Non- Silhouette Subway Art Tutorial

I suffered from Silhouette envy for a long time. So a while back I decided to try and make some affordable subway art WITHOUT using a Silhouette. 

When shopping around for subway art I ran into two problems.

1. It was not big enough-they were mostly smaller sizes. 

2. The price ( although reasonable for the work involved) did not fit into my decorating budget.

So heres how to make your own. 

Supplies: 

Wooden Board 

Vinyl letters from Dollar Tree- dont be scared if they are pink cheetah print. They will just be thrown out. 

Spray paint in two contrasting colors. 

Ruler, pencil, distressing ink ( optional) 

Sander/ Sand paper

** I had step by step pictures... my computer ate them so you will have to use your imagination.**

1. Go to Lowes or Home Depot and ask the nice man in the lumber area to cut you a piece of wood. Pick whatever size you want. Mine is pretty big- 3ft. X 2ft. 

I would not recommend using plywood though- it wont sand nicely. 

2. Bring your board home, sand it and paint the whole thing in the lighter of the two colors you choose. I did black and white so I painted it all white first. 

Let it dry over night. 

3. Measure your vinyl letters. Mine were 2 inches tall.  I then counted how many lines I would need on my board and spaced them out according to how tall my letters were. Using my ruler I made LIGHT pencil lines so I could stick my letters on somewhat even. :) 

4. Start sticking your pink cheetah letters on! This took a while- I would recommend waiting till your kids are sleeping. It gets annoying having to move little hands out of the way - just saying. 

5. Once the letters are on - make sure they are stuck on well- spray paint your darker color on- covering the entire thing. I needed a few coats. Let it dry over night- be patient. You will be sad if you remove the letters too early and smear the paint. 

6. Peal off your letters- and do any distressing you may want to add. 

7. Nag your husband for three weeks to hang up your mammoth subway art which has no real way to attach itself to the wall. Now he has to come up with something and is silently wishing you would stop crafting for a while. :) FYI- We used "Wall Dogs" to hang up it - hasn't fallen down yet! :)

This project came in under $20 for those of you wondering. 

Pretty Sure I am not supposed to see this look for another 10 years...