And the Fork Ran Away with the Spoon

Or is it the dish ran away with the spoon? Whatever...it doesn't matter. The point is I finally have a solution to one of the problem areas in our kitchen. When we last left it, I was frustrated at the current art work there because it clearly was just not enough for that space

You may not be able to tell, but that wall actually leads from our kitchen to our dining room. Because it is visible in both, I had always envisioned something with a fork/spoon/knife motif there...a little theme-y, but hopefully not over the top. Over the couple of years we have lived here, I have looked at several different options, but ultimately nothing seemed to match with either my taste or budget or both.

So, I did what I usually do...I decided to create my own. When canvases were 50% off at Michaels, I went ahead and purchased 3 12x36 sized ones. While there, I also picked up some contact paper...my only other supply for this project (besides the paint I already had on hand).

Now, I am no artist, but I figured I could pull off a basic fork, spoon, and knife. I drew out oversized versions of each on to the contact paper, cut them out, and placed them on the white canvases.

I used some green spray paint I had on hand to cover each canvas. If you're attempting something similar, I had a problem getting my contact paper to stick very well (I'm thinking it was the humidity outside because I used it for another project inside and had no trouble), so I just had to make sure to spray from above.

Once they had dried, I lifted up the contact paper and was left with three silhouettes. They would have been fine, but I wanted to infuse a bit more color, so I decided to add some free-hand stripes in blue and yellow.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sold on them (especially the wonky fork), but it is encouraging that Colton chants "fork, spoon, knife" each time he sits down to eat. I mean, if a toddler can tell what they are, then they can't be that bad, right? Plus, the scale is MUCH better. You can't really tell from that picture, but look at this one...

So, what do you all think? Should they stay or should they go?

And by the way, this project would be super simple (and probably better looking) if done on smaller canvases, for which you could just print out silhouettes of each utensil to trace on to the contact paper.