Framed 4th of July Subway Art

Courtney from A Diamond in the Stuff is back to give us another awesome guest post today!! Courtney’s specialty is home décor projects and makes decorating your home with DIY projects seem so easy and fun! Please show Courtney some love by visiting her awesome blog and giving her a “like” on her facebook page.

Do you decorate for the 4^th of July? I love to decorate for Independence Day with every bit of stars and stripes as I can manage! I wanted to create a 4^th of July decoration that would look great in any home, office, or would make a great gift. Once I spied the Word Collage Cricut Cartridge, I knew exactly what I wanted to create.

Supplies:

• Cricut Die Cutting Machine
• Word Collage Cricut Cartridge
• Darice® Premium Canvas Texture Cardstock
• Cricut® Cuttables Craft Vinyl – Raven Black
• Cricut® Cuttables Craft Vinyl- Transfer Tape
• Picture Frame (I used an 8×10)
• Glue Stick
• Paper Cutter or Scissors

Directions:

To start, I grabbed 3 pieces of cardstock in red, white, and blue. I cut them down into three strips that fit onto the back of the picture frame. It took a little bit of measuring and math to get each color to be proportional and even. But I’m just a perfectionist like that!

I used the glue stick to attach the three cardstock pieces to the back of the picture frame. I went in the traditional order of red, white, and blue. Once they were glued down I set that aside. It was time to cut some vinyl.

Here is my black vinyl all cut out. For those of you that are going to give this a try, here are all the numbers and details. I cut out the subway art at 9 1/2in. It fit perfectly inside my picture frame. Obviously this number would need to be adjusted for different sizes of picture frames. Before cutting out the vinyl, I set my machine to low speed, mid/high pressure, and I used a #4 setting on my deep cut blade.

Once I had the vinyl cut out, I “weeded” out all the unusable vinyl. Meaning I basically just pulled off all out the surrounding vinyl that I was not going to be using. Including the centers of letters like “o’s”, “a’s”, etc. Then I applied my transfer tape on top of the vinyl. You will need to use something to rub over the transfer tape to adhere it to the vinyl. This can be a credit card, large popsicle stick, or my favorite a Pampered Chef stone scraper! Once all the vinyl is attached to the transfer tape, it is time to pull the transfer tape off of the vinyl backing. Once this is done you should be looking at the reverse of your image.

Before applying your vinyl to your surface make sure it’s clean and dry. Also, I recommend taking your time applying the vinyl to the glass. Once you begin to lay it down it will start to adhere and it’s hard to get it pulled back up and adjusted. So take lots of time to make sure it’s as straight and it’s going to get before applying the vinyl. Once you do lay the transfer tape down on the glass, you will rub it again with your tool of choice. Begin to pull off the transfer tape nice and slow, watching for any stubborn pieces of vinyl that are not adhering. If that is happening, just lay the transfer tape down again in that area and rub it down a little more.

Once you have completely pulled off the transfer tape, you should have beautifully applied vinyl. Pop the vinyl covered glass back into the picture frame and add the cardstock covered frame backing. Proudly display your new patriotic project and sit back and relax!

Or in my case take a ton of pictures like it’s a modeling shoot! I absolutely love how it turned out and it goes great with my Patriotic Ribbon Topiary! I think I’m just about all set for the 4^th of July!!! I hope you give this project a try and maybe even put your own spin on it!!!

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Thank you to Courtney from A Diamond in the Stuff for this guest post!

Sarah {Crafts Unleashed Editor}

Sarah is the Marketing & Social Media Coordinator for ConsumerCrafts.com. She is new to the craft/DIY world and discovered a love for it after joining the company. Sarah is a dessert addict, animal lover, a bit of a perfectionist, and obsessed with trying new Pinterest recipes.