growth chart

Last week, my sister called and told me about a friend of hers who is having a baby, due in July. Jennifer was invited to a couple of her baby showers and wanted to give her something unique, so she asked me to come up with a gift.

I looked at a few baby stores and came up with the idea to make a personalized growth chart. Now that I had an idea, the only hard part was figuring out how on earth to make something for a baby boy.

I'm used to making gifts for girls (as seen in my "previous projects" post). I can do flowers and polka dots and stripes and swirls and curly fonts, etc. But a boy? I was at a loss on what on earth to paint on the growth chart. After wandering aimlessly around Michaels for over an hour, I finally found animal cut outs... perfect for creating the shadow of zoo animals on the growth chart to mark each foot.

Here's how it all went down...

Materials List:

• Wood Board
• Blue, Yellow, Brown & White Acrylic Paints (& paintbrushes of various sizes)
• Circle & Animal Templates
• Wooden Letters & Numbers
• Measuring Tape
• Hanging set (with wire)
• Tacky Glue
• Acrylic Sealer

Step One: Paint all sides of the board white (think primer).

Step Two: Paint the board (excluding the back, whichever side you choose that to be) brown. You will want to do at least two coats of brown to ensure good color. Allow color to dry.

Step Three: Using your circle template, outline your polka dots using a small brush and fill in using a larger brush. Note that your polka dots will not be "perfect" at first. This will be fixed once the first coat is dry.

Step Four: Fix your polka dots using the brown paint and a small brush. (This might be my favorite step. There's just something about watching the polka dots get rounder and prettier that makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something.)

Step Five: Using a tape measurer, mark the inch and foot "ticks" on the right side of the board. Don't worry about making them perfect at this point, you just need a general idea of where to place the animals.

Step Six: Center your animal templates with each foot marking. Trace the animals onto the board with a small brush, then fill in with a larger brush.

Step Seven: Go back and fix everything. Chances are, your inch markings are not the same length (mine sure were not), you have blue/yellow paint on the sides of your board, and brown paint seeping over onto the white paint on the back. Take time to make sure everything is perfect. Again, probably my second favorite step. I love seeing the final product come together.

Step Eight: Add the wire to the back of your board. Directions should be on the hanging kit that you bought.

Step Nine: Glue on the letters and numbers.

Step Ten: Spray on the acrylic finish (do this outdoors... and if it's super pollen-y like it is here, lay down parchment paper to avoid the back of the board turning yellow). 

Voila! You are finished.

It took me about six days to complete this project, but I love that it is going to a great family and that it was my very first custom order for someone other than my family or my girls.

If there is anything I can make for you, please let me know. Per request, I will be opening an etsy shop in the near future with unique, personalized gifts available for order. More on that in the next few days.

**As a side note, I'm providing steps to make the growth chart above as a project for you to enjoy. Please do not sell my original designs, but enjoy them for your own use.**