Bedtime Routine Subway Art - Really easy with no hand letter painting or vinyl cutting required

Oh I am so excited to share this with you. I spent most of today trying to figure this out and could not be happier. Well, except for the fact today was suppose to be my house cleaning day and that wasn't even touched. The sacrifices I am willing to make to craft :)

I have loved the subway art that so many bloggers are creating but I do not have a vinyl cutter and I cannot paint. So, I thought there was no way I could create one of these pieces of art for myself. That was until I was introduced to Mod Podge transfers. Visit The Cre8tive Outlet for an amazing PB knockoff using this technique!

I had always wanted to create something with my kid's bedtime routine on it for their bathroom and I thought this would work perfectly.

Materials needed:
Canvas
Paint (for the canvas)
Printer paper to print the text or image (be sure to mirror the image)

Method:
I created the Subway Art I wanted in Microsoft Publisher (you can do it in Word too) and then saved the image as a JPEG. Take the saved JPEG and flip it by 90 degrees/mirror it so the words will print backwards. Print the  text on your home printer (I have a laser jet) on regular printer paper. I have heard (through google searches) that photocopying works great but I don't have a photocopier :)

This is how my printed image looked.

I painted the entire canvas with two or three coats of white craft paint. If you want the background to be another color, paint it with that color. Just be sure not to use a dark color otherwise the black image or text will not show clearly.

After the paint on the canvas is completely dry (be patient because it will peel off if you aren't...I attempted this 3 times before it actually worked) cover the entire surface with a good layer of Mod Podge. Carefully place the printer paper (text side down) onto the Mod Podged canvas. Be sure you place it exactly where you want it because it will NOT come off after it is placed down.

So this is how it looked. See how you see that the text is now the correct way.

 Wait a few minutes and then start carefully wiping off the back of the paper with a damp cloth. I used a dish cloth that was wet but not sopping to gently rub off the back of the paper. The paper will almost dissolve and the text will be stuck in the Mod Podge. Don't rub too hard because you can scrub off the text too.

I removed the first layer and then let it dry a bit and then repeated the process again. If the letters seem to peel off, don't worry too much.As I said this was my third attempt so I kept going and this is what I ended up with. You can see many of the letters are off.

Let it dry and then take a black Sharpie to fill in the letters. If you want the text to be rustic, don't fill in cracks or missing pieces. If you are like me and want a solid letter, draw in the missing pieces with your Sharpie.

You can do a few thing now. You can do a glaze with a stain or white wash. I loved the look of this so I put a layer of Mod Podge on it and left it alone.

I love how it looks on the shelf in my kids bathroom and I could not be happier!

Total cost for this was $2 for the canvas. I had the paint, printer paper and Mod Podge on hand.