Subway art continued... Trial 2 black/n white stretch canvas completed

So guys remember when I said I was working on a secret project....well here it is...didn't get to take a pic of the finished product cause well I was rushing to finish  :(

My cuzo got married last weekend and I decided to surprise her with a home made gift. This project wasn't much different then the last one I did only difference is that I used a larger 11x17 wood stretched canvas ( I brought on sale of course). I went to Kinko's and printed out the words on 11x17 paper. I used blue painter's tape to cover the edges which I then painted it in their accent color green (which in retrospect was probably a bad idea since it looked like a 5th grader did it lol. Anyways I hoped they enjoyed it. 

fresh spraypaint and green accent on the corners...

here it is with the words all cut out...before the modgepodge I took a lot of my inspiration from this project...http://goldielocksher3bears.blogspot.com/2010/02/subway-art.html 

only thing I used gloss modgepodge well because that's what I had and it gave it a sheen unlike hers but I like it. Kinda looks glassy or shiny.

Some things I learned doing this project:

When spray painting stand a good deal away from the canvas and try to give an even coat as you go. As you can see from the pic some spots ended darker then others. I had to go back and respray white spots.

A plastic tarp and a spray gun is your friend! you want to spray the canvas..not your fingers or yourself 

I don't know how to use painters tape properly. Some of the spray paint leaked thru.

Don't rush like I did. Be sure to give plenty of coats of modgepodge and  lots of drying time (including between coats) if you want this to look good.

Try to use as much space as possible ( I tried to rearrange my words an I added a thing or 2. If you do decide to add something you may want to use the same method as you did with the first set of words otherwise it will stand out (Doh)

All in all I think this was a satisfactory project in the end. My cousins got tons of gifts and once she gets settled I'm sure I'll hear if  they really enjoyed it *crosses fingers*. Sis already wants one for her anniversary so there will be at least one more trial.

finally getting it done and I need help or ideas!

Ok thanks to the holiday (who knew kinkos closed on the holiday? I didn't lol) and rain I'm behind on my project. So I'm gonna get it done today. Well atleast go to Kinkos and print my product. Brought some accent paint but I haven't decided on whether I'm doing a border or painting the sides of the canvas. Since I'm still a newbie I'm leaning towards painting the sides.Left hand is still bothering me but its not as bad. I can at least hold a pair of scissors and cut even though it still feels weird. Hoping to be 100% soon...sigh. I had a idea to make scrabble pendents and sell them on lista. On Lista you can auction and buy items with points instead of cash. You win points buy listing and selling then take the points and buying more stuff. You can also buy points (how the site makes money besides ads lol). Hopefully if I make my own business cards it will help drum up some real business! Yay!

Anywho anyone who knows me know I love football. My late maternal grandfather was a Redskins fan and passed his love for his boys onto me. Although I knew nothing bout the sport me and grandaddy every fall Sunday afternoon we would watch a game together. It was our special time together just the two of us (even though he'd usually fall asleep lol). Yeah Redskins games haven't really been exciting to watch since the 80s. Anywho I kinda dropped off after he past and I graduated HS. It wasn't till a few years ago I tried to learn more about the game and become more of a bonified fan. I still don't know a lot but I love my Skins (even though they never seem to fail to disappoint)  and I'm working on becoming a fanatic. So here's were the problem is. I want NFL or Redskins theme stuff for my little room and my office at work and I don't wanna spend a ton of dough. In other words I want to DIY it. Great idea except I need ideas cause I have no idea where to start. Sigh In need tutorials or just inspiration so I can copy. Atleast know I can get licensed fabric. But one project at a time. I'm running out of space lol. May start selling stuff on Lista just to get rid of it.

working on the "secret project" other updates

since I'm relearning how to do stuff with my right  hand(sigh) its becoming quite difficult to complete some project) I think I will do another version and hope they still like it. I saw a version of it  here and it still looks cute. If my left hand gets better I'll do the other version using the adhesive paper. Its just too hard for me to do the intricate cutting involved (sooo which I had a cricut or sillloute right now :(...sigh) Thats out of my budget so imma use what I got. That canvas, mod podge and spray paint lol. Think I'll go back to Michael's and get regular mod podge today. Glossy looked a lil wierd on mine. Almost too shiny. Since its suppose to rain all labor day weekend I figured I'd try to get this finished.

Soooo even though I'm 35 and even though my left hand been troubling me for some time I want to start dabbling more in art career of some sort.  I love it but left the hobby/love behind for some more practical career in accounting( also didn't think I was very good). Well I never became more then a bookkeeper ( such a snoozefest but it helps pay the bills/rent). I don't ever think I'll be a supervisor or an accountant or FA. Part of me no longer desires to do this except to make more money.  I miss designing I miss drawing and crafting. I'm starting to get back into it. I tried making jewelry(can get expensive). I even would like to try my hand at photography, but DSLRs are super expensive and I am on a very tight budget as of late. I can't even seem to buy a cricket let alone a $1000 camera. Really? I hoping to find a gently used one on ebay or craiglist. I'm even pursuing the thief shops hoping to find something. I really would love one if I could find one that works. Even a regular film camera I'd take.


Thinking about going back to Nova and taking art classes. Does that sound crazy?

Subway art continued... Trial one black/n white completed

so I told you guys I'm working on some subway art. I  finally finished with my first trial/method and here it is...

I'll do a quick tutorial of what I did...

First I took some inspiration from a fellow crafters ( here's one example)... and incorporated a lil of a few different projects into my own.. I used

my printer
modge podge- I used glossy but I suggest you use matte but any could work...
regular printer paper
black spray paint
black paint or sharpie
8*10 canvas- I used my in landscape as you can see..you can also use plywood or MDF

first I spray painted the canvas black.. I suggest doing this outside with gloves and proper coverage/space! give it atleast 3 hours to dry

while your waiting for it to dry get to your computer and type down the words you want to use...This one was all bout me so I used words to desribe myself and such. Now I used Microsoft picture it but you can use whatever program you want photoshop, gimp, even MS word
Just remember now you want you letter background to be black and the text white. In MS I think you can highlight. In MSP I just made the text box black and the letters white. Then I moved the words around to get an idea of where I wanted the text to go on the canvas.
To save ink I shortened some of the text box...of course you can skip this step and really save some ink just get it done at kinkos  but I was eager to use my new printer lol
Now cut out those words...

arrange them the way you want them on the board....

use your modge podge ...sorry no pic...glue those bad boys down and let dry about another hour...

now here where the sharpie/paint comes in handy I used this to cover up whatever white I couldnt cut out( left hand was killing me)

give it a few minutes to dry..then take out your big brush and modge podge it all over...yes it will be milky but it will dry clear...then tada all done

I want to work on some other methods...all without a cricket or SD before I work on the big project but time is not on my side...neither is my health but thats another story for anther blog...sigh working on 2 tonight...I think

My current project...Subway Art and other randoms

So a couple of months ago while brainstorming for a idea for a present I came across a crafting trend..This http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2010/08/subway-art-party.html (Thanks Tatertots & Jello) Now I've been obsessed with trying the trend for myself. Only thing there is 101 ways to do these signs. The easiest is with a Die-cutting machine  ( which I'm trying to avoid buying so I don't  look totally insane lol)  such as Sillohette or a Cricut (both a little pricey). So far I've already spent a good deal of money on canvas. I should have brought wood but I went to Home Depot Saturday and stared at this giant planks of plywood and yes it was pretty cheap but I was like what am I supposed to do with all this? I am a Home Depot virgin btw. I've only been in the store once or twice and have never seen a handsaw up close or checked out at paint samples until yesterday(I'm a renter so if I paint its white or black lol). I must have spent hours in that store looking around like a lost child.  I also don't have a hand or mite saw lying around so I'd probably have to buy that also for the molding/sides. So I thought canvas was an easier but more expensive way out.
Luckly I did buy them on in a bundle I got 3 of the big ones at AC more for $14 and some 8x10s from Michale's for $6 (with a 25% off coupon). Mind you these are just for myself and practice. I still want to get a nice woodbacked canvas for the present but I have more then enough to play with the different styles. Once I figuare this out I'll post up a tutorial and I'll be sure to take pics of stages. But I'm eager to get started I have basically all the materials to do it (the slow hard way anyways lol). So I'm hoping it turns out decent so I don't have to splurge on one of those diecutters cause I will have to make paper crafting my other job to make up for that purchase lol.