An "Initial" Gift

My lovely mother-in-law has wanted some initial paintings for quite awhile. She kept mentioning that she thought it would be a neat thing to have displayed in the house. I thought it would be something that I could make her for a whole lot less than buying them elsewhere.

I considered buying picture frames and printing colors and letters for each person but I decided on just painting them straight onto canvases. That way I was able to control the exact color composition and size and shape of each letter. I designed it to be a 3 x 3 art piece/wall hanging display, but she couldn't pick only 9 (I made 12 total since our family is still forming). Each painting had an initial of someone in our family and the middle letter is the family initial. The three small letters on the bottom left canvas represent the three grand-dogs (O, B and P). 

She ended up finding another spot for the last (12th) canvas across the room. This one has D&G which are my in-laws initials. I thought they may want that to be the center canvas of the 3 x 3 but they preferred it here and I think it worked our perfectly.

Here's another close-up of the initial paintings.

I had to post one of my love hanging out in the newly renovated/redecorated room.

My MIL also wanted me to create a sign for a blank spot on the wall. Together we decided on Faith, Hope and Love. Since it came from Corinthians, I wrote the whole verse on the back border. It felt like a hidden secret to me, which I loved!

Here's another view before it made it to the wall.

I think she liked the end result and the room turned out beautifully! I love being able to create things for those I love. I think it is so much more personal and intimate than just always buying something off of a shelf so I try to make/create whenever I can. But I just love giving all kinds of gifts! I finished wrapping five gifts for August birthdays and anniversaries yesterday... 2 homemade and 3 store-bought. I love finding or making the perfect gift for someone and then taking the time to wrap it as beautifully as possible. Oh the simple joys!!