Happy Birthday Mackenzie!

Here is a painting I recently made for my cousin Mackenzie's first birthday.  I made a painting for her sister Kayla a couple years ago, and I wanted to do the same for her.  Happy first birthday Mackenzie!

A Step Stool For Xavier

A few month's ago I was asked to be a godmother to my cousin, Xavier.  The Christening was last Sunday, and since I know his mother loves hand painted items, I made him this step stool!  It is something he could easily grow into and use as a decoration for his room!  I got the step stool at Target and used my oil based paint pens for the design.  When it was all done, I wrapped it up in clear wrap.  I meant to take a picture of it all wrapped up, but I completely forgot!

Happy Birth Day Xavier!

My cousin, Lynn, gave birth to her second son via c-section this afternoon.  A few weeks ago, she asked me to be his godmother.  Being that he was going to be my first godson, I wanted to paint him up something extra special for his room.  Lynn loves turtles, and with all intentions of nick-naming him, X-man, she requested some sort of super hero turtle.  This is the painting I made for her first son, Gennaro, when he was born. 

This was done on an 9x12 canvas with acrylic paint.  When it was all done and dry, I wrapped it up in some clear plastic wrap and completed the gift with some curled ribbon.  I love painting like this, but don't get to do it very often.  Hopefully this little guy likes it!

Happy Birthday Allie

My best friend celebrated her daughter's first birthday this past weekend with a Hawaiian inspired birthday party!  I know turning one is a huge deal, so I wanted to make her something special for the occasion.  Since I got so many compliments last summer when I made my cousin, Gennaro, these hand painted sand pails with toys inside, I decided to make her a girl version of it.  To match the theme of her party, I made sure to include a palm tree, a beach scene, and a hula girl.  After I was done, I wrapped it all up in clear wrap with some black ribbon (black ribbon was the only color I had on hand, but I kinda like the look of it), and attached the card.  Happy birthday Allie!

 

Merry Christmas Kayla!

This is a Christmas present I painted for Kayla.  Kayla is my 18 month old cousin.  You might remember me talking about her in this post.  I painted a canvas for her room for her first birthday this past summer and I wanted to paint her something to match it for Christmas.  I found this awesome little round wood stool at Michaels and thought it would be perfect to paint up as a gift!  I didn't paint it to match exactly, but you can still tell that they go together.  When I was done painting it, I put a little stuffed animal on top along with a few pairs of socks, and wrapped it up in clear christmas cello wrap that I found at the dollar store.   Merry Christmas Kayla!

Gennaro's Xmas Gift

This is a christmas gift I made for my cousin Gennaro.  It's a small garbage can for his room.  I know it may sound silly giving someone a garbage can as a present, but his mother is a huge fan of hand painted things, and I have overheard her say numerous times how she wanted one for his room.  Sorry for the shitty pictures, I have to learn how to take better ones!

Gennaro Eugene

This is a painting I did for my cousin, Lynn's, baby shower.  She was having a baby boy and already had his name picked out.  I actually did this painting over two years ago, a full year before I even started this blog, so I never had the chance to post it.  As much as I love painting traditional paintings like this, I don't get the chance to do this that often.  Her favorite animal is a turtle, and she has a crazy little boxer named Bella, so I tried to incorporate Bella's personality into the turtle.  Gennaro is now two and a half years old, and this painting is still on the wall of his bedroom!

Gennaro's 2nd birthday

My little cousin, Gennaro, just turned 2 and his birthday party is this weekend.  I wanted to make him something that he could actually play with and since I know he goes to the beach a lot, I thought this would be a cute idea!  I went to Amazing Savings and got these two sand buckets and filled them with cute little beach toys...a few shovels, some bubbles, a water gun, a beach ball, and some swimming tubes!  Then when I got home, I painted the outsides of the buckets with his name on one side, and a beach and water scene on the other using oil paint pens.  I really like painting things like this, but I don't get to do it that often, as I only know a handful of kids, and this really isn't an appropriate gift for an adult.  When it was all finished I got a little fancy.  I wrapped it up in some clear cello wrapping paper, and tied some red ribbon around it.  I hope this makes him smile!

Happy Birthday Kayla!

This is a painting I made for Kayla.  She is my newest little cousin.  Her first birthday party is next weekend and I painted this canvas for her room!  I haven't painted like this on a canvas with acrylic paint in a long time and it felt great to be able to do this again!  Happy first birthday Kayla!

Tis the holiday season!

When most people think of the holiday season, they think of the most joyful time of year!  Spending time with close friends and family, eating delicious baked goods, driving around looking at all the christmas lights and decorations, sending out and receiving Christmas cards, and not only giving, but receiving great gifts!  Not me.  I see the holiday season in a completely different light.  Ever since I've entered adult hood the holidays just haven't been the same.  Decorating the house becomes a chore.  You feel cluttered with the over abundance of christmas decorations in your house (my house definitely looks like Christmas threw up in it).  There are crowds in malls, crowds in grocery stores, traffic everywhere, getting stuck behind UPS trucks driving slow in the fast lane, road rage, and the lovely gesture of flipping someone the bird when they cut you off.  I long for those happy Christmas nights as a child when I didn't have to deal with any of this.  When I was too young and naive to think anyone would ever dread the holidays.

There is one thing, however, I do enjoying doing.  Making Christmas gifts!  Some of my friends have kids, and this is the best/cheapest way for me to give them something, without feeling guilty about not spending a lot of money!  This is a gift I made my little cousin Gennaro.  He is 18 months old, and LOVES popcorn!  I got this awesome little popcorn bucket at Amazing Savings for .99 cents, personalized it with his name on the front, and the word 'popcorn' on the back with my paint pens, and drew little pieces of popcorn and pretzels all over.  And of course I filled it with some weird blue popcorn I found at Target for $2.  Not bad!