Handmade, Personalized Children's Growth Chart - Jungle Fever PART 2!!!!

I just posted about the second growth chart that I've done, the first of which I made for my cousin's daughter's first birthday, and the second was for my boss whose son was turning 1.  My boss's mom saw the growth chart and asked that I make one for her boss's son! I quickly obliged :)

Here are pictures of the first two that I did, and then pictures of Hayden's growth chart!

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Cedar's Growth Chart 

Emry's Growth Chart

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Hayden's Growth Chart


This is how most of my growth charts start out.  I make a rough plan on paper (complete with personal reminders!!) in which I plan out fit and placement and sketch out how I want things to look.  I also make lists of the supplies I'll need for each element.  I try to be relatively organized when I start out because I hate hitting road bumps in the middle and messing with my progress! Of course, there are always changes to the original plan. As I go along, things seem to come together on their own sometimes, which can work out really well!

I then sketch out my plan on canvas and start placing the paper down without gluing it to see how things will look and if they will fit together well.  

Starting on the sky...

I didn't want to use tissue paper for the sky with this one, as I usually have with the other growth charts, and I found this amazing light blue paper that I liked instead.  I worked from the top down on this growth chart.

Working on the elephant. The "grain" of the paper ended up working so perfectly for this elephant!! It goes from right to left on the head and then tilted perfectly for the trunk. I will admit I didn't totally plan this but I love that it turned out so perfectly! I decided at the end to cut the notches into the trunk as well, which I really liked the outcome.

The adorable 3 monkeys! 1 and 2 have felt bellies.

The elephant was holding the string to the balloon.

The clouds are white felt and the numbers are a black velvet paper.



The FINISHED PRODUCT!!!!!!




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I typically use plain little wooden birds, which I paint, as the height markers.  For this one, we talked about it and decided the alligator was super cute and worked with the jungle theme. We were deciding between the bumble bee (cute, but not as fitting), the alligator (cute and perfect), and the cloud (cute, but basic). I bought this completed alligator from Michael's and added the label area to its belly.

Handmade, Personalized Children's Growth Chart - Jungle Fever!!

I made a growth chart last year for my cousin's little girl who was turning 1.  You can see the progress and details of her growth chart on this post on my blog! I really enjoyed doing it and thought it turned out really well.

So I did another growth chart, and this time I made it for my boss's baby boy who turned 1 this January.  We did her baby shower in a jungle theme, and she liked those animals and colors for him so I tried to stay with that theme. I also wanted to keep it really masculine for him.  Here is Emry's growth chart (sorry, iPhone photos!!!).

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This is pretty much how I start all of my growth charts. I buy a 24"x36" canvas from Hobby Lobby (a freaking amazing store because not only do they have good stuff, but their prices on canvases are awesome). I basically map out where everything is going to go on the canvas to see what will and will not fit.  I never stick exactly to my plan but I stay true to it for the most part so that nothing gets too out of whack at the end!! Nothing is more horrible than being almost finished and realizing you forgot something so I super-plan instead!! Here I have the bigger items mapped out and I am laying the giraffe spots out (without gluing them) to see how they look. 

I have started the sky by laying out blue tissue paper sheets one layer at a time until it's even.  I have roughly laid out where I want the yellow ripped scraps of paper for the giraffe's body.  I sometimes like doing this patchwork scrap method because it gives things nice texture.

I finished the sky by using blue tissue paper, and the giraffe's body. I didn't worry too much about covering the left side and left bottom area because I will cover those with the tree and the lion.  

Here I have laid out the spots, which I made from felt on paper, to make sure everything works together well.  

This is a close-up of the spots and yellow scraps laid out on the giraffe initially to see how everything is going to look.  You can see the lighter brown felt on the dark brown paper for the spots.  

I finished the giraffe and used a black button for his eye. I started the tree and the lion's body.  I put on the measuring lines, which measures in inches and has a thick line on each half foot and foot.  

I finished the tree, did more work on the lion's face, and have started the monkey who will hold the sign with Emry's name on it.  

Almost finished!! 

Here is the finished product.  A giraffe as the measuring guide, a monkey with a felt belly hanging from a tree, holding the EMRY sign, and a lion with a felt mane.  

Each piece is hand-cut and placed, and everything is uniquely made for this growth chart.  I really want to personalize these so the family has them for a long time as not only a growth chart but also as art for the child's room.  This growth chart has a jute cord on the back to hang from.  I started the measurement one foot off the ground so the bottom of the canvas would be 1', then the first displayed number is 2'.  I painted and used little wooden birds for the height markers.

I really enjoy making these and will probably start selling them on my Etsy store - MyVintageBird.