I've been keeping track of my kids height with pencil on the kitchen wall. They keep growing (lots of oatmeal) and my wall keeps getting more pencil on it. I've been wanting to create some sort of frame for the space that we hang all of their art.
Jasper's on a nature kick, lots of forest animals and trees so I thought I'd take that idea and integrate it with my need for a proper growth chart using pieces of balsa wood. It does a dual job of measuring the kids and dividing the space. I'll add a new height every 6 months. I put mom and dad on there so that they
can set some goals.
Because balsa wood is so thin and light weight, I was able to tack the trunk to the wall, made up of three 3" wide pieces. I used smaller 1" wide pre-cut pieces for the branches (left over from the sunburst mirror project).
The leaves were created by tracing an oval onto the backside of the leftover larger balsa pieces. I scored the outline and used a pair of sharp scissors to cut out the shape. I marked the name, height and date on the leaf. Both the branch and the leaf are attached with foam tape.
My Grandma Maxine was the original make-doer. She and I had a very special relationship in the sense that I was very interested in learning how to do all of the things that were her hobbies. She taught me how to sew (a few times), rode me on the front of her horse, and enrolled me in golf lessons. She and my Grandfather built a beautiful custom ranch home in the late 70's and decorated it with their mid-century furnishings, some of which I have in my own home now. She was always a creative inspiration to me. I saw this wall of eyeglasses at Anthropologie the other day and it made me miss her, I think she'd really like that I have a blog dedicated to the things she also loved to do.
Right now I'm working on a project using wooden dowels. I love the natural wood with painted ends. I'm going in a few directions right now, but I hope to have something finished up this week. I'm also working on a few new pieces for Jasper Hearts Wren. I'll be doing a post about the new look on our website, new design ideas and our new blog Tongue In Cheek which will feature an interview with Elizabeth Leu, owner of Fiddlesticks in Hayes Valley.
