Have you heard of Fiverr.com? It was completely new to me till an ad agency we’re working with brought it to my attention at work.
Essentially, it’s a site where you can hire people to do “gigs” for $5. People will sing songs, write poetry, make videos, create works of art … you name it.
I got this digital portrait of Gracie-dog on Fiverr the other day … for 5-bucks! I thought it turned out super cute and you really can’t beat the price!
Caitlin from Hue and Hum recently shared her new painting, It’s Not Fair. It immediately spoke to me and I was so happy to see she would be offering prints of this piece.
I had originally purchased the print to hang in my office; my office is in the basement and has sad, dark paneling on the walls. Unfortunately, because we’re renters, there’s not much I can do about that, so my solution has been to search for art to brighten up the room and make it a space where I can enjoy working.
The only trouble is, it feels like a shame to have this print hiding all the way in the basement where I’m the only one who gets to enjoy it. So I have a feeling it may migrate upstairs to hang in our living room instead!
Check out Caitlin’s work on her Etsy shop and be sure to check out her blog, Hue and Hum to see what she and her super-talented husband are up to as well!
I was recently contacted by Easy Canvas Prints about reviewing one of their products. I love decorating our home with photos of family and loved-ones (don’t you!?), so I jumped at the opportunity to transform one of my favorite family photos into a canvas print! It took me a while to choose a favorite photo to use. Thankfully, their website offers a great Idea Gallery to inspire your design. I eventually decided on a favorite photo of Mike and Ben that I took back on New Year’s Eve.
The Easy Canvas Prints website is SO FUN to use. They have an easy 4-step “wizard” that helps you design your very own work of art. You can choose from standard canvas sizes from 8″x8″ all the way up to a whopping 30″x40″! Their designer even displays your chosen canvas on the wall in a “virtual living room” so you can get an idea of what it will look like…
I chose an 8″x10″ canvas with a .75″ standard wrap, with the edges of the image wrapped around the sides of the canvas. The level of customization they allow is really remarkable. The Easy Canvas Prints website even offers photo retouching and conversion to black and white or sepia-tone, so you don’t have to be a Photoshop-guru to get fantastic results!
And our results?
I think that face speaks for itself! Benny loved seeing a big picture of he and his Daddy displayed in our living room. Mike commented that it almost looks like an oil painting because of the beautiful texture of the canvas.
I love the way it looks hanging in our living room! I’m looking forward to showing it off when we have friends over too.
I have to send a big thank you to Megan and Easy Canvas Prints!
I can highly recommend their service — their website easy to use, their shipping is fast, and the finished product is truly a work of art! I’m already planning to order more prints for gifts!!
Make your own canvas print at EasyCanvasPrints.com
And be sure to check out Easy Canvas Prints on Facebook and Twitter!
Over dinner last night, my mother said to me: “I’m glad you found an outlet for your creative juices.”
The other day I raided her quilt scraps and had grand plans of sewing some headbands. Unfortunately I didn’t inherit my mother’s amazing seamstress-genes and I got intimidated to try sewing these theoretical headbands before I ever got started.
“I got the impression,” mom continued, “that when you asked me about fabric scraps the other day, that you were feeling the need to be creative.”
It’s so refreshing to be around people that understand the need to express pent-up creative energy. For people who don’t experience it themselves, it is hard to explain: It’s no different than the frustration a runner feels when they haven’t tied on their track shoes recently, the jonesing an outdoorsman feels to book a trip to the mountains after a stint of city-life, or even the hunger pangs any average person experiences when they skip lunch. It’s not a desire that comes on as a whim; it’s a longing to use your hands and your mind to mold something from nothing.
Defeated by the sewing machine, I instead pulled out a sketch book and some pencils. I was inspired by John Hung Ha, an artist whose work I’d seen at an exhibit back in Nashville a few years ago. I adore his koi and goldfish paintings and have been lusting after a print ever since I first saw them. (Unfortunately at $1,200 and up, I’m not in the market right now.)
So, I’m on a kick and decorating my little world with sketches of happy, colorful fish. I’ve been having ideas left and right … and me and a bucket-o-ModPodge says this is going to be a good time!
Do you ever feel the need to be creative?
What other hobbies or interests call to you in the same way?
