Friday, April 6, 2012

Subway Art Gift Box

A little box (formerly a child's wooden domino box), now a gift box for the sister of one of my little favorites from work. He is giving the newlyweds cash, but wanted to present it with a keepsake of some sort. This is where I came in! I began with the idea that the money could be contained in something. A bag? A box? An envelope? My mind quickly settled on the Subway art that is all over right now. I love the look of the words in different fonts and the vintage feel of it. After directing him to Google images on the subject, he agreed.
A trip to Michaels for some stickers...3 font styles, and wedding white and black paint, I was ready to carefully lay out the words.
Since I wanted the words to be black, I painted the base of the top black. When it was thoroughly dry, I had determined I needed 11 lines. Using ruler and pencil, I marked the black painted top out. It is a tricky business getting so many small letters to line up perfectly on the line! Some letters refused to cooperate.
After all stickers adhered to wood and 3 coats of wedding white paint.......I showed little favorite the pic of my progress last Monday at work.
Was that a quizzical look on his face? Did he NOT like it after all? He utters....
"Isn't there a T in Frantz?" (I have spelled Franz on the box already, 3 coats of paint over it already)
"NO...you approved this" I say.
"I am pretty sure I text you Frantz"
We pull out our phones and scroll through the exchange of text messages.......
"Uh oh" (that's me)
So I think about my plan of attack all day.
After peeling the Z sticker off, sanding to the black paint and putting down the TZ, then repainting 3 coats of wedding white over them, it was time to peel off all the stickers using a sewing needle, all was well!
A light sanding over the entire piece and a few coats of a matte finish sealer and done.
It was a fun project, he loved it.
That is all we makers-of-things need!

Today is a paid holiday...Good Friday. Many fish have died for today.

Michael continues to do well at boot camp. We actually got to see a pic of him on the Battalion Facebook page. That was really nice. Two weeks til graduation! Two months til the wedding!
Which brings me to....I need a dress!
I did find shoes already. Black silk heels, open toe, on clearance at Famous Footwear for $15!
Later today I am meeting Pam and Sarah at the mall to start the search for a dress that will be comfortable and me. I have nothing in mind. Not sure a floor length is my style, but that remains to be decided. Good luck to us!

Tomorrow I will be going to the Buffalo Zoo with Melissa, Dave, Sophia and Dave's parents. Sophia loves animals, so it should be fun to watch her. I haven't been to the zoo since the kids were small. The Buffalo Zoo made national news last month when a gorilla escaped from his habitat.

I have learned:

  1. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Good movie. Oskar character is a great little actor.  911 stories have a deep emotional impact on me, as they should. It was a 12 tissue tearjerker. 
  2. Mowed lawn already. Those 80 degree days were enough to make it grow.
  3. Forgot how much I love "An Officer and a Gentleman" til I rented it and watched it in all it's original gritty format. Richard Gere. Very good. 
  4. Schmaltzy. Great word.
  5. My Fujifilm finepix s1000 digital camera was displaying a Protected Card warning. I couldn't take any pics. I googled my dilemma and within seconds I had my solution. The SD cards have a switch on the side that if pushed in the up position, locks the card. Pushed it back down and good to go!

1 comment:

Jayardi said...

••• Remember that little black dress you made for one of your challenges? I think you would look great it in. Do you know someone who can make it full size?