My sisters and I made these family picture boards for my parents one year for Christmas. It is now hanging in their entry way. Can you tell we made it a few years ago?
My fifth child is missing along with a few other cousins! So we need to update it. My mom has been waiting patiently! Oh…and I need to point out the blank black space hanging under my brother’s family…his wife was pregnant at the time…and well…she is now three and has yet to be put on the family picture board! But it is the thought that counts right?
So mom, if you are reading this…SUPRISE! We are updating this for you for Christmas! I know…we’re the best :)
It was pretty simple. We just took some nice wood (in the form of 1 x 4’s) and figured out how long each piece needed to be per family. We did this by printing each photo of everyone out and laying them down the wood with the same spacing and then determining where the length needed to be cut. The photos were 4 inches x 4 inches.
I took pictures of everyone so that they were all shot on the same angle and from about the same distance so they were uniform (or as close as possible with a bunch of kids). Then printed them out at COSTCO in black and white.
Then simply paint or stain your wood. Then we Mod Podged the photos onto the wood. Then we took a curtain rod and drilled it into the wall. We hung each picture board on a nail after centering them under the curtain rod and them tied bows so that it appears as if the boards are hanging from the curtain rod (similar to how I hung my daughter’s name here).
This project is really so simple! What do you think? Do you have a favorite present you gave your parents for Christmas?
★Amy
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Camilla Jones (CioCo Photography) says
such a great project!! I love all your ideas really. how big were the pictures, or about how wide the wood?
http://rosyredbuttons.blogspot.com
This is SO cute!! I agree, what size pictures and width of wood? I would love to make this for my mom!
SUPER idea! I have a family of 10 and 46 grandkids and would love to make it work for my parents! Would love to know the pic sizes and wood. It looks like 1 x 4?
Oh, I was so relieved when I read that you modge podged the pictures onto the wood. It looks like individual frames so I knew I was going to give up at that point. But modge podged? That's a project I cold attempt. Thanks! It is beautiful
Those are great! I love them. They certainly take up less space than having full size portraits covering the walls. My mom would love that.
I'm inspired to make one now! I'll make one for my parents and for each of my sisters and myself. We've each started our own family so this is great! Thanks so much for the wonderful idea!
I love this idea. What a neat way to incorporate the entire family. Now if only our extended family was bigger (I'm an only child).
I love this!! I want to make one!! My mom died in 2001. My sisters were very close to her and I wanted to make them something that they would really appreciate. I wrote a poem titled "Like Mother, Like Daughter". The first couple lines of the poem read "A Mother and Daughter stand together, living, loving, enjoying each other", so I found pictures of them standing with my mom while laughing and enjoying the moment. I used scrapbook paper to make a pretty background page to showcase the pics and poem. They loved it!!
LOVE this idea! Even though our family isn't very large yet (I'm the oldest and only one with kids so far), I'd love to do something similar to this for our own home… maybe with three or four pics of each of us making different faces (photo booth style). Thanks for sharing!!
Love this! I can picture where my mom would put it in her house…how great would it be to have Christmas for next year already planned!?
Our family is still in *expanding* mode, so I thought maybe I could adapt by making individual squares w/ holes drilled in and connected by wire to make the additions easier.
Thanks for the great idea!
Hi! Did you ever make this project? I am doing it for Christmas this year and want to do the individual blocks connected with wire but can’t figure out how to make it work! Any tips? I am using thin wood blocks (like 1/2 inch thick).
Ever since I was about 13 my mum has insited I make her gifts. I'm allot older than that now and still give only handmade. you'd think I'd runout of ideas but no. I do have to admit that the crafts and passions have changed over the years so my mum has received a variety of arts and crafts.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
that is really really cute! you know i love pictures!
What a great idea, I love it! I am thinking how I can make this work for my parents, or I may just hold on to it for my own house!
love idea!! i m sure my mom will love it!!!!!
What a fabulous idea! Love it! Thanks for the great idea. I love pictures and finding new ways to display them.
Absolutely adore this! I have a rod thats been outside on my porch with no purpose until now…I just have to try this! Is it alright to link this to my page? (Im new @ this)
I just finished up my arrangement and got it hung for my parents. They LOVED it. Thanks soooo much for the tutorial.
I posted a blog about it and would love for you to see it.
http://somewhereincraftland.blogspot.com/2011/01/all-because-he-ate-his-cabbage.html
Bonnie :D
This is wonderful! After reading this, I just emailed all of my 7 brothers and sisters to send me pics of their family asap so I can get this done for my Dad in time for Christmas. This is something so special that I know he will love… thanks for the inspiration!
I love this and cannot wait to do it myself.
I love it! Where do you come up with this stuff?
I love this. Im going to make one for my birthday… and extras for my children. Thank you so much.
By the way I already linked it to my pinterest board before I read your copyright. Is pinterest ok? Otherwise i will take it off.
Thanks again for your great ideas
Tania
Great project idea! It is featured today on One Good Craft- http://onegoodcraft.blogspot.com.
I absolutely love this idea. I am going to make one for my family room!
I think this is absolutely fabulous and I am going to make it for my Dad for Christmas this year. We lost Mom 10/17/2010; I plan to put a picture of he and mom above the hanging to show what they started when they said “I Do”. They ended up with 9 children, 9 grandchildren and currently 4 great-grandchildren. I know Dad will love this! One question though, could you give me an idea of how far back you stood from the ‘subjects’ when you took the pictures? You said you did them uniformly and I am going to have to email instructions to 4 siblings who live close to the East coast (the rest of us are in the Dallas, TX Metroplex).
Please help. We stained wood then tried doing it with a reg printed pic and nothing. So then we printed the pics on thin paper and Mod podge and they didn’t transfer…help please!!
Wait, WHAT!!! You guys really are the best? I’m so excited!!