My Austin BFF’s son turned one in August, and I thought it would be fun to put together some personalized coloring books just for him. They’re coming to visit us in FL soon! (Remember the beach inspired baby shower last summer.) This is a slightly selfish gift because I don’t want the little one to forget us. This way at least he can scribble all over our faces!
Here’s what you need:
- picasa picture editing program (it’s free)
- digital pictures
- cardstock
- printer
- thread, needle, thimble (a hotel sewing kit works perfectly)
- glue
- scissors
- binder clips
There are lots of online sites that say they turn pictures into coloring sheets. If you have photo shop, here is a great tutorial for making coloring pages.’ I tried a few of them without much luck, and deicded to stick with Picasa. It’s a free photo editing program by google (download for free here). Some pictures took more editing them others, and I made all of my coloring pages vertical. Here are a few tips to try in picasa if your not happy wit hyoru coloring page.
- up the highlights and the fill light
- up the shadows
- put picture in black and white before you use the pencil sketch feature
- try lots of different pictures, less detailed pictures work better
Picasa makes printing your pictures super easy. I just printed the pictures in black and white onto card stock. Figuring out how to put the card stock in your printer to print on both sides is trickier. I put a pencil arrow in the upper right hand corner to figure that out. I used materials I already had on hand to bind my coloring book. My book is only 8 pages including the front and back covers. I made the cover in a word document. The title is an Andy special. It’s an inside joke between him and Natalia’s husband, Ryan. Anywho… First, bend each page about a quarter of an inch…
Use a pencil to mark where the holes will be…
Then, I used a needle and thick towel (a thimble would work wonders) to make the holes. Hotel sewing kits always come in handy (and save time)! After the holes are punched, sew your pages together.
I used Elmer’s glue to glue the pages together and secure the bind. I let it dry over night with the binder clips to secure the bind.
The next morning, I used a piece of card stock to cover the sewn/glued binding. Use the binder clips to secure the strip of card stock. And there you have it, a bound personalized coloring book!
I love that the coloring book stays open flat on the table. Here are a few more pages…
Have you ever turned a picture into a pencil sketch? Does the title, Color me Goodd, make any sense to you? Andy swears other people will get it. Do you save hotel sewing kits like me? I love not having to thread a needle. Do you love to color yourself? I do. I’m not a huge crayon fan though. I prefer colored pencils and markers and I love black ball point pens. If your my IRL friend and you have a kiddo, expect a personalized coloring book in your future!
Greetings! I’ve been following your site for some time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from New Caney Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the great job!
Hi neighbor! Thanks for the shout out 🙂
That is adorable. What an awesome gift idea for the little ones!
Might even be fun for adults (or at least me!) 😉
This is such a cool idea! I love that it is personal yet so inexpensive to make. I’ve never seen this before and now I want to make one. My daughter is really into coloring books right now and this would be the prefect thing for us to make together. Thanks for such a great idea and linking up to Happy Hour!
how cute is this? what a great idea…thank you so much for sharing this with us and helping us inspire at our first HAPPY HOUR FRIDAY linky party…it means a great deal…xo
Very cool idea!! Found you at Happy Hour with Design, Dining, and Diapers
This is so cool!! Oh, and I totally got the title reference too 🙂 Haha, I’m guessing we are close in age! I LOVE this idea, and think I will try to put one together for my 4-year-old’s birthday. Thanks so much!
Absolutely adorable Jamie!!! How sweet!!
GENIUS idea! Love it! I need to make this for my son. Thanks, Jamie!
Well how darn cute is that?! I LOVE this idea! Thank you so much for the great inspiration!!! I can’t want to have babies so I can do fun things like this with them!!!
Jaime
When we finally do have babies… I feel like it will open a whole new crafting gate! Until then, I craft for my friends kids 🙂
Cool! What an awesome gift. I am sure he will love it. 😉
Thanks for sharing this in time to think about Christmas. My kids will love putting something together for their younger cousins.
That would be a great gift! I’d love to see pictures 😉
what a great idea!
Brilliant! I love this idea. I have a baby on the way and have been pinning all sorts of ideas of big kid activities. This will be top of my list, for sure!
Love love love this idea! Had to pin it to make it one of these days. My kids are too old for coloring books, but lots of my younger cousins would absolutely LOVE this for a birthday! Thank you so much for putting this tutorial together!
Thanks for pinning 😉
This is an awesome idea!! Thanks!
amaizing idea for a present very cool xxxx
love your blog xxx
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http://babyemilycloset.blogspot.co.uk/
that’s great! i must remember it for when i become a mom!
I totally didn’t know about the song haha sorry Andy! And I wish we were IRL friends so my kids could have a coloring book like this haha!
This is seriously adorable! My daughter would go crazy over this : )
Color Me Badd, one of the all time greatest R&B groups of the 90s?! ha! Oh and my twitter handle is colormejesss so they’re obviously still influencing people all over the place 😉
I love this idea so much! Maybe one day when I actually sit down and MAKE something, I’ll make this for my daughter!
haha! I’m happy you get it 🙂 Andy made me listen to the song and it’s not exactly kid appropriate!