Cross stitch family portrait

This project has been on my to do list since before Christmas when I saw custom family embroidery creations all over the internet. I remember learning how to cross stitch when I was about 10. I was a child of the 80's after all and we cross stitched everything! I hadn't picked up a needle and embroidery floss in nearly 20 years but I remembered how to do it right away.

All three of my kids know that I make things. I create and I craft but rarely do they take the time to appreciate the things that I make. Usually I will get a grunt or a courtesy "that's nice mom" but this time, I got a much better reaction from this little cross stitch family. The kids loved it! All three of them at different times saw it and commented on how great it was. It's sort of like when you see yourself in a picture, you always look at yourself first before focusing on the other people or things in the image. The kids loved the glasses on my husband. They mentioned the long sleeve waffle shirt under his t-shirt {a staple my husband wears often}. They noticed the dog and their clothes. My oldest son loves to dress up so I put him in a suit. So very fitting. They just all around appreciated the work that I put into this project and I loved making it.

It was really easy to create. It did take some time. I worked on it a few minutes at a time here and there, but it was an easy mindless project I could work on while watching TV. I can't wait to show you how you can make your very own custom cross stitch family!

Supplies you will need to make your own cross stitch family portrait:
graph paper
embroidery floss in several different colors
scissors
needle
colored pencils
embroidery cloth

Martha Stewart was kind enough to offer some clip art patterns of people that you can use as a guide. I did just that, using it as a guide more than using them completely. I used some graph paper to draw my guide and used my colored pencils to fill in what color embroidery floss I would be using on each part. Keep in mind the various heights of the children, the size of their feet {my younger two kids had only two squares for their shoes, the rest of us had three}, and the eye spacing {there are four squares between the adults and three squares in the kids}.

I actually bought some embroidery fabric at the Goodwill Outlet {remember, you pay by the pound, so it ended up not being very expensive} and I had some embroidery floss on hand. I only had to buy four new colors of floss that I didn't have in my stash, so overall this was a really inexpensive craft for me.

I decided to frame it in a chunky wood frame and set it on our mantel.

Isn't it so much fun to have our own cross stitch family portrait?

You should make your own. It's such a fun project. And now I'm wondering, what else I should cross stitch because I'm back on the wagon!