i should be mopping the floor: subway art

I've always wanted to try Mod Podge...it just seems so cool when I see all of you crafties out there creating with it. And for this first go-round, it did not disappoint!

I've been trying to think of a meaningful gift for my mother-in-law for mother's day. She adores crafty items. But, finding something for her at a normal shop is sometimes hard. So, I decided to make something. I'm really into creating subway art lately. It seemed like a great solution!

I decided to use all of our names to create the art...my husband & his two brothers, all three wives and all of the grandkids.

I realized we had some leftover fence slats in our garage. They were 5 inches wide. I had my husband cut them down to 17 inches in length. I created a document in Photoshop Elements that was 5x17. I purposefully chose this size to make printing super inexpensive. I kept each name in its own layer to manipulate and rotate how I wanted. Each "generation" had its own font (and wives had their own, too). And my in-laws are in the center, in red.
I doubled the document on an 11x17 and then uploaded my PDF to Staples. And I had an extra half of my print to play with if I messed the first one up!
This is also very economical. I am planning to make a bunch of them for the graduates we know in school colors and such!