pink swirl

carlee

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

Julie contacted me about creating a custom canvas for her 8-year-old daughter Carlee's bedroom. She has this really cute bedding in her room:

http://www.pemamericaoutlet.com/juve/annasrufflespink.aspx

Carlee loves peace signs, so Julie requested something in a color scheme that matched the bedding and that included peace signs. Here's what I came up with!

lucas

2012-01-10T16:55:00.000-06:00

I recently got a request for a painting in the style of Jackson's blue star-themed canvas. Katie wanted a similar design for her son Lucas' nursery. Here's the final product:

A couple of weeks later Katie contacted me again. She loved the canvas and wanted another piece of art in the same color scheme. I used the same basic design but added some new elements to change it up a little.

I love how it turned out, but boy, did those tiny letters take me a long time! :)

carrie

2011-11-07T20:55:00.000-06:00

Carrie contacted me a few weeks ago in search of a painting for her little sister in her sorority. Although I can't sell paintings that include sorority letters (buying the license to do so is WAY expensive!) I was able to include a saying that is special to her sorority (and mine!) - Phi Mu! :)

This one was so easy because I just completed one like it a couple of months ago. Remember this?

Jennie's quatrefoil painting

Carrie requested a similar painting but with the words "love honor truth" in the center of the quatrefoil. We also changed the color scheme a little. I love it!

treasury listing

2011-10-06T14:07:00.001-05:00

The princess artwork I just posted about was featured in an Etsy treasury!

The treasury is called Bible Verses on Canvas.

hadley

2011-10-06T14:06:00.000-05:00

This is another painting for Hadley Belle! Ashley (Hadley's mom) is my most loyal customer. :)

Ashley saw the princess design on my blog (I did one of these a while back for my niece Amidy) and asked if I could do it on a huge 24" x 36" canvas. I ended up loving the larger size, so I listed it in the Etsy shop.

lacey

2011-10-06T13:47:00.001-05:00

Susan contacted me via Etsy and asked if I could do the quatrefoil design for her daughter Lacey's nursery. She needed to fill a lot of space, so she requested larger canvases. I love how these turned out, so I listed the larger size in my Etsy shop.

anders

2011-10-06T13:26:00.000-05:00

On September 20, our newest nephew Anders Monroe was born! Anders' mom Heather asked if I'd do a door decoration for the hospital.

Amidy, Austin, and Anders

They're Auburn fans, hence the color scheme. :)

amidy

2011-08-31T14:29:00.000-05:00

While working on the blog I noticed I've never posted about Amidy's princess painting. Her mom (and my sister-in-law) Heather specifically requested this one to match her purple and yellow dragonfly room.

Such a sweet piece of artwork for a little girl's room. This one's listed in the Etsy shop. :)

jennie

2011-08-30T14:13:00.000-05:00

This is a fun one! I'm usually painting baby stuff, so when I got a message from Jennie inquiring about something for her dorm room, I got really excited. Jennie is a Phi Mu (my college sorority!) and wanted a quatrefoil painting. Jennie saw the quatrefoil in the set of canvases I painted for my friend Ashley's baby Hadley and contacted me about doing one in a similar design. She basically gave me free reign, just sending me a photo containing the colors she liked.

Here's the finished product!

I love the colors Jennie picked. I think this would work really well with initials in the center too! I listed the new design on Etsy for those interested. :)

patrick

2011-08-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

I finally get to post about this one. My friend Ashley (Hadley's mom) ordered this from me to give as a gift at a baby shower for a college friend. Here's baby Patrick's bedding:

(image from here)

Ashley asked me to go with the polka dot design I used for Weston's painting. The baby shower was this past weekend, so I've been given the go-ahead to post pictures now (we didn't want to ruin the surprise!).

The colors are a little off in the photo, but I think they'll match in real life. :) The polka dot design is already listed in my Etsy shop.

treasury listing

2011-08-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

The “peace in the storm” art was listed in another Etsy treasury!

This one is called “Cool, Calm, and Collected” and features Etsy sellers from North Alabama. :)

jackson

2011-08-11T14:10:00.000-05:00

I just finished up a new custom order for Andrea and her baby, Jackson. Jackson's nursery has a stars theme in a navy and grey/blue color scheme. Since I hadn't painted anything before that was exactly what Andrea had in mind, I worked with her to come up with a completely custom design for Jackson's room. I get a lot of questions about how the custom order process works, so I'll walk you through what we did from start to finish.

First, Andrea contacted me with a description of what she was looking for. She wanted something in the navy and grey/blue color scheme that incorporated stars and Jackson's name. Oh, and nothing too girly! I provided Andrea with a few handwriting samples and some rough layout ideas. Here's what I sent her:

Andrea chose the second design, which was a large border with stars, and the first handwriting sample (based on the style I used for Landon's canvasesa few years back). The final decision Andrea had to make was on canvas size. She wisely went with the 12" x 24" canvas (also used for Amberleigh's birthday canvas) - I think it's a great size for a longer name like Jackson. At this point I confirmed the details of the canvas with Andrea and she placed her order.

Here's Jackson's finished painting!

Andrea promised to send a picture of Jackson's room when it's finished and I'm looking forward to seeing it!

I loved this one so I listed the design on Etsy. It's nice to do boy designs every once in a while! Thanks again Andrea.

name canvas art - stars - 12" x 24"

weston

2011-03-21T14:09:00.000-05:00

I hosted a baby shower for one of my oldest friends, Becky, this weekend. Becky’s son Weston is due in a couple of months and she’s already got his room decor ready to go! Here is Weston’s bedding:

I made a small initial painting for baby Weston’s room and gave it to Becky at her shower this weekend.

initial canvas art – polka dot border – 12” x 12” on Etsy

hadley

2011-02-07T14:08:00.000-06:00

When I found out that my dear friend Ashley was having a baby girl, I immediately asked if I could do some artwork for Hadley's nursery! These were some of my favorite canvases to paint so far. I just love the colors in Hadley's nursery! I also want to point out the quatrefoil around the middle initial - it's a subtle (or maybe not-so-subtle) reference to Phi Mu, the sorority Ashley and I were members of in college. :)

Hadley should be arriving in the next few weeks, and I can’t wait to meet her!

quatrefoil design on Etsy

amberleigh

2010-12-28T14:04:00.000-06:00

You may remember the initial paintings I did for one of my nieces, Taylor, when she turned 9 a few months ago. Her little sister Amberleigh’s 4th birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I did one for her too!

I’m loving the new canvas size! Amberleigh was my guinea pig for the 12"x24" canvas and it's perfect for longer names like hers. I've got a few more on hand, so please let me know if you'd like to order something in this canvas size!

This design is now listed in our Etsy shop. I would love to do another design on this size canvas, so send me a message if you're interested!

caitlin

2010-12-23T13:59:00.000-06:00

(Kathryn has two friends named Caitlin. Just didn't want to confuse anyone following these posts.)

avery

2010-12-21T13:57:00.000-06:00

melissa

2010-12-19T13:56:00.000-06:00

caitlin

2010-12-17T13:55:00.000-06:00

Here's the second of the series of polka dot paintings I did for Kathryn's friends.

annie

2010-12-15T13:52:00.000-06:00

My sister Kathryn had me do paintings for some of her friends for Christmas. I came up with this new polka dot border design just for her. All the paintings are the same design, and Kathryn gave me custom color schemes for each one.

Annie's canvas:

I love all the different color schemes she picked, and I hope her friends like their paintings! I'll post the rest in the next few posts.

I listed this design in the Etsy shop.

treasury listing

2010-12-01T13:35:00.000-06:00

pink swirl’s first etsy treasury listing

Pink Swirl was listed in an Etsy treasury this week! If you’re not familiar with Etsy, you should check it out. It’s basically a storefront for handmade goods, and anyone can set up shop there. It’s how I sell my paintings. (Visit the Pink Swirl Etsy shop here.)

The Etsy Rosary Guild Team chose to include one of my paintings in a collection of Etsy products called a treasury. This collection is viewable by anyone on the Etsy website, so it’s great publicity for our shop.

Here’s a screenshot of the treasury:

(See my “peace in the storm” canvas painting on the third row?)

You can also view the treasury and information about each item on the Etsy Rosary Guild Team blog. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!

taylor

2010-10-12T13:31:00.000-05:00

We don’t have kids yet, but I have 3 nieces and a nephew from my husband’s side of the family. I love getting to go to ball games and birthday parties and see all of them!

(That’s Amberleigh, Taylor, Austin, and Amidy from left to right.)

Taylor turned 9 on Saturday. I asked her a few months ago if I could do some canvases for her room. She let me take some pictures so I could get the color scheme right and showed me the perfect spot above her bed for the canvases:

We went to Taylor’s birthday party at the skating rink on Saturday and I gave her the canvases. She seemed pretty excited about them and I can’t wait to see how they look in her room.

If you’re interested in purchasing a set like these, I listed them in the Pink Swirl Etsy shop.

carolee

2010-08-17T13:28:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Kelli contacted me through Etsy about creating some dual-purpose artwork. She is planning a baby shower for a friend of hers and wanted to use the canvases as decoration at the shower and then give them to her friend as her shower gift. What a great idea!

Kelli sent me a link to her friend’s chosen bedding at Babies R Us:

So cute, right? I love the non-traditional color scheme she chose for her little girl.

Kelli requested 2 matching canvases in the flowers design and in the polka dots design. Here are her completed canvases:

Kelli, thanks for your order and I hope your friend loves her paintings!

For more information about these paintings, visit one of these links:

view more photos of the flowers design
view more photos of the polka dots design
order a painting in the flowers design (small / medium / large)
order a painting in the polka dots design (small / medium / large)

If you’re interested in a custom design or have any questions, e-mail me!

meg

2010-08-06T13:26:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago my good friend Meg asked me to do some paintings for her office. She’s the choral director at a high school in the area. The school’s mascot is a buck and its colors are blue and gold. I hope she enjoys having these hanging in her office when she starts school next week!

So my first job was to paint a buck. Meg sent me some inspiration photos; however, I’m really lacking in realistic painting skills. I can paint polka dots and letters all day, but a buck was a new challenge. So I wisely decided to paint a silhouette instead, and I think it turned out okay!

The gold looks kind of streaky in the pictures, but in real life it’s glossy and lovely. I think it turned what could have been a really masculine-looking piece into something fit for a female teacher’s office.

This painting is listed in my Etsy shop here: buck canvas painting

Meg’s only other suggestion was something music- or chorus-related. I tried some designs with musical elements but couldn’t come up with anything I loved, so I decided to just paint the name of the chorus instead.

I really like how the silver and gold accents turned out on this one. I did use the same shades of dark blue and gold as I used on the buck painting, but I added tan, silver, and light blue to give this one some extra depth.

This one is listed in my shop here: lots of dots personalized canvas art

If you’re interested in purchasing one of these in a different size or color scheme I’d love to work out a design with you. Let me know!

emily

2010-07-19T14:16:00.000-05:00

My friend Emily contacted me a couple of weeks ago about a painting for her bathroom. She selected a paraphrase of Psalm 107:29-30 so she would have a daily reminder of God’s constant presence in our lives, even in the midst of painful trials.

Thanks, Emily, for that beautiful reminder.

I listed this one in the Etsy shop, so if you’re interested in purchasing one for yourself or as a gift visit the listing in our shop. You can also send me an e-mail if you have any questions or want to set up a custom order.

reagan

2010-07-14T14:18:00.000-05:00

I recently finished this flower painting for a little girl's room.

If you’re interested, we’ve got the flower design listed in our Etsy shop.

mckynlee

2010-07-12T14:20:00.000-05:00

I had so much fun working on this one a couple of weekends ago! This was a custom order through my Etsy shop for a little girl named McKynlee. Her mother, Kassi, sent me a link to some photos of her precious bedding at JCPenney inspired by Wizards of Waverly Place. I would have loved this room as a little girl!

Kassi’s requests were that I base the painting on the doodles design listed in the shop, match the colors to her bedding, and use glitter (yay!).

She ordered the 18x18 square canvas (large size) and I think the initials were perfect for this size canvas.

I hope McKynlee loves her new artwork! I had so much fun making this one and would love to do another. Email me if you’re interested in a custom painting like this one!

elizabeth

2010-07-11T14:22:00.000-05:00

This was another gift to one of my sister's little sisters in her sorority.

rachel

2010-07-10T14:21:00.000-05:00

This was a gift to one of my sister's little sisters in her sorority.

lauren

2010-07-08T13:24:00.000-05:00

This is a really simple design that I did for one of my sister’s friends as a Christmas gift.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m kind of obsessed with sequins. :)

kathryn

2010-07-06T12:49:00.000-05:00

One of the items listed in my Etsy shop is the flower design.

I made this one for my sister’s dorm room a couple of years ago. It’s a great, simple design for a dorm room or child’s room. I just got an order for one of these and can’t wait to show you the finished product.

amidy

2010-06-15T12:46:00.000-05:00

I married into 3 nieces and 1 nephew. One-year-old Amidy is the youngest, and her mom asked me to make some art for her room when she was born. I first sketched out my idea and confirmed with Heather that it was what she was looking for before I began.

Here’s the finished product:

And here’s little Amidy’s purple and yellow room:

I love the color scheme Heather chose and I loved making these for Amidy!

lily and landon

2010-06-12T12:42:00.000-05:00

I did these a while back when my sister-in-law’s sister-in-law was having twins (was that confusing enough?). I forgot to take pictures before I sent them off, but here are some from their sweet nursery.

I just love the bedding and cribs she chose for them. So cute!

Visit my Etsy shop to order your own wall art, or send me an e-mail for more information!

laurel

2010-06-05T12:40:00.000-05:00

I made this for my apartment back in 2008. Now that I’m married and own a home it’s not the most adult choice in decor so my sister gave it to one of her friends with an L name. :)

I don’t currently have the zebra stripes pattern listed in the Etsy shop. If you’re interested in this pattern, send me an e-mail and I’ll set up a custom order for you!

welcome to pink swirl!

2010-05-20T12:37:00.000-05:00

After a 1.5-year hiatus, I'm finally reopening Pink Swirl. During the past few months I've re-evaluated the type of products I want to offer and have decided to focus my efforts on personalized, hand-painted canvas art for a few reasons:

It's what my friends and family request most often

It's something that can be given as a gift for nearly any occasion

It's something I love to make

Thanks for visiting my site! Please e-mail me if you have any questions! laurel@pinkswirlshop.com