Turning a Memory into a piece of Art is easy with Paint a Moment, I found my moment of calm during this collaboration

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Sabrina

This October I have been gifted an opportunity, to make a photograph of mine into a piece of art. The photograph I chose was a macro image of some forget-me-not flowers that I had taken. I planted these flowers in my garden after I lost my final grandparent in tribute to her memory. The flowers mean a lot to me, and when the kind founder of Paint a Moment contacted me about a product review, I knew I wanted to turn something significant in my life into a painted piece of art.

Do you know what’s incredible? Watching your memory, and in my case my photographic art, take shape by my own hands, with every brush stroke and every paint pot change. Let me tell you why these pieces make the most incredible gifts, either for people in your life or as a present to yourself. Because making art is always calming and gratifying, but to watch your important things; such as your pets or people in your world come to life on the canvas, that is something else entirely. It is a wonderful feeling to watch the art develop over the days in which you paint it, you are giving a moment life, to keep it forever once you’re done.

Here is a photograph showing my original flowers image side by side with the canvas that I have received from Paint A Moment. As you can see it is intricate with many different shades and it will have areas that will require a delicate hand and a gentle touch. I recall saying to myself “I am sure this will keep me busy during my baby’s nap times for the coming weeks”. And boy did it! It took me roughly 30 hours to complete over the course of ten days. I will show you the finished canvas at the end of this article so please keep reading, let’s hear more about Paint A Moment now before I give my review.

Once you have chosen your picture Paint a Moment provide every paint that you will need, and also stickers so that you can label the paint pots according to the numbers on your printed picture. I received 3 brushes as well, different thicknesses so that I can tackle every aspect of my canvas. As you can see in my image below the pots have come in an awesome tray to keep things neat and tidy as well as the various stickers and a reference image of my photograph.

I found the painting was easy, by following the lines and the numbers. Not having to mix any paints was also a blessing, all the things that I needed were included, and I could just pick up the paintbrush when my baby was napping and paint a little. I would usually choose the largest amount of colour from the numbers I had remaining. So that way I could watch the painting come to life, one colour at a time. As I said above it took me ten days, roughly 30 hours. That was because it was very stop start, looking after my children between painting moments.

Speaking of moments, I wanted to include a quote from Paint A Moment founder Marcus in my review, here is what he has said about his business and the art they create.

“I wanted to make something that gets people off their phones for an evening (or longer) and leaves them with a painting of something they actually love: their dog, their nan’s house, a place they have been to. You don’t need to be able to paint, you just need a photo, a bit of patience and a moment to yourself”.

If you or someone you know could do with some grounding and relaxing artwork to complete, perhaps for someone too invested in their phone, then why not consider a piece as a gift. I think it’s the perfect thing for all because you don’t need to be able to paint to do paint by numbers work. When I agreed to this collaboration I checked out the shop on the Paint a Moment website, and they have three stages for painters of all levels and difficulties. It can be for anyone to enjoy.

A paint kit starts from £21.99 and you can choose if you want to add any additional things to that which incur costs such as a frame and extra paints. Paint a Moment have Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced kits available. As well as the custom kits of your own images too which is what mine has been.

Paint a Moment use stock images so that people can buy some of the art that is ready to paint in the levels of difficulty that I have mentioned above. I do feel the custom pieces that are available should be shouted about due to the quality they are able to achieve from someone’s photography, like my own. Their pictures are all stunning, ready to go and custom – because I checked out the reviews too. So many satisfied customers just like me. Why not check it out for yourself – once you have finished reading my article though! I’m sure you want to see how my canvas turned out don’t you… let’s continue…

The link to the Paint A Moment Shop is HERE

During the time I have spent painting my canvas, I have felt calmer than usual, and I have been able to reflect on my thoughts more whilst painting, more than I have ever been able to do while using some sort of a screen. I class myself as a creative person, mainly as a photographer, but I have painted many things over the years. To pick up some brushes again for the first time in a number of years was both satisfying and compelling, it has made me want to paint more. I am sad my canvas is complete, now I need another project to do. And you know what? The best thing about a hobby like this is that you can take your time, it isn’t a race or a necessity to complete it immediately after starting.

Here is my final finished canvas, are you ready? I am really happy with how it has turned out.

Overall I have been hugely impressed by this product, the company and the entire experience, and I rate this product a 5 stars across the board. I will now elaborate on each score below.

Product Quality 5✩
Delivery 5✩
Product Design 5✩
Ease of Use 5✩
Unique Value 5✩
Professionalism 5✩

Product Quality is hugely important when creating something yourself at home, from the paints and the individual pots, to the brushes and the canvas. I have been impressed by all of it. The paint pots come with stickers and are labelled too so there is no guesswork, you have absolutely everything you require in order to complete your art work and it’s laid out simply enough to follow.
Delivery was great, the canvas comes rolled, and you have all the items you need in one box, no messing around with multiple deliveries. I was impressed also by the timeframe of ordering with my own photograph, within a few days the printed canvas arrived with all I needed to get started.
The Product Design for this kit was excellent, even the foam that the paints arrive in means you don’t need any other products or art supplies, all that you need from start to finish is provided. The canvas itself is high quality and printed very clearly so that you can see the numbers you need and match them with the paint pots. For anyone new to a paint-by-numbers type of art, you would not feel any anxiety because you have everything you need plus its all simple to follow.
Leading on to Ease of Use now, as I just stated you have everything, all you need now is a flat surface and some free time in which to paint. Because the colours are made up specifically for your artwork, you do not need to go hunting for other colours, it’s all there ready for whenever you have a spare minute to do some painting. I worked by doing the larger areas first and then moved on to the more intricate parts of my photo which worked well for me.
The Unique Value of having a custom image created into art is excellent, and you cannot put a price on somebody’s memories and important imagery, so to immortalise that in canvas art to such a high standard is exceptional.
Finally the Professionalism of the website, the team and especially the founder of this company, proves why it is a good idea to support small UK business when you can. They make sure that you have the best experience and receive the best quality of product so that you can turn your art into a memory in itself, the experience of watching it come to life by your own hands is something that cannot be replicated by simply buying a ready made piece. By creating your own art work from a photograph, you are getting a unique item made for you and then completed by you.

Here is a triptych showing my photograph, the canvas plain ready for painting, and the finished piece when I had completed painting it. Other than perhaps learning to blend the edges of the colours more for the background, I am pleased with how this turned out.

As a keen creative I have been really excited by this collaboration and have thoroughly enjoyed painting my very own canvas, I would love to do another one someday soon.

I really appreciate you coming to my website today, thank you for visiting and reading this piece, and I hope you have a great day and come back again soon.

✩ Sabrina ✩

Please check out my social media for more product reviews and follow me for more content! Some reviews I only post to my Instagram especially videos, I am a busy parent but I try and write several new articles a month depending upon the content I have available. So please check my socials out if you have an account, search #severnsabrina or click the links below;
Sabrina on Instagram Severn_Sabrina
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In order to keep in touch with offers and new kits from Paint A Moment, their accounts to follow for social media include:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paint.a.moment

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@paintamoment

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paintamoment

Thank you to Paint A Moment for this opportunity, I have completely adored the whole experience and I would definitely purchase from your company for gifts for my loved ones in the future. Now I just have to choose which pictures to order!

A Week of Positive Things – Sabrina’s Tips for having a more Positive 7 Days at Home

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Sabrina

A Week of Positive Things

Sabrina’s Top Tips for having a more Positive 7 Days

Everyone seems to be feeling a bit low lately, it’s bound to be the Winter Blues mixed in with everything to do with the Pandemic. There are so many people who have found themselves working from home again, and many young people who are studying at home again too. With all this time stuck at home there are lots of anxious feelings and negativity, so I’m here with some suggestions to try and put a positive spin back into your home environment!

So here is my solution to tackle the blues, try to take half an hour out of your day as a family unit, every afternoon for the next week, after work is over and after the schooling is done for the day. Pick one of these ideas of mine to do together, a different one every day in any order you like.

I guarantee they will have you feeling more positive by the end of day 7! You can do them in any order you like! Or do one of them twice if it’s a hit! If you play along please comment on this post or on my socials at the end of the week and tell me which activity your family preferred and whether these activities did in fact work for you and increase your family’s positive attitudes.

Go for a Walk (Weather Dependent) and play a game as you go! Ideal for parents with younger children who are still enthralled by the nature of “eye spy”. But the fresh air and endorphins combined should make all of you feel better too. Older children may want to go for a jog or a bike ride if that’s more your thing, so long as it’s half an hour outdoors with your family, all together.
Watch a Funny TV Show or Cartoon. Laugher really can help you to feel better, even for a brief moment, so why not stick on a tv show or a favourite cartoon that never failed to make you laugh and giggle together. Tom and Jerry is a good one!
Bake or Make Something Delicious! I have a ton of recipes on my blog and some don’t even take that long to do. So why not make some chocolate crispy cakes or even some rocky road, something simple and even something that doesn’t require baking to save you time! Then you’ll have a tasty treat for a few afternoons to come! See what you’ve got in the cupboard! Here is my baking section HERE.
Get Creative. You can do one of two things with this creative activity depending upon the age of the people in your household. Either, do a rotating draw-off where by you each start with a piece of A4 paper and one coloured pen (all varying colours) and you keep rotating the papers every minute, do this until 4 minutes is up. Everyone should’ve drawn on each of the pieces of paper. No talking! See what you’ve come up with! Share them with me on social media! #SabrinasCreativeCrafts
OR
You can play the Sentences Game. The idea is to make up a creative story, it should be funny, and you once again rotate the papers. This time you want long strips and not A4. Cut a vertical A4 in half twice or get your strips. Once the first minute is up and the first sentence has been written, you all fold over the section and pass it on. When the time is up you each open up the papers to find a story.

For example;
There once was a man who couldn’t find his shoes.
I think I want some KFC he thought.
He headed off in the direction of the sunset.
In the end his dog ran away and joined the circus.

If you have teenagers then you could play the game another way, this is called CONSEQUENCES, you start by writing on each of the papers the following things, add extra if you have a large family so that everyone will get a go at each section when the papers are passed on. They usually go like this…
___
Met
___
At
___
They said ___
What happened next was ___ OR The Consequence was ___

Then unroll it after everyone has had their turn and the sections are completed, then take turns in reading them out. See my photo below this list for an idea of what it would look like when you finished! Warning my examples may cause laughter!
Photos! Another fun thing that would brighten your spirits is to look back at any photo albums that you have or digital slideshows. You could even play a game while you look through them. Every time that your mum is seen with sunglasses on she gets a point, each time someone hasn’t got their hat on when they should you lose a point! First person to spot the water in the photos gets a point. Etc etc! Make up some rules before you start and say that the first person to 10 points gets out of doing the washing up tonight! Or the winner chooses what’s for dinner the next night! Involve one another in every day things.
Write a List of Goals and Aspirations for 2021 – but only write the do-able ones! For example, I want to bake a cake for mums birthday. OR I would like to walk a mile on the next weekend that is dry and sunny. When you achieve something, even if it’s a little thing, you feel so much better about having accomplished it. Setting some realistic goals now for the year might seem silly when we don’t know what’s around the corner, however even if the goals are just for the people in your bubble, it’s still doable. Put them up on your fridge or board and tick yours off when you have completed it.
Make a Meal Together. No matter how old you all are there is something fun about making dinner together. May I suggest something that everyone can get stuck into such as Fajitas, Curry, Sausages and Mash or Lasagne (dietary requirements permitting). I have tons of recipes on my blog if you need inspiring! But making and preparing food together before you eat it can be a real bonding experience, and it can also be important for teaching younger children where foods come from or that by mixing this with that you achieve this outcome. Food is something that has been so important during the first lockdowns so I thought I would continue on with that and try and get you back into your kitchen to make something you love together. Check out my Recipes HERE.

Why Not Try And Make My Delicious Cookies? Click the link in section 3 for the recipe!

The Consequences Game – Imaginative Fun for the older children in your family.

I really hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and that you would like to participate in my week of positivity. If you do participate in any of them or attempt to get those in your bubble to do so, then please let me know how you got on! I can’t wait to see if you make anything as well 🙂 tag me online! And thanks for joining me!

✩ Sabrina ✩

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Owl and Brolly Wall Stickers Let Imagination Run Free with their Incredible Quality, Unique Style and Beautiful Watercolour Designs

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Sabrina

Owl and Brolly Stickers are Unique, Colourful and Imaginative

Hello Severn Wishes followers. Today I have the pleasure of bringing a special review to you all. Owl and Brolly is a company who specialise in Wall Stickers, mainly for children’s bedrooms and play rooms. I have known Sue at Owl and Brolly for several years now, we bonded through an Endometriosis group and found we had mutual things in common. When I found out she was an incredible artist and saw her beautiful work, I wanted to shout about her talent.

Sue knew that I had just moved house into a rental property, and I couldn’t take the chance of ruining the paintwork in my son’s bedroom. So the plan was to do some tester stickers, an hour, twenty four hours and finally seven days. And luckily for me there was nothing wrong with the paint and I tried the stickers on several walls just to make certain. I can guarantee that it is a good idea to do the Tester Sticker when you may not know the condition of the walls in your home.

This lovely Bear is for my son’s bedroom, he hasn’t given him a name just yet, ha, ha! But the quality of this sticker just amazed me. Not just the printing of the sticker itself but the design. Owl and Brolly stickers are all drawn and designed by hand. What a talented woman behind such a wonderful creative business.

What I love about the Owl and Brolly range is the creativity and the infinite imagination that stems from items like these stickers. Any child would be lucky to have some of them on their walls.

Here are some examples of the beautiful Wall Stickers Owl and Brolly currently offers. I will be providing links to social media and the website itself at the end of this article. Check out these incredible works of art!

I will now give you some background about the company and how it all came about. As a small British Business they are always looking for support from fellow UK citizens who appreciate all the talented people in this country, and especially now during the pandemic, it’s a great idea to think about purchasing locally for Christmas this year. Perhaps my blog post will inspire you to buy from Owl and Brolly.

Sue studied a HND in Natural History Illustration specialising in watercolour, she enjoyed a creative career until Endometriosis forced her to change her way of working. In order to move with the times she made the decision to become more of a digital based artist than making art with traditional paintings. Her drawings are incredibly detailed and she has a unique style.

It was after helping a start-up company with their designing that Sue went on to illustrate her own range of wall stickers for nursery walls and kids rooms. She began combining her own special watercolour techniques and using some digital media to create the sticker designs. It was a decision that brought out her artistic skills and she is doing what she loves every single day. It was at this time that she started her company, and Owl and Brolly was born.

The stickers are all printed on a high quality removable and reusable fabric wall sticker, rather than a single use PVC vinyl. This allows them to be used more than once and are easily removed (gently) and then repositioned. Sue has a passion for wanting to create illustrations that will help to inspire children’s imaginations. Her beautiful watercolour designs are not only highly detailed but they look unique. They are printed to such a high quality that they look good on any wall space and have already made so many children (and their parents) happy with the designs.

The Stickers are thin but excellent quality, printed onto removable and reusable fabric.

Please visit Sue over on Owl and Brolly to see all of the wonderful things that she has to offer. There are so many beautiful stickers on the website I couldn’t possibly show you all of them on here. You’ll have to pop over to the page or website and become even more inspired.

I highly recommend the customer service, the quality of the items and the overall finish of the products available. Sue will also work on special designs if you have something in mind, just send her a message on her social media and see if her commission’s books are currently open. She is working hard every day to accommodate people’s orders despite the pandemic and she is a very talented woman who deserves so much success.

You can find Owl and Brolly across these links below:

Owl and Brolly WEBSITE
Owl and Brolly FACEBOOK
Owl and Brolly INSTAGRAM

Thank you again to Sue for giving me the opportunity to review her wonderful products, I have thoroughly enjoyed this collaboration.

And thank you for visiting Severn Wishes today, I hope you have enjoyed this product review, thanks for reading.

✩ Sabrina ✩