Since last Monday was Labor Day, I'd looked forward to a 4-day work week to breeze through.
I was oddly mistaken.
This was one of the longest short weeks, ever.
Why? I haven't figured that out. There's no single event. Maybe I just over-anticipated how quickly the week would fly by & when it didn't...
Oh, well. It's finally Friday with roughly 2 hours of work left!
Clearly my attention is diverted from the slew of attendance spreadsheets, incident reports that need processing, and other various data entry that may very well make my brain explode at any given moment.
For the safety of my noodle, I shall write instead.
In a continued effort to strengthen the relationships with that side of the family, I'll be making the 3hr trek north, tonight, to attend my niece's 2nd Birthday, on Saturday. I'd contemplated gift options all week.
Being a childless aunt, allows me (at least in my opinion) full authority to purchase the most obnoxiously loud gifts possible, with no fear of retaliation.
After much thought, and not really feeling up to wandering the toy isles of the nearest big box store to find an over-priced kids drum kit; I decided on a hand-crafted gift.
Of course, I waited until Thursday night after work to undertake the project I'd concocted at work that day, and high-tailed it to Menard's after work to pick up a 1x12x6 plank of wood. I hauled ass home & began digging out the other supplies I had on hand.
My mission: a growth chart
With M.M.'s help, we found a font for the numbers that we liked ("Elephant"), altered them in Photoshop into simple outlines (it's all I really needed & it was ink-efficient).
First, I used the tape measure to mark the exact measurements on the board.
I started with making tick marks for the various measurements, and decided on distinctive lengths and widths for the various intervals.
*Every foot was marked with a 3" long line, 1/2' intervals were 2" long lines, 1/4' intervals marked with 1" long lines, and all other inch marks were left as small tick marks; I just sort of guessed the widths of each of the lines, roughly making them correspond visually to the intervals
Next, I measured a distance between the end of the 'foot' marks and where I wanted the top of the number to be, slid the printed number on the paper onto the board into position, and used a pencil to trace the outlines of the numbers.
The wood was soft enough, and made sure to push extra hard, so that there was a grove in the wood from the tracing. Once I was done, I removed the paper and re-traced the groves with my pencil.
Once everything was marked up in pencil, I pulled out my pink velour make-up bag that houses my trusty Dremel.
To say I love my Dremel, would be an understatement.
I marched everything outside, ran my extension cord, and got to work. I wanted the numbers and measurements to be slightly recessed & textured.
This took awhile, but I got it done by about 9pm!
Once I got everything cleaned off and the tools put away, I marched the board back upstairs to my crafting lair to be painted.
I chose a sage(ish) color of green, that I'd picked up (for a previous project) at the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store.
I only applied one coat of paint for both looks and time constraints.
Then, it was time for the more detailed painting of the dremel'ed areas. This took some additional effort due to the textured surfaces; and some touch-ups after I took this picture & could see the spots I missed.
By this point it was about 10:30pm, and I needed to let everything dry overnight.
I did take the opportunity to write an inscription on the back to her wishing her a happy 2nd birthday followed by this quote by Benjamin Franklin: “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
Since I had to work today, I carefully loaded it up when I got home, packed my bags & a can of varnish and headed north!
9/9/12:
The party was on Saturday afternoon, I had that morning to lacquer it up at my mom's house.
This was the finished project ->
I slapped a silver bow on it and was ready to go.
Party Time!
I remember my family marking my height over the years, in a doorway, at my great-grandmother's house. That house has long since been sold, and I'm sure the measurements have painted over. Clearly, this wasn't a gift she could appreciate now (so I threw in some crayons, coloring books, bath crayons, and a box of sidewalk chalk) but my motivation behind it was the hope that after years of my sister marking her growth; that she'll be able to look back on it as an adult as a memento of her childhood & something she can take with her!
Project Costs:
1"x12"x6' board : $8
I had everything else on hand! I buy varnish by the gallon to use for various projects, the green paint was $3 from ReStore that I'd had leftover from a lobby table I refinished for my office, and the black paint was a $1 bottle of craft paint from Michael's that I had leftover.
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