DIY Kid’s Growth Chart (guest post)

This guest post is from Kassandra, who blogs at Coffee and their Kisses. She describes herself as “a crafty southern momma to a 3 year old boy, wife to my husband of 4 years, and a generally happy girl.” Welcome, Kassandra!

I’ve loved crafts since I can remember; when I started blogging, I found my niche in the craft-blogging world and started sharing my projects. I’m so excited to be guest blogging here at Rachel’s blog! It’s always nice to share my crafts with those who might not otherwise see them.

The craft I’m going to share with you today is one of my firsts. Not a lot of people have seen it because I was so new to blogging when I put it together. Therefore, it’s pretty much like new, if you think about it!!

First, I must give credit where credit is due: I got this idea from Lemon Tree Creations. I saw her cute growth chart and thought it would be perfect for my house as well.

Kids Wall Growth Chart

Here’s what I started with. We had an extra fence board from fixing the fence after Hurricane Ike.

(I saw it and I swear the Craft Gods were smiling down on me.)

I got my little can of white paint out. I love this stuff because it’s low VOC.

After the paint dried, I got out my new measuring tape and started marking off.

For our wall, I knew that I wanted the growth chart to be exactly 3 inches from the floor. Unfortunately, the first time I did this, I added 3 inches, rather than subtracting.

(Whoops!)

And, even more unfortunate, I didn’t realize my mistake until AFTER I had nearly completed my project.

(FAIL!)

Unaware of my mistake, I painted my inches and foot marks and added my stencils, painting those as well.

When I took the stencils off, they looked awful.

My husband mentioned that he thought the marks were off by a bit. . . and that is when I discovered that I added the 3 inches.

I tried fixing this with the white paint, but no luck there.

It was time to start over.

The second time around, I gave up on the stencils and decided to free hand it all. While it isn’t perfect, I love how it turned out.

I also added a cream wash (similar to a white wash) by taking some of my cream paint, watering it down, and then applying it lightly to my board.

After it dried, I sanded the whole board to add to the imperfection and give it a “vintage feel”.

Finally, I sprayed the finished growth chart with this clear enamel spray and let that dry.

The next (and very important step) is pre-drilling the holes.

I measured my board and marked the middle. Then, from the bottom up, I did the same thing so I had a cross mark to drill. I did this on the top and bottom.

See that pretty ribbon? Well there was a saw mark there and it needed covered up. I then decided my living room would be done in creams and blues.

Then I added a cute fabric rosette that I learned how to make from Freckled Laundry. I had some cream scrap fabric and a cheap fake pearl necklace. I cut the “pearls” off the necklace and used one as my center for the rosette.