New project!

My sister had a birthday last week... I always have a difficult time shopping for the people in my family; I always feel that whatever I buy isn't going to measure up to what the rest of the family buys for gifts. I don't know if it's that I'm too cheap or too poor or what! My brother is married and my sister is in a committed relationship but neither one has children so they've got dual income households while I'm in a single income household with THREE little ones. Even so, I don't know how it works out that they give gifts that are sooo much nicer than what I pick up... it's not that they value anyone more that I do, it just... I don't know.
So for the past few years I have been focusing on trying to give gifts that are meaningful and, for the most part, made by hand. Teachers gifts, baby shower gifts, birthdays, Christmas... I don't give all handmade items but I try to put a lot of thought into what I'm giving to any gift recipient and if I can make something that I think they will enjoy, I'm all for it. Truth be told, I probably don't save any money by making things (I probably actually overspend in some cases) but I put a lot of heart into it!
So without further ado, I bring you a few snapshots of my sister's gift. First I painted a canvas a glossy cherry red. Next, I took a photo of my sister and her boyfriend from a big family vacations to the Outer Banks and turned it into a stencil which I placed kinda offset onto the canvas and painted then in black. Next a little bit of red paint went on top just for a little accent and then a super shiny glossy finish went on. It wasn't terribly difficult, just time consuming. Do it again? In a heartbeat!
I apologize for the photo quality, my camera was having a hard time focusing on the glossy finish-it was so sunny out and the reflection was blinding from *almost* any angle... :)