A couple people expressed interest in a tutorial on how I made my growth chart. It's super easy, and I can't actually do a tutorial since I already finished mine, but here are some instructions.
You'll need a 6 ft piece of 1x10. You can get a precut piece at Lowes. Mine was 9.00. You'll also need a black paint pen. I imagine that a sharpie would probably work, too, but I used a paint pen to be sure.
I found a board that was straight and even, and looked good (actually my parents did, to be honest, cause they picked it up for me). Try to find one that doesn't have a stamp on the side you want to use. It was a pain to get that stamp off. I had to sand it down till it was gone. That took awhile.
Then I just laid it out and took a tape measure and made small marks every inch. After that I used a ruler to make the marks long lines- I put a 4 in line at every 12 inches (a foot) and then at the 1/2 foot marks I used a 3 in line and at the 1/4 foot marks a 2 in line and every other mark (an inch) I used a one inch line. That is confusing but if you look at the picture it will make more sense.
I printed out the numbers 1-6 on the computer using a font that I thought looked most like a ruler (I used a ruler for comparison) then I transferred the numbers with carbon paper. I just used the black paint pen to trace the lines and to color in the numbers and I was done. I plan on covering it with a clear varnish, but that is for another day! :)
Also, just an FYI, start at what you want to be the bottom of your board/ruler when you mark off your inch marks, since most of the 6 ft boards will be a little longer and you want the additional space at the top, so that your measurements are correct (I learned that the hard way...) In other words, I should have been working from left to right as opposed to the other way.
Good luck! I'd love to see anything anyone makes!
