My Sunshine(s)

When I was little instead of reading a bedtime story my dad would grab his guitar and sing me to sleep.  One of my favorites was always You Are My Sunshine.  And really, isn't it on everyone's favorites list?  Sometimes it's the simplest little things that stand out.  I really wish I had my dad's ability to send my kids off to Dreamland with an acoustic concert.  Vocalist I am not, but luckily my kids don't care.  We have a few songs on our snuggle-before-bed rotation, but You Are My Sunshine always gets an encore.

I've had several canvases lying around for a while waiting for inspiration.  When I rediscovered a video of Rory singing several years ago, I had a light bulb moment.

The process wasn't all that glamorous or amazing. I figured it out as I went and made changes along the way when things didn't work exactly as I'd originally planned.  Sometimes that all works out.

I used painter's tape to get nice pretty stripes and then used vinyl stickers for the letters.  I was short one "Y." Of course.  I almost stopped there.  I really liked the bold stripes and black lettering.  But that pieced together "Y" was irritating me.  And I still had something else in my head.  So I grabbed the white paint and covered everything.  Again, I had a fleeting desire to stop there.  It did look kind of cool.  When I peeled off the letters, the paint had bled.  I was fairly sure that was going to happen- the stickers were "repositionable" which really just translates to "not very sticky."  My visions of crisp, simple lines were cut short.  I used my nail to clean up a bit of the mess and mixed up some grayish paint.  That and water, plus paper towel blotting and wiping got me to a minimally distressed look that I was pleased with.  Whew.

Everyone is happy.  Sure, they are a little messy and the stripes show through the tiniest bit.  They're imperfect.  And that's cool with me.  Rory has "You are my sunshine" hanging in her room and Jack's wall is now adorned with "You make me happy when skies are gray."  And despite that, neither of them will ever know how much I love them.