Christmas Gift...

So, I know I was telling you all that I had was working on a Christmas gift that I couldn't show you-until after the Holiday...so here it is. Now, I am aware that these photos aren't very wonderful, but these little people were hard to photograph!This is a "family tree" I made for my parents for Christmas. I gave them a large galvanized steel magnet board(this summer while I was in the states) to hang in their house, and told them that the second part of their gift would come at Christmas. We have 9 kids in our family and 8 of us are married, there are currently 39 grandchildren-my baby will make 40 in February! And, there is one great grand child...so there are a bundle of us!! It was really fun to make everyone...it was a very fun project.

This first photo is one of everyone finished...yippy!!


This second photo is just a close up to show you the details...



I love the versitlity of this All in the Family stamp set, by Stampin' Up! I loved the ablity to personalize hair, etc....so FUN!! I made the first "generation" people with all the same dresses/clothes. Then I made all the grandkids the same also, and the great granchildren will all be the same too. I decided that I might as well have each family color coordinate...just to make it look better...and I really like how it turned out!

I stamped the people with my Stamp-a-ma-jig(I seriously love that tool!!) and can I tell you how fast it made this project go? Each person was 5 stamps..at least, and the ma-jig really moved the process along quickly. Sorry for the lost track...I stamped them in black staz-on(I love the smell of that so much!!). Then after everyone was accounted for, I started coloring. I actually began my coloring spree with the ties on the men. I used an aquapainter and SU watercolor crayons for all the coloring. I haven't used those watercolor crayons much...but I was SO glad I had them for this project...they gave just the color I was looking for. I did add a little "bling" to each of the girls' dresses with a Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Glitter Pen. I love that little detail(and so did my 3 yr old daughter!).

After everyone was colored, I used some Karen Foster Snap Stamps and stamped everyone's name under their feet. This was the most time consuming part of the whole project-but I'm glad I did it! I wanted everyone to be a little bit thicker thank just one sheet of paper, so I mounted everyone on black cardstock. I didn't cut a border at all, I just wanted it to give them all some stability. Then I laminated them and cut them all out and attached a magnet to the back of them! Now my mom's job is to figure out how to line everyone up! On Christmas when they opened them it was so fun to watch my kids telling them who was who, and then we put everyone on the table and put all the families together...it was a lot of fun!

AS I was finishing cutting them out, my kids started "playing" with them and had SO much fun with them!! It was fun for them to ask me which cousin they were playing with, and then have a conversation with that cousin included! I think since we live so far away right now, it is so fun for them to keep connected to our family...so, I'm going to start a set of these for myself. My kids have a big whiteboard in their playroom...how fun would it be to tell stories and play with these people on a magnetic board?!! I've got a lot of ideas for what to do with these little people!! I told my family that I was thinking of taking orders for individual families...and I've already got several who want them! So, it looks as though I'm going to be making many more happy people!! Hey, if you're interested in ordereing a set for yourself...let me know! I'd be happy to do that!

So, there is my family tree..I'd love to hear what you think about it! Hope you have a great day!! Oh, guess what? The mail man brought me my new Lizzie Anne Designs stamps yesterday!! They are all some of their new winter release...I'm so excited to start playing with them!! Stay tuned for some new samples!!