Canvas on Demand is showing more love to military Moms.

Since 2006, the Raleigh-based company has allowed deployed soldiers to send their mothers free canvas prints of personal photos for Mother's Day. This year was the busiest yet, with Canvas on Demand giving away about 1,600 canvases, said co-founder and president Joe Schmidt.

This year, FedEx agreed to provide free shipping, but Canvas on Demand still ate most of the cost of the converted prints, with a retail value of about $160,000.

The main goal is to thank military members and their families back home for all their sacrifices, Schmidt said. But the donation also helps build awareness of the company's brand.

The increasing popularity of putting photos on large canvas prints also is increasing competition for companies in the business, including Raleigh-based Canvas on Demand, USA Today reports.

There are now dozens of options for customers who want to upload their images and have them reproduced onto stretched canvas.

The article in the nation's largest newspaper gives a plug to Canvas on Demand, calling it "one of the Web's most popular canvas retailers."

Despite the increased competition, co-founder Joe Schmidt said that his company expanded 20 percent in 2009 and has made more than 350,000 canvas prints to date. "We ship out thousands of day," he said.

Schmidt started in business seven years ago at a time when "There were just two of us out there, just us and a guy out of his garage. Those were good days."

Now other rivals continue to spring up, including Your Photo on Canvas, CanvasPop and more. The standard cost is about $90 for a 16-by-20 canvas.

Read the full USA Today story here.