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Subway art for Granny

ByGail Wilson Published on Updated on
19 Comments

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Easy Subway Art for that someone special!

Granny is really my Aunt. She is my mom’s sister. My mom passed away when my daughter Jamie was just nine years old. That is a very young age to no longer have any grandmas. During all the family gatherings, all the other kids would call Aunt Dot “Granny”. Jamie was the only child that called her Aunt Dot. My Aunt Dot and Uncle Roscoe basically adopted Jamie into their family. They even presented her with a certificate signed by all of the family members.
To personalize this sign, I asked each of those family members to give me a word that they felt described this wonderful woman, their mom, mother-in-law, granny and aunt.

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Materials for DIY Subway Art

  • Scrap sheet of Luan
  • Scrap 1,x 4
  • Gorilla Glue 
  • Gorilla Tape
  • Paint
  • sewing transfer paper
  • Paint Pen

When I  make  these type of signs, I use scraps of thin Luan cut to size. I rip 1×4’s into widths of 1 1/2 inches wide. Then I make a sort of “frame” of the 1x pieces on the back of the Luan, using Gorilla Glue to secure the 1x’s.

Using Gorilla Tape as a clamp

I use Gorilla Tape to hold the 1x’s in place until the Gorilla Glue sets up.

Lay out of subway art stencils

I tested the layout to see how things were coming together.

Using tracing paper as a stencil

I gathered some old sewing transfer paper I had in my Nana’s sewing kit. You can find some sewing tracing paper on Amazon

I decided that white transfer paper would work best on the red paint.

Stenciling with a Paint Pen

I carefully measured the words using another sewing tool, a Hem Guide. Laying the transfer paper under the printed word, I traced the word onto the board with a ballpoint pen.

This is the result of the tracing, the white transfer paper shows up pretty well.

I used lots of different fonts to make it fun!

Since I lack the patience to use a brush to paint in the letters, I used a Elmer’s Paint Pen. I did get some new paint brushes for Christmas, so we’ll see if my painting improves.

I spaced the words at the beginning, not knowing exactly how many words I would have. This is the sign not quite finished. It took several days to get in contact with all the family.

Lucky was my word!


Most of the words are self explanatory, however there are a couple of them I will tell you about. Dumplin is the pet name my late Uncle Roscoe had for my Aunt. My cousin John, nicknames his loved ones. His word is right there in the middle, Grangel. Granny-Angel= Grangel.
Don’t you agree that this is a wonderful gift? I think my Aunt Dot liked it when I gave it to her for Christmas.
gail
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Have you seen my Family Rules Subway Art?

See more stenciling projects here.

Gail Wilson is the author and mastermind behind My Repurposed Life. She is obsessed with finding potential in unexpected places and believes that with a little hard work and imagination, any old thing can be made useful again, including herself!
Gail reinvented herself during a midlife crisis and has found purpose again. She hopes you will find new ideas for old things and pick up a few tools along the way.

19 Comments

  1. You have just given me the most amazing idea for a memorial quilt I want to make from my deceased husband’s check and striped shirts. I didn’t know what to use the make it personal so will now ask the family for their descriptions and I will fabric paint them to some blank patches. Thank you again
    Sue

    Reply

    1. ohh, Sue! What a wonderful idea. I am so so happy to inspire you to use my idea as your own!!!

      wishing you luck, I am sure the quilt will be so special for your family.

      gail

  2. I am working on a project now and was trying to figure our how to get my letters transferred onto the wood. DUH! I already have the sewing tracing paper. You are genius!

    Reply

    1. Oh my Gosh! I’m soooo happy you found this project! I don’t even know if people even use sewing tracing paper anymore.

      good luck with your sign, I’d love to see it. Maybe you could share it on Facebook on a Sunday Share Day and reference this post so I know it’s you. 😉

      gail

    1. Carol,

      I printed the words from my computer. I laid the tracing paper down, and then the printed word on top of that. I traced the printed word, which transferred the letters onto be board via the tracing paper.

      I hope that makes sense.

      gail

  13. Let me tell you why I love this so much- there are so many projects (especially subway art) going around the blog world lately using fancy vinyl machines that sometimes the people without Cricuts and Silhouettes miss out on cool crafts like this! Thanks for the tutorial! I’m featuring it on my blog tomorrow, smallfineprint.blogspot.com

    Reply

  15. I love this, what a great way to honor someone that means so much to you!
    Thanks for the tutorial, I have seen lots of subway art and wondered exactly how to do it.
    Thansk for stopping by my blog and commenting as well! I’ll be back to yours!

    Reply

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