Distressed Subway Art Signs

It's a blizzard here!

I mean, for Arkansas, anyways.

I can't believe how much snow we've gotten already and it's not supposed to stop until late this evening.

Yikes!!

I'm not complaining though (although I hate hubby being out in this...apparantly ambulances can't just shut down because of snow, who'd have thunk?)

So, say a little prayer for him if you think about it.

But I get tons of crafting time today...which makes me super happy.

I'm currently working on a major project that will soon be my reading nook.

Can't wait to show you guys!

But I thought I'd sneak in amongst my other crafts I have going and show you one I did last week.

My very own subway art.

Yes...I am that behind with the bloggy trends.

But I'm caught up and can finally join the league of those with amazing subway art :)

Here's what I did...

I grabbed a couple stray pieces of thin wood I had in my garage...

I'm pretty sure these were roadside finds.

And they happened to fit perfectly where I wanted them.

Score.

They had some nails in them so I carefully took all those out and gave it a coat of heirloom white.

This would be an example of why I hate winter sometimes...the paint HATED the wood.

Like loathed it.

The white streaked and was just gross.

But that was totally fine :)

Because I wanted it brown anyways.

I sprayed my favorite American Accents Espresso brown on top of the white.

This time the cold weather worked in my favor.

It went on nicely but had some beautiful crackle effects happen.

And I loved it.

It's hard to tell in the pictures just how perfectly distressed it came out.

This is when I became a bad blogger and stopped taking pictures.

Me and hubby were watching CSI NY and I got out my old-fashioned foam stamps.

Yup.

I used foam stamps.

And, yes, I DO have a cricut.

But I wanted a hand-drawn, worn effect.

These were perfect.

The paint never goes on perfectly and evenly with those stamps so I have smudges and gaps...

and beautifully vintage-ified wording.

After the paint dried, I gave them a good sanding with my mouse sander.

Here they are side-by-side.

The left one hasn't been sanded yet.

See the difference in the distressed look?

I loved how they turned out.

For the letters I used a Valspar paint sample.

 (that I got for free from their promotion on their site!)

The color was called Mint Spritzer.

I love the distressed effect that came from the combo of foam stamps, a sander and accidentally crackled paint :)

Here they are in their intended place.

I had some metal pictures from Hobby Lobby up there FOREVER and it was time to change.

I love the dark brown against my white cabinets.

I used different phrases that I loved on each of them.

I at first had them drawn out on a piece of paper but when I actually sat down to paint, I just winged it.

It's complete and utter luck that all the phrases ended up fitting together so nicely.

This one says:

"Keep calm and carry on"

"dream"

"every day I love you more"

"pray often"

"dream big"

'love you to the moon and back'

This one says:

"Love is spoken here"

"you are my sunshine"

"we can do hard things"

"love one another"

"make your mark"

"live your life"

Just a random sidenote,

I first saw that phrase "we can do hard things" on a sign from Barn Owl Primitives here.

Love it.

One last look...

*dont' mind that hubby is using the bar for his personal computer desk or anything*

So there ya have it.

I'm officially caught up on the subway art trend.

A ton of my favorite things, painted wood, signs, and typography.

Do you like it as much as I do? 

On another note...

 Little man found a much better way to utilize my occupational therapy textbooks...

As a mountain for his animals.

Much, much better than having to open and use them :)

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House of Five

Linking to:

• Anything Related @ All Things Related
• Let Your Creative Juices Flow @ These Creative Juices
• Link Partay @ Lil Luna
• Everything but the Kitchen Sink @ A Little Knick Knack
• Tickled Pink @ 504 Main
• Friday Fun Finds @ Kojo Designs
• Feature Yourself Friday @ Fingerprints on the Fridge
• Party @ Sassy Sites
• Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello
• Your So Very Creative @ Me Making Do
• Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog
• Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts
• Trash to Treasure Tuesday @ Sassy Sites