Christmas Subway Art with Canvas

With Christmas arriving very soon, I have many gifts to make and orders to fill. I really like the look of Subway Art and wanted to make something special for my son's Kindergarten teacher. While looking online for ideas I came across the Crafty Sweet Peas blog and the perfect Subway Art file! I normally design my own but after seeing how nice this design was I went ahead and purchased Barbara's file.

I painted a 11 x 14 canvas a Santa Red and then used white vinyl. And this is my finished Subway Art canvas!

The canvas above was completed with indoor, non-glossy vinyl. I really liked how it turned out and with the vinyl sticking so well on the painted canvas I could have just quit here. But I wanted a shiny finish so I covered the canvas with 2 coats of Modge Podge to achieve the following glossy finish.

It may be hard to see the glossy finish in the pictures but if you could see it in person, there is truly a big difference. And Special Thanks to Barbara Sweetpea from Craft Sweet Peas for the file and for her genuine and thoughtful emails in regards to my project, the file and everything else!

Cindy

Super Hero Room - Finished!

Finally, after many posts on my son's Superhero room - it is finally finished! I am sure....that I will find more "little" things to add, but for now it is done. I love the fact that nearly the entire room is made by "me"! The only things that I could not make was the bedding, new trash can (aka laundry basket), and the Superhero wall stickers.

I will forewarn you that this post will have many pictures but short of taking a video, this is the best that I can do. I will try and explain things the best that I can while showing the pictures.

As you open the door, this is the first thing that you will see.

The sign is a picture of Batman and Robin that I made in vinyl. To finish the picture I added the words "Welcome All SuperHeros" in dark blue vinyl.

To the very right of this wall, we took the Batman logo we had made for a different project and oversprayed it with black spray paint. Then I took bright yellow vinyl and added "Batman" inside the logo to achieve the following effect.

To the left of the "Welcome All SuperHeros" sign, is the main part of the bedroom. Following around the wall is the closet. I moved my son's letters that was on a different wall and placed them to the right of the closet. And then added just a few small Superhero stickers on the closet doors and above the closet.

The next picture shows part of the closet and then the next, main wall of the room. This is really the first wall you see once you walk past the door and this is where my son's name was previously placed. The picture below shows the new Batman sign we made, which is just fabric wrapped around a wooden frame my husband built. And you will see a few Superhero stickers on the small "dresser" that is below the Batman canvas.

This next picture shows the entire wall. The Spiderman canvas is another piece of fabric, but this time we wrapped it out of 1 1/2 inch stryofoam that we had Lowes cut for us. And the Incredible Hulk sticker I bought online. I made "The Incredible Hulk" in dark green vinyl.

To the left of this wall, is the Captain America sign that I made out of stryofoam. I have never worked with stryofoam before and was amazed by what can be created with this and how inexpensive the product is. I have several posts about the stryofoam signs I made so I won't go in detail here. But this is the Captain America sign I made and then I added a small Captain America wall sicker next to it.

The next picture shows the entire wall. The Spiderman window valance, I made out of stryofoam. Super easy and super cheap! Again, I have another post on that (I think...if I don't, I will make one soon) and then the "Super Hero in Training" canvas to the left of the window, I also made. That I used vinyl and a basic 16 x 20 canvas. The rest of the wall has small Superhero wall stickers.

Here is a close up of the canvas I made!

The next picture shows the bed which has new Superhero bedding and the Batman sign above the bed. The sign is made out of stryofoam and looks so nice in person! Around the sign is more, small Superhero wall stickers. To the left of it is a preview of the custom made photo canvases!

The next picture shows a lot of stuff! The trash can is the laundry basket and the lid (aka shield) is one of my son's favorite part of the room! To the right of that is the dark blue cubbies. I have baskets sitting on the top which holds all of the kids' Superhero masks in the green basket and the costumes in the blue basket. On the wall above the cubbies, is the NYC skyline with Spiderman flying down from the canvases. The photo canvases I made with styrofoam, black fabric and black & white pictures (more info on an older post). Then above the photo canvases, I have in dark blue and red vinyl, "Sometimes Friends (and my Brother) are Better than Superheroes". To the short wall on the left, I made out of stryofoam the Superman's logo. Below that I made the "Bang" sign out of white vinyl.

Finally, as you walk out the door, I have one small Superhero sticker and a small vinyl sign that says "POW".

So, that's it! This project took a long time to do, but it was definitely worth it! My son may not appreciate that nearly everything is home made but I love the fact that it is and my son is very happy with the end result!

Super Hero in Training - Custom Canvas

I am STILL working on my son's Super Hero room and came across a perfect idea that would fit right next to my son's bed. The idea was great, the cost was way too expensive so I made my own!

From Red Envelope I ran across this canvas which starts at $79. I decided to take one of my 16 x 20 inch canvases (bigger then the $79 finished product) that I purchased for under $5 at Michaels and started from there. Even though the canvas is already white, I decided to add several coats of white paint on it. The paint adds extra texture and I wanted the canvas to have a brush stroke effect where you could see brush strokes when looking at it from different angles. I then added one coat of Modge Podge to give a glossy finish AND to add more texture. This will make it easier to attach the vinyl onto the canvas. I do have a little secret up my sleeve which is the best idea my husband has ever had! It is this!

I know it doesn't look like much, but this is a piece of drywall that my husband cut to fit perfectly inside the back of the canvas. You could use any type of wood or board, we just have tons of extra drywall in our garage so my husband used that. By having this inside the back of the canvas you do not have any sag when applying the vinyl to the front of the canvas. It's now as solid as a hard cover book or a table.

Now that my canvas is painted and prepped to add vinyl, I needed a special logo. I could use Captain America's logo which is what is shown on the Red Envelope site, but I have that sign further down the wall where I want to put this canvas on. I searched the Internet for ideas and found the perfect solution! From The Lady Wolf's blog I found this set of files that had the perfect Super Hero logo for my son! This is the Superman's logo but instead of "S" for Superman, I can replace it with "B" for my son's name. My canvas now looks like this!

The 2 red lines are just markers as I layered my image prior to putting it on the canvas. I also need the markers to line up the text on the bottom half of the canvas. I now followed the same theme as Red Envelope for the bottom half of the canvas. I used red and blue for the bottom half as that is also the same colors for Superman.

The picture above shows the bottom half lined up by using the markers and taped on. After taking the transfer tape off and removing the temporary markers, we have the finished product.

At this point, all I did was add one more layer of Modge Podge to secure the vinyl on the canvas. I also did this because I used glossy vinyl for the red but the blue and the yellow had a matte finish. After using Modge Podge, the entire canvas now has a glossy finish. Here is the canvas in my son's Super Hero room!

Excuse the top of my son's head in the picture, I was tucking him in for bed and didn't see he made it in the shot! But...for literally pennies on the dollar I love how my son's new canvas turned out! And if you like Super Heroes then please check out the rest of the blogs in October as nearly all of them are about Super Heroes!

Friends and Brothers are Better then Superheros!

In a previous post, I showed how to make photo canvases by using stryofoam and fabric.  Now, you will see how these canvases look on the wall!  With a special, vinyl sign above it!

To attach the canvases I used a product I bought at Walmart called Command Strips, very similar to velcro but does not hurt the wall (or paint) when you want to remove it.  Because my canvases are super light this seemed to be the easiest way to attach it. 

As you can tell by the picture above I used tape as markers to ensure the bottom was straight and that all pictures were the right distance from each other.  At this point I wasn't sure if I wanted to put the sign above or below the canvases so was placing them temporarily on the wall to determine the right location.  The next picture shows the final product!

Now you can see the entire wall!  It's still not finished but getting very close!

Custom Photo Canvas - Sneak Peak

A new project for my son's Super Hero Room is almost complete!  In previous posts I have shared the window valance we made out of stryofoam and 2 custom fabric canvases all in the Super Hero theme.  For this project, I found the idea from the blog, Tales From the Crib, specifically this post. 

For this project I used many of the same supplies as listed in the Tales from the Crib blog but not all of them.  I already had 1 1/2 inch stryofoam on hand as I had used this to create one of the big super hero fabric canvases in a previous post.  I also used black fabric, various crafting pins, a t-shirt, stapler, adhesive glue spray and tacky glue.  Because my prints were different sizes I ordered the photos from Ezprints.com.  I decided on 10 prints ranging in size from 4x5, 4x8, 12x12 and 12x18.  I graphed out how I wanted the pictures to be displayed on the wall and determined the entire size will be 40 inches wide by 32 inches tall.  When finished I am going to make a vinyl sign above the canvases.  

Just like the Tales from the Crib blog, the hardest part of my project was deciding on what photos to use and what sizes would work.  I wanted pictures of my son with his friends and his brother but it is difficult to find ones that will work in black and white.  I found that outdoor pictures or ones against plain backgrounds worked the best which meant that I couldn't include all of my son's friends but should be able to interchange the pictures out as he matures.

Once I had the stryofoam cut to the specific sizes I needed, I doubled layered the fabric to ensure no white showed through from the stryofoam and then secured it with different pins on the backside.  Then I went back and stapled the fabric to ensure the fabric stayed nice and tight.  Here is what the back of the canvas looked like:

 
Then on the front of the canvas, I sprayed Elmer's Craft Bond which is a multi-purpose spray adhesive.  Once sprayed, I placed the picture over it.  The picture secures very well so you have to be very careful when lining the picture on top of the canvas.  If you do mess up, it is possible to remove the picture and start over.  Once the picture is aligned I took a t-shirt and just pressed the picture into the canvas ensuring that it's nice and flat.

And here is a sneak preview of my 10 canvases!  Notice that 4 of the pictures the boys are in Super Hero costumes!

This project was so simple and very inexpensive!  I paid $35 for the pictures, the stryofoam I already had but would have been about $5 or so based on it being a 1/3rd of a big sheet of stryofoam which costs $15.  The fabric was $7 and all other supplies I had on hand.  I will post an updated picture when it's on the wall with a brand new vinyl sign above it but wanted to show a sneak peak of my almost complete project!   

Custom Super Hero Canvases

This is a personal project I have been working on for my 5 year old boy who is in love with Superheros!  For the past 3 years his room was decorated with Disney Cars and as part of that decoration, my husband built a big frame and we wrapped it with a panel of fabric that was of Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen.  This simple and very inexpensive project was my FAVORITE piece of the entire room.  So I was a little sad on having to transition his room into Superheros and thus losing this custom piece until I realized that I can easily change it by re-wrapping it into a Superhero canvas! 

The only reason we had to redecorate my son's room is because he outgrew his twin size bed and we upgraded to a full-size bed.  So when shopping for a new bedspread my son had to have 6 different Superheros on it!  And believe me...finding a bedspread with Incredible Hulk, the Thing, Wolverine, Captain Amercia, Spiderman and several others on it was almost impossible.  However, Bed Bath & Beyond was my hero and literally the day I found this bedspread with bedsheets and extra pillow cases/shams, I received a 20% coupon in my inbox!   Perfect timing! 

Now I'm back to redecorating his room and wanting to fill it with as many unique and custom Superhero pieces as possible.  I still plan on buying a few wall stickers of the Superheros; however, for now I am working on many different projects to provide a personalized room that fits my son and will last for many years.  Back to that custom piece my husband helped me with in the Disney Cars room...well this is what the piece looked like:

I purchased a panel of fabric at Hobby Lobby on sale for under $5 and my husband built the frame.  We then attached poster board on the front of the frame for added support.  For under $10 we had a huge piece of art that was so vibrant and sharp looking!  The picture does not do it justice.  Now, all of the Cars stickers are gone and a new, bigger bed is in the room so we need to redecorate.  I went searching for new Superhero panels of fabric that would work and found several on Ebay.  We decided to use Batman since that was one of the Superheros not included on the bedspread and we now have this new piece of art!

As you can tell, we rotated the canvas for Batman and it looks super sharp!  The problem is that we really now need 2 pieces of art at this size because of where we had to hang Batman.  So back to Ebay I went and I found Spiderman!  But now I need to ask my husband to build another frame.....except for I came up with an even better idea!  Instead of building one...I decided to go to Home Depot and buy a 4 x 8 foot piece of 1 1/2 inch thick sheet of stryofoam.  This cost about $14 and I had the guy cut it to the exact dimensions of Batman for free!  I did not waste the rest of the styrofoam as that is for a different project that I will post soon. 

Now with this super light-weight piece of styrofoam I wrapped Spiderman around it and secured it with t-pins.  So the back of the artwork looks like this:

To hang the stryofoam I found a product from Walmart called Command by 3M.  It is like velcro but will not damage your walls when you remove and was super easy and cheap to use.  Just place one piece on the canvas and the adjacent piece on the wall, just like how velcro would work.  And Spiderman next to Batman looks like this:

You cannot even tell that one is framed out of wood and the other is stryofoam...unless if you lifted them as the weight difference is significant!  And here are the 2 pieces of art in my son's room on the opposite wall from where the Disney Cars sign used to hang.  I still need to put something under my son's name but I wanted to show how it looked on the wall. 

I apologize for such a long post but this is so cheap and easy to do and the finished project really stands out in a room.  I have found that the easiest way to search for something and to find items that you would not find in your local store is to search for "panel fabric" plus whatever specific theme you are looking for as both Batman and Spiderman come in the exact same size, as well as the Disney Cars one I had previously made. 

Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater Wall Canvas

A few months ago we repainted my son's bedroom and installed a chair rail.  My son is a HUGE Disney Cars fanatic and still wanted to keep the same theme of Cars that has been in his room for 2 years so we kept a lot of the old decorations.  Even with a chair rail and new paint, the room needed more work, I wanted to spruce things up a bit and found a really neat idea when looking on Ebay.  A person had 1 big picture of Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater together and made 2 canvases by splitting the picture in half.  I loved the idea but did not want to pay the $50 sticker price.  By pure luck I found the exact picture created on fabric at Hobby Lobby!!!!  My husband made the frame and we attached something similar to a backer board to provide support for the fabric and we created one BIG canvas.  It turned out awesome and cost probably $6 in materials and supplies!

The colors of the canvas is so bright that no one can tell it's actually fabric until they actually touch it!  I loved how this turned out!  To finish off this wall, I then added "Tow Mater" and "Lightning McQueen" in vinyl.

In another corner of the room, I added another vinyl saying, in addition to some Disney Cars wall stickers and a Stop Sign.

Here's a better close-up of the new vinyl sign I made:

I could post quite a few more pictures to show every angle of his room but I will end it with one last picture of the main wall you see when walking into the room.  The letters were originally white and now are painted the same blue that is on the bottom half of the room.  The rest of the decorations are the Disney Cars wall stickers.  This room was desperately needing a paint job among several other things, I am so glad we finally finished the room and loved how the new decorations turned out!