The Giant Ruler!

Here's another great idea I got from Pinterest: The Giant Ruler!

I have always liked the idea of tracking kids growth over the years with markings and dates on a wall or door in the house. In fact, the house we live in had exactly that on the edge of one of the doors. It made me sad to think that it was left behind when they moved out. When I found this on Pinterest I was so excited because it's a fun way to track our kids growth over the years and if we move we can take it with us! I was hoping to get this done before Josh's 1st Birthday but just didn't get around to it until now. He hasn't gotten any taller since his 12 month appointment so I guess it didn't matter much anyways.

Here's what you'll need to make your very own Giant Ruler:

1x10 Wood Board
Wood Stain (in your choice of color)
Poly Wood Finish
Paint brush
Old rag
Tape Measure
Ruler
Permanent Marker
Sawtooth Picture Hanger w/nails

Since the weather has been so warm here lately I was able to stain and finish my board in the garage, no problems. It did take a little longer to dry because of the lower temperature than if I had done it in the summer. First I applied the stain with the brush, let it sit on the wood for about 3-5 minutes then wiped off the excess stain with the old rag.

After doing this to both sides of the board, per the directions on the can I had to allow it to dry a minimum of 8 hours before applying the finish. After 8 hours I applied the first coat of finish and let it dry for 2 hours then applied a second coat. Once it was fully dry and no longer tacky I brought it inside to measure to make the ruler lines.

 I wanted to hang the ruler about 6 inches off the floor so I had to measure and make my lines accordingly. Doing this also meant my ruler would go a few inches beyond 6 feet which is good in case we have some tall children! Now the line making begins. This took the longest by far.

I first marked with a pencil and then went back over with permanent marker along a straight edge. I also wanted the whole ruler effect so I made my foot lines 5 inches long, 1/2 foot lines 4 inches long, 1/4 and 3/4 foot lines 3 inches long and all the other lines were 2 inches long.

Ironically I couldn't find my real ruler for this project so I had to make a straight edge out of the top of a marker box. I found a great Sharpie for this project too. It had a chisel edge and a pointed edge, it was perfect!

Finally got all the lines done now to find some numbers that I like and print them out to trace.

These ones look good...

Only took 3 tries to get them to the size I wanted! Time to cut them out and place them on the board to trace.

I stuck them on with double sided tape, traced them with the pencil then went back over them with the Sharpie.

Numbers are all colored in. Now it's time to hang it. I chose to use a sawtooth picture hanger on the back of mine to hang it on the wall.

Put the nail in the wall and up it goes...

The bottom is rather loose and swings a bit if Josh touches it so I thought about what I could do to fix it and I'm going to pick up some of the 3M Command picture hanging tabs to help stabilize it.

Just couldn't wait to measure the little guy! Only 2' 4".

Hope this post can help others make their very own giant ruler!

Many Blessings,

Leslie

Today's Naptime Project

My little guy loves to chew on everything, including the crib rail as most kids do. In the store they have all sorts of protective covers you can put on the crib rail to protect it but none of them are very "decor friendly". I had seen some of the fabric ones online but just couldn't bring myself to paying for one knowing that I could probably make one. So I found a tutorial on the Baby Rabies site (interesting name for a website; very curious to know why they chose it). But you don't have to go to their site though because I'll explain all I did right here!

First I measured the length on the crib rail so I could get the right amount of fabric. My crib rail was about 50" and I wanted it to be about 9" or so wide. I picked out a solid colored cotton fabric for the outer piece and some quilted fabric for some padding and the underside. I cut the solid piece 52" by 11" adding 2" (one inch on each side) for folding over. I cut the quilted piece exactly 50" by 9". Using an iron I pressed the folded over edges of the solid color fabric and pinned them down to the quilted fabric.

Next I had to prep the sewing machine.....my least favorite thing for sure because I always seem to screw the steps up and jam the sewing machine. I had the manual out and followed it step by step and thankfully I was successful. Now it's time to sew.

To keep my stitching straight I just kept the foot running right along the right edge of the fabric. The thing I hate most about my machine is that the foot pedal is very touchy and it is hard to get the machine going without it taking off really fast. Every time I have to stop the machine this process starts all over. SO I decided to try to remove pins as I went along without stopping! I only poked myself about 8 times and drew blood once (thankfully I didn't get blood on the fabric). After sewing all the sides I added ribbon for tying (this could have been done before and just sewn right in but I did it separate because of my lack of planning and sewing skills). After it was all sewn up I cut off any extra strings and folded it in half and ironed it to make it easier to tie on the crib rail. Here's the finished product:

I only did one side since the other side is against the wall and Josh really hasn't started chewing on that side. If he does somehow chew on the other side I've got enough leftover fabric to make another side. Or I may use the leftover solid fabric to make some curtains for his room. I'll be sure to post when I make those curtains! Wishing you many blessings....Leslie.

Joshua's Alphabet Board

I was recently introduced to Pinterest and fell in love with all the wonderful ideas others had posted. After pinning several things I was determined to actually complete some of these craft and project ideas. So I started with one to help reduce some of the clutter in my home. While pregnant I purchased some magnetic letters to put on our fridge for Joshua. Well Josh enjoys the letters on the fridge very much and regularly plays with them leaving a mess like this:

 

So after continuing to step on letters and fish them out from under the fridge we needed to do something different. Then I found an awesome idea on Pinterest. For under $20 the alphabet board was born! To create your own alphabet board you'll need:

- Metal Oil Catch Pan (got mine at Walmart for $10)

- Alphabet Flash Cards $2 (you can print your own too)

- Rubber Cement $1.50

-Command Picture Hanging Strips $4

-Ruler (for good measure)

The pan I bought came with an oily substance on it so I used some cleaner to wipe the pan off first. Then I started laying out my board and making some measurements to see how it would all fit before making things permanent.

Next I broke out the rubber cement; which I have never used before and was a little intimidated by at first but all worked out okay.

Basically I just brushed the rubber cement on the backs of the flash cards and stuck them onto the pan. They slide around a bit at first so you can adjust them so they are straight. Here's what it looked like once I got them all on the pan:

Time to put it up on the wall. Now I chose to use the Command Picture Hanging Strips because I thought it would be easiest. No drilling, nailing, gluing, etc. On the back of the package it tells you how many strips you need and their placement based on the weight of what you are hanging. I didn't know the exact weight of the board so I may have overdone it with the strips but I wanted it to stay on the wall! 

And stick it (got a second set of eyes to help make sure it was straight)...

Now to put all those magnetic letters from the floor and under the fridge on it.

Josh now has a fun place to play with his letters and we can start working on the ABC's and doing some matching! After he learns his letters I can use some more rubber cement and put different flash cards over the ones on there (like letter sounds, etc.). This was such an easy, cheap and quick project to do. Thanks to those who posted it on Pinterest and to Kate at Nic and Kate for first posting the project!

Enjoy! Wishing you many blessings....Leslie.

Welcome!

Well, I've finally gotten around to it. The blog has been created! Welcome! I hope I can share about my life as a wife, a stay at home mom, and a woman who loves God and aspires to be more Christ-like. I look forward to sharing some of the fun projects I have planned this week!!! Wishing you many blessings...Leslie