Easy Canvas Prints Review

photo to canvas

A couple weeks ago I did a post about easycanvasprints.com and did a giveaway (now ended, sorry).  Today I'm going to review the actual products that I received.

I got one item for review but got another for doing recommendations and bought another with a coupon I got.  Because I got them all close together I'll just kind of combine the review.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the ordering process is beyond easy.  I'm easily intimidated and easycanvasprints.com makes it very easy to do.  This made me wonder if the product might not be the best quality.  The thing is, this is my first print on canvas, I have nothing to judge it by, but I think all the photos I got turned out great and the quality seems great to me!  (Again, not at all an expert.)

The prints arrived separate (I ordered them separate, so no surprise).  The first one was wrapped well, there was no flopping around, no real way for it to be damaged.  It was a 16x20 so it fit the box better the next two. 

The next one I got was an 8x10 and it was only taped in one direction, it was flopping around in the box, which was the same size as the larger print I'd gotten.  Luckily there wasn't any damage.

And the last one I got was a 10x10 and it was in the same size box as well, but it was taped in on all sides and there wasn't any flopping around, it was definitely secure.  I'm going to say that the middle one was maybe a fluke or a mistake.  If it had been damaged I feel pretty confident that they would replace it as the customer service that I got was amazing.

If I were to complain about anything it would be the excess in packing materials.  The boxes were all the same size and I think they could have smaller boxes for the smaller canvases.  Honestly though, this wasn't a big issue to me.  I'm just always about using as little material as possible, and preferably recycled when possible.

The product itself was amazing.  The first photo I selected because it has some great color.  I didn't get any special editing done, but you can if you wish to.  I thought it turned out great and it's not at all pixalated or anything.  It looks great! (Much better in real life!)

The other two I got are of my niece and nephew (twins) and so I'm not showing you them for privacy reasons.  The 8x10 I got wasn't anything special, just a cute picture of them, and it turned out great.  The 10x10 I got was actually a collage of photos that was done and then posted on instagram.  So it was a perfect square because of that.  It had some words on it (you know how they do those collages on there...) and the print doesn't look great, but it's not bad either.  I think I was inspecting it too closely, cause if you just look at it, it looks fine (great even) but if you look close it looks a little weird.  However, for a low quality photo (taken on a very cheap camera phone and edited and posted on instagram) it actually turned out extremely well.  Because I knew it was a really low quality photo when I sent it in, I wasn't sure how it would turn out and was shocked at how well it did.  I actually packed that one up and sent it off to my sister because she had been saying she really wanted that photo printed but instagram shots have to go through a special order place.  Anyway, I think she'll love it!

My experience with easycanvasprints.com was fantastic!  I really had no issues at all.  I love the website, the ordering, the customer service, the shipping (for the most part) and the product.  And while the regular prices don't seem so great to me, I have discovered since I ordered from them that I now get coupons!  And GOOD ones, not just 10%.  I just got a 60% off one the other day... So I have a feeling I have a new addiction.  I will soon be ordering more from them, I'm sure of it!


Disclosure: I received a canvas print in exchange for a review.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

Easy Canvas Prints also highly recommends:

banner maker

Young Adult Review: The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdoch

I've been having a bit of an issue, I'm sick of reading on a schedule and only reading my review books.  I want to continue series I've started, I want to read books I've had on my shelf for ages and I really, really want to read lots and lots of summery reads!  So from now on my goal is to read at least one book from my shelf that is not a review book, each week.  If I do more than that, even better!  

The Off Season (Dairy Queen #2) by Catherine Gilbert Murdoch

Paperback, 277 pages

Published: June 4th, 2007 by Houghton Mifflin

Source: Purchased

Life is looking up for D.J. Schwenk. She’s in eleventh grade, finally. After a rocky summer, she’s reconnecting in a big way with her best friend, Amber. She’s got kind of a thing going with Brian Nelson, who’s cute and popular and smart but seems to like her anyway. And then there’s the fact she’s starting for the Red Bend High School football team—the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin, probably. Which just shows you can’t predict the future. As autumn progresses, D.J. struggles to understand Amber, Schwenk Farm, her relationship with Brian, and most of all her family. As a whole herd of trouble comes her way, she discovers she’s a lot stronger than she—or anyone—ever thought.

This hilarious, heartbreaking and triumphant sequel to the critically acclaimed Dairy Queen takes D.J. and all the Schwenks from Labor Day to a Thanksgiving football game that you will never forget.

Spoiler free, even for the first book. 
My favorite thing about this book is D.J.  She has such a fresh voice and she's just so darn relate-able.  Her voice is one of my most favorites in YA contemporary.  It's so hard to explain what it is but she's funny and a lot of fun.  Not that the book is all fun, a lot of crap goes down in this book that's not so great for her.  She has to deal with a lot of crap in school as well as with her family.  That leads me to my next favorite thing.

Family.  It's not something that is usually super present in YA books.  In these books family is VERY important.  D.J. has plenty of family problems, but that's what makes it real.  This feels like a real family, with real issues.  They are all genuine and while they don't always get along that's just part of what makes it good.  They live on a dairy farm so D.J. is expected to help out a lot, sometimes too much, and that's another thing we don't see much of in YA, how often do the kids we read about have actual chores?  Now it may seem boring to read about her doing chores, but it's not like that.  It's very interesting because she's thinking the whole time.  It's also journal style so we just get what's in her head.

In this book there's some more life and death things that happen.  It's a bit emotional actually and in the last quarter or so of the book I teared up a couple times.  For the most part this is a funner, lighter read, but it does deal with some serious things, so it has depth.  I highly recommend checking this series out if you haven't yet.  I'm very anxious to read Front and Center, book #3!

Cover Reveal for The Vampire's Hourglass & Giveaway!

Today we're excited to reveal the cover of the newest book in the Of Light and Darkness series by bestselling author Shayne Leighton.  The Vampire's Hourglass is schedule to be published by Decadent publishing the end of this year or beginning of next.

Book Description:

After narrowly surviving a near-death experience in an effort to save Valek from yet another showdown with Aiden, Charlotte awakens inside the forsaken, crumbling walls of the Regime Palace. Though she finds herself surrounded by her closest friends, she is conflicted over her feelings of the sudden absence of her Vampire guardian from her life.

With Nikolai there to console her, Charlotte cannot shake the undeniable chemistry she feels for this familiar stranger. But they are running out of time. Charlotte’s peculiar ailment will return and Sarah, the witch, will sacrifice her youth and beauty in order to save her best friend, unless they find the secret, Dark City.

Charlotte, Nikolai, Sarah, and several other favored characters travel down to the underbellies of Prague to find Valek. But what they end up discovering are the dark and nasty secrets the elder Vampires have been hiding for centuries. Charlotte must overcome her mortal limitations to win back the heart of the one she truly loves and escape the gates of Abelim with her throat intact in this enthralling, highly-anticipated third installment of the Of Light and Darkness Series.

 Exclusive Excerpt:

           “Does it hurt? You know...when I’m around?”  

            He was talking about the scar that still thrived at the side of her throat. The one that appeared there after Valek left his first, initial bite months ago in Francis’ home. The one that had ailed her since and nearly killed her until she unwittingly saved herself by stabbing a hole in her own chest. Not her empty, openly bleeding heart and her feeling of abandonment and being alone, but a literal hole that she created herself some snowy weeks ago when she attempted to end it all to prove herself as something more than just an expendable mortal in this game of light and darkness. She wanted to finally be recognized as a hero, nearly having killed herself for the sake of saving her friends from Aiden. Knowing the tainted taste of the blood from her ruptured heart would drive him away.

            But what did she have to prove for it now? Another giant scar. And more than that, her nightmare came true. Valek was nowhere to be found, no matter how hard she looked. After everything he did, and everything that had happened because of his carelessness, she wasn’t sure how badly she wanted to find him. That thought made her heart constrict. But then again, Aiden had disappeared as well. At least there was that. 

       “Not really. Not as much as the emotional pain underneath it,” she finally answered Nikolai’s question honestly. “The heartbreak hurts worse than the scar ever could.”

About the Author:

In Shayne's first year out of high school she penned, co-directed, and starred in the feature film 'The Incubus', a paranormal romance, which obtained distribution and screened in over fifteen theaters across South Florida among major theater chains such as Regal, AMC, and Cinemark. 'The Incubus' has also obtained a passionate fanbase of over 100,000 girls online and has garnered the attention of reporters from the Miami Herald, CBS News, and NPR Radio. Leighton also starred alongside Scream Queen, Tara Cardinal, in the film 'Legend of the Red Reaper' which made its world debut at the 2012 AFM in Los Angeles. Twenty-Two-year-old Leighton is excited to release her debut young adult novel series, 'Of Light and Darkness', set in contemporary Prague, as well as developing the film adaptation of the novel series. Recently released songs can now be heard on ReverbNation.com with a full-length album in the works. Leighton is currently named #35 on the pop charts in Miami, FL. Named #26 in Boca Magazine's "Top 100 'It' People" for 2011. Shayne Leighton lives in Fort Lauderdale, FL with her husband and key inspiration, Frank and travels back and forth to the Czech Republic often. Find out more about Shayne at: www.ShayneLeighton.com

Check out The Vampire's Daughter, the first book, for only .99 cents on Amazon!

Add it on GoodReads.

Giveaway:

The Vampire's Daughter & The Vampire's Reflection by Shayne Leighton *signed*

Open Worldwide!

Must be 13 or older to enter (with parental permission).

Ends Aug. 8th, 2013

a Rafflecopter giveaway