Back in December, when I was thinking about Christmas gifts and being creative and crafty and Christmasy, I somehow got the idea to print off a few pieces of canvas art for the walls. Well, the idea wasn't totally random. The inspiration came about because Grandma Sharon wanted this picture on a canvas:
That would be all her grandkids. Can you tell which one of her sons married a brunette and which one married a blond? Ha. Anastasia is only a few months younger than Addie, but alas, they live way the heck on the other side of the country. We are thankful that they are determined to visit us once a year.
In doing some research on canvas prints, I came across a few sites that looked promising, but I was hesitant to use them for a big canvas because it's a lot of money to spend on something that may or may not turn out. So I went for my default option: Costco. I know they do a good job, and they are reasonably priced. In fact, when it comes to large print canvases, I think Costco might be the best priced printer out there (I could be wrong, though).
After I ordered the granddaughter print, I got the canvas art printing bug.
Combine this with increased time on Pinterest and something was bound to happen.
My first inspiration came from seeing this picture:
In case you're wondering if this is actually some magic sequence from pi, let me clue you in: it's family birthdays and anniversary. The creator of that picture even sells customized date prints. (Just click on that link and it'll take you to her page.)
Because I'm handy enough in Photoshop, I just did my own thing and had it printed on an 11x14 canvas.
Here it is displayed on a shelf in our entry. I'm seriously crazy about it. I love the dates. I love the stripes. I kind of want to make one for everyone I know because I love it that much. In fact, if you're interested in having this particular format personalized with your own dates and don't know how to make it, just let me know. It's super easy, and I'll just email you a jpg that you can go get printed wherever you want.
Since I was already making wall art then I went ahead and did two other pieces.
This is an 8x10 canvas along with Sarah's Christmas gift to me. We've decided it's the Year of the Fox. Goodbye owls and red birds and kittens. Mr. Fox is here for 2013.
And then another.
This is also Pinterest-inspired, although not exactly like anything I saw. It's printed on a 16x20 because I figure the bigger the better when it comes to getting kiddos playing nicely together.
I had these three canvases printed at Canvas People, and I used two separate coupon codes in order to bring the prices down. For the 11x14 I used "tweet11x14" which gets you the canvas and free shipping for $25. That is a steal. For the others (which I had to use placing a separate order), I used a coupon I found on RetailMeNot(an excellent source for online coupons if you're not familiar with it). That code appears to have expired now, but a deal they have going on through January 14th is 85% off canvases, plus $20 for shipping. That's a good deal for the larger canvases because it allows you to get a 24x36 canvas for under $50.
I cannot vouch for how a photograph would turn out, but judging from the colors matching pretty well with my original design then I would assume they would do a good job. I saw some people showing off their canvases on Instagram, and they looked good, so yesterday I ordered two photo canvases. We'll see how those turn out. I will say that they aren't super fast, and their wrapping quality could be a little better (the corners are a little bunchy), but for the price...I'm happy.
Now I'm looking around trying to figure out where I can add more wall art. I just love seeing things on the walls that make me happy.
And anytime a wall can invoke a positive emotion? That's a good sign.
