Modern Day Knights

My husband's cousin asked me to paint a canvas for his sons. The words are based on ideas in the book, Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis. From what I understand, it's a must-read for fathers of sons. His idea was that we would create this canvas, and he and his wife would hang it where their two sons would read it everyday (after they're actually old enough to read!). Another benefit is that their daughter will also eventually read it as well and know what she should be looking for in a man (other than what she's seen in her father, of course). I love this idea and feel honored that they asked me to do it!

Laugh Out Loud

Remember the adorable boutique I told you about? Well the mama behind those adorable tees asked me to paint something for her kids' playroom. I was so excited to return the creative favor for her! She gave me very few instructions. She knew the phrase she wanted and that she wanted lots of color. No problem!

 I think this is such a perfect phrase for a playroom! There is little better than the sounds of our kids laughing out loud!

Mighty to Save

My dear blog (and phone) friend, Mandi, has been through some very rough things over the last few months. I'm thankful I have been able to walk through them with her. Sometimes you just need to hear that someone else "gets it." She asked me to paint this canvas for her youngest son, little D.

His nursery is absolutely adorable. She has done it in antique toys with a gorgeous color scheme of light blue, wagon red, and buttery yellows. I LOVE it.  Just look at this crib!
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Beautiful job, Mandi! Thanks for letting me be a part of his story!

This is the Day

This is the day
(this is the day)
That the Lord has made
(that the Lord has made).
I will rejoice
(I will rejoice)
And be glad in it
(And be glad in it).
- and repeat that a thousand times-

Did y'all sing that song growing up? I did and could NOT get it out of my head while I was painting this! The scripture canvas I showed you yesterday was for two sisters, and this is for their brother.

Here is his shower curtain:

I love when customers tell me why they chose the scriptures they did for their kids' spaces. It is such an inspiration to me as a mom. Thanks, K. Hope you love it!

A Great Reminder

I received this order (along with two others- pics coming soon) from a woman in Indiana. I'm still amazed that I get orders from all over the place! She chose a 16x20" canvas for her daughters' bathroom. I love the verse she chose for it- what a great reminder for young girls to see everyday as they look in the mirror. We not-as-young-girls need this reminder too, huh?

We chose the colors and pattern to go with her girls' shower curtain. Hope you love it, K!

Jesus Loves Me

My sweet friend, Michelle, just had a precious baby boy. Here's his super-cute bedding! I wish you could see his whole nursery. She is one creative mama!

I loved that she picked this classic song for his canvas. Sometimes I sing this song with my kids and don't really think about the lyrics. Painting them on his canvas made me pay attention. As hard as it is to grasp at times, Jesus loves me. Crazy!

Sweet Lily

This canvas is for a very special baby girl whose family is cherishing every moment they have with her as she has been diagnosed with Zellwegger's Syndrome. When they arrived home from Arkansas Children's Hospital with her on her one-month birthday, I wanted to have a special gift for baby Lily and her sweet parents.

Her nursery has a full-size bed in it as well, and look at the gorgeous bedding they chose as inspiration for the whole nursery!

Her walls are the color of this pillow! Isn't it beautiful for a nursery? I'm so glad I got to be a little part of her life, even if only in the decorations. :)

Train Table Redo

This project was a compromise between my oldest son and me. We bought our oldest a Thomas the Tank Engine train table when our youngest son came home. He was obsessed with all things Thomas. It was a splurge but has been worth every cent. He has played on that thing for hours and hours. Lately, he's not into trains as much and has used it a bit for racing cars but really not much at all. I was planning on selling it in a garage sale (and using that space in his room for a small air hockey table that was handed down to us- fun!). He liked the air hockey table idea, but when it came down to it, he couldn't bear the thought of parting with his train table. I asked him if he'd like to keep it, and that I'd paint it so it would be more for race cars as he gets older. He loved that idea. So I got to work.

His table used to look like this. Cute for a preschooler, although not my favorite decor! :)

I started by using some Liquid Sander followed by a light sanding by hand where needed. Then I used a gray primer on the whole thing. If you've never used a tinted primer, try it! When your final color is dark or bright, a tinted primer gives you much better coverage.

After the whole thing was gray, I painted it blue. The exact color is Lupine from Sherwin-Williams. It's one of my favorite blues for the boys' rooms. It also goes really well with the blues in Pottery Barn Kids quilts.

Yes, that is an old shower curtain as a drop cloth. I just set up in our extra bedroom, which is my painting room. If I can paint canvases in there, why not furniture? By the way, I switched out that khaki shower curtain for a white one in our master bath, and it made a huge difference. Should've done it forever ago. Wait... how did I get here? We're talking about a table. I took out the removable panels that had a scene on them. Based on some inspiration from flickr photos, I decided to paint them with chalkboard paint.

I finished the table while the boys were spending the day with my mom, and I couldn't wait for him to see! I wanted to give him an example of what he could do with the chalkboard, so I left him a little surprise for when he got home. He LOVED it!

He's made all kinds of designs, erased, and started over many times! At this moment, you can barely see the black for all the chalk (thanks to his little brother). This was such a fun project and will last him a long time. The best part is that it's even more usable than it was before, AND it was free! I had all of the supplies here already, and it was a relatively short project as well.

Bella Marie

This sweet girl's mama has been my friend since junior high. When I heard they this couple was adopting, I couldn't wait to hear about their story. I'm so grateful to have been a part of Bella's story, even if only in a small way. Bella's aunt Carrie, my new friend, ordered this canvas for her sweet niece.

 

Here is sweet Bella in her new nursery!

Welcome, Preston!

Remember the "Welcome, Rebekah!" sign? Well, little Rebekah has a new baby cousin, Preston! Their grandmother ordered a canvas for each to hang on their hospital door and later on her front door at home. Since we used a zebra print for Rebekah, we went with a giraffe print for Preston. I love how it turned out!

Preston Robert

I'm sorry for the poor picture quality here. I couldn't get the lighting right, and I was in a hurry to get it delivered the day of the baby shower! Nothing like last minute, right? I matched this to custom bedding. The colors were gorgeous, and I couldn't wait to get my paints out!

 

for Mackenzie

This canvas was for a baby shower gift. The mom had designed a very classic nursery. We kept with her theme of navy, white, and khaki, then added a tiny bit of pale pink for good measure. :)

 

I'm Still Alive... and Painting

I promise I did not fall off the face of the earth! I've been so busy with my little boys, painting, and trying to sell our house (a horrible idea with two small kids, by the way), that I just haven't posted. Here's a 16"x20" canvas I painted for a new grandmother. First, she hung it on her front door...

Then she surprised her daughter by taking it to the hospital to welcome sweet Rebekah into the world!

(That's proud grandpa!)

 

For a Newborn Princess

There Could Never Be a More Beautiful You

I recently painted this canvas for a dear friend's daughter. She chose the words from a song by Jonny Diaz called "More Beautiful You," a song I love! It will hang in her bathroom where her precious little girl will read the words everyday. I don't know about you, but I could stand to read those words everyday myself.

For Baby Carson

A friend ordered this canvas for her new nephew, Carson. It has a monogram on the background, but I think it's hard to see in the photo (I need to figure out how to fix that!).

It goes with this super-cute bedding Circles bedding from Target. Check it out!

I Am With You...

Here's a new canvas for a little boy who's struggling with fear. His mom ordered this for his room, and I think it's just the sweetest idea. What a great way to help him remember WHO is with him all the time!


This canvas is 24x36" and has the tone-on-tone monogram behind the verse. I know it's a bit hard to see in the photo. I designed it to go with this adorable bedding by Woolrich (from Target if you're interested)!

For Baby Harrison

A sweet mama contacted me to paint a canvas for Baby Harrison, the baby boy she and her husband are adopting from Taiwan. If you don't already know, I have a heart for adoption and am an adoptive mom myself. I was thrilled at the opportunity to create something for this family. She has picked out the most adorable bedding for his room! Just look:

And here's what I just finished for his nursery.
I hope you like it, A! And I hope you have that baby boy in your arms very soon!
{As a surprise, I hid your last name in the letters around the border.}
18x24" canvas

Look Who Loves His Painting!

This is sweet Brody with his painting (and matching shirt, thanks to his mama!). His mom, Jennifer, says he loves to stare at his painting, which just melts my heart of course.

Shared Bathroom

16x20"

This canvas was for a bathroom shared by a little girl and her two younger brothers. The design was inspired by vinyl decals at Land of Nod. Their bathroom is done in the Critters collection from PBKids. So cute.