Keep Calm and Make a Sign

I'm sure everyone's seen the Keep Calm and Carry On sign - as well as about a hundred variations of it.

I'm just going to stop right now and tell you that my #1 favorite Keep Calm sign is this one:

followed closely by these:

I digress.
I decided that I really liked the Keep Calm and Sew On poster (which, by the way, you can also get here as a keychain, a mug, a shirt, a button, a sticker... need I go on?) and figured with the Silhouette, it should be no big deal to make!

...and I was right- it was super easy! Here's how I did it:

Materials:
- a canvas (I got a 2 pack at Michael's for $7- and that was without a coupon)
- spray paint
- Silhouette SD or similar cutting machine
- vinyl (yeah, yeah, I know that's contact paper in the picture, but ignore that- it was a huge fail, so I used vinyl instead)
- transfer paper

NOTE: you could make this sign without the Silhouette as well, you would just print out the letters in the desired font and size, then cut them and either glue or mod podge them onto the canvas.

First, type your words in the Silhouette software the size and font that you want them (Century Gothic or Gill Sans look the most like the original signs, but I used Aharoni because it was thicker/larger). I was able to make them as large as possible and waste vinyl by rearranging the words.

I used a piece of clip art for the sewing machine, which I found by googling "sewing machine silhouette". *UPDATE*: You can now download the image at A Lemon Squeezy Home... then go to her etsy shop and buy yourself a rockin' sewing necklace!

To import the clip art into the Silhouette software simply save your clip art then open he image in the program, click the blue and yellow trace button at the top right of the page, highlight the area you'd like to trace (the whole picture) then click "trace" - DONE!
(if that wasn't clear enough, Dana has instructions with screen shots here in her Texas Wildflower Art tutorial).

Using the silhouette, cut your vinyl (I used the pre-set vinyl setting of Speed: 8, Thickness: 9 and blue blade cap) and weed it out until you are left with only your words and image.

Then cut the vinyl backing so that the words are in separate pieces, ensuring that they will fit on your (currently naked) canvas.

Speaking of that canvas...
I guess ideally you would paint your canvas with a brush, but I am impatient, so I spray painted mine (I also like how that made it darker in some places and lighter in others)!

Allow your canvas to completely dry (my can said it would be completely dry in 1 hour, but I allowed it to dry overnight as well). Using your transfer tape, transfer the images and words to the canvas, starting at the top center:

One thing that I found VERY helpful during this project (and other vinyl projects) was a pan scraper. I got a set of two of these a million years ago as part of a gift basket for one of my bridal showers- and it has been sitting unused in a drawer in the kitchen- I now have a use for it!

Now, I'll be honest, the vinyl didn't stick to the canvas as well as it sticks to the wall. It kept wanting to pull off with the transfer tape. Also, since you're putting the vinyl on a stretched canvas, there is no back to it, so you can't press hard with the scraper (unless you put something underneath it, between the wooden frame). To fix that, I just turned the canvas over and scraped alone the back of the canvas where the image was against a hard surface (in this case, the closed laptop!), which helped the vinyl get a better grip on the canvas.

I didn't have to do that each time though, only when it wasn't sticking well. The rest of the time I just applied each word to the canvas with a book under the canvas as a hard surface and rubbed with the scraper.

I realize until this project, but you can re-use transfer tape! I felt really dumb after I realized how much I have already wasted! You just stick it right back over your next letters and then onto your canvas- brilliant!

Continue until you have all of your phrase on the canvas. Take care that you don't rub your transfer tape onto the word ABOVE the word that you're applying- that could pull it back up!

The vinyl is also repositionable if you are VERY careful. The first time I was "finished" with it, I hung it on the wall and realized that the words were all too high on the canvas. I just used to the transfer tape to move them down a little and voila- finished (for real this time)!

Ta-da! You're done!

Now go hang it in your sewing room/playroom that you share with your 1 year old.
Oh wait, that's just me? Ok. Good thing we have the same decorating sense- bright colors and pretty shapes.

Make sure you put it somewhere where Alf can creepily stare at people who come to admire it.