Gender Reveal (Martin #2): Let's do it with Paint!

For our gender reveal for baby #2 I wanted to do something a little different of when we revealed Jett's gender at my shower. I had seen a lot of people do balloons, which I think is super cute. I could picture it now Jett chasing after pink or blue balloons. I was going to that, but I wanted something we could keep for a long while. And balloons just deflate :(.

I saw a picture on pinterest (of course) of a couple having a paint fight with the color of the gender for their gender reveal. I thought that was such a super cute idea! How fun is that!?!I thought long and hard how we could use this idea. Then it hit me! We would put the colored paint on a canvas. Less messy & would keep the memory alive like I wanted too. We could even put a phrase or word so it just wasn't a plain pink or blue canvas.

So then my next task was do think of a phrase that I could tape off on the canvas to really capture the moment. We thought of different things, but the one we went with was.... "God Bless The Baby."

This is part of a prayer we have been doing every night with Jett since we found out we were pregnant. We thought this was very appropriate for this pregnancy.

I purchased all my supplies at Hobby Lobby.

• 16x20 canvas
• 1 Pink Acrylic Paint
• 1 Blue Acrylic Paint
• 2 sets Large Letter Stickers
• Duct Tape
• Double sided tape

I first wrapped the outside of the paint tube with colored duct tape (Jett chose red). I wrapped anywhere that we can see the paint color from the tube. I tried to wrap both tubes the same so I wouldn't know which was what when we got it in our hands.

Then I got the large letter stickers and placed them accordingly on the canvas. When I put the first letter on. I found the letter were not sticking on the canvas. So I found my double sided tape I use for scrap booking and used that on each of the letters. It worked perfectly!

The next day was Easter. I had my sister law take the paint & the envelope that had the ultrasound to reveal the gender. Told her to turn her back to us and choose the paint. She would be able to know what it is by slightly squeezing it. I asked her to hand it to Jett and he would squirt it.

Here is how the reveal unfolded......

Which will it be????

Waiting patiently.

Here we go!!!!

It's BLUE!!!!

Yay!!!

He is super stoked!!

Mike added some color to it after everything dried. It looks great! Well I think so. :)

Get Geared Up for Jett's 2nd Birthday! Tractor Party!

For Jett's 2nd birthday. I wanted it to be a little bit more low key compared to his 1st birthday party. I still wanted some type of theme. Because I just love planning things like this where I can DIY.

Jett is really into airplanes now....wished I did the airplane party this year rather than last year. But didn't want to do something twice in a row. Maybe another year. Soooo the next best thing. Tractors!!! At our home we have a big John Deere tractor. Every time Jett sees it he yells, "TRACTAAA!" So tractor theme party it was. Another reason for this theme was around Christmas time we also decided to get Jet the Peg Pegero tractor as a birthday gift so it fit right in with the theme. I think it is interesting where your inspiration comes from for a birthday party theme. Last year it was his name. This year a gift/obsession with tractors.

So how did I make it more low key??

1. I invited half as many people. The year before our invited list had over 50 people. This year I only invited about 20 people.

2. Took place at our home. I feel like you get a more laid back atmosphere when it takes place at the home.

3. Less food.....sort of. I did less pastries let's just say.

4. Not a ton of activities. The year before I had a lot of things for the kids to do, but this year I just wanted everyone just to eat and hang out. I did have one activity ready just encase the kids got bored. We didn't need it. Everyone had a good time being with each other.

This birthday was really special. Jett kind of understood it was his birthday more this year. So opening gifts and seeing his expression was so much fun. He really is the best gift receiver. Every gift he gets it is a "Oh WOW!" moment. Also, this was the 1st and last birthday party we will have for Jett here. We will be moving to our new home in May to make new memories. Very bittersweet. My baby is growing up! Tear.

I still DIYed most of the things for his birthday minus the cake, cookies, & sandwiches. I didn't go all out this time, but it was enough to give it the custom look I wanted to achieve.

I bought the digital paper from etsy and the tractor graphic. Fonts from dafont.com

Early morning on Jett's birthday. He woke up to a room full of streamers.
He had a blast breaking through this streamer door!

Please excuse the unfinished kitchen. ;)

Cupcakes by Timtations. Cupcake toppers by your very own blogger!

Smash cake by Timtations.

Cookies Timtations.

Party favors. Of gummy worms & chocolate chips. 

My little guy excited too see the big tractor!

Wants to blow out his candle as soon as it was lit. 

Unveiling his big gift!

And birthday flowers to me. For having our precious blessing 2 years ago. From the men in my life. 

I've got some news....

It has been quite a while since I post last. Lots has happened. I know I promised I would blog more, but all the recent events that have taken place the past few months it took me away from trying to blog like I wanted.

First piece of news.... After a sad as you know year with 2 losses. God has blessed us and we are pregnant with our Miracle Baby #2!!! You can read more about my pregnancy on my pregnancy blog. "10 Little Baby Toes."

Second Piece of News.... We are bought a house! We are building our very 1st home. We can't wait to move in!! Better schools, better area, better just about everything.

After we signed our contract!

Our home as of 3/17/13...Getting ready for some sheetrock

Third Piece of News... My sweet baby boy. Turned 2!! We did a tractor themed party at home. Which I started to write the draft post about. Just editing photos to post soon.

Thank you to my readers, friends & family. For being so patience with me on my blogging. :-)

Toddler Christmas Tree Hands Artwork

I saw this cute pin on pinterest on using your little one's hands to make a Christmas tree on canvas. Thought it would be a great Christmas decor craft to display in the future.

We started off with a blank canvas that I bought on sale at Hobby Lobby. I got our Crayola hand paints and we created our background first. I wanted kind of have a sunset look ombre style. Ha ha! I know...a little much, but it would add some much character to it. So I squirted yellow and red on the canvas and Jett mixed all the colors on the canvass. He loved this part. He got to spread it all over the canvas. We let that dry for a day and went on to make the tree.

I got a pencil and drew a triangle of the size of the tree we wanted. So we could use it as a guide. Well this part didn't happen as I planned. I squirted green paint on a plate and got Jett to cover his hand in the paint. I only got one hand print on the canvass. Jett doesn't like when I control his hands to make shapes. He wanted to do it HIS way. I gave up on that inspiration of the cute hand printed Christmas tree. So I just guided him certain areas on which he should hit the canvas. He had a blast with this because he would hit the canvass like it was a drum. He was so excited!! I was going to go back and have him use his fingers prints to make the ornaments, but I knew that was not going to happen.

He thought it was a great idea to cover his face with paint after he was done. Silly kid.

Later Mike painted the yellow star on top of the tree. I would recommend acrylic paint for this because the Crayola hand paint doesn't really stand out. I think it turned out pretty great considering working with a stubborn independent toddler artist. It is pretty abstract.I love it. It is so Jett!

Supplies
Canvas
Non Toxic Paint (if you are working with a Toddler) red, yellow, green
Paint brush

Teacher or Parent Candy Bar card

For J's daycare provider birthday I wanted to get her something personalized from Jett. I didn't have any ideas at the time nothing really screamed this is the gift on pinterest. However, on facebook one of my friends she had recieved this candy bar card from one of her students. Such an awesome idea. So creative and meaningful. So I was searching on pinterest for examples for wording for a card. There was not a ton so I had to combine a couple of cards I found to what fit for Jett's daycare provider.

I first wrote out my card on a piece of paper and made a list of the candy I needed. Searching for the candy was a tad challenging. I went to the my local pharmacy near where I work. I had to go to 2 different ones (CVS & Walgreens). I found most of the stuff I needed from Walgreens. I also picked up my poster board from there too.

Supplies
Poster board
Marker
Tape or Hot Glue Gun

Candy
Extra Gum
100 Grand
York Peppermint Patty
Whoppers
Butterfinger
Skor
Lifesavers
Almond Joy

Maria loved the card. You can definetly put more on there. This is just what I put for this particular card. This would be fun to do for a family member too. Below is the actual text of the card we wrote.

"Ms. Maria,
Happy Birthday! I wanted to get you something EXTRA special on your birthdaay! I was going to give you 100 GRAND or a trip to New YORK, but the $ for your big WHOPP ing gift slipped out of my BUTTERFINGER s. I just wanted to let you know I SKOR ed having you as my teacher. You are my LIFESAVER during lunch and snack time. Thank you for all your do for me. I wish you lots of JOY on your birthday. Love, Jett"

How I made our Distressed Family Growth Chart

Growing up we always looked forward to standing up against the door frame at my dad's house and measuring ourselves to see who was beating who height wise. It was a wonderful marker of years of memories. When my dad passed away we could not remove the frame. It was so upsetting to leave years of the wonderful random dash marks and scribbles we had put on there.

So I told myself when we restart this great tradition for our little family I would want it to be portable. Because we know we will move and we would want to take that with us. I have also seen families put them on a wall and you definitely can't take that with you and even if you plan on staying in that home forever. You might want a fresh coat of paint. Everything would be completely erased. Just AWFUL!

So my searched began on Etsy. There are so many beautiful growth charts, but nothing what I was looking for. Most of them only went to 6 ft and I wanted ours to be at least 6'5." I am about 5'7" or so and my husband is 6'1" so I wanted something taller than 6 ft just encase our children/grandchildren were going to surpass us. Since I couldn't find the size that I wanted. I then decided this would be a great DIY project. So it was onto Pinterest to search for some help on how I can do this. 



 

My Inspiration for Distressed growth chart

Inspiration for the marking and numbers

Supplies

• 10x8 Pine wood board
• Stain
• Paint
• Medium Point Paint Marker
• Saw
• Sander/Sand Paper
• Old cloth/towel
• Paint Brush
• Pencil
• Ball Point Pen
• Angle Square Ruler
• Tape Measure

Tips: Purchasing Supplies

We purchased our wood board from Lowe's. They sell pre-cut sizes and they can cut them to whatever size you like. We went with a 10x8 pine and that was finished all four sides so it cost a little more than the others pieces they had. I've read from other pinterest projects you can get them as cheap as $6.99 unfinished and depending what type of wood. My husband has worked with lumber growing up so he is a little picky when it comes to certain woods for projects. He recommended the pine cause it would last longer if we were going to have it around for a long time. Originally he wanted me to get Oak, but I could get myself to pay $40 for that piece. I paid $24 for the piece. I know a little steeper than the $6.99, but worth it to me.

Before it was cut and stained

I decided I wanted a distressed look to the chart. So to get that look I would need to stain and paint the chart. Luckily you don't need a lot of both to make that happen. We had stain at home. SCORE! And we used one of the dozens of paint samples we had when were trying to select the right paint for some renovations. DOUBLE SCORE! If you don't have any in hand at home I would just purchase the smallest can of stain and a paint sample. The rest of the supplies: saw, brushes, sander, sand paper we already had.

I used maybe a quarter of the paint. This sample size is perfect.

One other tip on supplies for the paint marker I would get a medium point paint marker. I had a fine one and it just doesn't do as a great of job as the medium point. It might have been the brand too. My original paint marker that I had was from hobby lobby, but the one that was perfect for me was the Elmer's Brand that they sell at Walmart.

How To....
1. We could have cut the piece at Lowe's, but we had a skill saw at home and decided to cut it ourselves. We cut the 10x8 piece to a 10x6. "Wait a minute I thought you wanted a 6'5" ruler!" Yup, that is correct. I am going to hang the ruler 6 inches off the ground so the ruler will actually be 6'5."

2. I sanded very lightly the flat side & sides that I was  going to use for the chart. Wiped off any saw dust with a lightly damped cloth. I would wear gloves for this part because if you get the stain on you it won't come off very easily. I applied the stain with a paint brush all on the flat side and edges going with the grain. Then took the old cloth and wiped off the excess stain, going with the grain as well. This must be done immediately the stain dries rather quickly. Then let it dry overnight.

The board after it was stained and dried.

3. After the stain dries over night. I painted the chart with my paint sample. I went with a gray color. I just did one coat. Let it dry over night. You don't have to let it dry over night, but I did because I worked on this at night it was just easier. The paint just needs to be completly dried.

4. I got my pencil and tape measure and marked the lines for the chart. Because I am hanging the chart six inches off the ground I started at marked the first 6 inches on the chart and I had the first foot. Then I marked every quarter and did 12 inches for every foot after that. After I marked in quarter increments I made my lines. I used the angle square ruler because I could just butt it up against one side to make sure my ruler was straight and I was making a straight line. The quarter marks were a 1 inch long, the half inch marks are 1.5 inches and the foot marks are 2 inches long.

5. I then used the angle square ruler again to go over the pencil markings with the paint marker so I could have a clean straight line. I had to be careful on getting excess paint when I was going from line to line. The paint marker dries pretty quickly.

6. There are so many different ways to this, but this seem to be the most common that I read on doing the text on the ruler. I printed out numbers Century font, 200 font size and the text "Martin Family" Century font, 185 font size. I cut out each number and word and I then lined them up where I wanted them.  I then traced them with a ball point pen. Press firmly with the ball point pen when tracing the numbers so you make a good dent in the board. You might need to take little breaks here and there for it because it will hurt your hand because you are pressing so hard. Then I used the paint marker to fill the traced numbers & words.

7. I pulled out our sander and light sanded over the numbers, words and lines. Just enough to get the worn look.  I pressed a little harder on the edges and the parts of the board that I didn't have any writing on them. If you don't have a sander, sand paper will work too.

The Final Product!

 This project took me 3-4 days to do. It was fairly quick considering most projects take me weeks to finish. My growth chart cost me about $25 because I had most of the supplies at home. Even if I didn't have all the stuff in hand it would probably would have been less than something I saw on etsy.  I love how it turned out. I hope this tutorial helps. If you have any questions please leave a comment.