Have you joined "The Rock Movement"?

Have you seen a beautiful, painted rock around town and wondered where did that come from? Why is it there? Think back, chances are it made you smile, right? I am referring to this trend as the “rock movement” and my cubs and I are supporting it with full force. 

I have no idea who started this trend but my understanding is that it was started to encourage and bring joy to the world. In this world, I think we can all agree, we all need a few more smiles in a day. We found our first rock at the softball fields this summer, where the cubs and I spend time watching daddy Wolfe run the bases. I go for the beer and my husband’s butt in baseball pants, I will not lie :) Ali showed me a beautiful American flag painted on a rock, that had “Findlay Rocks, find us on Facebook” painted on the back side. I pulled out my phone and pulled up the  facebook group page. And there it began.  

Then comes the real fun, painting. We started picking up rocks from places we could find them around town and even bought a bag of pond stones from Big R. I ended up finding my favorite rocks, FREE from any rock beach around the Lake Erie area. They were our favorite not only because they were free but because they are very smooth and easy to paint on. We buy and use acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby, it come is a variety of colors and is cheap but it is not washable from clothing. Both the cubs have a painting shirt and we go pant-less for painting parties. I also buy my clear coat spray paint from Hobby Lobby. We use Pinterest to find ideas if we are struggling, visit my page to see our saved pins. Sometime to make the cubs life a little easier, because kids are not patient when it comes to dry time, I paint a flat white over the top of all the rocks the day before the cubs paint. It sets as a good base for words and designs. I also use a shower curtain as my table cloth. It is easy to clean up and can be used over and over again. When the cubs are done for the day I let everything dry and then spray the clear coat. Only thing left to do before hiding the rocks is to flip them over and use a Sharpie to add “Findlay Rocks, like us on Facebook” to the rear of the rock. Now your creations are ready for hiding.

As much fun as the painting is we have so much fun placing rocks where ever we go. To make the fun last a bit longer we keep a sand bucket of finished rocks in our van. This way where ever we go, in town or out, we have rocks to leave behind. We love to hid them in other towns and at our friends houses! We have before made a plan to paint special themed rocks for events. For example we paints 4 dozen breast cancer themed rocks for the Susan G Koman Race for the Cure this past September. Then we walked and hid them along the route. There are not very many rules  to where to hide rocks but the group asks that you not hide the rocks inside any business, for sanitation purposes. Be creative, smiles can we found in the most random places. 

What happens when you find a rock? When you find a rock, please post a picture to the facebook page, then you can either move the rock to a new hiding spot or you can keep it and replace it with one of your own. Sometimes our pack likes to take them home and enjoy them for a day or so then hide again, this is fine too! It is all about spreading the joy!

If you have not joined the movement yet, I hope this post encourages you to join in the fun. We could all use an extra smile today, and as I believe in karma, if you give one you will also receive one!

Until next time, keep on rockin’

xoxo