Subway Art

I wanted to create subway art for Brendan's bare, bare apartment walls. He actually liked the idea when I brought it up a few weeks ago. His love of SEPTA (ha, does anyone actually love SEPTA?), specifically the Market Frankford Line, led me to these. 


I set up the dimensions based on my two 12x24 basic canvases from Michaels. I mocked it up in Publisher and printed it in segments onto landscape legal paper (so I had Frankford/Margaret-Orthodox/Church on one, Erie-Torresdale/Tioga/Allegheny on the next, and so on). I trimmed the sheets so they'd overlap just enough, and modge-podged the heck out of them. It was all bubbly and wrinkly at first and I thought it was a big flop. But the next day, it looked lovely! And I didn't want it too perfect anyway, since it was meant to look old. 


I did another coat of modge podge a few days later, and covered the edges of the canvases with electrical tape which happened to be the perfect thickness (thanks, Cag!). Finally, I wanted to dirty them up and distress them a bit. I rubbed them in spots with sandpaper, and tried to stain them with coffee grounds. The coffee didn't do much (but smelled lovely). So I mixed a bit of black paint and water, put my hand in a ziploc baggie, and with my fingers, applied it randomly to mark it up. I let it sit a bit, and then wiped off the excess. Voila! Hope he likes them... 

Update: He liked them! A lot!

Personal Card: Father's Day card for Lou

In designing father's day cards with mass appeal (hello, bow-tie cards!), I couldn't help but think of my dad. I ended up making him one. I'll just be prepared early, right? 


My dad probably won't get my humor here, which is a shame because he is the funniest guy I know. I was literally laughing out loud at my own card. How did Lou end up with such a nerd? 

8.5 x 4 in, 110lb card stock, "MOTORCYCLES! TOUGHNESS! STREET SMARTS! MUSCLES!" printed with raised 2-in card stock "Happy Father's Day" circle. 

Cards! Father's Day

Father's Day bow-tie cards:

4.25 x 5.5 in, 65lb brown kraft card stock, "Happy Father's Day" printed, bow-tie cut from card stock, outlined with fine-tip sharpie and glued with Elmer's Craft Bond Memory Glue Pen (applied sparingly!).  

Cards! Graduation Series

I wanted to catalog the items I'm making for a craft fair in March. I'm big into greeting cards! Here are two graduation cards: 

4.25 x 5.5 in, 110lb card stock, "class of twenty-twelve" with raised 2-in card stock "congrats!" circle. 

4.25 x 5.5 in, 110lb card stock, "class of twenty-twelve" printed on white card stock, loose-leaf lines done with colored pencil, affixed to the card with Zots adhesive dots.  

Unenthusiastic Cat Series: Graduation

Unenthusiastic Cat Series: Birthday