Monday, July 19, 2010

for grandma.

Remember this... 


My mom knew that I was making it for my dad. But it seemed a shame to leave mom out. And we really needed to take advantage of all 8 of them being together. So when she wasn't looking, I snuck in a letter m. 

I really liked the black and white, but black and white pictures aren't her favorite. So I went with some color for her. 

I was going to buy letters, but the only ones I could find were almost $3 each. I just found a font I liked on the computer, printed them out really big, then traced them onto white posterboard and cut them out. It worked perfectly. I wrote the names and ages on the pictures at Picnik.com. I got them printed at ScrapbookPictures.com because they have such a variety of sizes you can order. These are 3 x 3.

A few of you have mentioned wanting to do this project. 
So here's a couple things I learned... 
* think about how big the pictures will be and make sure your kids hold the letters close enough to their face. I had to cut off a couple heads in order to see enough of the letter to know what it is (g, d, m/p) I was thinking 4 x 6 prints when I took the pictures, but that would have ended up being huge. 3 x 3 was perfect, I thought. 
* if your letters are white, make sure no one is wearing a white shirt. I had to outline my first a so that you could see it. 


In all of Lawson's pictures, he was holding the n too low. I would have had to cut off a lot of his head in order to be able to see the letter. But I thought this pose was appropriate for my ornery little guy... 

Put a thin coat of Modge Podge on the back of each picture to glue them down. I was too lazy to measure anything, so I just eyeballed them all. Then cover the whole thing with another coat of Modge Podge. I made sure to get plenty of the Modge Podge in the little strip between each of the pictures. It looks just like glue, but it will dry clear, I promise. 

Happy birthday to one of the best grandmas around... 


And for all you crazy people who thought I was going to say I'm pregnant... NO! 
I'm pretty sure God wants me to keep what little sanity I have left. 
And I can't imagine a sweeter baby than Gretchen. (except for this whole not sleeping/eating thing lately. That's a bit annoying.)
3 is perfect for us.   :) 

15 comments:

Rich and Carolyn Dewey said...

VERY CUTE! What a lucky Grandma!

Kristin said...

Looks great!!!

Toni :O) said...

You did a fantastic job on that...what lucky G-ma and G-pa's! Yay!

Frau said...

This is just adorable, amy! How great is it that there are just enough cousins to fit all of the necessary letters?!!!! I'll bet she loved it!

meg duerksen said...

amy THAT is adorable!

Unknown said...

I love that! We are totally going to make one for Meme and Papa!

kristine said...

thanks for the super cute gift idea!!

Beckysblog said...

This is just adorable! LOVE IT!

Traci Elizabeth said...

LOVE THIS!!!! what is the size of the wood you used?

Amy said...

Hi Traci! I really don't know what the size of the wood is. It was something my husband had in the garage and just cut to the length I thought I would need. There were 8 pictures and they were all 3x3 in size. I hope that helps! :)

Anonymous said...

I want to know when you went on scrapbook pictures.com what did u get the matte glossy,pro matte glossy or metallic silk and did you pic the pic size first and get them sent to u or did you go to picnik.com first and add the names and ages on how do I go about this thanks

Amy said...

Hi Anonymous! I really don't remember what kind of finish I got on the pictures. I'm guessing just a matte finish, though. I know it wasn't the metallic silk. I put their names and ages on them through Picnik before I ordered the prints. If you just go to Picnik.com you can sign up for free. After you upload your pictures, you can add text to them. Save them on your computer and then upload those to scrapbookpictures.com. Then choose what size photo you want to order. (I did the 3x3). Just make sure when you put the name/age on the photo that you do it close enough to their face that it won't be cut off if you crop it small. Hope that makes sense and helps! :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks soo much im praying I can do this I had 3 little children to add in my pic who didnt hold the letters well but I think it's will be good enough to read look forward to gettin this done soo I can see how it turned out :) again thanks alot

Anonymous said...

Hi just wanted to know did you use the matte-modge podge shown in your picture? And does it matter what brand of paint is used to paint the board?I finally got my picture back and need to know what modge podge and paint to finish it up thanks:)

Amy said...

Yep. I used that ModPodge you see in the picture. It doesn't matter about the paint. I just used whatever I had on hand. Good luck with yours! :)