The 4th of July is right around the corner. I add a few patriotic decorations to my house. I bust out my President’s Day Pillow and my “God Bless America” Button frame. How many times in your school years did you say “the pledge?” I venture to say in the thousands for sure. Do they still say “the pledge” in the public schools? I am not sure if they do or not but I now have it on my walls to remind me of the amazing nation I live in and the flag that represents it.
1” x 12” x 6’ board cut to 34” (Lowes cut it down for me)
Valspar sample paint in La Fonda Geranium Red and Indigo Cloth
White spray primer
Silhouette machine
Vinyl
Transfer Tape
stick pin
3M sanding sponge
paintbrush
pouncing sponge or foam brush
saw tooth hanger & hammer
optional: fabric tape or washi tape
1. I went to Lowes and grabbed a 1” x 12” by 6’ board. I had them cut it down to 34” for me. I also picked up some sample pots of Valspar paint. The colors I chose were Indigo Cloth and La Fonda Geranium Red.
2. I painted the board with the blue paint (Indigo Cloth) and let it dry. Then I used a 3M sanding sponge and some 100 grit sandpaper to distress the board.
3. I then designed the subway art “pledge of allegiance” on my Silhouette Studio program using various fonts. Then I cut it out onto vinyl to use as a stencil. To do that I removed all the vinyl letters so I would be able to paint where the letters were removed. I transferred the vinyl stencil to my board.
4. Since I wanted some of the font to be red and some white I covered up the parts I wanted red with some leftover transfer tape. I used some spray primer to paint the white letters.
5. I pulled off the transfer tape and used some of the red paint (La Fonda Geranium Red) and a sponge dauber to dab the paint on.
6. While the paint was still wet, I pulled off all the vinyl to reveal the words. I had to use a stick pin to remove some of the smaller vinyl from the middles of the o’s and d’s.
7. Since I miscalculated how big the vinyl would be and had extra space at the top and bottom of my board wanted to add a little more flair I added some red and white striped fabric tape at the top and bottom.
8. Then I hammered in a saw-tooth hangar on the back.
Click over to see another similar sign I made using the same technique.
This post originally appeared on Infarrantly Creative in 2014.
