with hot pink. That seems to be the most popular color combination!

This and That

I've got kind of a little bit this and that for you tonight! They don't really go together, but I've been needing to post them for a while. This is one of the flower canvases I made for Et Cetera. Monica in Murfreesboro wanted it personalized with "Kaylee". I think it looks so cute!

Jennifer Cook wanted this little 8x10 for a recent baby shower. Clean and simple stripes and two pretty shades of blue...you can't beat it!

Jennifer also sent me this PBK photo of this bedding. It is so sweet and soft, but I love the tree. She needed this one for another baby shower. It seems like everyone is having a baby these days!

Here's the canvas that goes with it. I picked up on that adorable tree and used a very girly font. That pale pink gingham ribbon is the perfect topper.

Thank you, ladies! I hope everyone enjoyed their gifts!

Wedded Bliss

Well, the wedding went off without a hitch. It was beautiful! I am not posting all of the pictures here. If you would like to see them, just visit my album on facebook. Since this is my art blog, I am posting pictures of the things I painted. Here is the "Mr. and Mrs." sign for their table.

You can see that Ian is holding a little wooden sign that reads "here comes the bride". He carried that down the aisle with the flower girl.

Finally, here is my pickle sign that reads "thanks for comin'"! This was on the guest favor shelf. The guests all received a jar of homemade pickles. Thank you Wendy at duck duck goose designs for doing the labels. They are so cute!
As you can probably tell, this was a sweet little country themed wedding. All of the signs were meant to look distressed. My mom has a friend who cut all of the wood. She did a simple watered down paint whitewash and I did the lettering.

The Big Day Is Here...

Our sweet couple, Emily and Davey, are getting married today! They got engaged at my house at my annual New Year's Eve party. Look how cute they are!

For those of you who don't know, Emily is my baby sister. A lot of people don't put us together because we don't look very much alike and we are very far apart in age. But it's true...she's my sister! She's more like my first child!

Emily and Davey have been together for what seems like forever. Davey just jumped right in and became a huge part of our lives. I am so happy that they are making it official!

Here they are on the day Lauren was born. My kids love their "Aunt Em and Funcle Davey". I don't know where that crazy name came from. I think it is because Davey has been such a fun uncle!

They are involving all of us in the wedding. It's not too much longer until we've got to go and start getting ready. I had to show you all Lauren's flower girl basket. How cute is this? It looks like a tree with "E+D" carved in it.

Congratulations, E and D! We love you!

Savannah

Cynthia Tittsworth ordered this bright and cheery 8x24 canvas as a new baby gift. All she said was, "Purples, yellows, and butterflies." With that direction, I think I did pretty well. Actually, I absolutely love how it turned out!

The long name in this font fits so perfectly on this size canvas. I love that great big "S". I also did something a little different with the butterfly. I usually put one large one on the end, but this time I put them all around the border like polka dots. Cute!

More Verses

I did this design a little while back and it turned out to be very popular. Click here to see the original. I love this verse and am happy to do it over and over again!

You can see that this time it is in two different color schemes. Cindy wanted hers in steel blue instead of the pale aqua and green. Michaela ordered hers with black instead of the blue. They both look fabulous!

Birth Announcement

This is a brand new canvas idea brought to me by Rachel Harvey. Rachel is one of my very best customers and always has something new for me to try! I love hearing from her! This is a birth announcement canvas. The top canvas is 6x9 and has baby's name on it. The bottom canvas is 5x5 and has the date, time, weight, and length blanks for you to fill in. This will be so cute at the hospital and then in the nursery.

I think this is just so sweet! Here you can see the ribbon attaching the two. For those of you who are wondering, the canvas is sealed to protect it from water, dust, and scratches. However, you can easily write on it with a sharpie or other permanent marker.

This is Rachel second boy. She is reusing a lot of the same nursery items and colors. She wanted this one to coordinate with Weston's things but not be an exact match. Click here to see his artwork.
Thank you so much, Rachel! Congratulations!

Just The Basics

Wash, floss, scrub, and brush...just the basics! I love this set of four 5x5's for any bathroom, but especially a kids' bathroom. The colors on these are so cute, too. I have a picture of the accessories that I couldn't get to come through. Trust me, it's a dead on match!

This is an etsy order filled for Shauna all the way up in Canada. I guess it's official...Dream Custom Artwork is now international!

Summer Flowers

I guess I was in the mood for flowers! Once I got started on these, the ideas just kept coming! That's always a good thing! This 11x14 gold stripes and dots with real yearn flowers in currently available for $30. That includes personalization.

Here's a close up of those super cute flowers! Get a name, welcome, or a favorite verse or saying added. This one looks great on the front door!

I love the bright colors and all of the dots on these two. The 8x10 is already sold, but the 6x9 is still available for $20.00. The real fabric and button flowers add something special! Again, personalization in included. I am thinking that this one would be a perfect little birthday gift.

My favorite...the orange and brown flowers! Here is a close up of the brown on brown stripes. It is 4x12 and also available for immediate personalization and delivery. I think this one would make a wonderful last minute wedding gift.

If you are local, all of these are at Et Cetera if you would like to see them in person. They will be happy to take your personalization order and get in touch with me. If you are out of town, just leave a comment or email me to claim a canvas. I will send you a paypal invoice right away.