Rules of the House

Did you know that some people consider me too strict with my boys? This; however, is not a shock to me. I know I'm strict. I'm as strict as my parents were with me. As my grandmother told me; when I started to doubt my approach, I want to be able to enjoy my children. She's right, of course, I do want to enjoy my children. I want to be able to take them out to a nice restaurant, and be able to enjoy a nice meal. Its even nicer when the boys are complimented on their behavior. That would be a reflection on our influence, as my mother reminded me today. So when all of this doubt surfaced, and my family rallied behind me to reassure me that I was not in the wrong or doing anything wrong, I decided that I wanted to spell out what I expect all of the members of my family and guests to our home to follow.

Not an unreasonable request. So after seeing several people take subway art to spell out the rules of their home, I decided to do the same. Most of our rules are not unlike others I've seen, but I didn't want my rules to be 'no this' and 'no that' so I added some fun things like 'have fun' and 'try new things'.

So here's what I came up with...oh wait...you want a closer look? Well I guess you'll just have to scroll down :) 

I prepped the canvas with some spackle first. I wanted some texture to it. 

There's my boy eating some goldfish and telling me that I'm going a good job. :) He's such a sweetheart!

Then I took some sage green acrylic paint and sloppily put it on the canvas. After that, I raided my oops paint samples and selected two colors and added them with a paper towel. Making sure to be random about my strokes. I let all of that dry. 

I then worked up a stencil template in photoshop and printed it out in Paint so I could tape it together. It took 9 sheets of paper for the canvas (18 x 24). I then took about 2 days to cut out all of the letters....my finger still hurts. :( 

After the stencil was finally cut out, I took some Antique White paint and stippled it onto the canvas, just holding down the paper stencil where I was working on. It was quite messy, but the effect was totally worth it. Then after a quick trip to the grocery store for eggs, milk, and snacks, I followed up with some mocha glaze; again applied with a paper towel. I do love those paper towels. :) 

I'm loving my new art work, and so very happy that what we want followed in our home is very clearly written out. Its not like any of our usual play date friends had a problem with our rules to begin with, but at least  now its visible for all to see, and my pantry door is also quite not as white. :) 

I hope you  guys have a great day and enjoy yourselves!