Baby Step Back to Blogging... Baby Step Back to Blogging...

It's been such a long time since I did this that it is taking me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to remember how...

Anywho, I posted a project I finished on FB and had a request from one of my most favorite people for a tutorial. I've been thinking about this neglected little part of cyberspace a lot lately...so I gave in. I hope you're happy Marnie. I don't do these things for just anyone.

Behold...

I found THIS awesome tutorial via Pinterest. Her directions are great and I wish I had been patient enough to wait until I had a chance to go buy a paint pen... but I've never been good at waiting. I painted it all by hand and you can totally see its "charm."

I have gotten to to be totally out of the habit of taking loads of pictures while I craft things so I had to go back and gather up stuff... here goes nothing...

Obtain a board that is 1x8x6, mine was a little more than $6 at Lowe's. Score! Sand lightly to remove any grubbiness and wipe down thoroughly to remove any and all dust.

I opted not to stain mine, but if you want to stain yours now would be a good time for that. Stick with something light or you won't be able to see your markings.

I used a metal square to make all the lines on mine. It was really easy to slide it along and get everything straight. Foot lines I made 4 inches long. 3 inches and 9 inches were 2.5 inch lines. The lines at the half foot points were 3 inches and the rest of them were 2. Now since the board was not going to sit flush with the floor I didn't start with inch one... Dad is 6"5' and he's a hair taller than his Dad, I think. I decided I wanted the highest mark to be 6"8' so I started there and worked my way down.

After all the lines were penciled on I used my AWESOME Silhouette cutter to cut the numbers out of some heavy cardstock. No. I did not use vinyl. I was worried that the kids would pick them off so I opted for painting them on too. Since the lines would be hand painted I opted to hand paint the numbers as well. I can't remember the exact font but the numbers were 2.5 inches tall. I traced the cardstock templates and laid the board out on my kitchen table and got to painting. I just used cheapo craft paint and a very small brush and an angled brush.

I would recommend not doing this while the two year old is up... it results in smudges and a little swearing. But like I said, I'm not good at waiting.

After it's all painted, less than an hour later, let everything dry and seal it up. I like this stuff because it's super easy to apply and dries really fast.

I did two coats and sanded lightly with fine steel wool in between.

Then after it was all dry I got Dad to help me put it up using some beefy wall anchors, making sure we measured the bottom so we knew where it needed to sit on the wall to be accurate. It's secured at each corner... when we move we can pull it right off the wall and take it with us :) When Booger Head in napping one day in the next couple days I'm going to get out the baby books and add baby measurements to it... awesome awesome.

So there ya go... easy peasy. It really took no time at all once I got started. One day from start to finish.