Quick Gift Idea: Family Portrait

Jeni says:

This year, my husband, kids, inlaws and I went to Flordia for Christmas. We spent the better part of the year planning the trip, and went for 11 days, returning on the 23rd of December. During the planning stages, my mother in law asked me to design 'group t-shirts' for us to wear in Disney World. So I came up with this design. It is very easy to make, and can be used in numerous ways. You dont have to be an artist to draw it out, and you dont have to be crafty to get the design onto the shirt. Just follow these steps below and you will be finished in no time.
I have two examples you can look at to draw from, or make up your own people designs. We wore our Christmas shirts on the Disney Cruise ship, and the Mickey Mouse shirts to Disney world, and got piles of complements on both sets.

I also printed out the Christmas design, and framed it for my Inlaws for Christmas. There are alot of things you can do with this idea. You can do birthday party shirts for kids parties, wedding party shirts for wedding showers, group tshirts for vacations, or frame them for gifts. How about a wedding party drawn in thier wedding colors and framed into a wide matted frame for guests at a wedding to sign? or a group drawing for a retiring co-worker?

Our Photo as we boarded the ship!

How to:

1. Start with an 8x10 sheet of printer paper. If your design is bigger than this, it will not fit on the kids size shirts. Lay the paper horizontally, and draw a line with a ruler about 2 inches from the bottom of the page.
2. Measure the height of each person and draw a line where the top of each head should be.The adults should be the same height, to indicate they are adults. Children`s heights should be drawn according to age, not actual height. Babies will be smallest, then toddlers/preschoolers, then children under ten, and children over ten.
3. Draw the heads as a circle shape, and should take up 1/3 of the allotted space. Next draw in the boddies in a rectangular shape, branching off the bottom of the head. Arms and legs are sticks with a small loop to indicate hands and feet.
4. Once the heights and base shapes are finishes, lightly sketch over to add the faces, hair, and clothing. The simpler you make these, the neater your design will be. You can dress your characters up for a special occassion, as I have done with the Christmas shirt, or try to reflect each person's style.  Just remember, it doesnt have to be perfect... it is suppose to look like a child drew it!
5. When you are happy with your design, trace over the final lines with a black marker. Then cover the page with another sheet of paper, and trace the entire design onto the new sheet. This will give you a nice clean copy with no eraser marks or pencil lines.
6. Add the lettering. Do it free hand if you have neat printing... but I opened a word document, chose a font I liked, typed out my wording, and traced it onto my final copy. Remember to label each person with their name.
7. You have three options on this step:
                    a) color the picture with markers or crayons.
                    b) scan the picture, open the file in photoshop (or your paint program) and color the                    picture with the fill tool.
                    c) leave the design black and white and let the kids color it with fabric markers.
8. Flip the design to the mirror immage. I did it on photoshop but most photo programs will let you do this, as will alot of printers. You have to do this, or your transfer will print backward on your shirt.
9. Print the design onto the iron on transfers. Then follow the instructions on the transfer package.