Show Us Your Life - What You Make or Sell

I just love the Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life series. I always find the neatest things and love looking through all of the blogs. I try to participate whenever I can. I was excited to see "what you make or sell" on the schedule - it's perfect for me!

I've always painted...always. In my second grade journal we had to write about what we wanted to be when we grew up. That is the first time "artist" popped up as a dream for me and it never changed. I graduated from college with a degree in Graphic Design. It was long path but I ended up in education. I love using art in the classroom as much as possible and get to incorporate lots of creativity every single day.

When I'm not teaching, I'm running Dream Custom Artwork - these photos are really my well used supplies in my home studio. I was painting for myself and had tons of ideas. I needed an outlet. I set up a blog and took a few orders from friends...and here we are years later! I love painting for other people and creating things that they will enjoy.

You can see lots more details about me, what I do, and how to order in the sidebar. I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Family Canvas

For the Crouches who will be married on September 1.  This was used in their beach themed shower last weekend and made a great gift!

For the Evans who will be married on October 8.  This will be used at their wedding shower and was requested to use yellow and "mason jar" blue!

Jan Lankford was the winner of my recent $30.00 giveaway.  This is what she ordered.

She was very specific with the khaki background, chocolate lettering in cursive, swirls, burnt orange date, burlap ribbon, and distressing.  She had a vision of what she wanted and it looks great!

Stripes in gold, maroon, forest green, and chocolate brown for Joy Black.

Brown on brown stripes and dark red dots for the Southards.  I love the way all of the family member names are listed across the bottom.

Whatever your last name, your established date, and colors you prefer...there's a canvas to match!

Early Birds

I think this is so funny!  Shonda Wanamaker ordered a black and white 16x20 of this quote for her teenage son's room.  A reminder, maybe?  I know my (almost) teenage boy is no early bird and could usually care less if he catches the worm or not!  Haha!

She asked for it to be distressed and I love how it turned out!  Thank you, Shonda!

This Saturday we were a bunch of early birds.  If you know us, you know that I am a night owl married to an early bird...not always the best combination.  My little early bird has also gotten into running and forced us to do signed us all up for the Titans 5K.   Now Lauren is awfully little so she ran the kids' half mile and I ran with her.  You need to know that I had to train just to run that!

Here's Mike and Carter at the start line.  Mike finished with a 10:08 average mile and Carter with an 11:03.  I am so proud of them both!  I thought my heart was going to burst with pride watching them cross that finish line.

Lauren and I had some time to kill around the stadium while we were waiting for them to finish!

That's me in the home stretch on the field!  That little orange dot in front of me is Lauren.  It was exciting to run through the same tunnel that the players do and then get to see yourself on the big screen!

And finally our first family run day is over.  We went and did a few visits and errands then came home and showered and collapsed!  Whew!

I Prayed For This Child...

Ohhhh, I love this one!  I am a huge fan of the Shabby Chic stuff so this was right up my alley.

 

I don't use a whole lot of teal anymore.  When Jackie Brown asked for that color I was kind of surprised.  She explained that the mom is using quilts with lots of colors, the Shabby Chic furniture, and a few pinks and florals. Jackie wanted something sweet and girlie to give as a shower gift.

 

Jackie sent me this photo of a rocker that will be used in the nursery as inspiration.  Let me just say that I want this chair!  It reminds me of a yellow one that I had as a little girl.

Busy Bee

I'm sure that lots of remember this basic design from a while back.  It was pretty popular and with good reason - it's so cute!  If you missed it, just click here to see it.

 

Candy Woodlee wanted the same quote and same look but with a bee theme.  She was giving it as a gift and all she knew was that the nursery theme was bumble bees.  

 

I just kept it simple with black and large white dots.  I added a trim of tiny yellow dots and a little bee in the corner.  I just love how it turned out!  Thank you, Candy!

Beautiful

Well, one day Lauren wants to be in Little Fairest of the Fair and the next day she doesn't.  I'm definitely on the fence about it, too, but we're practicing just in case!  She loves her new dress and so does Billie!

I love this sign for a new beauty salon here in town.  The pastel dots and the funky font were requests.  This will be so cute hanging on the door during spa time!

 

Finally, another pretty pink paisley canvas.  I love this design and it looks fabulous in any color combination.

"Beauty is whatever gives joy" - Edna St. Vincent Millay

Show Us Your Life - Patio/Front Porch

Welcome to my front porch!  It's Show Us Your Life day at Kelly's Korner!   Today she is featuring front porches and patios.  We haven't been in our house for that long and we've spent most of the time focusing on the inside.  I will enjoy taking the tours and looking for some outside ideas!

My little table and chairs came with us from our old house.  I love the furniture pieces, but am tired of the cushions.  New ones or having these recovered is definitely on my to-do list!  I usually have colored pots of flowers in the rack in corner but it's been so dry here that I haven't gotten around to it.  Maybe some mums this fall?

I wanted to show this little flower pot on the table.  This was an ends of the school year gift from one of my very favorite students.  His mom painted it with chalkboard paint and then let him write a message in chalk.  What a great idea!

This was one of my very first purchases for our new house.  I wanted a really cute initial wreath and had been waiting to find just the right one.  This etsy shop has all kinds of them and she is so sweet to work with!

Now around to the back deck...my daughter is growing peppers, tomatoes, and a pumpkin!  She loves peppers and eats them on everything.  I am proud of her for wanting to grow her own.  The pumpkin vine was tiny when we moved in, but it was sort of pretty and I left it in the landscaping.  Now it has taken over and has huge pumpkins on it!

Our back deck is a really nice space.  It does need to be stripped and resealed - also on the to-do list!  I'd also like to invest in a nice table and chairs.  The brick pavers were about half done (the grassy side on the right) and my husband laid the rest.  Now they've settled and we've sprayed that grassy area.  It looks so much more complete!

Hope you enjoyed the visit!  Leave me comment to let me know that you were here!

Wash - Dry - Fold

It's the story of our lives, isn't it?  We spend a lot of time in the laundry room!

I love that so many of you want to take the time to make your laundry rooms look nice!  One of my very best customers, Kayla Young, has a yellow laundry room with red and black accents like rugs and baskets.  I think that sounds so cheerful!

She wanted this set of four red and black canvases for that room and requested cursive writing and "dressy" patterns.  I love the big looping L and I think all of the dots and swirls are very dressy!  There's no ribbon on any of these because she is putting them in big black frames.  I'd love to see the finished product - hint, hint!

This laundry room door canvas is for another wonderful repeat customer, Shonda Wanamaker.  She asked for more earth tones and the word "laundry".  I asked if I could add the "wash, dry, fold" over the top and she liked that idea.  This one has been slightly distressed as well for a rustic look.  This 10x20 size is the perfect fit for a door.

Boys

I blogged all about girls a few posts back, so I thought I'd better focus on the boys!   Michelle Best ordered an 8x24 for her new baby boy's nursery.  She wanted blues and dots and left the rest of the design to me.

This is what I came up with, and I'm so happy with it!  It will look so cute in the nursery but will also be able to grow with Titus.

My other recent boy themed canvas was an etsy order.  The girl version of this canvas features a princess crown in the background.  To make it look more masculine, we decided on a star in the background.

This 16x16 is perfect for a little boy's nursery or room and makes the perfect shower gift!

Back To School

It's back to school time here in Warren County!  We were up bright and early this morning.  The kids were really excited about their first day back.  Here's Carter on his way to fifth grade.

Lauren is moving on up to the second grade.  I can't believe it is going by so fast!  All of those time that I feel like I'm stressed or in a hurry, I try to slow down and just enjoy the moment.

I don't get to do this too often, but I thought I'd try to share some pictures of my classroom.  I love to go all out with a new theme each school year.  Last year I had animal prints and a jungle theme.  This year I went with the woodland forest/animals/camping theme.  I thought it turned out so cute!  Here's the big display of students' names outside the door.

This is right inside the door and is an area for all of that important stuff like grading scales, mission statement, evacuation plan, etc.  The clips are for me to change out the lunch menu.  The shelves house all of the bins for finished work on the top and art supplies on the bottom.

Here's my one big bulletin board.  This is where I hang work that is just really good.  If your paper makes the board, you get a homework pass!  Their art boxes are stacked on those shelves.  I usually have family photos on that lower shelf, but I haven't gotten around to it!

This is my desk area.  I change out my name and photos every year.  I love all of my colorful owls and my lamp.  I hate fluorescent lighting.  I turn it off every chance I get and enjoy the soft lamplight!

This is hanging on that wall right beside my desk.  I pin any important papers (especially those with a due date!) so I don't lose them.  I have a few more favorite pictures up here and my letters from presidents.

I'm proud of my classroom and looking forward to a wonderful school year!  Thanks for stopping by today!

 

School Days

I've been painting lots of teacher canvases this summer!  Now the time for back to school is here!  Today is registration day at my school.  I am looking forward to seeing all of the kids in my class again.  I think I'm going to love moving up from fifth to sixth grade along with them!
 I painted this one for Mrs. Bost at Dibrell Elementary School.  Their colors are gold and purple so she wanted those colors with some damask print.  I think this will look fabulous hanging outside her office!

Mrs. Erin asked for a colorful owl and her name.  That's it - she left the rest up to me!  I decided on a chocolate brown background with large white polka dots.  I did her name in print because she is a first grade teacher.  The dots on the ends are just made for school!

Here's a close up of that colorful owl.  I went with a palette of purples, blues, and greens.  I love that the wings are paisleys!

Here's my inspiration for the new owl design.  This is the fabric of my favorite nightgown.  It's true that inspiration comes form everywhere!  As soon as I got this order, this fabric swatch popped into my mind.  Enjoy and have a great school year, Mrs. Bost and Mrs. Erin!