Making it Personal

There is something special about personalization. It makes a piece truly unique and "yours", doesn't it?  I absolutely love it when I get to turn one of my creations into a personalized piece, and when customers come to me with an idea of their own.  The challenge of re-working a previous design, or starting from scratch keeps me from falling into the hum-drum of making the same things over and over again.

These three canvases all started in different ways.  The Family Tree was a birthday gift for my step-Mom.  It is very close to my heart because our family may not be related by blood, but we were joined by God and we are truly blessed.  I have always been interested in genealogy, so this piece was just a natural outpouring of that fascination.  It's one of my favorite pieces to date.

The Pittsburgh canvas was one of those creations that was requested by a customer. I've done several cities in a series I call "See the City," but this one was the first that used a sports logo in the background.  The client chose all of the aspects of the collage, and I was able to put it together for them.  The process of creating a piece like this is so much fun for me.  I love interacting with the customer, and tweaking the layout, colors and placement until it's just right.  Hearing from them once they have received it is such a great feeling!


I've made many family name/initial canvases over the last year, but this one was to be used in a way that had never crossed my mind.  The bride-to-be requested this in a large (16"x20") size with lots of empty space around the writing so that her wedding guests will be able to sign it at their reception.  It will hold a place of honor in their home afterward, and I feel blessed to know that I will get to have a small part in their big day!

There are many other custom creations in my portfolio, and many more to come.  I welcome your ideas and would love to create a special piece just for you!

Tag, you're it!

(Disclaimer:  I have the same post on both blogs today, and I apologize, but this is one that really fit both places and I really wanted to share!)

This idea came from Pinterest, but for the life of me, I can't seem to get the link to go back to the person who originated the idea. I feel bad about that, because I don't want anyone to believe I came up with this on my own.

In the original pin, the artist took black and white photographs and cut or punched them into tag shapes.  The tags were then used on gifts for the people in the photos.  I thought that was really clever, and I wanted to find a way to use it myself, only with a little twist.

That's when I came up with this:

 These are the tags that will be going on the items we put in the shop and sell at upcoming craft fairs.  The photo is the one that we have been using on our web site (www.povertybarn.net) and was taken by my friend Michelle who knew I was looking for barn photos, happened to be doing a senior shoot, and snapped a few for me.  (Thanks, Michelle!)

To make the tags, I re-sized the image to the size I needed, converted it to sepia tone, then overlaid that with the text.  After printing out a page full of them on photo paper, I punched them with a fancy punch from EK Success, then used a small circle punch to make the hole.  I looped some string through the hole, tied a knot, and there you have it, a snazzy price tag!

I made about 75 of them so we'll have enough to last a while.  I may not know a lot about marketing, but I do know that branding is important.  This old barn is the image I get in my head of what a real business would look like if we ever get big enough to do it.  Until then, it's all about coming up with new product designs, growing our customer base, and trying very hard to make a go of this.

Of course, I have also been working on new canvases, which I always have to share with you here.  This one is for my brother and sister-in-law who will be celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary tomorrow. I hope they like it!