*UPDATED* Train Canvases

**UPDATE: I discovered the vinyl doesn't stick to the textured canvas in a long-term capacity. Sad, huh? Anyway, I did some more creating and came up with some Framed Trains. Go check them out!!! And if you know how to get vinyl to stick to the canvas, please let me know!**

As part of Andyroom's train room, I wanted to do something for the walls. However, whatever I put up on the walls needs to be 1) removable, since we have no idea how long we're going to be here (and since we're only renting), and 2) Moveable, as in something we can take with us when we inevitably move. I thought about vinyl on the walls - easily removable, but I would have to redo it in his next room. And who really wants to do that?

I tossed around the idea of vinyl on some kind of frame or board, but ended up with this instead.

Vinyl on canvas! Not exactly a new idea, but I haven't seen anything quite like this.

I scoured the internet for free SVG images of Thomas the Train, or even just trains, but nothing was quite right. After finding Andrew's Thomas the Train comforter on clearance at Target, I knew I had to do something that was definitely Thomas and friends. So I decided to create my own images to cut. It only took about 4 hours total to do all three of them. Once I did the first one, I was able to incorporate some of the basic elements into the others which helped save time.

Putting the vinyl on is pretty self-explanatory. I cut the parts of the train in multiple colors so that the image wasn't so one dimensional, so the hardest part was lining everything up and making sure each train had the correct parts. Because Thomas is the number one engine on Sodor - not Percy (who is number six!). And Andyroo would definitely catch that mistake! Here are a couple pics of the layering process.

I started with the big green piece, or the body of the train, then added everything else to that.


And some closeups of the finished Thomas and James.

The canvases are 11x14 - purchased in a pack of seven at Michaels for about $10 (with a coupon, of course). I used 3 of them for this project, so about $4.50 for all three. Most of the vinyl I already had on hand, but it's about $8.00 a roll, or about $0.30 per foot. I used about $5 worth from the vinyl I already had on hand and had to purchase a couple sheets of extra colors. I'm not counting the price of the whole sheets because they're colors I can (and will) use on other projects. Anyway, the total cost of all the vinyl was probably about $7. So $11.50 for three Thomas the Train wall hangings. Thomas the Train stuff is EXPENSIVE, so I think that's an awesome deal!!

What do you think?


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