"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."--Plato

I really wanted to buy one of the super cute signs I kept seeing on Etsy that list house rules like “Be Happy” and “Elbows Off the Table”.  I decided it would fix the little kitchen problem I mentioned a few posts ago.  But what kind of crafty girl would I be if I bought off the Internet what I could make myself?  So, I made one.      

 

First, I got a blank 28x48 canvas.  Okay, what really happened was I bought a canvas but on the way to put it in my car a gust of wind caught it.  It flew out of my hands and across the parking lot almost hitting a parked car.  Thankfully, it instead landed in one of the only empty spaces.  I mean how do you leave a note on someone’s car explaining your canvas went airborne and hit their car?

When I finally got my canvas home, I painted it.  Okay, I painted it three times because I couldn’t get the right shade of purple.  Next, I made a list of my own house rules while waiting for the paint to dry.  I have to say this was the hardest part.  I wanted a nice balance of me and the husband—the things we do, strive to do and remind each other to do.  

Then I traced some letter stencils onto the canvas spelling out the rules.  Afterwards, I traced my tracings with a paint pen.  Lastly, I filled in the tracings with white paint.  It sounds easy, right.  Uh, not so much.  It was crazy time consuming—and totally worth it.  But it’s still not done.  I’m not happy with the unfinished look of the lettering.  I think I might crackle the letters?  Oh, and I’ve chosen to ignore that some of the lines are crooked.   

There’s a reason I call my blog Craftin’ Ain’t Easy, right?