• Home
  • DIY & Crafts
    • Sewing Projects
    • Printables
    • Baby & Kids
    • DIY Gift Ideas
    • Paper Crafts
    • Home Decor
    • Recipes & Easy Cakes
    • Recycled Crafts
    • Vintage Inspired
  • Holidays
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter Crafts
    • Earth Day
    • Mother’s Day
    • Father’s Day
    • Fourth of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
    • New Year’s Eve
  • Birthdays & Parties
    • Birthdays
    • Easy Cakes for Kids
    • Weddings & Engagements
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • About
    • About Merriment Design
    • Portfolio & Press
  • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Merriment Design

DIY projects, crafts, free sewing patterns and printables that look handmade, not homemade

Home / Occasion / Baby & Kids / Family coloring book from photos

Family coloring book from photos

December 23, 2009 by Kathy

  • Share
  • Tweet

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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).

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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…

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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”).

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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.)

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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.

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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.

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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!

Merriment :: Family coloring book from photos and free cover template by Kathy Beymer at MerrimentDesign.com

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!

Filed Under: Baby & Kids, DIY Gift Ideas, DIY Tutorials, Paper Crafts, Under $10

About Kathy

I'm Kathy, maker of things and Chicago mom who likes simple and clever DIYs that look handmade, not homemade. I like sewing, printables, handmade birthdays, holiday decor and easy cakes. See my work at HGTV, DIY Network, Apartment Therapy, DesignSponge, more. ✂️

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

More Posts

  • Sparkless sparklers for kids for the Fourth of July using chopsticks, ribbon and party garlandSparkless sparklers for kids for the Fourth of July using chopsticks, ribbon and party garland
  • Refrigerator magnets from vintage milk and juice bottle capsRefrigerator magnets from vintage milk and juice bottle caps
  • Printable Thank You Cards for Pink Monkey 1st Birthday PartyPrintable Thank You Cards for Pink Monkey 1st Birthday Party
  • DIY Bath Bombs for Mother’s Day with Free Printable TagsDIY Bath Bombs for Mother’s Day with Free Printable Tags
2010 Sewing Calendar featuring MerrimentDesign.com projects
Vintage Kissing Couple Printable Template

Comments

  1. 1

    Candice says

    December 28, 2009 at 10:54 am

    What a SUPER tutorial – thank you! I will post and link back in the New Year on candookids.blogspot.com.

  2. 2

    Rachel says

    December 30, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    This is amazing! Thanks so much for all the helpful suggestions I just love this. I’ll be linking.

  3. 3

    whorange says

    December 30, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    love love love! thank you for sharing!

  4. 4

    Heather says

    December 30, 2009 at 9:36 pm

    This is A-Mazing!! I just created a totally awesome custom gift for my neice and nephew in Hawaii in like, have an hour (minus binding, I’ll do that tomorrow!). Thank you so much for sharing this!

    • 5

      Kathy Beymer says

      January 1, 2010 at 5:34 pm

      Heather, I’m so happy to hear that you used it! I’m sure your niece and nephew in Hawaii loved it 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!!

  5. 6

    katevet says

    December 31, 2009 at 10:45 am

    you are so smart! I HAVE to try it really soon! thank you!

  6. 7

    Patricia says

    December 31, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    This is some fantastic idea!!! My suggestion is if you can´t use photoshop or any other sophisticated software (my case), crayola has an application that does this to your pics here:

    http://apps.facebook.com/lightscameracolor/

    Happy new year!

    • 8

      Kathy Beymer says

      January 1, 2010 at 5:28 pm

      Patricia! That is such a cool application from Crayola. I’m going to update my post and credit you. Thanks for stopping by!

  7. 9

    Barb says

    December 31, 2009 at 11:00 pm

    What a great idea! This coloring book could be so special to so many kids! I’m going to link to you also 🙂

  8. 10

    Patricia says

    January 1, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    Thanks!!! I´m honoured!!!

    Lovely blog I´m glad I found you!!!

    Happy new year!!!!

  9. 11

    Nicole-Lynn says

    January 13, 2010 at 10:47 am

    Wow, what a great idea! Thank you!

  10. 12

    rach says

    August 16, 2010 at 7:48 pm

    I love this idea, I can think of lots of family members that would look great.

  11. 13

    Melissa says

    September 24, 2010 at 9:53 am

    Thank you! I don’t have adobe… I use GIMP (free software), so I searched for alterative instructions…. I found easy ones here (not as pretty as yours, but it’s about 3 clicks and done): http://www.squidoo.com/gimptemplatedownloads you scroll down to “coloring pages.” Then, I followed the rest of your directions to finish them up! That font is just perfect for this!

    • 14

      Kathy Beymer says

      September 27, 2010 at 9:18 am

      Thanks, Melissa! That’s a great tip.

Kathy Beymer from Merriment Design
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Join for monthly DIYs, giveaways & exclusives

Recent Posts

Heart alphabet letter handmade Valentine's Day card or valentines artwork

Heart Alphabet Letters Handmade for Valentine’s Day

Dogs and hearts DIY clay magnets clay crafts idea

How to make clay fridge magnets – easy DIY tutorial

Visit my etsy store

  • Ashlee Taylor, etsy purchaserAshlee Taylor, etsy purchaserPhoto Props Editable Sayings Bubbles and Ages Printable

    "Great deal! I was able to custom it and when I had any question, she responded instantly to my messages. You can also use the print outs for other things like the photo booth characters, which is just the cutest idea ever! I highly recommend this shop!"

  • Shannie Lou, etsy purchaserShannie Lou, etsy purchaserPersonalized Frozen-inspired Snowflake Birthday Banner printable

    "Easy to personalize and wonderful crisp image"

  • Melissa Rassi, etsy purchaserMelissa Rassi, etsy purchaserStar Wars Parody Opening Crawl Stair Risers Signs

    "This item is so clever! I knew I had to have it for my son's Star Wars birthday party. The download was simple and easy to modify with my own text changes. The instructions on how to get it printed at FedEx Office were easy to follow. Thank you so much for this great item! Easiest party decoration I ever made!"

  • Monica Mora-Handlos, etsy purchaserMonica Mora-Handlos, etsy purchaserPrintable Super Hero birthday banner and iron-on

    "This was just what I needed to make a superhero shirt for my husband's birthday party. He loved it!! Thanks for the great digital file!"

  • Emma Wilson, etsy purchaserEmma Wilson, etsy purchaserpersonalized construction t-shirt iron on printable PDF

    "Thrilled to bits with my boys personalised birthday party t-shirt! Fantastic design and very clear instructions, thank you."

  • Jen White, etsy purchaserJen White, etsy purchaserpurchased personalized milestone postcards

    "I don't think there is a nicer person in the world to work with! Such a beautiful job and everything explained in detail! Thank you!"

Get Craft & DIY Monthly Emails

[email protected]
xo Kathy
  • Home
  • DIY & Crafts
  • Holidays
  • Birthdays & Parties
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • About
  • Contact

Copyright © 2021 · Merriment Design Co. All Rights Reserved. · Privacy Policy