We made this classy upcycled $100 bill statement piece out of a piece of foam board used as packing in something we ordered. Total Cost? ZERO.  However, you can also buy sheets of foam cheap. The “frame” you see around it is actually a piece off of an old coffee table. But you could easily make a wood one or just hang it as is.

The fancy cupboard you see underneath of our cash art? That’s one of our “Buff Your Stuff” series where you take items you already own and give them a face lift. Check out our Refurbishing Furniture with Modern Colors post!

Cash Wall Decoration Supplies

NOTES ON FOAM SHEETS:  Our foam sheet was in a box from a shelf we ordered. It was used as packing. We used it the size it came (24″ wide x  12″ tall and 1″ thick) and it had a nice texture. When buying foam sheets just make sure they are firm. We link to some below on Amazon but have not used them ourselves and our unsure of the texture. We suggest finding a sheet at a craft store or possibly Walmart.  You can make it any size you want.

• Foam Sheet (please read notes above)   Sheet 1  Sheet 2
• Black Paint
• Teal Paint
• Paint brushes
• Sharpie Marker
• Purchased Enlarger, Enlarger #2   (Uses light to enlarge images to then trace)
• X-acto Knife & Tape (if your do a stencil)

Enlarging or Stenciling the Graphic

You can either enlarge a smaller copy of the bill using a projector of some type or you can print out the larger 24″ bill and make a stencil.

ENLARGING WITH A PROJECTOR: If you have an enlarger you can place a small graphic underneath it and then it shines it up on the wall for tracing. You would hang your foam and then align the lighted graphic and trace it with a Sharpie marker. Then taking black paint, paint inside the area traced. We have an older model of this model projector. Its very handy for things like this.

STENCILING: You can also print out the 24 inch version provided. It will print on 3 sheets which you cut out and tape together. Then cut out the black areas with an X-acto knife. Lay the stencil over your foam and trace inside the cut out areas with a Sharpie marker. Remove the stencil and paint in the areas you traced with black.

Graphic Download

Small size bills for using a projector. (pdf)

Large 24″ bill. .

Instructions

This is one of the foam sheets that came inside a shipping box as packing. It was just the right size for our $100 bill. (24″ wide x  12″ tall and 1″ thick)

To stencil on your graphic print out the large 24″ dollar bill.

Cut the left and right margin off the middle piece.

Take the right and left pieces and match them up. The paper prints with a small overlap. Tape the pieces together across the entire back seams.

This is the fully taped bill.

Cut out your bill, then using an X-acto knife but out the stencil as shown. You will remove all the white parts.

Paint your foam board. We used a teal to match the decor.  Take a black Sharpie marker and trace your graphic onto the board using either a projector or a large stencil as discussed above.  Then paint in the black areas you traced on with a small brush.

We framed ours only because we had a piece of wood from an old coffee table that  was the perfect size. We painted it gold.

Then we hung them on the wall. Instant glam and great money vibes!  You can see how we created that beautiful cupboard from an old piece of furniture in our post Refurbished Furniture with Modern Colors.