Dated Design Wall Art

Posted 30th March, 2011 in by Andrea
I've been working on a gallery of framed photos and art for a wall in my kitchen and really want it to include meaningful pieces - not just any old photo or picture. In my quest to make it meaningful, I decided to create a subway art style piece using important dates in our family, specifically each of our birthdays and our wedding anniversary. 
 

** Update: Due to the popularity of this project (over 100,000 pins on Pinterest!) I've created a way to build your own dated wall art instantly using the form below.  Just enter your special dates and then you can print a customized 8" x 10" version from home OR have it professionally printed in a variety of sizes at Zazzle.com as a poster or canvas (which are awesome—read my review on zazzle canvases). If you'd rather do-it-yourself, the original by-hand instructions are below the form.
 

Create Your Own Instantly!

Just enter your special dates for a gallery of personalized artwork:

How many special dates do you want to display?









Enter the Dates:

1st Date: / /

2nd Date: / /

3rd Date: / /

4th Date: / /

5th Date: / /


 

 
To create this piece, I started with an idea sketch in Photoshop. I knew I wanted it to be an 8" x 10" piece to fit in my frame, so I created a Photoshop canvas in that size. Then I played around with font styles and font sizes until I ended up with this design, using the font "Modern No. 20":
 
 
If you're into digital designs and know your way around Photoshop, this is the perfect place to say: Skip the rest of these by-hand steps and create a printable! Print it yourself, or send it in to your favorite poster printing service and you've created your very own piece of personalized modern art. Nice, huh? 
 
If you're still with me, you must be more of a hands-on kind of girl.  Me too. I decided instead of making a printable to give my Silhouette SD a little workout and had each number cut separately from black cardstock.
 
 
Then I cut the center date (our anniversary) from white cardstock and finally the flourish designs from kraft cardstock. I chose a muted teal patterned paper background and laid out the design.
 
Using a ruler and pencil, I drew very faint guidelines to find the center of the paper (both vertically and horizontally) and began adding the numbers, beginning with the "08052000" row and working out from there.
 
Tip: I used cardstock and a Xyron sticker maker, but another option would be to use Silhouette adhesive vinyl and transfer paper to make this whole process a breeze. 
 
With all the elements glued down, I added a tiny red heart eyelet to the center of the anniversary date to finish it off.
 
 
Now it hangs in my kitchen gallery (which I promise to reveal here soon), and even my husband, who is a tough sell when it comes to crafty things, remarked that it was "a really cool design." Perhaps I should have saved it for Father's Day!
 

 

A fully customizeable version of my Dated Wall Art plus several variations of the design are all available through Zazzle.com if you'd like to order there!  Customize it to choose your own colors, dates, print-size and font. You can even add a frame (as shown below)!

Dated Wall Art - DistressedDated Wall Art - Modern - Poster

Available for families with 1 child, 2 children, 3 children, 4 children & 6 children!

64 comments so far:

kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor said:

This is seriously fantastic, Andrea! Thank you so much for sharing!

6th August, 2014 at 6:49pm

Art Framer NYC said:

Amazing idea. Love it. Will also share this with our readers, of course with citation..

10th April, 2014 at 6:41am

Jeannine parry said:

Thanks

8th October, 2012 at 6:32pm

Amy said:

I was needing one with 7 children.... Can you do that??

6th October, 2012 at 3:49pm

Amanda said:

Great project! And congrats on it going viral on Pinterest. Thanks for sharing at I Made It! Monday. Can't wait to see what you link up this week.

30th September, 2012 at 9:04pm

Roeshel said:

I love it, Andrea!

29th September, 2012 at 7:35pm

Sue, It's A Very Cherry World! said:

Great idea and great graphics! It's wonderful that it's so popular!

28th September, 2012 at 8:17am

Brittany @ Crafty Mischief said:

What a great idea! Love it!

27th September, 2012 at 3:28pm

Joselyn said:

Love this idea! Beautiful and sentimental. Buy or DIY option is great too.

26th September, 2012 at 3:50pm

Jenn said:

What a great tutorial! Can't wait to try =)

26th September, 2012 at 2:34pm

Printabelle said:

This is such an appealing idea and that is so awesome that you got so many pins! Congrats!

25th September, 2012 at 7:50pm

Kathryn Griffin said:

What a fantastic idea! Thank you for sharing this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

25th September, 2012 at 4:59pm

Tamara @ Etcetorize said:

Very neat idea! Love that you created a 'do it yourself calculator'! Thanks so much for sharing at Etcetorize this week!

24th September, 2012 at 10:09am

Megan said:

That is beautiful!

21st September, 2012 at 6:59am

Erin {Home Everyday} said:

Super cute! This would be perfect in our home too! Thanks for sharing.

21st September, 2012 at 6:49am

Sarah Beesley said:

Thank you so much for the inspiration for this! I recently updated my gallery wall in our home and I recreated this idea using Microsoft Word and cardstock. It's fairly simple but I love the statement such a simple piece makes. Thanks again for sharing your idea!!
http://idbeesley.blogspot.com/2012/09/gallery-wall.html (post with your idea shown, if you're interested :) )

6th September, 2012 at 8:44am

Jami Dix said:

Very cool you will let us create our own. Thanks so much!!

22nd July, 2012 at 7:08pm

Barb said:

I love that you said...Hey, you can order it here, but if you are all about doing it yourself, here is what I did!! That is AWESOME!!
Thanks so much for sharing!!
Also, ya'll have a great day to have gotten married! It's my anniversary too, ENJOY!!

3rd July, 2012 at 6:49am

Sara said:

Thanks

28th April, 2012 at 7:14pm

Meri said:

Love this idea! I may adapt it for my own family (single mom, two kiddie-beans). :)

Thank you!

28th February, 2012 at 4:52pm

McNeely said:

Love it!

17th February, 2012 at 7:06pm

Anonymous said:

Thanks so much!!!

9th February, 2012 at 8:15pm

Nicole said:

I love this project Andrea - it was one of my first pins on Pinterest! Finally made one of my own today and linked back to you as my inspiration. Thanks for sharing such an awesome idea! Here is my blog post : http://reavespartyofthree.blogspot.com/2012/02/pinterest-to-reality-proj...

1st February, 2012 at 2:32pm

Michelle said:

So it turned out COMPLETELY different, but I just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration! I saw this on Pinterest, and adapted it to make a family tree for my mom announcing her first grandchild! I stared with her parents' birthdays and worked my way down to our little one's due date. Thanks!!

27th December, 2011 at 6:15pm

shen said:

I loved this idea, and did it myself. I hope you don't mind I mentioned you in my own blog entry.

http://girlyspazms.blogspot.com/2011/11/doing-things-differently.html

Thanks for the inspiration! :D

30th November, 2011 at 10:01am

Lauren said:

This is so cool. I am going to make this for my daughter and son-in-law's first anniversary present. It's paper!

21st October, 2011 at 10:25am

Sharon Worley said:

LOVE this project! Thank you so much for the inspiration - I've had it bookmarked for a while in hopes of making one of my own. Finally got to it today and can't stop looking at it.

Also love your blog - thanks for sharing it with us!

1st October, 2011 at 12:55pm

Morgan said:

Hey,
I would like to give this as a gift to my in laws for Xmas. I checked on zazzle to buy but they have six children. Any suggestions? Great product!

Thanks!

29th September, 2011 at 7:43am

Leslie said:

I was on there today and they had one for a family with 2,3,4,5 & 6 kids. Type in Family Date Poster in the zazzle search engine and it will bring up all of the options they have. Good Luck!!

15th November, 2011 at 9:31pm

Nicole King said:

I Love LOVE this idea!!! And I actually followed through with making one for myself. Thanks for the clear directions. Rather than cutting out with my cricut I printed straight onto the paper. I am sure cutting would have looked better since I couldn't print white on my paper.
http://thekingsoftheroad.blogspot.com/2011/09/4-ws-and-1-l.html

15th September, 2011 at 4:01pm

Heather said:

I saw this idea on pinterest and decided to do one for our family tonight. I love that my hubby couldn't figure out all the numbers, but my 11yr old knew exactly what it was. Thanks for sharing your idea. Here's how mine turned out.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2397818182298&set=a.209978269159...

5th September, 2011 at 8:11pm

Heather said:

I saw this idea on pinterest and decided to do one for our family tonight. I love that my hubby couldn't figure out all the numbers, but my 11yr old knew exactly what it was. Thanks for sharing your idea. Here's how mine turned out.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2397818182298&set=a.209978269159...

5th September, 2011 at 8:08pm

Sarah Petrie said:

LOVE THIS! I saw it on Pinterest, and now I've made one of my own (printable) that I'm blogging about today. :) Thanks for the inspiration ~ I'll let everyone know where you are! :)

15th August, 2011 at 8:46am

Jennifer said:

THANK YOU for this idea! I LOVE graphics, and this is so meaningful. I made this for my family tonight, and it's framed and brightening up our living room. I mocked it up in PS and used the Silhouette, too *LOVE*. The only I altered was the placement...I printed out the PS copy on plain old copy paper, paper clipped it to my scrapbook paper background, and slapped it on a light box. Then I just glued on the letters. Easy peasy pie!

Thank you again! This was a fun project. :)

3rd August, 2011 at 8:07pm

Katie H said:

Love this idea! Quick question, what did you use to cut out the numbers?

28th July, 2011 at 7:01am

Heather said:

Thanks for the inspiration!
Here is what I did with your idea: http://lovethatboy.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/i-heart-pinterest/

9th July, 2011 at 9:39pm

Babz510 said:

Hi there,

Someone posted a link of your project on Pinterest and I loved it. I made one for myself yesterday and I just wanted to say thanks for the great idea. Mine is now proudly on display in my entryway for my firends and family to see.

9th July, 2011 at 12:39pm

Sharla said:

Love this idea, design EVERYTHING!! Thanks for sharing!!!

12th June, 2011 at 8:17am

Creative Jobs said:

I really like this idea. I am looking forward to doing it with my kids and other family members. You can
very easily do it if you are creative. Your art can be done conveniently. It will prove to be very facilitating for you.

9th June, 2011 at 1:29am

Anonymous said:

One of my boys has one of your babies' birthdays! 4/12/07

4th June, 2011 at 9:36pm

Angela K said:

Thanks for a wonderful idea!!! So sweet!

4th June, 2011 at 6:49am

Nichole said:

What a wonderful idea! I'm going to work on mine right now. :)

17th May, 2011 at 8:16am

beth daane said:

This is fabulous and I love it! Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us!

16th May, 2011 at 6:37am

Carole said:

I'm a big fan so I have to admit that this was such a wonderful idea that I stole it and made one for my home. I changed it because I have 5 kids and that made for a bunch of birthdays so I just skipped our anniversary date. Thank you for the beautiful idea! It looks great in my foyer!!

6th May, 2011 at 9:34am

Kari johnson said:

Love, love, love this idea...I will be making it soon. Looks like a great naptime project!!

23rd April, 2011 at 9:34pm

Felis said:

This is such a great project. Love it!!

21st April, 2011 at 10:57pm

Maggie M said:

I adore this idea...it's just beautiful! And really understated...I love how you kind of have to look at it a little to really understand what it's about...just perfect.

18th April, 2011 at 9:21pm

Amanda @ Serenity Now said:

I agree with your husband---very cool design. :) It looks nice with the neat little embellishments you added.

Thank you so much for joining my "I {Heart} My Crafty Cutter" party. :)

18th April, 2011 at 1:04pm

retrohipmama said:

This is about the cutest thing I've seen! I am going to be doing this tonight! Thank you so much for bringing attention to the important dates in our lives while making it graphically appealing. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

18th April, 2011 at 11:02am

Trailer Gypsy said:

That is so super cool and awesome. I don't have enough people in our household though. Would I be super lame if I added cat birthdays? (The answer is YES, yes I would be). :)

13th April, 2011 at 2:06pm

leah @ modern day gidget said:

dropping in from WILW!! Can't wait to try this myself :o)

13th April, 2011 at 1:08pm

Aimee said:

This is beautiful; thanks so much for the inspiration! I already have it started in Photoshop. :)

(Found it via Pinterest, by the way...)

13th April, 2011 at 12:53pm

Jen said:

This is so great! I am trying to think of a place that I could do this in my house! I would love to have you come and share this at my Fantastic Friday link party. http://ironvioletdesigns.blogspot.com

Thanks

6th April, 2011 at 3:00pm

Amy @ Sweet Little Smoothie said:

Absolutely gorgeous! I love your font choice! Thanks for sharing :)

5th April, 2011 at 4:32pm

Randi said:

I think that's such a neat idea ... it's so personal. And I love your little eyelet heart.

5th April, 2011 at 12:12pm

Website Designing India said:

Great piece of art it seems that we can design any thing and make it look beautiful. Just the required thing in creative mind and thoughts.

4th April, 2011 at 12:14am

Joy said:

Very cute!

1st April, 2011 at 1:10am

Heather said:

Um, yep I pretty much LOVE this!! I will be ordering one I just need to think about my colors with the kitchen remodel. But this is so beyond clever and awesome. Good job Andrea! We will definitely share this one with our readers...;)

Heather

31st March, 2011 at 9:42pm

tammy said:

this is very cool, thanks for sharing it at my party!

31st March, 2011 at 10:52am

Christy, HOMEmomMADE said:

this is super cute, hubby walked by and said it's cool as long as you don't use dates for passwords. oops

Stop by and feel free to link up to my MAKE & SHARE first edition Fridays.

~Christy

31st March, 2011 at 10:20am

Anne said:

I love this! I don't have a silhouette and my printer stinks, but maybe i can get a similar effect with chipboard letters and scrapbook paper? :o)

31st March, 2011 at 9:56am

Linh C said:

This is awesome! Can I copy the design?

31st March, 2011 at 8:16am

lindasteed said:

Very nice, Andrea! Looks great!

31st March, 2011 at 4:19am

angela grace said:

I LOVE this! Are you going to be selling them??

30th March, 2011 at 9:10pm

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