Let me explain ... My name is Elizabeth Young. My husband and I have 2 girls; Alice is 4½ (going on 14!) and Abby is nearly 2. Let's face it, from the age of about 2½, the cupboard doors start to disappear behind painting after painting after painting. Ours certainly did! After the fridge was covered, we moved onto the cupboard doors, then any other door and eventually onto the walls themselves! One of our friends has even hung a "washing line" across the kitchen ceiling with her daughter's painting strung right across it! (I'll show you a photo later.)

We sometimes still go upstairs and find a new picture has been blue-tacked to the wall above our bed, with the words "Love Alice", beautifully written across the bottom.

I expect you may have similar experiences with your little ones.

Hardly a day goes by when Alice doesn't present us with a new "masterpiece"! Beaming from ear to ear, she proudly shows us her new work, as we struggle to find a new space to display it. Now her sister is starting to copy her!

When the grandparents come over to visit, we can "clear some wall space", as a number of the paintings are proudly presented to them. I'm not quite sure what Grandma has done with all of them, but I know she has a number on her fridge door as well! And she's got 4 grandchildren - she'll need a bigger kitchen at this rate!

Of course, over time, the paintings get better, and we can even start to recognise what it is that she had painted! She doesn't have to say "No Mummy, it's the other way up!" so much.

Bless her!

I will never forget the day Alice came home from Play Group, and proudly showed me her "first painting". It stayed on the fridge door for months!

To be honest, it isn't particularly "stunning", but it was her first. And the sense of pride you feel as a parent is beyond words. I still well up just thinking about it. There is something incredibly special about those first paintings the children produce. My friends who don't have children just don't get it. I guess you have to be a parent to understand.

Competitive Parents? Us? Surely not!

And of course, your own child is not only much brighter, more beautiful, more talented, more photogenic and better behaved than everyone else's, but they paint better too! Of course you want to show off the little genius's work, by proudly displaying it in your home for everyone to see.

I'm sure you've done this yourself; isn't it just great watching their little faces light up with pride, when you point to the painting and ask them who did it? These feelings are irreplaceable.

After Alice's first one had been on the fridge door for a while, I started to wonder if it could somehow be "enhanced" and put onto canvas, so that we could have a permanent reminder of our little girl's work. Something that we could frame, or hang properly over the kitchen table.

Just imagine being able to capture these feelings forever. To be able to share them with the grandparents and rest of the family. Rather than letting these paintings get tatty on the cupboard doors, eventually to be stuffed in a drawer and forgotten, if only you could create a permanent reminder by putting them on high-quality artists' canvas.

Can Anybody Help Me?

"There must be a company somewhere that I can send the original to, and ask them to art work it and enhance it for me? With all the companies offering services to children and parents, there must be someone that can do this for me?"

Being a "newish" mum, I got (and still get) a lot of the parent and kiddie magazines and am sure like you, have seen loads of really cute and cool stuff for kids and parents. There is allsorts advertised on the children's TV channels, in the lifestyle magazines, Sunday supplements and kids' websites.

But I couldn't easily find anyone to help me transform Alice's first painting into a permanent keepsake to treasure forever.

The original painting

Art-styled in 2 colours

Art-styled in 3 colours

Art-styled in 4 colours

It Was Like Trying To Find a Parent & Toddler Space at the Supermarket!

I ended up on several wild goose chases.

One company I found on the internet (who shall remain nameless) promised to take the original and blow it up and frame it for me. After several weeks of me chasing them almost daily, they finally confessed that they didn't really know how to do this properly so sent it back! Unbelievable!!

Another did actually take my money and produced a canvas that can at best be described as "shoddy". The canvas was not square on the mount, the colours were dull, and they had not "hidden" the rip in the original paper like they promised. It even came complete with fingerprints on the top and sides! Of course I sent it back. They did eventually give me a refund, but not without a fight.

I then took it to a local artist and graphic designer to try and have it done properly. This was what I should have done in the first place, but much more complicated and expensive than I had imagined. Nothing against designers or artists, but this one was painful! They speak a different "design" language about colours and tones that I didn't understand ...

"What CMYK, RGB or Pantone colour values did I wish to use? What filters and tonal adjustments should be applied? Would I like 80, 100 or 120 gm canvas duck or poly mix canvas?"

This all took a series of consultations, at a nice fat hourly rate! The final price that I was quoted was running into hundreds of pounds. £765 to be precise!

To me it was really simple. I wanted a large canvas. The kitchen walls are a steel grey / blue colour. The original that Alice painted has orange and red in it. Just enhance the original so that it will complement the existing wall colour scheme, using blues and yellows. How hard can it be?

So This Is What Started It All ...

Now I know as parents we like to spend money on our kids, and get wrapped up in the emotion of how "cute" everything is, but some of the prices I was quoted were outrageous. The highest I was quoted to have Alice's painting enhanced and produced on canvas was a massive £765 for a 100cm square painting!

As Alice would say - "That's ridiculous!" (She's obviously been listening to her Daddy!)

There had to be a better way that was reliable, good quality and cost effective. You know what? I couldn't find anyone to do this for me.

And as my mum still says: "If you want something doing, do it yourself!"

Now I am not a trained artist, but I have a passion for good style and design. I read the lifestyle magazines and have spent time making sure that our home is nicely furnished. I don't go over the top, but probably like you, I like nice things.

Before having our children, I worked as an Office Manager. So I know about accounts systems, purchasing and a fair bit about setting up and running a company.

So I thought, "Why not?" If we want to have this done with our girl's paintings, there must be other mums and dads that think the same? We started asking our friends who also had young children. They all thought it was a great idea. Even the grandparents were excited!

We had the first one done, as a test really, and waited to see what feedback we got from people who saw it at our house. Guess what? Everyone who has seen it loves it, and has asked how they can also have one done. Thankfully, I now have the answer, so you don't have to go through the "pain" I went through when I first looked at this. My husband and I knew design and artwork companies, that we had worked with previously, and made contact with print manufacturers to research the production process. After about 18 months of planning, design and development, myfirstpainting.com was born.

We can now help you transform your children's art and photos into stunning contemporary canvases for your home - at a fraction of the cost we were quoted to have this done when we first looked into it. In fact, prices start from just £30!

We can also reproduce the original as originally created, and can do exactly the same with your family photographs. We have even been asked to do the family pets!

Have a quick look around this website now to get a better idea for the kind of results we can offer you. Visit the Paintings, Photos, Hands & Feet and Face Painting pages for examples of what you can achieve.

I promise you that you will absolutely love the finished canvas, and feel an irreplaceable pride once your child's "little masterpiece" is hanging on the wall.

So, if you are ready to get started and you too want a beautiful canvas to show in your home, then simply click here.