Family Growth Chart

In my first child hood house my parents kept our growth chart on the wall by the fridge.
In my second childhood house the growth chart marked up on the inside the linen closet door.

I loved seeing all of our markings over the years- now that we are pretty much as tall as were going to get the grand kids are the ones adding their height to the charts.
If ever my parents were to move they would either loose the memories or would have to write them down on paper...

I wanted something that I would be able to take with us when we move so a growth chart project has been on my list for the past year. I wanted to start it before Xelly was to tall and I missed some markings.

I went to Home Depot and got a slice of pine wood. 8ftx10in wide and cut it down to I believe 7 feet.

I had some stain left over from Quinton's scrabble letters so I used it on this project as well. I rubbed in on pretty thick and let it sit for 30 seconds- 1 minute depending on how dark I wanted the area.

Then I got the measuring tape out and marked each foot with a pen and with a permanent marker I drew a 4in line
I did the same thing with each inch
1in- 3/4in line
2in-3/4 in line
3in- 1 1/2 in line
4in- 3/4 in line and so on. Basically the same way a ruler looks.

After all the markings were on it I headed to Michael's to get something for the letters. I had originally planned on using my exacto knife to cut out letters I printed off but I cant find my knife. So plan B lead me to Michael's for a stencil and I left with Vinyl lettering.

The problem I found was all the sayings I wanted to use were to large for the space I had so I changed my saying and went with the homemade look--- letters uneven and kinda messy. But I love
it!

Now I can start recording Xellys height and keep this memory no matter where we go over the years (cross my fingers back to AZ!!)

Gift for Papa

For Pa's (jacobs) Christmas gift from Xelly we went to Color me mine. I decided to pick something that Jacob could use and show off. I figured hey how about a business card holder. Sounds lame but looks so cute!

Xelly picked the colors and painted the entire thing all by herself. 

She had so much fun and Jacob got a little water in his eye when he opened it Christmas morning.

Its blurry but each time we go to visit Jacob at work there it is sitting on his desk with his cards in it and Xelly gets so excited each time she sees it. 

Thats a gift he will always cherish

Guess who is 17... years old.

She might be 17 months but sometimes she seems like she is 17 years old.

I mean she takes my keys our of my purse and opens the door to the garage. opens my car door climbs inside and starts scream laughing to get my attention.

 For our fun no church because everyone is sick sunday, we decided to do some painting!

I cut open some garbage bags and covered the table then Xelly went to town on her pumpkin body

Then it was clean up time and in the sink she went. She played for about an hour then stood up and said "da ta"

Dont you love her fake undies!

I think she is adorable. I cant believe she is this old. Is is our cute little copy cat.

My Crafty life!

What have I been up to today?!

I made this with 2 black boas hot glued around a wood wreath. 

Then I had some extra fabric so I tied a bow hot glued it how I liked then glued it to the wreath.

simple! took about 15 minutes.

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My mother and father in law made this bench. I had been talking about wanting something so I could sit on the front porch while Xelly played. They used part of a crib then made the bench.

I picked out a color (that ended up being a little brighter than I thought) i liked and painted it.

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This is such a fun craft!

I got a 2x4 and cut it into sections. a 18'. 10', 9', and 2 8' pieces. I used a fabric that's like cheese cloth but a little cheaper. gauze could work also. Then I painted them and hot glued them to the board then put a screw through the bottoms to help them be more stable.

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This one is in Xelly's play room. I got some crayons, lined them up by color, hot glued them to a canvas. Then took a blow dryer and and melted them. Xells loves to point to all of the colors!

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Before

After.

I painted the bench it was just wood. then I covered the top needle point because it didn't match anything I had. Also, I was not very fond of it. This was my first ever upholstery project and I think it ended pretty good. I hot glued it on then nailed it down after for extra support and I thought it seemed easier that way.

Now its under out piano!... that still needs to be tuned.

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Now its late and I have no more crafts. 

I think i'm going out of my mind.

DIY- Play Kitchen

So I found a picture of a play kitchen made from a night stand and had no other choice but to make one of our own. I could not get it out of my mind.
The next day or two I went to DI, Savers, looking around at garage sales and no luck. I had this image of the perfect looking dresser to destroy and could not find it anywhere.
So i picked up some pots and small pans for $2.00


Then the next day Jacob called me and sent a picture of two different dresser things and her brought one home for a whopping $10.00. He had stopped by a savers is SLC and found our new project!

That night we started working and had it all put together.
Ill let the pictures show you the steps.

took the top off. to use as dividers for between the oven & microwave and a divider for between the two sides.

the shelf that was already inside the desk, we moved down about 2 inches so Xelly could reach it better.
That became the top of the kitchen with a "back splash" around it so toys would not fall off.
Jacob cut the sides to be slanted so it didnt feel as boxed in

A missing picture step is when we cut out the sink. just took a jig saw and cut a circle!

Xelly and I went and looked at colors. Xelly picked out her favorite pink color and that is what we painted it! Primed it white so the wood would not soak up the pink color. then we painted it pink!!

primed

pink!!!

Then we went to Walmart and picked out some fabric to make the curtain. my first time sewing a curtain. not to shabby huh!?

We liquid nailed the sick on so xelly could not pull it out. The sink is just a small mixing bowl.
Then painted on the microwave and oven.
Jacob bolted the hinges on because I could not get it right after trying 10 times

Walah! Now it is inside and a rad new toy!!

I just need to find a faucet!

The fun part is you can make anything out of well... anything!!
This is one of the things on my craft list! I can now move onto finishing up the piano!

Cost:
desk- $10.00
2 bowls- $2.00
2 small pans-$4.00
Pot- $2.00
Paint- $8.00- two 1qt cans.

Total cost- $26.00

I apologize.

I have been talking about Xelly non stop. I cant help it!

We have been in total redecorating mode!
On our list of things to do...

• Paint Piano
• Finish Xellys kitchen
• Redecorate the living room
• Sew curtains
• make a birthday block
• hunt down a piano bench
• make a bench out of chairs
• find matching vintage chairs

thanks pinterest.
Here are a few of the ideas.

yes, that is the same color ours is going

Ill finish up the last touches on Xellys kitchen and then post about it.
We have had so much fun working on it together as a family!