My Version: Chevron Subway Art

When I saw a picture of Jen's Chevron Subway Art that she made over at Tatertots and Jello, I knew had to re-create one. I loved the Beatles lyrics and the bright cheerful colors, so I decided to make one myself. This is my version. You can see Jen's original here. I ended up donating this to my daughter's school dinner/auction and her Kindergarten teacher ended up buying it!

I used my Silhouette to make the chevron stencil, as well as the stencil for the words. I painted it onto a piece of plywood that was sitting out in my garage leftover from the entertainment unit my husband built me.

Fabric Shopping

I've been fabric internet-window shopping lately. I have some large projects coming up...one including re-doing my family room. I've got these Joel Dewberry fabrics right now in my family room... These are my curtains...

Throw pillows...

My walls are vanilla (Doesn't that word sound cuter than off-white?!). I've decided that since I have twins in their terrible two's, who don't like to keep anything clean, I'm going to paint the walls medium-dark brown. Gasp! Really? That's the reaction I've been getting from my family members when I tell them my plan. You see, no matter how clean I try to keep my house, there will always be smudge marks and fingerprints on the walls. I'm sick of it! Not even Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser can tackle what my twins' dish out! So, I am going to darken up the walls and bring in some bright colors with some fabrics. Here is what I will be ordering for my fabrics in my family room...

For my throw pillows... And for my curtains... These will really help brighten up the brown I'm putting on the walls, so we won't feel like we live in a cave! I've always loved the brown/yellow color combination. I can never get away from that pretty chocolate brown shade. And I love that pretty blue herringbone fabric. These are also from Joel Dewberry as well. One of my favorite fabric shops that I always go to first is: Fabricworm You can find TONS of fabrics!

My Grunge-y Subway Art

I was in a crafting funk...but I think the spark is back.

This kitchen Subway Art has been on my to-do list for so long, and I'm so glad I finally got it done! I bought the blank canvases months ago, and once I got my Silhouette machine, it became a much easier project to tackle. I wanted to create some Subway Art for my kitchen using French cooking terms. I've always admired Subway Art. It is so contemporary, and I love how you can personalize it. I've seen it done for specific holidays, couples and words that mean a lot to them, and even street names that a person lived on!

It turned out a lot more grunge-y than I originally wanted, but I actually think it looks cool! I am a little new to stenciling, so it could have looked a little better, but all well! Live and learn, right?

Here is how I made it...

1. Paint a blank canvas any color you desire.

2. Make word stencils. I used my Silhouette for this. I made my stencils out of cardstock, which may have been part of the reason why the paint seeped to other places I didn't want it to. I used the Arial Bold font, and I made them all different sizes and thicknesses.

3. Place your words in an arrangement that looks good.

4. Start stenciling with a brush. I've found that it is best to dab the brush on, rather than stroke the stencil. Stroking = bleeding paint.

Then you're pretty much done after that.