Are you looking for a unique gift for a loved one – whether it be for Christmas, a birthday, wedding, housewarming, anniversary, or other special occasion? If you’ve been searching for something different, something sentimental, something totally one-of-a-kind… then Custom Artwork might be the answer you’ve been after!

Whether you are doing secret Santa that has a cap on how much can be spent, are chipping in on a group birthday gift, celebrating the arrival of a new baby of a friend or family member, etc, there are painting possibilities for every occasion and every price point.

And there are various style options to choose from so you’ll be sure to find a perfect fit for that special someone! Over the next five posts I’ll list my top 5 suggestions for budget friendly painting possibilities that can be given as gifts, with examples and info about each.

So let’s begin!

Continued on NEXT POST…

Whether you are a proud parent looking to get a unique portrait of your child/children, or are searching for a special baby shower gift idea for a loved one to celebrate their growing family… these fun minimalist style black and white Kids Portraits work in any style of home and are available in any custom background colour.

From a photo for reference, I crop it to a square composition, sketch a contour line style image focusing on the facial outline and key characteristic features, then paint the positive & negative spaces in b&w. Then the background offers that pop of colour, whether you’d like it to coordinate with your decor or reflect your child’s favourite colour, any shade is possible.

reference photo / finished portrait / angle view showing finished canvas edges

These portrait paintings work well solo:

individual ‘Kids Portrait’ example

As a set featuring siblings:

example of siblings ‘Kids Portrait’ set

Or even done annually to create a unique ‘growth chart’ inspired portrait collage:

example of annual growth chart style series of ‘Kids Portrait’ paintings

All paintings are complete with finished edges and wire hardware, so they are ready to hang frame-free! Due to the relatively small scale of the canvases, they are also able to stand on a shelf or a picture ledge if you prefer that over hanging.

wire hanging hardware attached to the back of the canvas so the painting hangs flush on the wall

All portraits are signed on the back, titled by name (and optionally the age marker as well), and dated with the year the painting was completed. As not to distract from the simplicity and contemporary look of this style of portrait (and let’s face it, the cuteness of the kidlets!) I subtly paint my logo on the bottom corner of the right hand facing edge of the painting instead of of the front.

logo signature on edge of canvas

Additional info:

• Grown up portraits are possible too 🙂 so creating a unique family portrait collage is definitely an option!
• The canvas edges are painted black unless specified otherwise, but alternative colours are possible by request (eg: white).
• Reference photos for these portraits don’t have to be high resolution to work out great, so you can even submit quick snaps from your phone, grab a pic off of your facebook photos, and so on.
• Not a big fan of square canvases? We can do a rectangle instead no problem.
• Would you like multiple portraits on one canvas? If so please email pictures so I can confirm if this is possible, and to suggest possible canvas sizes / prices.
• Order time is approximately 3 weeks (plus shipping time if applicable).

If you would like further info, or would like to request a quote, please feel free to get in touch HERE.
To view more examples of Kids Portraits, please visit my ‘For Kids’ portfolio page HERE.

Thanks so much!

This weekend I got to visit where I grew up, the place I always think about and miss. It’s my dad’s birthday and the whole fam gathered together this weekend to celebrate, good times all around!

Anyway, while I was there I got to see some of my best friends from high school too. A few of them live in the area and I couldn’t wait to visit with them as well! So before my sisters arrived on Friday, I popped over to one friend’s house to visit and to meet these adorable little munchkins:

picture of Sloan & Presley at 8 months

She had twins last winter, and I couldn’t wait to finally meet these two! I hadn’t seen her since her wedding a couple years ago either… did I mention that it freaks me out how time flies by so fast? So I was suuuper excited to visit!

I wanted to bring her a gift – paintings of her little ones:

“Sloan” | 5″x5″ | acrylic on canvas

“Presley” | 5″x5″ | acrylic on canvas

I moved to Calgary about 7 years ago now (sounds scary when I put a number on it like that!), and it seems like time couldn’t possibly fly by any faster… it feels like just yesterday me and my friends were dispersing all over the place to travel or go to college or whatever the situation may be.

Being the only Calgary dweller out of the group, I rarely get to see my friends that I grew up with. But I gotta say that even though I live so far away, and time flies by so quick, I love that when we do get to see each other it feels like no time has passed at all! Laughing like old times, catching up on new times.

It always feels like a “battery recharge” visiting home. Seeing family, catching up with old friends, breathing the clean mountain air. There’s just something about home. New goal? Go there more 😀

I found the perfect clear business card holders at a place called Industrial Plastics & Paints in Calgary Alberta. They sell paint supplies as well as a variety of plastic supplies. What lead me to them in particular? It’s a long story (read about it here in my last blog post)…

In a nutshell, I was on the hunt for some new business card holders (clear in particular), and I found this company on google by typing in ‘wall mount clear plastic business card holder Calgary’.  They were about half way down the first page, I clicked, and they actually had pictures and detailed information on their website which is always a bonus! It was easy to navigate, so I looked around a little, and DING DING DING! They had the exact clear business card holders that I was looking for.

Business card holder styles from Industrial Plastics & Paint’s website:

screen shot from their website showing drawings of the business card holders they have available. Click on the image to go to their webpage

So I called them, found out that they sell to the public not just trades or wholesalers, and that they do in fact have these clear business card holders in stock. WOO HOO!!

I hopped in my car and drove over to pick them up. I got a little lost (like I usually do haha) and eventually saw the sign that was on their website. So I pull up, and it looks like a regular ol paint store (like General Paint, or Benjamin Moore, or whoever). Am I at the right place? Yes, the sign is right, so just go in….

Walk in, totally comes across as a paint store lol. But I was immediately greeted by their super friendly staff (I probably had CONFUSED written on my forehead), and they led me directly to the display shelf. Nice. YAY the business card holders were exactly what I was looking for! Happy factor approaching maximum, business card holder mission = complete!

Pictures of my clear business card holders:

front, side, angle back, and angle front views of my new horizontal clear business card holder

front, angle, side, and back views of my new vertical clear business card holder

They also carry brochure holders and signage stuff too, but I’m not after that just now, but I know they have them for the future so this is good.

I wanted to adhere some of these holders to glass, so the fellow that was helping me led me to the appropriate epoxy, told me how to use it, gave me the little mixing cups I’d need and stir sticks etc. Sweet deal.

So all in all I quite like this place! I’m really glad I found them, their service was fantastic, and I’ll be buying things there again in the future. If you would like to check out what they have to offer, here is their contact info:

screen shot of Industrial Paints & Plastic’s contact info. Click on the image to go directly to their webpage.

Ps – when I was there I complimented them on their ‘googleability’ and easy to use website… because sadly there are a lot of horrible retail websites out there, so I wanted to make sure that they knew that I found them on google (always nice to know how your customers find you).

So there it is, in a three part not-so-nutshell between this post and the last two, sharing my mini adventure from receiving my new cards to my quest for my ultimate display system. Who would have thought one could go on a business card holder adventure? Not me, but I did lol 😀

Thanks for reading, take care.

Last week when I received my brand new Pet Portrait business cards it dawned on me that I didn’t have any business card holders, oops! So I pondered, what style would I like?

Stainless steel or chrome? – yeah that’d be cool, but maybe too heavy/harsh looking?

Linen texture? – would be sooo cool and perfectly coordinating! But what are the odds of finding this… seriously…

Plain black wood? – could work, nice and simple… but still not quite right.

Then I thought about it, and all I really wanted is something that didn’t take away from the cards, something that you barely even notice… and what’s less noticeable than clear plastic? Boom!

clear business card holders… exactly what I’m after!

So I set out to find plain clear plastic business card holders. How hard could this mission be right? Ya I wish… So the obvious first choice to try was Staples… Nope. Maybe Walmart will have some… Nope. It’s a stretch but Pier 1… Nope. Urban Barn… they actually had a clear style but it was really ornate and only had the one in stock, getting a smidge warmer, but still… Nope. Dollarstore… Nope.

Alright, so I just spent over an hour driving all over the place, this is silliness. So I called Reid’s… Nope. Looked up Grand & Toy on my phone… their website sucks, and no locations close by, so scrap that too.

I was just so excited to display my new cards that I was willing to drive around a little to look, but after trying how ever many places where they didn’t have aaanything even remotely close, not even ugly card holders haha, I decided to head home and hop online to see what I could find. Good idea!

horizontal clear plastic business card holders – exactly what I need for my new Pet Portrait cards

So after typing a few different variations of ‘clear plastic business card holder’ into google, a bunch of websites showed up, but not many with just plain straight clear holders with a flat back. And I was after horizontal ones, so typed that in as well. Two sites had what I was looking for. Things are looking up! One was ebay but the vendor only shipped within the US, super. The other was in the UK, but I’m not willing to wait for shipping. Ok…

Why are these turning out to be so difficult to get??? I live in a big city, this should be easy, right?

Does excitement = lower level of smartness? Maybe, lol? Alright brain, help me out here… so I thought I’d give it a whirl to type in Calgary at the end of my search words in google (smrt I am), and believe it or not I found the perfect solution!

To be continued on next post… please check back tomorrow 🙂

Last week I received my brand new linen textured Pet Portrait business cards from Jukeboxprint, and I looove them!

This is my second business card set that I’ve had printed with them, and same as before I turned to my fantastic graphic designer Mark to help me with the design for these.

It was really hard to narrow down which Pet Portrait picture to use from my portfolio for the one side, but in the end I chose to go with beautiful ‘Nanook’. It is one of my favourite portraits to date, and a touching story (read about it in this blog).

My new Pet Portrait business cards on linen textured paper from jukeboxprint.com

These cards incorporate the colours of my other set, are again very clean lined and contemporary, a little different layout to change things up, and are horizontal instead of vertical.

On my Custom Art cards I used my R.Millar signature really small on the image on the front of the card, because this is the signature that I paint in the bottom corner of my paintings. I thought it’d be nice to tie in with my business card.

my R.Millar signature show on my business cards

For my Pet Portrait cards I used my logo in the bottom corner because this is what I use on my pet portrait paintings to sign it (but on the edge, not the face of the painting) so it’s not distracting from the portrait itself…

My logo shown in the corner of my Pet Portrait business card

All in all I am really happy with all of my new business cards that coordinate with my new website!

All versions so far of my new linen texture business cards

Now I have all my cards… Now to find business card holders… easy right? Not so much…

To be continued on next post… please check back tomorrow 🙂

Earlier this year I had a total website makeover. Whole new format. Whole new style. Whole new look. So I started to think about new business cards to coordinate around the same time.

I planned to use Moo.com like I usually do, then my graphic designer suggested that I check out Jukeboxprint. They are a Canadian printing company based out of Vancouver BC, and they have a massive selection of print materials, and feature lots of different promotions all the time. They offer premium offset printing, which is a much higher quality look than digital printing. Bonus!

So after looking through their website, I decided to give them a try. Another bonus was that I wanted to order 1000+ cards this time, and their large volume pricing is the “cheapest in Canada” they say! And I believe them.

Found a new printing company, now to design new cards. Keeping with the grey and white colour scheme of my website, this is what we came up with (well…‘we’…mostly my graphic designer, lol):

My jukeboxprint linen texture Custom Artwork business cards

My ‘jukeboxprint’ linen texture Custom Artwork business cards to coordinate with my new website look

Don’t get me wrong, I take great pride in my creativity! However, I do listen to those more learned than me on a subject haha. I love working with Mark because he lets me show him my idea (I can include visual mock ups even) and I’ll be thinking that it’s exactly what I want, I put a lot of thought into it… then he’ll email me back something that’s a tweaked & way more awesome version of what I suggested. He’s da man!

He also suggested (did I mention, this guy is ever so wise?) that I get my new business cards printed on a linen textured paper. YES PLEASE!! So clever. Compliments my website, and reflects what I do (paint!), win win.

Close up of jukeboxprint’s linen textured paper

close up of linen texture paper

I do miss the versatility of having different pictures on each of my business cards like I did before. I really do! But… I love these new cards a lot. People can like new stuff right? Lol

Even though I wish their linen paper was available in a thicker stock, all in all, I couldn’t be happier with how these turned out.

detail of my custom artwork business cards

If you are looking for business cards in large quantity, on unique paper (they have tons of options!), in various thicknesses, or even custom shapes, then these guys are definitely worth checking out.

I believe they have a ‘Refer a Friend’ program as well, so if you would like $10 off your first order, just shoot me your email address and I can send a link over to you no problem (I don’t know how else to do it sorry haha)!

Have you tried Jukeboxprint before? What was your experience like?

About four years ago, I thought to myself: “hmmm… I should probably get some proper business cards made up”. So I typed ‘unique business cards’ into google. At the time nothing overly interesting came up in the search. But then after some digging, I came across Moo.com.

They’ve been around since 2004, and are an online printing company. After about half an hour exploring their site, checking out their rates, I was in! What drew me to them initially was that if you order a 50 pack of business cards, each business card can have a different image on it for no extra charge! As an artist trying to showcase her broad portfolio, this was right up my alley! So I ordered them immediately.

Moo.com business cards

my ‘moo.com’ business cards, each with a different picture on the back, which is a feature I love!

At the time they only shipped from their headquarters in Great Britain, so regular shipping took a little while to receive my package. Understandable. But well worth the wait I’d find out. When I received them, I tore open the box with excitement, and fell in love! They were laminated in a smooth matte finish, were quite thick (I can’t remember what PT thickness, whoops), and their print quality was great.

After I ran out of my first run of cards, I decided to take a peek through their website again. They also offer greeting cards, mini business cards, and stickers… excellent! So I ordered some of those too, and was equally impressed.

Moo.com minicards

my ‘moo.com’ mini business cards: the box they came in, opening it up, checking them out, and a case.

Great Customer Service

They have great customer service too. One time I got a business card set that had one or two cards where there was a ‘ripple’ in the laminating material. When I contacted them they credited me enough on my account to buy a whole new pack! Can’t beat that.

A pack of 50 business cards is $19.99 US (plus shipping), so if you’re wanting a large quantity it’s probably not the way to go. But… for small runs, and artistic purposes, these guys rock.

my ‘moo.com’ custom artwork business cards

User Friendly Website

Another thing I liked about these guys is you create your business card design right on their website. You can upload your own photos, and it was very straight forward and user friendly to use from start to finish. However if you do your own graphic design, you can upload your business card file instead no problem.

my ‘moo.com’ pet portrait business cards. A different pet on the back of each card – so love that!

Get 10% off

Their ‘Refer a Friend Program‘ offers 10% off your first order! So if you’d like to order some new business cards, customize some of your own greeting cards, etc, just use this link and create away at 10% off: http://www.moo.com/share/gnhqn9.

my ‘moo.com’ Circle Art Series cards, and Classic Car Art cards

If you haven’t used Moo.com before, it’s definitely worth checking out.

If you have used Moo.com before – Did you love them as much as I did?

Today is this little lady’s 1^st birthday! And to celebrate, her grandma commissioned me to paint a portrait of her.

From a photograph, I can turn a portrait into a contemporary minimalist style art piece using black and white paint to accentuate the face, clothes, and hair (sometimes even a hat yes, lol), and a bright colour for the background to make it pop (but can be a subtle colour if you like instead). Here we went with a fun pink, which I colour matched to the shirt Ella was wearing in the reference photo.

‘Ella’ | 8″x8″ | acrylic on canvas | commission

What a little cutie, hey?

Unlike Pet Portraits that require a high resolution reference photo, this style of portrait focuses on the contours of the face, therefore we could use almost any quality of photo (for instance this one was snapped on a iPhone) and still achieve this crisp style of painting as a final result.

For those curious as to how I finish the edges of the Kids Portraits, I paint the top, bottom, and sides a solid colour (usually black, unless specified otherwise).

picture showing 1.5″ deep black painted edges

This portrait was painted on a 1.5″ deep canvas frame, and with the crisp black edge it finishes off the painting nicely so no framing is required. You can hang the canvas as is on the wall, or you could set it on a decorative shelf (since it is a small scale it will stand alone no problem), or even add it to a picture collage wall.

Just for fun, here is a pic sequence of the gift wrap:

Series of 4 photos showing ‘Ella’ painting being opened from gift wrap

Simple & sweet!

For more information on this style of portrait, or to see other examples, please check out my ‘Minimalist Portraits‘ portfolio section.

So happy first birthday Ella! I hope you, your mom, and grandma (& friends & family too) have a fun day celebrating together! Take care