... and 345 days later....We have some great things planned! A giveaway is one of them!

We love subway art. We think it's a great way to personalize a space. Not only can you choose the size and colors you want, you can also choose the fonts and even more importantly the words or phrases.

This is a piece of Subway Art, I (Shannon) created for my craft room. The words are very special to me. The phrases on the craft room wall are constant reminders of ways I can be who I truly want to be.

Would you like a piece of subway art personalized just for you? In celebration of our upcoming blogiversary, we'll be making one for one of our followers. Do you want to know how to enter?

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A Memorial Sign

My sweet Uncle Jim died on April 6th.  He suffered with cancer the last eight months of his life. 

During his 63 years on Earth, Uncle Jim was many things.  I wanted to create something, that represented his life.  With my Aunt Esther's help, I came up with a list of words that were important to Jim's life. This was my memorial to him.

First, I chose to do the names of the most important people in his life: Jim, Esther, and William. Then, the relationships he had: husband, father, friend, brother, uncle, cousin, and son. Next, I wanted to represent the roles he had in his life:  a veteran, missionary, writer, believer, friend, and counselor. Finally, I wanted to choose the adjectives I felt described him best: gentle, caring, and kind.

Using a variety of fonts, I cut these out of vinyl, on my Silhouette. I used the negative part of the vinyl to create a stencil.  I carefully arranged the words to the board I'd prepainted navy blue.

After attaching all the vinyl to the board and rubbing it down well, I painted the words cream.  I let the paint dry completely and then removed most of the vinyl.  I decided to add a pop of color, and emphasize the red, white, and blue Memorial theme by painting some of the words red.  So, over the cream paint, I painted red.  I wanted some cream to peek out, and it did.

Here's what I had when I removed all the vinyl.

I distressed the sign with an orbital sander. This was a mistake.  The sand paper was fresh and the sander fast.  There are a couple of places that show the circular marks. I was so disappointed since this was a time consuming project and I didn't have time to redo it.  I decided it just added character (or I hoped). I then drilled holes in the top and added wire to make it easy to hang.

Here's the sign I presented to my aunt and cousin.  I think remembering all the special people we've lost in life is a special way to spend Memorial Day. I will miss my Uncle Jim. He will not be forgotten.

Subway Art-A Personalized Sign

Teacher's Appreciation Week is coming!  Here's an idea for a gift.

My daughter has two very wonderful teachers.  One of them has been teaching for nearly fifty years. She has seven children, and believes in all things wonderful. For her birthday, I asked one of her daughters to help me find words to create a subway art for her. 

I love having the opportunity to so easily personalize a gift!

If you'd like to see a tutorial on how to make subway art, here's one I've done before:  http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2010/11/making-subway-art-tutorial-2.html

 

A Subway Art Horoscope Sign

For my daughter's teacher's birthday, I told her I'd make her a piece of subway art.  I thought she'd want something with her children's names, adjectives describing her, etc.  Instead she asked for a Pisces piece.  She wanted "positive" Pisces adjectives.  So, I did a little research and this is what I came up with.

If you'd like to make something similar, here's a link to a tutorial: http://www.oursevendwarfs.com/2010/11/making-subway-art-tutorial-2.html

Happy 100th Day of Our Seven Dwarfs!

Today is our 100th day of Blogging!

We are so grateful for our 107 (verified) email subscribers, 138 Facebook friends, and 94 blog followers.

We have shared crafts, recipes, and stories.

We are constantly working to make our blog educational and entertaining.

We share.  In our first ninety-six days of blogging we had 15 giveaways! Just in case you missed any of them, here is a review:

Giveaway 1-A Freezer paper snowman tshirt.  Winner-Jamie N.

Giveaway 2-Treats for Santa-plate-Winner Elizabeth G.

Giveaway 3-A Pair of Christmas Tree Clippies-Winner Jenny S.

Giveaway 4-Christmas Sparkle Wreath-Winner-Lisa M.

Giveaway 5-8 handcrafted, all occasion greeting cards-Winner-Kristen J.

Giveaway 6-Crocheted Cloche-Winner Andrea S.

Giveaway 7-Family Subway Art-Winner-Jessica C.

Giveaway Day 8-We Believe Photoboard-Winner-Amy R.

Giveaway 9-Flocked Christmas Tree Shirt-Winner-Cari L.

Giveaway 10-Christmas Coasters-Winner-Mary M.

Giveaway 11-Crocheted Cloche-Winner-Jessica C.

Giveaway 12-Subway Art-Winner-Dana M.

Giveaway 13-Subway Art-Winner-(through Somewhat Simple) Jennifer I.

Giveaway 14-Heart Clippies-Winner-Leslie S.

Giveaway 15-A "Love" Sign-Winner-Amy R.

Thank you to all of our followers. You've made it all possible.  The possibilities are endless. Stick with us!  There are more great things to come! (Including another giveaway very soon.)

Please vote for us!

Valentine Subway Art Mailboxes

I wanted to make my kids mailboxes for a new Valentine's Day tradition.  I want to leave them special love notes and goodies.  I found plain red mailboxes at Target for $1 each.

I started to design a few words to put on the mailbox, when I came across Kaysi's subway art design for a mailbox on her blog Keeping it Simple.  I asked her if she would share her file and she was nice enough to send it to me!  She is super nice and did a fantastic job with the design!  I completely believe you should work smarter not harder.  Why not utilize the talents of others versus racking your brain trying to do it yourself.  Thank again, Kaysi!

Once I had the vinyl cut out, I applied transfer tape and scraped it good so the letters would adhere.

Then I peeled off the paper backing and applied it to my mailbox.  Scrape it good so you can peel off the transfer tape

Here are my finished mailboxes.  I personalized each mailbox for my kids.  I also added a heart to the lid so that it would be decorative from all sides.

I can't wait to write my little sweeties a love note for Valentine's Day!  I hope they enjoy a new tradition!



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I DID IT!- I finished the boards-A Tutorial, kind of...

This is how my morning started.  I had 8 boards that needed sanding, holes drilled, wire put on, vinyl added, and ribbon...I had a goal.  They'd be done today.  I think I can..

The boards are stacked and ready to go to the belt sander in the garage. I sand the edges where the paper is attached to the board. It blends so nicely.  The belt sander makes this part go quickly.  If you aren't blessed with a belt sander, a piece of sandpaper will do the trick!

To get holes that are perfectly spaced, I use a wooden square and drill in the lower corner of the square.

See the hole?  It's pretty small. I use a small drill bit because the wire is thin and I don't want big holes.

8 boards, 2 holes per board, let's see, 16 holes later I'm ready to add wire.  Here's what I need: wire, wire cutters, and an object to wrap the ends of the wire around to give it a curly look.  I use a pen.

I thread the wire from back to front.

I then wrap it around the top and go back through again. This gives stability. The wire I'm using this time isn't heavy wire so the double wrap is necessary.

I added a white bead. It reminded me of a cotton tail.  Perfect for my Easter board.

I wrapped the wire around the pen and pulled the pen away.  That's how I got the curl.

Wire wrapped around pen.

This is what the wire looks like when the pen is removed.  You can arrange it however. 

I added beads to this wire to match the candles.

The wires are in.  Now it's time to add vinyl.  Here's a "Santa" board I made for my friend, Jessica. The vinyl is cut out and ready to be applied.  As you can see, pull away any vinyl you don't want on your board.  What's left on the paper should be exactly what you want on the board.

Put transfer tape on the vinyl and rub it to get the vinyl to adhere.  Transfer tape is necessary.  It makes transferring the vinyl so much easier and keeps things straight. You can use a piece of transfer tape over and over. I usually can get about four uses out of each piece.

Peel the paper away from the vinyl.  This is what the letters look like on the transfer tape.

Position the tape on the board and rub it well. 

Pull the tape away and you're left with the vinyl, on the board. YEAH!

After vinyl, I added ribbons. Woops, forgot to take pictures of that!

Here's the finished Santa board.

Here's the finished birthday board.

I really like using different fonts for the vinyl.

Here's the finished Easter board.  It says, "Hoppy Easter".

Here's one of the finished Valentine's Day boards.  I made two identical.... craft sharing, remember! (I hope you like it Jill!)

Here's a not so great picture of our St. Patrick's Day board.  I added a washer to the ribbon. It reminds me of a Leprechaun's hat and it's gold.

There you have it. I completed 6 photo boards.  I also finished the board part of the subway art boards. Jill is going to add the vinyl. You'll get to see them in a future post where we show all the prizes won in our 12 days of Christmas giveaways. 8 boards complete!

So, I wanted to finish these early and have a relaxing evening. I finished at 10:15 pm.  Well, they're done. I  met my goal and I'm ready for bed!  There are so many benefits to "assembly line crafting"; however, I'm usually sick of the project once I've finished it. I'm glad to see these boards behind me.  I'm also glad that I've got a jump start on St. Patrick's Day and Easter.  Wow!  I'm actually ahead in something.

Please check our linky parties to see all the places we are linking up to today!