last september, i headed to milwaukee for my annual display at maker faire milwaukee (one of my favorite shows of the year!) i’ve raved about the people that attend this event…total fans of the maker community + who get hyped to hear about how makers do what we do. one of the days of the weekend, there was the cutest couple that stopped by my booth and we started chatting. come to find out, they were from arlington heights + we chatted for a while. they complemented my designs and we exchanged cards. (note: i give out lots of cards at these events. if i can have one person contact me after an event, i see that as a success!)

a couple of months later, they reached out. well, j reached out because she had a super special, super secret custom order that shewanted me to work on! her husband is a huge fan of the singer sean rowe. and, there are two very special songs that mean the world to this family, because one reminds him of their son and another reminds him of their daughter. the ask was to create two custom canvases that included verses from each song, each in the kids’ favorite colors. we talked sizes. we talked colors. i designed a couple of different options for each, because we wanted to make sure that not only did the designs work for their family now, but also would be meaningful as the kids grow. it was hard to explain, but we didn’t want to do a design that was age-appropriate as being from the kids at their current age, but to make sure that the design grew with the kids. we settled on the final designs.

i have to tell you, this is another perfect example of my hope with my designs. to get to help your family tell your story through custom artwork. these lyrics mean something to this father. this songwriter and artist means something to this father. (did i mention that j was also getting my custom designs autographed by sean?!) these are canvases that this family will keep, will cherish, and will grow with them through the years. that is the greatest gift to me.

(a separate sweet note about this story: throughout our e-mails, j was certain that these were going to make her husband tear up when he opened them on his birthday. i had delivered these to her a couple of weeks before the big day, and happened to check in with her on his birthday day. she shared with me the pics of him opening the canvases from the kids, and added, “i saw tears!”)

i can’t tell you how much i appreciated this family’s faith in me to create something so special + unique for this super important birthday gift! it’s never, ever, ever lost on me when i am asked to create a one-of-a-kind design for a birthday, or a wedding, or a graduation, or a holiday gift. to know that my custom designs are the ones so many people choose to give to others is just so incredibly meaningful to me!