Making the World Cuter: DIY Growth Charts

My kids like to see that they are getting SOOOO big! They always want me to measure them.

We had a wall at our old house where we marked their heights on the wall every six months...but with 4 kids all growing-the wall got to looking very cluttered. :)

I decided it was high time they had their own growth charts.

I started by cutting a piece of plywood into 4 somewhat equal pieces. The size isn't important, as long as you mark it right later on.

The tutorial I am showing now is for the 3 boys, I did another style for my girl that will be shown in another tutorial.

I sprayed the three boards with Krylon Gloss Blue Ocean Breeze. I had to use two cans to get the coverage I needed...it really pays to sand better...and to have someone to hold your needy baby for more than 5 minutes while trying to sand and paint would also be a big help! :)

Using my trusty old school Cricut and some black vinyl I cut out the numbers for the boards. I wanted to give them a playful look, so I did an assortment of styles.

Then I applied them, I wanted them all to be a little bit different but still cohesive since eventually they will all be hanging next to one another. My husband measured out the boards and decided that 5'4" is tall enough...they aren't going to want these long before they reach that height I'm sure. I wanted to be sure I could put their birth height on them and then on up. So I measured from the top as 5'4" and then moved down.

For the marks on the board I used the scraps of the vinyl from cutting out the numbers and letters-finally it didn't feel like such a waste! I hate cutting things on the vinyl only to have a couple things cut out and lots of unusable space left. This was a perfect use of those scraps.

Using a tape measure, I pulled the end to the top and left the holder at the bottom marking my inches. Note that these inches were not the actual measurements, I was just using the inch marks as guides. I cut fatter pieces of vinyl for the foot markers and the half foot markers.

Then I marked all the other inch marks. The easiest way I found was to cut long thin strips, mark the inches and then cut it off after marking it. Saved a lot of time from cutting a bunch of tiny little pieces and trying to place them in just the right spot.

I attached a DISChanger to the back of each one. These things are so easy to use. Just wet the backs, wait a few minutes for them to get tacky and stick them on. You let them dry on their good and tight over night and they are super strong.

My last step was to put a vinyl chalkboard label on from ten23 designs.

I can then write how big they are on whatever day they want to be measured.

Notice the awesome art work that this little thug contributed to the walls?

Mind you we've been here for just about a month. Grrrr!

The littlest guy's is in his room...he's not quite ready to share a room with the "big" boys yet, but he wanted to get in on the measuring that was going on in this room.

My final goal is to gather pictures from each year of their lives around their birthdays and post them up the side at each height and write their height and weight on them...maybe have them looking like Polaroids up the side.