My niece Madison is universally and deservedly spoiled by all members of our family. I try to make her special handmade Christmas and birthday gifts like this one and that one.

With our cross-country family — Madison in Arizona, me and Shane in Chicago and the grandparents in Michigan — I decided to make Madison a family-themed coloring book paired with a new box of crayons, lots of stamps and ink and other fun art supplies using my Amazon.com application on my iPhone (addicted).

To make the book I gathered a bunch of photos and followed Jennifer Apple’s free Photoshop tutorial with a few slight additions that you’ll see below. These instructions will help you turn a photo like this…

…into a black & white sketched coloring page like this one of Uncle Shane…

…and these of Madison’s grandparents lovingly dubbed Mammy and Papa.

Supplies:

• Kathy’s free cover templates – you can print a generic one that says “My Family Coloring Book” (PDF – be sure to sign your name after the “love”) or edit my source Adobe Illustrator cover template to customize the name (TIP: if you don’t have Illustrator on your computer, just download a free trial version or rent computer time at FedEx Office)
• Color digital photos, preferably ones taken without a flash
• Adobe Photoshop (if you don’t own it, just download a free trial version or rent computer time at FedEx Office)
• Adobe Illustrator (optional if you’re customizing the cover, see Photoshop tip above)
• Cheri Liney font (free!!)
• Legal size white paper (8.5″ x 14″) for coloring pages
• Two sheets of white cover weight paper for coloring book front/back
• Sewing machine
• Turquoise blue thread
• Computer
• Printer
• Crayons

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS >>>

Create your cover
Download and install the free Cheri Liney font. Open my free cover template in Adobe Illustrator and change the name as needed. The Cheri Liney font overlaps the letters a bit. If you don’t want the letters to overlap, do what I did to space them out a bit manually:

• Select the type box using the arrow tool. Go to Type > Create Outlines
• Go to Object > Ungroup. Now the letters are all individual objects.
• Use the arrow tool to select and move the letters around left and right as desired

Create your coloring book pages
UPDATE: Patricia from Crafty and Artsy Giveaways pointed me to Crayola’s Facebook application that makes coloring pages from photos. While not quite as good of quality as the process posted here I think it’s a super (and quick!) alternative to use if you don’t want to go the longer Photoshop route.

Follow Jennifer Apple’s free Photoshop tutorial to turn your photo into a sketch (steps 1-6). Then follow my additional steps 7-10.

Step 7: Flatten your artwork into one layer (Click the icon on the upper right of the layers palette and go to “Flatten Image”).

Step 8: Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Move the arrow on the far left over towards the right to darken the sketch as desired.

Step 9: Type the name using the type tool. (Advanced instructions: OK, here’s where I do a few extra steps because I’m a perfectionist. I went into Illustrator and typed the names with a stroke of 1, then changed it to outlines and manually moved the letters apart as described above.)

Step 10 (optional): If you have background behind the letters then use your Magic Wand tool to select inside the letters. Then switch to your background layer and hit “delete” to delete out the image from behind the letters.

Bind your coloring book
There are a lot of more qualified people out there to bind booklets the “right” way. I just did what I usually do: added some room on the left margin and sewed it together on my sewing machine. My book was about 10 pages so I was able to get my machine to get through it with a fresh denim needle.

Sandwich your coloring pages between the cover and a blank piece of paper for the back.

Sew down the left side using a brand new denim needle and a fancy sewing machine stitch if your machine can do it. Note: If you have a lot of pages you may want to use a hole puncher and yarn instead. Color away!

COPYRIGHT NOTE: You’re more than welcome to use this project and pattern template for your own personal use. Please post a comment below or email me if you use this project so I can smile when I see that it’s being used. Craft and pass it on!

I’m crazy excited to be a part of the Sewing 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar edited by Megan Smith. One hundred simple sewing projects organized in three-day increments fill this crafty calendar of the new decade.

Featured MerrimentDesign.com projects include sewn poppy fabric invitations, bridesmaid’s applique handbags, Thanksgiving felt leaf placecards and napkin rings, and Chicago flag passport cover …and surprise! The back of the calendar box features my guest bathroom towels project.

As you can see the calendar folds into a stand that props up the instructions while you work. My top favorite projects from co-contributors include a bunny pocket pillow and tiny little loveable rag doll by Missy at CraftyCarnival.com and a tin can cover by Meg Spaeth at ElsieMarley.com.

It’s pretty bizarre that it’s almost 2010. Two Thousand Ten!! A new decade. Think of all the things that have happened and changed in our lives and in the world in the past ten years. Sigh. Well, be sure to order your copy of the Sewing 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar before the ball drops!

When Shane told me that he wanted to host our sixth annual Thanksgiving dinner I didn’t quite know what to say. Baby Elise was born on October 20th and I was crazy sore and beat.

Flash forward a month and we’re all starting to get the hang of things as a family. So what better way to celebrate than to have everyone together for Elise’s first Thanksgiving? Ah, once again Shane was right…

I saw this Dymo retro embossing label maker this summer and I just had to have it, not quite sure at the time what I’d do with it. It was just like the one I used to play with when I was a kid :)

Being none too mobile right now with the new baby I made these placecards out of materials I already had in the house — the embossing label maker, pre-cut placecards left over from our wedding, and pearlized copper shimmery paper that I got as a gift years ago.

Supplies:

• Kathy’s free leaf template (PDF)
• Retro embossing label maker
• Rubber cement or glue stick
• Pearlized copper shimmery (or other metallic) paper
• Thick black paper
• Pre-cut placecards
• Paper cutter

Start by spelling your guests’ names using your label maker. I used black label maker tape but it does come in several colors.

Using your paper cutter, slice squares of the bronze pearlized paper that are smaller than the pre-cut placecards. Don’t worry about making them the same size; it adds to the handmade feel.

Put a little rubber cement on the back of the pearlized paper and affix it to flush left on the placecard. There should be some orange on the bottom and the right side like in the above photo.

Use my free leaf template to cut leaves out of your black paper. There are two leaf shapes so you can either choose one or make a mix like I did. Be sure to put the trace lines face down on your final placecards.

Peel the backing off of the name stickers. You’ll be placing the names on the seam of the pearlized paper with a little overhang on the right like in the photo above.

Now before you stick the name down, slip a bit of the bottom of the black leaf under the sticker. Now you can stick it down. Notice that the rest of the leaf is loose; this is intentional and adds to the feel.

Happy first Thanksgiving, sweet baby Elise, from your family!

COPYRIGHT NOTE: You’re more than welcome to use this project and pattern template for your own personal use. Please post a comment below or email me if you use this project so I can smile when I see that it’s being used. Craft and pass it on!

Along with homemade egg noodles, chocolate pie and fresh-off-the-vine concord grape juice, rice pancakes were my Grandma Beulah’s specialty.

My parents were in town to help us take care of new baby Elise and treated us to a massive amount of Chinese takeout. Seeing the small mountain of leftover rice after dinner was over, I remembered Grandma’s rice pancakes and asked my dad for the recipe.

These things are seriously hearty so eat just a couple and you’re good to go.

Ingredients:

1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
1 cup leftover cooked rice (one day old is best)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup flour
Oil or spray for griddle
Real maple syrup
Bananas (optional)
Cinnamon for dusting (optional)

Other supplies:

• Mixing bowl
• Turner
• Griddle

Fire up your griddle so it starts to get hot. Mix all ingredients; it’s OK if some of the rice is clumpy but break up any really big pieces. Once mixed let rest for 5 minutes.

Lightly oil your griddle and pour batter onto the hot griddle.

Flip when they bubble. Notice how thick they are!

This recipe makes 6-8 pancakes that can be frozen and thawed later in the toaster. You could easily double or triple the recipe depending on how much leftover takeout rice you have. And next time you order Chinese takeout, you might purposely add an extra side or two!

My coworker Danielle recently came back to work after the birth to her first child, son Otto James. We work together at a web design company in an industrial part of Chicago near Oprah’s TV studio and the legendary Chicago meat markets. So I thought it would be fun to make a book for Otto called “Where My Mommy Works” using photos of objects both inside our office as well as around our unique neighborhood, spelling out the words using Scrabble board game pieces.

I was inspired by others who have made personalized word books in the past (like this one by Non Dairy Diary and oh! look at that one from Party Perfect!). The fun twist with my project is that it’s all about mommy’s workplace …the place that she goes everyday that Otto never sees, giving Danielle a chance to talk with Otto about where she goes during the day. And it uses Scrabble letters game board pieces rather than typed words or vintage lettering, making it a word book that *anyone* can create!

I recruited my talented coworker, part-time photographer Megan, and we set out around the office and into the neighborhood to shoot photos. Megan’s got such an eye as I’m sure you can see by the photos.

From Danielle’s plant on her desk…

…to the Metra public transit tracks that we cross to and from to get to work and lunch everyday…

…to the meat, eggs and bacon trucks that line up near our front door…

…and our website client and neighbor Oprah Winfrey…

Danielle loved the gift and we had such a ball making it for her. What kind of word book will you create?

Supplies:

• Digital camera
• Scrabble board game
• Computer
• Blurb (recommended), Shutterfly or other book making software

First, take photos of your workplace. We shot photos like Danielle’s clock…

…and ceramic lion.

Next, spell words using Scrabble tiles. We shot photos on the concrete floor in our office.

Next, bring the photos into your book making software and assemble your pages, adding a front and back cover, and order your book. Now you can sit down with your book and tell your child about your day!