Family Motto

A friend of mine suggested that I check out the blog 71 Toes. While I was there, I saw her family motto and fell in love with the idea of a few words that summed up our most important family values. I took the kids to Arctic Circle for ice cream cones and to play on the play equipment and jotted down my ideas for our words and mission statement. When I showed my ideas and the idea that inspired me to David, we decided that since our ideas were so similar to hers, we'd go ahead and pretty much copy her motto...format and all. Erg. I know. I hate being a copycat, but there was no reason to choose words we liked less just to assert our individuality. Plus, we really loved the idea of Love being woven into all the family values. So here's what ours ended up looking like.



I really wanted to use a frame we already had on hand, so I spray painted a frame and mat we already had in storage. It was originally a dark wood frame and cream mat, but I wanted a brighter look, so I sprayed them both white.

As a tip, I recommend doing this in the shade since I think I burned my retinas trying to do this in the sun. I also put some serious strain on my inner forearm muscles after all the spray painting. I suggested you warm up and stretch first.

I emailed the motto I created in Word to Office Max and just had them print the 8x10 document on regular white cardstock. The mat was for a larger picture, so I used some extra fabric from the carseat shade blankets my sister made me for a background inside the mat. I just taped the fabric to the back of the mat and the motto on top of the fabric. It isn't perfect, but the only cost for me was to print it for about $.25, and the can of spray paint, so I'm happy with it. We've also printed a couple other sayings that are important for our family and plan on doing a collection with some photos all in white frames. I hope to get that up in the next week, so I'll post what it looks like when it's all finished.

I've always felt strongly about what we use to decorate our home. I want to our home to be a place that inspires and encourages us to stay focused on those things that are most important. We've hung our mottos on a wall next to our dining room table, and it helps us remember to reinforce these values in our discussions with our kids.