DIY Ruler Growth Chart

I'm sure most of us have seen the gigantic wood ruler growth charts out there. I've been meaning to have a growth chart in my home for a long time (my boys are 5 and 7, oops!), so I went online to buy one.  Whoa! Those things are like $80 a pop! I was feeling like I wanted to buy instead of make one, but the sticker shock changed my mind. I knew I could make my own for much less.
First I started with a piece of wood. The neighborhood that we live in is still in its growth period, so there are lots of wood scraps to be had for free. I chose a good sturdy piece of wood and trimmed it to 6 1/2 feet. It's probably about 6 inches across. I just wanted to have room for my vinyl measurings, and also to write in the boys' measurements.

 

Next we weathered and stained the wood. I say we because my husband was a huge helper in all this! We are in the process of staining our fence so we used the same stain for the growth chart.  We weathered it by smacking the board with a bag full of screws and taking a hammer to the wood. Once it was stained the effects looked pretty awesome!

Next we attached it to the wall using 3 screws and anchors. Then it was time for vinyl. I went to the Silhouette Online Store and found a design by Amy Robison that worked well. I wanted to cut the hash tags AND the numbers out, so I used her design for the hashtags, and just found a font with numbers I liked and cut them out too. I cut them out, weeded out the excess and applied with transfer tape. MEASURE CAREFULLY! 

Now I can measure my boys on their first and last day of school to see how much they grow!

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