A Year of 1st Board (Tutorial)

As I mentioned in my post about this board here it was truly an emotional labor of love.  So, I’m sharing this tutorial for those of you interested in capturing some of your memories in this manner.

Supplies

• White wood board(I picked mine up from lowes for $12.)
• Chalk
• Photos
• Chalkboard paint 
• Wet towel
• Hot glue gun and sticks

   Step by Step Instructions

1. Wipe board down

2. Paint board with two coats of chalkboard paint

3. Let paint dry and settle for 48 hours

4. Spread chalk across the entire board

5. Wipe board completely clean

6.  Frame *See framing instructions below*

7.    Glue pictures unto framed board (as you would like).

8.    Take chalk and decorate your board with reflective words (as you wish).

Deatils on Framing...

I originally had planned to frame this board myself but didn’t have the proper tools. Going to Michael’s or any other framing place was out of the question for a board this size.  So of course I turned to my favorite handy couple The Killings. These two love taking a on home improvement project (Finished their whole basement, laid their own hard wood floors, etc) and if nothing else I knew they would have the tools. Get this tho, Denise also twist my hair lol (yup my friend is multi-talented and a mini perfectionist). Any way when I reached out via text (sent her a few photos of the board) she let me know to bring it over during my upcoming hair appointment so Des could work on it for me...SCORE. I took my painted board with me and Des (another mini perfectionist) worked on it the entire time. Unhappy with his initially product he kept it. I got it back a few days later and it looked Amazing.In writing this tutorial I reached out to team Killings for framing instructions and they provided the following.

Framing Supplies

• Pneumatic nailer/stapler,

• finish nails,

• Wood filler,

• Sand paper,

• Miter saw

• Woodgrain Milwork (door/window trim) 11/16in. x 2-14 x8in.

• Metal L shaped bracets for support

• White paint

Step by Step Instructions

1. Measure your board (mine was 36 x40).

2. Using the miter saw cut the wood corners at a 45 degree angle.*Please note: The cuts should be slightly longer than the board (just in case there are changes that need to be made)*.

3. Use nailer at the corners to nail the frame together.

4. Apply wood filler to fill-in nailer holes and let it dry.

5. Once dry sand with sand paper to make smooth.

6. Paint frame and let it dry.

7. Once paint dries put the board on the back of the frame and screw the L brackets in each corner for support.

Happy crafting fellow heartbeats

Memory Lane: A Year of 1st Board

As promised, some days we will be heading down, what I call, Memory Lane to reflect on Olivia Madison’s first year of life. For those of you that have been with us from day one (via ShoeAcidal), some of these posts may look familiar. For everyone else, welcome to my world of mini momma meltdowns (aka - Mama Drama) and a whole lot of PROUD momma moments thanks to my AWESOME baby girl. For me, there's no better place to start our journey down memory lane than with this board.

I found a similar board on Pinterest and knew I had to create one for my baby. I just didn’t know that putting together this board was going to be such an emotional project for me.  It felt as if I would work on it, take a break for a few days, call Tabby every other day asking for her help (would you believe I had the nerve to get mad when she had other plans and couldn’t help until a future date???) and work on it some more until it was finally completed (watch out for the tutorial J).

It was just that assembling it gave me an opportunity to reflect on the following:

• How awesome my child is
• How much she's grown from an infant to a toddler
• How much my husband and I have grown as parents
• How joyous this first year has been

It was by far the MOST rewarding project I worked on to celebrate her birthday. Which leads me to the reason I chose to start Memory Lane here...the board really captured the highlights from Olivia's first year of life. We'll get to my emotions behind all her milestones in future posts but, for now, here's a closer look at the images on the board.

View

Car Ride

 Milestones

Summer

Fall

Winter

 Holidays

Isn’t it an AWESOME way to look at life? As of right now, I totally plan to do something similar for each of her future birthdays. I honestly still can’t believe how fast the past year went by and I know the rest of our days will continue to move at lightning speed; I might as well capture each moment.