Superhero Growth Chart

    Usually you see markings on the walls of the houses you rent/buy, but have to cover up because it just ruins a wall, unless it is actually your house.  For my family, it was on our downstairs door going into the kitchen.  Being an Army wife, buying a house it hard to come buy, especially when you are active duty.

    I have always wanted a growth chart for Riley.  Have him stand next to one and do the whole pencil mark thing a few times a year to see how they have grown, get all excited when they have a new tick mark, etc.  That is, when they can stand still long enough for you to do that.  I hope that will be soon because I know have one!

    I wanted one that would fit our personality/his upcoming room theme which will be The Avengers (since Mike is ONLY Marvel fan).  So, Riley got a superhero themed growth chart, all logo's daddy approved of.  I know that Transformers isn't part of the Avengers, but I didn't like how the Iron Man logo turned out and the Hulk didn't have a logo.  So, I went with another favorite of ours and It still looks awesome with the others.

This would be my first project of 2012!  I decided to do 2 projects a month with each paycheck.  It gives me something to do, plus I get to implement all my ideas and thoughts into projects.  Pinterest is no help either.  I have projects up thru May!  This was my project for January 15th, but I ran out of spray paint and I went home to WA so it got put on hold until after we got taxes back.

So, yes, my monogrammed was for February 1st and got done first, but that took me all of a couple hours to make.  I still had a couple coats to put on my growth chart, which is why it came second.  Ok, enough of my jibber jabber, on to how I made it!

My "tools"

    - ruler/straight edge

    - scrapbook paper/cardstock paper

    - pens/pencils/sharpie

    - measuring tape

    - printed out logo's/numbers

    - modpodge/brushes
    - spray paint
    - 4-5 ft long wood

I forgot to take pictures as I did it step by step, but it is easy enough to just explain real quick.

1. Cut your wood for however long you want your chart to be.  I did mine a little over 4 ft.  Went from about 2 ft to 6 ft.  I then sanded down the rough edges to be ready to be spray painted.

2.  I spray painted a few coats on the wood, making sure to get the sides and top and bottom as well.  When it was all done and dry (make sure you do it in a garage/well ventilated area so you don't get high from the fumes!) I sanded down any rough spots on the area I was going to modpodge/sharpie so there was nothing that was left uneven.

3. While you wait for your paint to dry, print out your letters you want to do your name in.  Find a font you like, the right size and cut it out and trace onto your scrapbook paper/card stock.  I decided to go with the Army font since it fit our lifestyle! :) After I cut them out, I traced it on my card stock paper and cut those out.  All ready to be modpodged onto my wood board.

4.  I used my tape measure to get the markings an even inch apart.  Then I used my ruler/straight edge to make the hash marks.  Once they were all even on all accounts (due to my perfectionist personality) I was ready to darken in the lines.  You can do this with the sharpie or paint, but I thought the sharpie was dark enough and I could use the straight edge.  All was well.

5.  With being a perfectionist, I layed out my pieces on my board before putting them down.  I put down the logo's first in the order I wanted them to be, then I modpodged the letters after the logos.  I put on the numbers last and let everything dry for a few hours.

After it was all dried, my husband and I put it up in my sons room!  I thought it turned out really well and am very happy with the end result!