Address Subway Art (without a silhouette)

I actually DO have a Silhouette... but, I'm not that good at using it. In fact, bestie and I were just saying this week how underutilized it is. ::sigh:: I've done a few things, mostly cut out paper for banners, or crafts, but I don't have any vinyl, and I'm not sure I have the patience it takes to learn on my own.

When I saw THIS TUTORIAL for some amazing address subway art on pinterest from The House of Smiths I just knew it was gonna be my next project. The hubs and I have quite a few addresses in our address book. I was a military brat, and although we didn't move quite as much as some military familys do, we did our fair share. And then I hopped around from place to place as I went through my 20's. Chris's parents still live in the house that he grew up in, something that is hard for me to imagine because we moved so much. Their address and their home has a special place in our hearts and I love looking at pictures of the boys there when they were young. Chris moved away and bounced from college to college moving all along the way. We have 14 addresses between us, including the one we live at now.

So here is a quick run down of how I made this hand-painted looking subway art:

I bought a really thin piece of plywood at home depot from the scrap bin and had them cut it 2'X3'.

Primed and painted it with some left over paint I had from our master bathroom redo.

I created a .jpg of our addresses in Picasa, put it on a thumb drive and had it printed out 2'X3' at staples for less than $4.

Took a piece of chalk and rubbed it across the BACK of the paper one or two lines at a time. 

Flipped the paper over and positioned it over the board.

Traced the outside of the letters with a pencil, this will leave a faint outline of chalk.

I used a white paint pen to trace over and fill in.

It does not look perfect, but I love the uniqueness of it. Love, love, love it!