Growth Chart Tutorial

Better late than never! I've had this little idea in my head for 3 whole years! I'm tellin' ya- I'm a world class procrastinator! :) So sad since it was such an easy project to do, but like I said better late than never!

So here we go..

Supplies:
The simplest growth chart vinyl you can find. 
6' 1x6
Paint
Cute paper numbers
Modge Podge or spray adhesive

Start with finding your supplies...
Make yours or the one I ordered was from here, but I don't think she's selling the actual vinyl anymore, you can find more here, here, or here. It can be difficult to find a basic chart since there are so many with cute embellishments, in fact I didn't find any... I had one with just numbers and the ruler and cut the numbers off.  (anyone want my vinyl numbers!?)  With the links I provided, I would try to contact the seller and see if they would do a custom one for you- it may be cheaper that way too. :) Wow... that was a novel on something that was supposedly simple ;) That's probably the hardest part. :)

The rest should be pretty self-explanatory. :)

1.  Paint your board and let it completely dry.  You don't have to wait the 6 months or use your board to help you pick blackberries and then repaint it and wait another month like I did.  :) It will probably dry in a couple hours.

2. Line up your tape measure next to your board.  (Hopefully your carpet isn't as horrible as mine... dis-gust-ing!) Ignore the vinyl on there- we'll get to that part soon.  For now, just put your tape measure next to your board.

You can decide for yourself but I started mine at 1' to allow my board to be tall enough for my bound-to-be tall children.

See... not joking, my board goes up to 7' not that I'm expecting my children to be that tall, but since I measure up at 5'10" and the hubby at 6'5" I figured we'd better leave enough room just in case. :)

3.  Apply the vinyl

Find something within arm reach to make sure the first dash on your vinyl lines up straight.  A ruler would suffice.

Begin applying the vinyl like so...

Peel off the transfer tape which can be a little tricky.  I found the best method was to pull up to the next dash and use my bone folder to press the dash to the board.


Continue until all of your vinyl is applied. 

4.  Add the numbers

I used 7 different coordinating papers from my stash and fed them through the cricut machine.  I used Plantin Schoolbook "Shadow" for my numbers.  They ranged anywhere from 3 1/4" to 5" I wanted them to be odd sizes, just play with it until you think it looks great! If you don't have a fancy die cutting machine you could easily freehand it or print numbers and use them as a stencil.   

Here's a closer look at the numbers...

5.  Glue numbers on. 

I attempted to use spray adhesive, but wasn't a huge fan.  I will most likely used modge podge to fix them. 

And that's it you're done! Stand back and admire your work. :)

Almost forgot logistics...

1.  Hanging the board. 
To hang your board I will attach a ribbon to the back with heavy duty staples and to prevent it from swinging I will use command strips along the board.  Make sure you hang the board at the correct height, the bottom of mine will be 1' off the ground.

2.  Charting Growth
If you use a darker color as I did, I will be using cute circle stickers to mark height.  You could simply change the paint color so you could write directly on the board. 

Enjoy!

The Real Deal: A Doll House

Remember this guy? I made him during "snowmageddon" when I was snowed in at home (thankfully with power) by myself with 2 toddlers, without a computer or tv, and a hubby who's flight couldn't get in for almost a week. If you're really bored you can revisit it here.

This baby withstood the test of time and children... it was sturdy, fun and cheap.  But then we moved. Sadly it didn't make the cross country cut.

So I decided it was time for the real deal...

Thank you google for finding me this wonderful website.  Go look NOW!

http://www.letsbuildadollhouse.com/

There are some amazingly talented peeps out there and it's like there's a whole little culture out there of doll house fanatics... I love it! I am by no means as talented as some of the amazing doll housers (great word huh?!) out there!  I'm merely dabbling in a culture and moving on. :)

This little diva just turned 2 and the little princess in the background just turned 3, and they both deserved a great doll house.

So doll house they got!

Maddies...

And Hallies...

Wanna make your own? While time consuming- it's easier than you think! So head on over to Let's Build a Doll House and make a plan.  I don't want to call this a "tutorial" because I most definitely followed the plans found on the Let's Build a Doll House site, but I'll share my process and experiences with you here.  Make sure you visit the Let's Build a Doll House site for all the details. 



Head on over to Let's Build a Doll House and print off the cut plan. 

I then headed to my local-not-so-local home depot with kids in tow.  We were all excited!!  I threw the kids in the "car cart" (Thank you Home Depot, you are brilliant! Why do all stores not have these!?) grabbed 2 3/16" sheets of plywood (because I was making 2, if you only make 1 doll house you'll only need 1 sheet), found an always willing big orange employee and showed him the plan I had drawn up on graph paper.  We brainstormed and came up with a great cut plan.

So while he cut, I wrote...

The next day I put the kids to bed and began my work. 

I measured and drew lines. Angles for the roof, guidelines for the windows, and the doors.  The instructions are all laid out in the plans found here and here. This part was time consuming, but worth it for even measurements.  You'll have lines all over your plywood, but that's ok you'll paint it soon enough.

Next, I recruited some help, drilled holes to begin windows, learned how to use a jig-saw, got booted from using the jig-saw because I was too slow, and cut out all windows and doors.

You'll take your 1/2" molding and use wood glue and some heavy duty staples.  Our doll house differs here a little than what Jennifer shares on her site.  We added a strip on the bottom for extra stability when assembling the house since the houses would soon be at the hands of 2 toddlers. 

We then began to assemble the house.  Wood glue, brad nailer, and heavy-duty staple gun were our best friends and it's much easier if you have 2 sets of hands to assemble. You could probably do it by yourself with a few clamps, but WAY easier with another set of hands- so do what you gotta do and get a helper there!

Add sides to bottom, followed by the front to the sides

Then add middle floor, any room dividers, and finally the top floor

We used a lid and ruler to create the shape of the roof and cut it out with the jigsaw.  Then attached it with our trusty glue and nailer.

I then painted the floors, which would probably be much easier to paint before assembly- so learn from my mistake.  Next add trim, you can use either Popsicle sticks or better yet balsa strips.  Most definitely paint these prior to gluing in.

Paint your beauty.

Next step was to add the shingles.  Grab your huge box, were talking 300 Popsicle sticks huge, of large Popsicles, pop in a good movie or 2 and begin cutting the sticks into about 5 equal pieces.  You'll want to use a pretty heavy duty pair of scissors- I used kitchen shears, and boy did my hands hurt! Yikes!

And that was even with alternating between cutting and gluing.  I used a hot glue gun to attach the shingles to the roof.  I found it worked best to do a glob of glue for each shingle and I did a row of about 4-6 at a time and then quickly attached the shingles before the glue dried.  Make sense? No? Let's try again... glue a row of globs on the roof, then attach shingles quickly before glue dries.  Don't worry too much about the strings, clean off what you can and the spray paint with disguise the rest. 

Tape off your house and spray paint the shingles.  Then enjoy your rockin' real deal doll house!

Next step- better furniture...

Whew! If you made it this far I'll add the disclaimer that I started this post way back in September! Wow.  So if this post doesn't flow well- that's why!

Love it, Hallie loves it, and the post is finally done- I'm a happy camper! :)



Railroad Crossing Sign

Anyone have a little Engineer like I do?  One that can spot a train from a mile away? One that remembers where every potential railroad crossing is in the state? :)

Well then he or she will probably love this addition to their room or playroom as much as my "Mr. Conductor" does!

This sign is so simple it will be hard NOT to make one for your little engineer!

First gather your supplies:

**I will include the dimensions and supplies I used, but one of the reasons I love this project is that it is easily adapted to whatever supplies you have on hand or whatever is easily attainable! I'll include suggestions in parentheses.**

 
2- 2.75"x22" pieces of 1/8"  (you could use 2 pieces of thin plywood from your local craft store found in the wood/dollhouse aisle OR use white foam board)

1- sheet of card stock (you could use vinyl, purchase pre-cut vinyl letters from office aisle, or print and cut letters from word document)

White paint

Modge Podge

Foam Paint Brush

Wood Glue

Staple Gun

1.  Attach your 2 pieces of wood together.

Line them up by eye-balling it or if you want to be exact use and angle.  I glued them together and added 5 staples just to make sure it wasn't going anywhere. 



2.  Paint your board.  Spray paint or acrylic craft paint will do the trick.

3.  Cut out your letters.  

I used my Cricut with black cardstock and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge set at 3 inches. But remember you could easily use vinyl, purchase pre-cut vinyl letters from office aisle, or print and cut letters from word document.  I would strongly suggest cutting out one letter before doing all to be sure you have the right size. :)



4.  Glue your letters on using Modge Podge.

Do one coat under letters gluing as you go...



And a 2nd coat to seal and coat all the letters...

5.  To hang your sign I used Command Velcro Strips (Love them!)





Enjoy it in all it's glory!

Best part of the project for me?  No money out of pocket! I used all supplies I had on hand... seriously cute and seriously cheap!

 

edited again! sorry I've posted this same post 4 times now! I should know by now to preview before posting!

Nightstands Turned Shelf!

I found this random junk pile in a soon-to-be neighborhood near us while looking for blackberry bushes one day. 

No wonder people put up signs like this!

I really don't get why anyone would just dump their things on someones property, there are so many places to drop off unwanted goods.  Sadly I found this hot spot after it had rained for a couple days, so I missed out on a couple great and fun chairs that were water-logged. :(

But I did find this beauty. 

Ok really I didn't find it like this I found two nightstands looking much like this only way dirtier and with weird flying bugs crawling on it! Seriously the things I will do for a free item- I question my sanity sometimes!

To turn it from 2 of those to this...

Recruit some free labor...

1.  Prepare the furniture- Clean and Sand.

The pieces that I found were nightstands with drawer units.  I couldn't find the drawers in the mass mess, so I had to remove screws and drawer stoppers. 

2.  Assemble your shelf.  Stack the 2 pieces, use wood glue and glue the top to the bottom, then attach the 2 pieces with a flat metal bracket, see a similar one called a Flat joining plate.  (sorry I didn't get a picture of mine!)  I used one bracket with 4 holes placed horizontally between the 2 nightstands.  2 screws going into each nightstand.

3. Glue 4 wood shelves into place.  I used 1/4" plywood found in the scraps section at Home Depot and had them cut down the scraps to the size I needed.  I paid $1.00 total for them and the cuts- big spender I know! :)

Two of my shelves were a little off so I had to use some heavy-duty sand paper and sand them down to be even with the nightstand. (as seen in above photo)

4.  Much to your hubby's dismay paint your beauty spicing up your boring white-walled rental! 

I used a foam roller and a cheapo foam brush and it left a great finish- no priming here. :)

5.  Finish shelf backing.  I took the false bottoms from the original nightstand, cut 2 of them down to size with the jig-saw.  Shh... don't tell the hubby I used it while he wasn't here- he gets a little worried with me and power tools especially since we live in the boonies.  And his worry is probably rightfully deserved- I am the daughter of the same man who lost parts of fingers on 2 separate occasions! 1st to a cement mixer when he was in his 20's and the 2nd time to a table saw while working on the cabinets for our basement bathroom. And I most definitely carry his clumsy genes! Phew that was a tangent! Back on track...

I wasn't too worried about the appearance so I put a light coat of paint on both sides then covered the board with fabric.  I used hot glue to secure it to the back side of the board, wrapping it like a present. 

6.  Attach shelf backing.  I attached the 4 different backing pieces using a heavy duty staple gun. 

7.  Move your shelf on inside and decorate!

This one will end up in my daughters room and will most likely be adorned with a plethora of toys plus a couple extra goodies.  Just need to find some better baskets! :)

Final cost of this project was approximately $7.00!
Nightstands= FREE!
Shelves= $1.00
Quart of Paint= $4.00 (purchased from habitat restore!)
Fabric=~$2.00 (probably less, fabric was clearance at JoAnn's about a year ago!)

This most definitely was a hodge-podge project and tutorial, so please ask if you need more info on any particular step!

AND if you made it all the way to here, I've got another super great labor intensive project that I just finished last night as well! I'll try to get it up soon! :)