"twenty-five things" subway art

When my husband and I got engaged, we like many couples in our position attended premarital counseling together.  Some of the advice we were given still makes us cringe, such as the now-infamous "foolproof" method for ending an argument with your spouse.  Ready for this?  It's going to blow your mind.  Simply gaze into their eyes and say, "Honey, I know I'm right.  But I love you more than being right.  So have it your way, this time."

Not even kidding.  The best part was that the counselor had us practice saying it to each other right then; that way, we'd remember it the next time we were in the middle of an argument.  Awkward.

Anyway, most of the stuff we learned was helpful.  Especially this challenge our counselor gave us early on in the first session:  Write down twenty-five things you love about your spouse.  Keep the list in a safe place and read it from time to time.  My husband and I complied, read our lists out loud to each other, and then I typed them out and put them in a double-frame that has since taken up residence on my husband's dresser.

Kinda boring, huh?

I wanted to do something a little more creative with the lists, and make them more of a focal point in our room.  I love this new "subway art" trend, or maybe it's not so trendy anymore, I don't know.  You might be saying, "Um yeah Anne...that's SO three months ago."  Or maybe you're just saying, "What the heck is subway art??"  Well, I'll tell you.  Or show you.  Here's a cute example.  And here's another one.  Basically a bunch of words or phrases kind of smashed together within a set block of space. They're inspired by the way New York subway schedules used to look (hence the name).

I grabbed a couple of frames off our bedroom wall....I liked the scrapbook paper I had used in them, but I felt like that wall was becoming too overloaded with snapshots.  See what I mean?

So I decided to (carefully) remove the pictures and keep the scrapbook paper intact.

Then I just went into Word and played around.  I experimented with different fonts and changed up the order of the words until it was what I wanted.  I also put the layout on "justified" and added spaces between the words as needed.  Then I printed out my prototype.

Hee hee.  This is the list my hubby wrote about me.  Anyway, I liked how it looked, especially when I cut it smaller so that the paper already in the frame could act as a matte.

Our printer doesn't print in color, so I knew the only way to change things up with the actual list would be to use different paper.  I picked up a value pack of cardstock that would coordinate with the colors in our room to make it a bit more interesting.  (Incidentally...those value packs are on sale at Jo-Ann right now.  Just throwing that out there.)  Here's the finished product!

And here's the list I wrote for my husband....I updated "would make a great father someday" from my original list to "amazing father" on the new one.  Just had to be done.  :o)

Since I already had the frames, kept most of the paper intact, and used the fonts I already had on my computer, the only thing I needed to purchase was the cardstock.  Not too shabby.

So there you go.  Husband and Wife subway art...with a very special meaning.

Linking up to Creations by Kara today!  I'm also going to link up the jewelry organizer that I made last week.  Thanks so much for reading, and feel free to follow my blog if you want.  My two followers need some company. :o)