Subway Art Thrifty Style

My buddy, Kelly, shared this idea with me from the blog ABeautifulMess.  I knew I had to add it to my to do list, yesterday.  I made one little adjustment to the project based on the materials I had at hand, but otherwise.....so easy, so fun.....can't wait to jazz this up next year with some more fairy tale-ish projects to join it and bring out the sparkle. 
I found a short quote I liked via pinterest and this fake canvas print in my friend's garage sale pile (I looked at thrift stores prior to this, but they were all pricey at the few I had visited, so the hardest part was just finding a good backdrop).  The more colorful the better because the colors will peak through....no need to find an 'attractive' painting, so...perfect thrift store or garage sale shopping.  You can use vinyl letters (like the tutorial shows), but I just cut some out on poster board using my cricut.

 I laid them out, and then I used adhesive spray to get them to 'stick' to the canvas.  Once I painted over them I had no problem pulling them up without any residue.

 I took some white paint, squirted it all over the canvas and then just brushed it around all the letters.

 I decided to peel the letters off while it was still a little damp so I could use a q-tip and go back and clean up any edges.  Not much was needed, the letters stayed pretty true to form. 

I painted the edges with gold paint b/c this little guy is going to get some gold/bedazzled friends this fall in my classroom.