Growth Chart - cheap and easy!

I always wanted a cute growth chart for my daughter's room.  When my mom asked what to get for little one's birthday, I suggested she make a growth chart.  After tossing around some ideas, she decided she would get a board and I could decorate it and paint it.  

The "board" turned out to be a stick that is about 2 inches wide and 4 feet long.  

I had no clue what to do with it until I saw some wood plaques in Michaels.  

I bought the butterfly and made this adorable chart.

 

After making that chart, I still had a stick left so 
I decided to make one for my cousin's son.  

This one was a little more work, but it's pretty cute!  

You'll need:

2" by 4' stick

paint

envelope

wood plaque 

ruler

wood glue

picture hanging piece

Decide on your colors and paint the stick and plaque.  

Using your ruler, make a small mark every inch for the length of the stick.

Get the envelope (or anything else somewhat rigid with a corner) and mark 1/2".  
This will be used to draw the lines on the stick.

Line the envelope up with the edge of the stick and the small mark you made and draw your lines.  Paint over your lines.  If you're going to do something fancier (like the train tracks), make your line going all the way across.  

Print numbers (2, 3, 4, and 5) out that are about 1.25" long.  
Cut them out as precisely as you can and trace them on to the stick.  
The 2 should be on the bottom line on the stick.

After that, you need to paint the numbers in.  
It took about five coats for each chart.

Using wood glue, attach the plaque to the top of the stick.  I placed my dictionary on top of it to keep it in place and let it dry overnight.  Attach the picture hanger to the back of the plaque so that the nail will hang exactly 4' 1" from the bottom.  This makes it very easy to hang it at the right height.  Place the nail 6 feet above the floor and hang your chart!