From 80's Artwork To Cool Subway Art

I was in Goodwill last week and I spotted this little girlie:

Cute enough and all but kinda 80's, pastel-y and in a nutshell, not my thang.

But I loved the inlay and the frame color plus it was $3.99 and I thought I could make it into something  much better.

Let it live its best life Ala Oprah.

Here's the plan:

A little paint tape and chalkboard spray paint.....

Sprayed just the center inlay part with 3 coats of the paint.....

I got out these stencils that I bought last fall at Hobby Lobby and I was dyin' to use these. I actually got these with subway art in mind because the font looks very subwayartish....I know, not a word but my blog, my words..:)

Yeah, baby! Only $1.65 on clearance. Oh yeah.....

My inspiration?

Restoration Hardware's 500 dolla' subway art that I knew I could somehow re-create.

I also wrote down the names I wanted on this piece.

To make it personal to us, I used street names that meant something.

For the number streets, I used the day we had our first date, our wedding day and the month we started dating. I just added the words ST. or AV. behind them.

Ours is very Chicago inspired and I love that because you can't find Chicago subway art anywhere.

My partner in crime?

This baby.

I love me my chalk pen. :)

This is what the formerly flowery Brady Bunch-ish wall art looks like now.....

so far so good.

Then I took the chalk ink and drew within the stencils freehand.

And we know how bad my free hand is.

                                                     So I ended up with this kind of mess......

Yep, not lookin' so good.

It wasn't that the letters weren't completely even that bothered me. It was that the chalk ink mistakes I was making all over the place were givin' me away. :)

So I got out the baby wipes (that since Ellie is potty trained I am no longer in need of!! Woopee!!) and erased the mistakes.

And here is the final result.....

What do we think??

Not perfect or even Restoration Hardware-ish by any means but definitely special.

OK so here is the cost breakdown!

1- sign from Goodwill- $3.99. You could use any old plank 'o wood. You probably even have one laying around your house right now. Maybe it is an old art piece that you are thinking of donating yourself. It is fun to find new ideas for something old.

2- chalkboard paint- I already had this but this would be $6 at any home improvement store.

3- chalk ink- again, already had this but these will lay you out $12 at a craft store. I got mine at Michael's back in April and with the two projects I created with them, they have definitely paid for themselves already.

4- stencils- I got mine back in September on the clearance shelf at Hob Lob for $1.65. Stencils are tricky as some places charge big bucks for these. If you have a Silhouette or Cricut machine, skip this whole process; print out the words you want to use, and stick them onto the chalkboard or black spray paint. I swear, I am starting a Silhouette fund for myself.....:)

Total cost for me- $ 5.64 for personalized subway art!!

Total cost for you- under 20 bucks!!

I am linkin' up to the following awesome blogs! Check 'em out if you have the time!

             

gingersnapcrafts.blogspot.com

micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com

michellelunt.blogspot.com