From this, to this

From this,

To this.

For quite some time I have been trying to think of a way to display Lily's swimming medals and ribbons. I have searched the internet and scoured pinterest. If I liked something she didn' and vice versa. A few weeks back I saw a plain old wooden board with some hooks in it and the word, Swimming, stencilled on it. It was nice but not $40 nice. I showed it to Lily and asked her if she wanted to make one. She has badgered me since that day to buy the wood but I kept forgetting.

On Thursday we were coming home from the supermarket and we noticed the handyman working on a fence, I swung the car over and asked him for one of the nasty old fence planks. He gave it to me willingly. We came home and as I unloaded the car of groceries Lily wasted no time and grabbed her tool kit. She checked the specs of the one on the computer and decided to change them slightly and then she set to. She did the whole thing herself with only some guidance from me. I was NOT allowed to help.

Removing the nails

Measuring

cutting

sanding

painting with the base coat

Adding the words for the reversed stencil

top colour

removing the stickers

bling

hooks

even hangers on the back

ta da. 

Her grandpa taught her how to use power tools when she was over there last summer, or the one before. She is very careful and knows what she is doing. I am really impressed with what she made and now she is going to make one for Rosie too. I am a little concerned that my fence might suddenly fall down as she decides to make more and more of them!