When you’re addicted to vinyl AND personalized goodies, you’ll look for any excuse to slap a decal of your name onto something. That’s just what happened when I was working on a recent home improvement project in my craft room.

I had added a little area to display some of my boys’ adorable artwork as a sort of mini art gallery, and what’s an art gallery without a fancy sign, amiright?

Keep reading to find out all the details on how I turned an old picture frame into a playful personalized thing of beauty to showcase our family masterpieces!

 

Personalized Family Art Gallery Sign: Not Fine Art, But Still Pretty Good!

I recently shared the kids art display that I added to my craft room.  It was super easy and inexpensive (and no damage!), and as part of that project, I created a fun personalized sign to hang above it to let everyone know this is our family’s fine….errrr….pretty good art gallery!

 

Supplies

Here’s what I used for this sign:

• Picture frame
• Glue & toothpick
• Glass cleaner & paper towels
• Silhouette Cameo
• Vinyl (black, mint, yellow, pink) & transfer tape
• Scissors, painter’s tape, and scraper tool
• One Command Strip, cut in half

 

Creating My Mockup

Since I’d be cutting out the design in vinyl with my beloved Silhouette Cameo, I created my mockup in Silhouette Studio.  I wanted it to be really playful as opposed to too frilly or formal (this isn’t a fine art gallery, after all), so I chose a couple super fun fonts.

THE FONTS: The font that I used for “The Backus Family’s” and the pink lines is called Zooky Squash, and the other font that was used for “Pretty Good Art Gallery” is called Strawberry Dreams.

 

Cutting Out the Vinyl

Once my design was ready, it was time to get cutting! I whipped open my vinyl storage organizer and pulled out the sheets of vinyl that I’d be using: black, mint, yellow, and hot pink.

These colors would coordinate perfectly with a lot of the artwork hanging on the adjacent gallery wall since I’d also used them there. Sometimes I’m smart like that. :)

Once my Silhouette had done her duty, I weeded all the pieces before adding some transfer tape and layering the main components.

 

Prepping the Frame

Since the vinyl pieces were ready to go, I got to prepping the frame. This was an old frame that previously held a white onesie that we had our family autograph at our first baby shower, which we displayed in Rowan’s nursery at our old house.

Now that Rowan is (as he constantly likes to remind us) “a big four-year-old”, the onesie isn’t cool artwork anymore (sorry fam!), and ever since our move last year, it had been shoved away in a closet collecting dust.

I therefore took the signed onesie out of its frame and stored it away in Rowan’s baby box, and the frame ended up being the perfect size for this project…hooray for shopping your own house and using what you already have!

Since the glass wasn’t adhered to the frame, I used a toothpick to dab some glue around the edges of the inside of the frame, then laid the glass on top. Some books were stacked on it to add a little weight so the glass would to get a nice stick as it dried. Then both sides got a good cleaning with some alcohol.

 

Applying the Vinyl Design

Once the glue was dried and the glass was now stuck to the frame, it was time to apply the vinyl. I worked one piece at a time using the hinge method (which you can read more about here), until everything was applied.

Once again, some books were used (this time underneath) to keep the glass from popping back off while scraping on the vinyl. That would have been a major bummer.

 

Hanging the Completed Sign

The last step was hanging this baby! Since a Command Strip was too wide for the frame, I simply cut one in half and added a piece to each side, then stuck the sign up on the wall. So easy!

 

Our Completed Family Art Gallery Sign!

And here’s how it turned out! Pretty cute, huh? I just love it. The fonts, colors, and saying are the perfect vibe for this little space.

Like I said, we might not make fine art, but it’s still pretty good! :)

 

The sign and art display work nicely next to the colorful gallery wall too….gotta love coordinating colors!

And I’ll be filling in the top part of the wall with another project sometime….eventually….as soon as I get the time and energy. :) Stay tuned!

 

If You Enjoyed This….

Make sure you check out my Colorful Craft Room series, and all of my other vinyl or sign projects!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!