DIY: PVPP (Paint, Vinyl, Paint and Peel) – Growth Measuring Board.

Ever since my 3 year old was born I have been wanting a measuring board to keep track of his growth. I finally got around to making my own and now I am addicted. I am so very excited to share with you my failures and my success that I have encountered during the creation of these measuring boards!

Materials I Used for this Project:

  • 2- 1in. x 12in. x 5ft. wood board
  • Sheet rock mud (optional- maybe)
  • Paint Primer (optional- maybe)
  • Sandpaper
  • White semi-gloss paint
  • Colored semi-gloss paint
  • Black semi-gloss paint
  • Mod Podge
  • Adhesive Self Liner material
  • Black Vinyl
  • Flowers
  • Gems
  • Hot glue gun
  • Paint roll and brushes

I went to Lowes and found a 1in. x 12in. x 10ft. board and had the associate cut it in half for me to give me two 5 foot boards. Once I had that at home I sanded away any rough edges and smoothed the edges a bit with sand paper.

I wanted to have a smoothed finished project and the boards had some deep knots in them. I used some sheet rock mud to fill in the holes (it is what I had on hand, we are currently trying to finish our un-finished basement).

I let the mud dry over-night and sanded it smooth the next day. Then painted the boards with paint primer (all of these steps may not be necessary, I am no expert, LOL.)

I let the primer dry overnight and then I worked on cutting out my stencils. I have a Silhouette Cameo with the Designer Edition. I created my own tree and measurements. I found the owls on google and put everything together. The hard part for me was picking the final colors!

                   

I still want to make more of these maybe I can do all the colors!. They turn out so pretty. So after I designed my project I worked on cutting and laying it out on the boards! I used adhesive removable shelf liner from my local market place as my stencil and clear Contact Paper as my transfer material.

   

After the primer layer I put on the color that I wanted my tree to be in the end. I am working on my basement base boards right now so I had a white semi-gloss on hand. This is what I used to paint my boards. I used a little paint roller that I picked up at Lowes for $2.

   

I let the paint dry over-night and then added my stencil. Once my stencil was on my wood, I took some Mod Podge and painted the edges of the stencil. I do this to prevent any paint bleeding through any possible gaps that may be present. I AM SO GLAD THAT I DID THIS STEP! Later on when I did my last stencil I skipped this Mod Podge step and I had a major paint bleeding problem that I almost was going to start all over again, but instead I did a lot of touch up painting (it took forever…ugggh) If you look closely at my project you can see all the little flaws.

   

After the Mod Podge dried I think it was the next day. I painted over my stencils. I used paint samples from my local Lowes they were $3 each and I think I could do two boards per color.

After the paint had dried I peeled away my stencil. I didn’t take a picture of it but the stencil pulled away some of the white paint it was on. I don’t know if I could have prevented this from happening, but next time I do this project I am going to give the paint lots of time to dry. More than one day, maybe a week. Or if that doesn’t work maybe a different type of stencil material may be better. I am not sure. When I do this again and do it the same exacted way just allow more time between all the different steps.

          

I laid down my stencil with my measurement marks and painted over it. Again, I did not wait longer enough for the paint to dry or I pull the stencil away to quickly cause some of my paint peeled up with the removal of the stencil. I also did not do the Mod Podge on this part and I wish I would have. Lesson learned. I had a lot of touch up paint to do at this point. It you look at the picture with the number 6 you can see the nice crisp lines with the white and green paint that is because of the Mod Podge. Now look at the number 6 in black paint, the paint bleed through. I did not use Mod Podge and I should have. I am still kicking myself. LOL.

After all touch up painting was done I got some bling and flowers to dress up my board a little bit.

I also cut out my owls out of black vinyl. I though about painting them on with the stencil method but I wanted them to be crisp and clean so I decided to use vinyl. I put everything together. I used my hot glue gun on the bling and I was DONE!!

I learned so much from doing this project. I am excited to do it again!