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Tips for Creating a Growth Ruler

August 26, 2013 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

DIY_wood_growth_RULER

I have been wanting to create a new growth ruler ever since we moved into this house. Our old growth ruler was on the back of the boys’ bedroom door at our old house. It was hard to leave that door. I contemplated in my mind switching it out and bringing it, but I decided that would be too much work. Before we moved, we took our last measurements, lot of pictures, and wrote down the measurements to transfer to a new growth ruler.

how_tall_are_you

I finally set out to do this project, and of course I thought I could just figure it out. I looked at some pictures of other growth rulers out there. There are so many beautiful ones. They are all over Pinterest, and I should have clicked on at least one of them for the tutorial. Instead, I decided I would just try to figure it out. I did, but it was hard, and I could have saved some serious time and brain cramps. So, I encourage you to read a tutorial! I learned some things the hard way on this project, and I will share them with you. Hopefully, your growth ruler will be easier to create.

DIY_wood_growth_chart


I’m not good at math. At one point I had I four different measuring tools in front of me (ruler, yard stick, tape measure, and a Speed Square), and I was trying to decide which one was best and how to do it.

1. The Speed Square was perfect. It has a little ridge that caught on the edge of my board, so I could make straight and accurate lines.

2. Sharpie is ok to use and stain over it. I was afraid to use a sharpie for fear my stain would smear it, but it worked great and was much easier than trying to paint all those straight lines. All my measurement lines were done in sharpie.

3. I started my ruler at 6″ inches. This meant that when we hung the ruler up on the wall, we needed to make sure it was hanging 6″ off the ground. You could apply the same principle and start your ruler at any height you want.

4. I first did all my markings, and I went back and added my big stenciled numbers.

5. I used a wider board than most. My board is actually 10″ wide. I liked the wider board to allow for bigger numbers and have plenty of room for names and dates.

6. The length of my measurement lines across are 4″ inches, 3″ inches, and 2.5″ inches long. The 4 inch line is for the foot measurement, 3 inch line for the half-foot measurement, and the 2.5 inch line marks all of the other inches.  My foot and half-foot measurements are the width of two sharpie lines.

7. I should have used a pencil to stencil on my numbers. I used a sharpie, and I had to sand my board several times to cover up the poor placement of my number four.

DIY_growth_chart

making_a_growth_chartThe measuring was the hardest part for me. Once I had my numbers in place, I dabbed painted them in to create a more rustic look, after I liked their placement, just like I did on my inspirational pillow. I then stained my whole piece. I think if I had read a tutorial, I wouldn’t have been as stressed trying to figure it out. Lesson learned.

Now that it is done, we are excited to hang it up!

GROWTH_CHARTI hope this post can save you a little stress! If you find a tutorial you think is perfect-let me know! I’ll add it to this post for reference!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Just a reminder my Wake Up & Do Good sign is still available. I am also having an instagram sale tonight at 5:00pm EST, if you are interested in any of my embroidered hoops!

embroidery hoops

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You are my Sunshine Wood Sign

February 11, 2013 By Erica Deuel 9 Comments

girl vintage wood signs

Last week, I showed you some pictures of a baby shower/girl’s night that I threw with DIY on the Cheap.  Since that post, I have gotten several comments and questions about the two little vintage wood signs displayed on the food table.

I made those as shower decorations, but they also acted as part of Dana’s shower present.  Today, I thought I would show you how you can make them, so you can make them too.  They were such a cheap way to add a unique touch to our decor and personal touch to her gift.

I started by finding two scrap pieces of wood and giving them each a good sanding.  I then printed off the words I wanted in fun fonts at sizes I thought that would fit best.

DIY You are my Sunshine Sign

The heart block was easy.  I just painted a simple heart on it.  The “you are my sunshine” was a little harder.  I cut out the letters of “you” and “sunshine” and traced the letters on to my sign.  It was a way of making my own stencil.  Once I had them in pencil on my piece of wood, I painted them in, and eye-balled the “are my” font and tried to copy it the best I could in paint on my sign as well.

My spacing did not come out perfectly, but I think the quirkiness of the design (and over lap of words) adds to its unique charm.

painting a wood sign

I then gave the wording a good sanding to take away the “raised paint” (as you can see above in the word “sunshine”) and create a more vintage look.

Sanding a wood sign

I then stained the two pieces.  Please read my DIY Stick Heart Wall Art post for more details on how to stain.

staining wood sign

DIY wood sign

baby girl vintage shower decor

I think they came out so cute.  I almost wanted to keep them.  They looked so cute on the food table, and I know Dana was excited about getting them!

baby shower food table

The beauty of this sign technique is you could personalize it with any quote, word, or shape you want!  I think it would be really cute for name signs in a bedroom too.  I hope you will try this technique, and please let me know if you have any questions!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Things have gotten crazy busy since my Falling into a Hole post around here.  I want to thank you again for all the out pour of love and encouragement to my post on where I am at emotionally.  I’m working on an update post, and I hope to get that to you all this week.  Thank you for walking this life with me!

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