July 4th Pallet Subway Art

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. I love the colors and the fireworks and all the summer goodness that comes with it. And if course, I love all the decor.

This year I made some pallet subway art for my mantel. This piece costs me less than 5 bucks. The pallet was free and all I had to purchase was some red and blue paint and some screws.

Let’s learn how to make this beauty, shall we?

Start by deconstructing your pallet. I used a crowbar to take mine apart but mine was pretty old and it came apart relatively easily. This pallet that had already been deconstructed from a previous project so I don’t have pictures of this step but you can find a good tutorial here.

After I took apart the pallet, I sanded it. It had already been painted  from a project I did last year but I wanted something new

After sanding, I painted the planks with a semi gloss white.

We cut each plank down to size and then used smaller pieces of wood on the back to hold the planks together.

I made the stencils with my Silhouette using the fonts Arial Bold and Eyes Wide Open. I cut the stencils out on vinyl and then applied the vinyl to my pallet.

Using red and blue acrylic paint, I painted the stencil with two coats of paint, letting the first coat dry before applying the second. I then removed the stencil while the paint was still slightly wet. Touch up any areas using a small paintbrush.

This July 4th Pallet Subway Art makes the perfect addition to my summer mantel. All the other decor on the mantel (except the window) was purchased at the Dollar Store. I also added my DIY Patriotic Art to complete the look.