think about it Thursday...

Today I am thinking about....finally sharing some of the fun Christmas gifts I made...

Oh what a wonderful holiday it was!! I hope that each of you had a holiday filled with family, fun, and food!

I was able to make this with a dear friend who is also oozing with craftiness...isn't crafting with friends so much better than doing it alone?

On the Mr's side of the family there are an ever growing group of cousins. So each year the cousins switch names and give to one cousin. All of the Mr's family lives in Georgia so we don't get to see them very often. I made the cutest Memory Matching game with the faces of family so that they can remember the "faraway cousins" aka my kids, faces!

First step was to collect individual pictures of the people I wanted in each set. Each set was custom to the family. Example: One game had: all 6 people in my family, grandma, grandpa, and that all the people in that particular family. My friend also made this game and she did everyone on that entire side of the family. So depending on how big of a game you want will help determine who's pictures you include. I then took the pictures and made them about 2.5 x 2.5 inches each and in Photoshop Elements placed 2 pictures on a 4x6 picture for easy printing. We then created in PE a top for each game piece. Then placed 2 on a 4x6. Each game will have a "match" of each person. So 2 pictures and 2 tops of each for each game. ( oh boy is this getting wordy...let me know if any of this doesn't make sense...I will totally clarify)


Next we headed to our local home improvement store and found the perfect wood for our project. We wanted each memory tile to be out of wood. We found these strips of poplar wood.
They were 1/4 in x 3 x 4.

Here is a long shot of what to look for:

We then had my friends Mr. cut the wood strips into 3 inch tiles. Since the wood was already 3 inches in width it was pretty simple. Next step was to sand the wood tiles.

Next step is to print and cut out all of your pictures and tile tops. Then it is time to whip out the beloved Mod Podge. Place a thin layer of MP over the top of a tile. Place your picture in the center of each tile. Let dry. Repeat with each picture. Then place a layer of MP over the top of each picture to seal the picture to the tile. Repeat both steps with the tile toppers. So in the end each tile will have a picture of a family member on one side and a common tile top on the other.

Next we found these super cute boxes at Roberts Craft and Hobby Lobby. We loved the brown crafty color. We created a box topper in PE to match the tile tops and used MP to adhere it to the lid using the same steps as above.

We also created the game rules and used MP to adhere it to the inside of the lid.

Have you ever had a picture in your mind of what you want a project to look like? In my experience projects never quite look like they do in my mind...until this one...This one looked exactly like I wanted it to!


It was such a fun project to work on and an even funner gift to give.

What can you make to tighten those bonds with far away family...?

Think about it...