Finding the Perfect Match:
 

Boy, do I have a fabulous giveaway for you today! But first, let me show you what arrived last week:

That's a 16" x 20" stretched canvas print of a photo I that took of my daughter and her friends playing "rainy day".  I'm so excited about how perfect it's going to look hanging next to a 16" x 20" You Are My Sunshine canvas in my mother-in-law's office: 

My mother-in-law counsels young mothers with toddlers and babies and works with families that need a lot of "sunshine" and encouragement.  When she mentioned one day that she'd like to have this photo to hang in her office, I began thinking about how I could incorporate it to go with her You Are My Sunshine canvas.  Then, a couple of weeks later I connected with Julie Ryan at My Fine Art...and well, the match was made.  I knew exactly what photo I needed to have made into a canvas print!  And I love how it turned out.

Be Inspired by Canvas Display Ideas:

Now of course, I would love to have several more and just need to free up some more wall-space!  How cool would a collage of 6 of these 12" x 12" deep profile canvases look?  They're only $30 each, which is a super deal.  I'm visualizing a set of 6 canvases: four 12" x 12" canvas displaying a favorite photograph of each family member, one with the entire family together, plus a decorative canvas featuring a favorite quote or bible verse:

The 12 x 12 canvases shown above are actual canvases printed at My Fine Art.

Or, here's some more canvas decorating inspiration for you...I just love how clean and simple a stretched canvas looks and how the style really showcases the photographs:

The six display inspiration examples shown here are from a Google image search for
wall canvas display ideas, and are not image examples of canvas prints by My Fine Art.

Having trouble choosing which of your photos to have printed on canvas? Here are some ideas to get those creative juices flowing:

• family portraits for a den or living room, to hang over the mantle
• action shot sports photos to decorate a playroom or kid's bedroom
• favorite travel photographs (beaches, gardens, mountains, cities, buildings, etc) to display in an office, kitchen or living room
• wedding portraits or favorite "couple" candids to hang in your master bedroom
• newborn moments or "birth-day" hospital photos to hang over a crib in a nursery
• favorite baby or toddler candids of each of your grandkids
• a princess castle picture for your little princess's bedroom -- (oh, this picture I took at Disney World would make a GREAT canvas print.)
• ahh...so many ideas...so little wall space. :)  

My Fine Art Giveaway & Coupon:
 

So, now that you're sufficiently inspired and itching to have your favorite photos turned into canvas prints, let me formally introduce you to Julie's custom canvas printing business on Etsy:

My Fine Art - Your Photos Printed on Canvas

The talented Julie Ryan from the fabulous "Less-Than-Perfect-Life-of-Bliss" blog is the mastermind behind the business. She will work with you to take your digital photograph and artistic ideas and turn them into one-of-a-kind stretched canvas pieces of fine art in all different sizes from small to HUGE (30" x 40" big enough for ya?).  And believe me...there's nothing cooler than seeing your photographs turned into a canvas print! See?

Julie has generously offered to give away a 16" x 20" custom printed stretched canvas to one of my readers! (shipped anywhere within the US).  And...she's offering a 10% off discount* through the end of March 2011 - JUST for you guys!  So, if you've always wanted a canvas display made from your favorite photos...now is the time!  *To redeem the 10% off discount, just contact Julie through her Etsy shop to request a custom discounted listing.

So, go check out Julie's blog & My Fine Art Etsy shop and come back and comment here to let me know what you'd have put on your 16" x 20" custom canvas if you were to win! What are you waiting for?  I'll draw a winner on Friday morning, so enter now!

Julie's blog: http://lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com/
My Fine Art Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/myfineart

Day 7.  Sunday.  Today was another completely abnormal, totally quiet day by myself.  I even hid in our bedroom when Ben brought the kids home tonight so he could put them right to bed to avoid riling them up too much.  I did however, go back to my to-do list.  And did some stuff.  What can I say? I like lists.

And I'm spent.  Both times I've done this project, by the end of it, I'm exhausted and feeling like my life is extremely boring and mundane. Maybe next time I'll spread it out over two months and do one day a week so it's not quite so intense.  Just a thought.  Now I get to decide how I'm going to put it all together in an album....

The stats:

• 29 photos saved to my hard drive.  22 shown here.  It got a little ridiculous just taking photos of myself this weekend.  Maybe when I'm 60 I'll be glad I did.
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - I was by myself all day again.  And I didn't go to church, even though it was Sunday. 

Ahhh...hear that?  No? Me either!  It's been a blissfully quiet day in my house (and in my head) for a change.  

Day 6.  Saturday. But a completely abnormal Saturday since I spent it at home, by myself.  The kids and Ben are out of town and it was my goal for the day to enjoy the quiet, do as much of nothing as I could stand, and eat plenty of junk food.  I succeeded on all fronts! But it makes for a pretty boring photo collage: 

More than what I did do, I enjoyed what I DIDN'T have to do today.  It's amazing how easy it is to do only one thing at a time, not have to plan for the next 5 steps in my day, forget about efficiency, and not have to be aware of any people around me (or dressing, feeding and cleaning up after them).  Don't get me wrong...I'd get lonely fast, but I'm telling you what...I enjoyed a quiet, mindless, do-nothing day.  And I even did a few things...because I wanted to...not because I had to. :)

The stats:

• 33 photos saved to my hard drive.  20 shown here.  How many pictures of me sitting in front of a computer or television screen would you really need?
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - I was by myself all day and did NOT have a to-do list!

Day 5 - Friday.  Busy all day long.  Working, laundry, packing the kids (for a trip with Daddy - yay!), errands, more work and then freedom (from kids), but not from work. :) That's okay, I think work is fun.

The stats:

• 160 photos saved to my hard drive.  30 shown here. Many of those were product pictures though...so they don't really count.
• Ben thinks Fridays are haunted around here.  The kids and I always seem to be worn out from the week, on each other's nerves, and have no patience with each other, which results in lots of crying, whining and yelling (by all of us).  So I usually try to take them someplace fun instead of keeping them cooped up inside.  
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - Ben took the kids to Auburn for the weekend, and I got to stay home by myself!  I think the last time that happened was early last summer.  I was due. 
• Another notable fact about today - We received our information packet about our sponsored child in Ecuador via Compassion International!

Ahh...Thursday.  Day 4 of this project. 

Thursdays are usually pretty good days around here.  Lots of work to do, Ayla's at school, and usually Paxton goes to his friend's house for the morning.  This week, he was home, but he "helped" me work and read stories, so it worked out just fine.  My Week-in-the-Life exercise went a little better today (helped that it wasn't raining and I wasn't sleep-deprived from storms).  I have found though that I manage to do about 10 noteworthy "tasks" before I even make it downstairs in the mornings to get my camera.  Today, that included getting two kids dressed, changing Ayla's sheets, letting the cat outside, and starting a load of laundry.  None of which I enjoy doing before I've eaten my bowl of cereal and checked my email...but what can you do?

The stats:

• 75 photos saved to my hard drive.  30 shown here.
• Paxton *actually* performed on the potty tonight...after three consecutive trips DURING dinner.  He also appeared to be scared to death of the entire experience once he realized what was going on.  We made a big deal of how great it was, and he was rewarded with chocolate chips. 
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - Paxton didn't go to Shelby's house this morning and was home instead, which means Ben & I didn't have our regular Thursday lunch-date.  But otherwise, today was a pretty normal day!

Day 3.  Wednesday. 

Rainy.  Cranky.  Tired.  Working. Seems like we had more fun the last time we did this project....hmmm...

The stats:

• 102 photos saved to my hard drive.  30 shown here.
• Paxton LOVES the self-timer.  Thinks it's hilarious.
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - pretty much nothing.  Today was pretty basic and normal.

Day two..we made it through. Lots of work and things to do. :) Just click the image to see a larger version of our Tuesday:

The stats: 

• 96 photos saved to my hard drive (30 shown here).
• Don't be fooled.  Paxton is NOT potty trained.  He just likes to "try".
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - I went to lunch at Ayla's school because she was "Star of the Week" and Paxton joined Ben at Disciples Fellowship for "Lunch on Lorna."

My mom (also known as "Noni" to my kids) is celebrating a milestone birthday this year AND she's retiring from teaching middle school industrial arts. I'll let you guess which number will be on her cake. :) 

As she heads into retirement, she's living in a camper, riding her Spyder and driving a big 'ol truck around the US from place to place.  She's one-of-a-kind.  So it made perfect sense to me that she should have her very own logo -- that my brother and I are planning to have turned into a decal for one of her vehicles (it would look awfully cool across the front of her Spyder) to celebrate her retirement. 

So, if you see this logo driving down the interstate -- you'll know just who it is!

Not that it needs explaining, but here's the thought behind the design:

1. She's retiring from teaching middle school - hence the apple center.
2. She goes by "Garden of Eden" in many circles, which gives a double-meaning to that apple.
3. The leafy tattoo-like side design fits right in with the "Garden" theme as well as her "biker" lifestyle.
4. She rides a CanAm Spyder, so the spider is being "set free" from the apple as she retires.

Yep. I think I'm pretty clever. :)  I sent her the personalized logo on CD-ROM for her birthday with this card (notice the design on this card is a little different than the one above...my "one-of-a-kind" mom requested some tweaks to her logo -- that she loved btw):

Happy birthday & congratulations on your retirement Mom!  We're all looking forward to hearing all about your upcoming cross-country adventures. 

Why do I have a feeling we're going to have to talk her out of making this into a tattoo???

Day one of my Spring 2011 "Week in the Life" is complete--at least as far as getting to the kids' bedtime.  I may have to retire my camera at that point each night this week...I'm beat. A day full of activities (some normal, some extra) plus photographing them, and writing 'em all down will wear a person out.  Now I'm off to watch some TV and veg...okay, maybe I'll get one shot of that. :) 

Here's what today looked like at our house (you can click the photo to view the images larger):

The stats: 

• 128 photos saved to my hard drive (35 shown here).
• The first three lines of photos in this collage all occured before 8:30am.
• Notable differences about today compared to every other normal day - We went bowling & Ben gave blood.

If you joined me...how'd you do?  If you didn't, why not?  Give it a try.  Do a "Day in the Life" instead of a week and give it a shot. :)

While I was pregnant with Paxton, I participated in a project called "Week in the Life", a token "Ali Edwards" style album.  It was a lot of work, but continues to be one of my favorite albums - because it's SO REAL.  

Since my last take on the project occured in the fall, and before we added Paxton to our family, I thought this week would be a good time to do it all again, since life will really be different next year when Ayla goes to school full-time.  I wanted to document our daily life with a 4-and-a-half-year-old and almost-2-year-old in the spring. 

So, get ready for lots of irritated looks from Ben (he hates this project in progress, but I'm sure he secretly loves it when it's a finished book he can look at), lots of mundane pictures of me at my computer, and plenty of photos of what the kids do ALL DAY LONG.

Charge those camera batteries, and take a crash course in how to use a self-timer.  It's time to document!  Starting first thing in the morning, I'm documenting A WEEK IN THE LIFE of the Steed's.  I double-dogg-dare you to join me! :)