DIY Family Motto Sign: What It Is & Why You Should Have One

Learn what a family motto is and why making your own sign is a good idea for every family! It’s such an easy project that would make the perfect addition to any home!

DIY Family Motto Sign: What It Is & Why You Should Have One

So, What the Heck is a Family Motto??

Yeah, I had never heard of this concept either until a few months ago when I saw this post from Scary Mommy while scrolling through Facebook.

While reading it, I immediately thought “OMG…that’s Team Backus!”

We already had a family motto but had never given it a proper name.

Corny? Maybe. Useful? Definitely.

A family motto can be any words of wisdom that are repeated within the family unit. They can be something unique and personal, like our family’s unifying rallying cry of “Team Backus.” Or familiar phrases work too (“Life is tough but so are you”; “You can’t always get what you want”; “If it was easy everyone would do it.”)

Another example is something I say every morning to my five-year-old before he heads off to kindergarten: “Make good choices. Be a good helper. Have fun, and learn a lot.”

Sometimes I’ll purposely leave off the last three words and Rowan will enthusiastically finish the phrase with a powerful “LEARN A LOT!” So he is listening after all!

Any little nugget will work.

Our Family Motto: Team Backus

“Team Backus” is a phrase that my husband I started using not long after we got married (and officially became a team of Backuses), and it’s usually accompanied with a friendly fist bump.

Now, over a decade later, our team has doubled in size thanks to the addition of two sons, and we utilize our family motto more than ever.

It’s basically our own familial version of “All for one and one for all.”

We say it to show our support for each other or when one of us needs to know that the rest have his/her back. Or to gently remind someone (usually the five-year-old who is grumbling about chores) that all of us have to contribute to the family and home.

An example I’ll always remember is from back in 2010 when my husband was offered a new job that would require us to uproot our lives and move from Kentucky down to Alabama…where we knew nothing and no one.

I can vividly remember the two of us sitting on the couch discussing our options and the pros/cons, and after we finally decided to go for it, I finished the conversation with a “Team Backus.” He answered with a smile and a fist bump and that was that.

It’s our way of signaling that we’re in this thing called life together.

Who knew such a simple phrase could do so much?

Why Having a Family Motto Is a Good Idea

That’s why, in my humble personal opinion, I think having a family motto (especially a unique personalized one) is a good idea for every family. And the experts agree with me!

A family is a team, squad, crew, posse, tribe, unit, etc. Whatever you want to call it, family is everything, through thick and through thin.

And a family motto sign is an even better idea! You know I love me a good personalized project. *wink*

No matter what life throws at you, you’re in this together and for the long run, so why not showcase it off with a little piece of decor in your home?

Verbal reminders are important, but a visual reminder is a nice addition too.

Supplies for Our DIY Family Motto Sign

Here’s what I used to make our own family motto sign:

Our Family Motto Sign Design

Here’s the design that I came up with for our family motto sign.

I’d be painting a wooden blank that I found at Michaels then adding the design as a vinyl decal (I didn’t feel like messing with a stencil so I took the easy way out).

Fellow font addict?? Both the cool font and the decorative side florals are in this font. I just love those fancy twirly swirls…

Painting the Wooden Blank

Since my design was finalized, it was time to paint!

I first painted the entire wooden blank with some white craft paint, then propped it up on some painter’s pyramids so it could fully dry without sticking to my work surface.

Once it was nice and dry, I taped off the inside edges with some painter’s tape, then grabbed an oops paint sample and turned the frame blue (that’s our home’s main accent color).

Applying the Vinyl Decal

While the frame was drying, I fired up my Silhouette Cameo and cut out our family motto design in black vinyl, then trimmed and weeded it before applying some clear transfer tape over top.

Once all the paint was completely dry, it was time to apply the vinyl.

For this, I used the trusty hinge method (you can see more about this here).

I first centered the decal onto the blank then placed a strip of painter’s tape down the center (this would act as the hinge).

Next, I pulled up the transfer tape (and vinyl along with it) on ONE side of the tape hinge….

….then cut away its paper backing and applied the vinyl using a scraper tool.

I then pulled up the strip of painter’s tape since it was no longer needed thanks to the newly applied vinyl, then I repeated the same process on the other side.

The hinge method is the best way to keep your vinyl decal centered and aligned during application.

The final step was to sloooowly pull away the transfer tape, leaving the vinyl decal behind.

And with that, our personalized family motto sign was finally finished!

Our Finished Family Motto Sign

Here’s how our finished family motto sign looks! It was a quick little project that turned out so nice and means so much.

We originally had the sign hanging vertically as part of our family command center (look for a post on this soon!), but since I’m constantly changing my mind and moving our decor around, I ultimately decided it looks best on the open shelves in our kitchen.

Here are some shots of it in its former life: