Family Rules Subway Art + free file download

Oh me, oh my! Where does the time go?!? I was plugging right along being a good little blogger and then... stuff happened. Beginning of summer fun stuff, freelance work stuff, no more school for hubby stuff, project stuff... You know, stuff. But I do love creating things and sharing them, so I'm really trying to keep up sharing things here.

Today, one of my favorite recent projects: a family rules subway-style wall plaque, custom made for my sister. And, I'm sharing the Silhouette Studio cutting file, too!

My sister sent me a photo of a similar piece of art and asked if I could make her one like it. She didn't care which words or colors I used, just so long as it was a specific size to balance out the art she had hanging on the opposite wall.

Family are great clients to work for :)

I used the same reverse stencil process that I had used on previous canvas projects (which I haven't shared yet, shame!), with just a couple modifications for this since it is on MDF particleboard (cut to size at the store) instead of a canvas.  

1. Paint the canvas or board the color of the LETTERS. I had to do a couple coats of paint since the MDF was thirsty and soaked up a lot of the paint. 

2. Stick on the cut vinyl (or contact paper) letters, smoothing down all of the edges and burnishing really well with a credit card, popsicle stick, or other tool. 

3. Seal (optional) the edges of the vinyl letters with a coat of clear matte ModPodge or other sealant. I only do this if there are very thin portions, such as the serifs of the letters and the thin divider lines. It works like a dream to keep the edges crisp!

4. Paint over the letters in the BACKGROUND color. Mine took 3 coats, but I could have probably done it in two if I was patient and let each coat fully dry. 

5. Peel off the vinyl letters carefully to reveal your beautiful subway art!

I got creative and used a flat egg carton to prop my board up so that I could paint the front and the edges at the same time: 

We hung it with 3M picture hanging strips so that it would be both flat against the wall and secure, since it hangs by the ping-pong table:

Ready to make your own family rules subway art? I'd love to see!

Hop over here to download the Silhouette Studio file (.studio format)

File is for personal, non-commercial use only. Please subscribe to get more free printables and files!

A few notes about the file: 

It is sized to fit a board 14"x24". To cut all of the words, you will have to split it up into sections as your machine can handle. I split mine into 9" tall, since that is the width of my SD's cutting area. If you have a Cameo (lucky!), you can hopefully cut fewer wider strips.

The fonts of each section are listed in the file, and each piece of text is converted to path so you won't need each font. However, if you'd like to make an alteration, here are all of the fonts I used, linked to where you can download them. I have personally downloaded each font from each of the sites I link to, but, as always, you download at your own risk.

• be yourself/be thankful: Litos Script
• work hard: Surface
• say please/do your best: Janda Stylish Script (thickened/offset)
• relax/each other: Long Island
• tell the truth/count your blessings:  FoglihtenFr01 (line drawn manually)
• clean up: Fang Song (thickened/offset) - no link because it's a Microsoft standard font
• love: Stars From Our Eyes
• encourage/appreciate: Aovel Sans (thickened/offset)
• apologize/forgive: Universitas Studii Salamantini
• laugh/listen/learn/smile: King
• pray: Janda Siesta Sunrise

Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for reading!

-Lorene

Lucky Milk Lid Specimen Art

Goodness, this week has flown by! We've been organizing up a storm, and I'll have some fun projects to share next week. Today I want to share a super fast update to the milk lid specimen art from last week.

My friend Amy suggested that I paint one of the milk lids gold to make it pop and be more festive, but... paint sounded like work. And drying time. So instead I cut a four leaf clover from some brushed gold vinyl (using my Silhouette... I'm old-school SD not new Cameo :), and stuck it on one of the milk lids.

As a bonus, the vinyl will peel right off once I decide to take the art down and let my kids have their milk lids back to play with. But... let's be honest... those kids are never getting these green milk lids back. And the other colors are in danger, too, because momma is loving on how easy and cheap milk lid specimen art is! Next time, though, I think I will leave some space between the milk lids to give it more of a specimen feel. And there will be a next time. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

-Lorene

Yardstick Photo and Decor Hanger (plus St Patrick's Day decor on the cheap)

Remember my two free printables earlier this week? I had every intention of just tossing them in some frames and putting them on my mantel. But then I had a midnight-hour realization: I have no 8x10 frames in my house. Not just no empty-able frames. NO frames. So I started rummaging around and came up with a few office supplies and that turned into this:

It is not what I first envisioned, but I am totally in love with it and can't wait to use it for other holidays, too!

Want to make one of your own? You'll just need

• a yardstick
• washi tape (optional, if your yardstick is vintage/pretty i.e., not covered with business info)
• paper clips (large are better)
• string (I used baker's twine)
• hot glue or tape

If your yardstick has unsightly business info all over it (not that Sunroc isn't a great business! love Sunroc :), cover it with washi tape. I was going to leave the measurement side uncovered, but I didn't love that look, so I put two strips of gray polka dot and one strip of pink stripe to jazz it up and help cover the numbers/logo better.

Now, to make the hangers. I call this the poor man's midnight photo hanging solution ;). 

Slightly bend the center section of the paper clip out to form a little hook and tape it on to the yardstick, putting the tape behind the section you just bent out. Note: as I was typing this my shamrock fluttered to the ground... so I'd suggest using tape stronger than washi tape or multiple pieces. You could easily hot-glue the paper clips to the yardstick as well, but I wanted mine to be movable in case the things I want to hang next time are different sizes. 

Then hot-glue a short section of string, knotted at either end to keep it from unraveling and to help hold it in the glue, to the back of the photos and/or lightweight decor that you want to hang. Be sure to glue the string down far enough on the hanging item that the paper clip won't show at the top. (I also glued my photos to poster board to keep them from bending while they're hanging.) 

Having to stretch and use what I have on hand really gets my creative engine going sometimes, so I kept going with the green projects, using what I have on hand. Up there at the top of my yardstick display, I have a crepe paper shamrock. 

I found a shamrock coloring page, traced it on cardboard (the lid of a donut box ;), and then cut it out and glued random spirals of squished and twisted crepe paper streamer until it was covered. Don't look too closely or you'll see the leftover hot glue strings ;)

Hanging next to the yardstick display on our weird stair wall, I just glued some yarn (freehand, in case you can't tell ;) to say lucky... and that is supposed to be a clover on the tail of the y... (The frame is one that I won a while back from Janny at Que Linda. She even gives you the tutorial here! I love it and it fits the holiday perfectly!)

I have one shelf on our front room bookshelf that I put seasonal things on:

An Easter chick masquerades as a leprechaun using the hat I made for my son when he was a baby, and it wouldn't be St. Patrick's day without a pipe cleaner rainbow and the traditional cotton ball clouds!

And then I was on to my mantel. I have only had a mantel for about 6 months and I am still getting a feel for my mantel style... but this one is my favorite yet! Simple but festive. And all from things sitting around my house. Sometimes it pays to hoard ;)

 Just ignore the extra rustic feel... the mantel still needs painted :) From left to right:

• Hurricane jar with coiled dollar store garland inside, on top of two dollar store bowls
• Recycled mini Martinelli's bottles with dollar store flowers (whose stems are lengthened with drinking straws)
• Plain candle on a candle holder, dressed up with more washi tape
• Milk lid specimen art in white Ribba frame from IKEA
• Clock from Deseret Book a year or so ago
• My only still-living plant, in a thrifted ceramic teapot that is normally in my kitchen (propped up with a recycled orange juice concentrate container)

My favorite part? The milk lid specimen art!

So easy. I covered a piece of cardboard with burlap and then just glued the milk lids to it and popped it in the frame. It adds a great color, and I'm thinking how fun it would be with many colors of milk lids. 

Oh, and I don't normally hoard milk lids. I collect them. For my kids. Really, they are great for putting in and out of a wipes container (thank you, Pinterest and Learning Through Play!) and for counting and sorting and stacking. So I put a very small amount of glue on them so my kids won't be green-deficient next time they play ;)

So, how are you decorating for St. Patrick's Day this year? Or are you skipping it since Easter is so close on its tail?

Have a happy {green} day!

-Lorene