Great Gift Idea - Collage Photo Transfer Pillows

Don't throw those fabric scraps away!!!!!!!! I want to show you what can be done with a few snippets and pieces of fabric and trim.....and some family photos.

Use them to make a collage photo transfer pillow! They make great gifts.

Here are some I've made in the past.

This one I gave to my sister for Christmas one year.
 (She's on the right; i'm on the left...aren't we C U T E??)  


Here is my very own technique.
1) Find a photo that you want to use.  Blow it up on your computer/scanner, and print it out on photo paper.
2) Next, cut around the images of the key people or items from the photo...

3) Now, take your cutout and create a tabletop montage of items, backgrounds, etc....you can add lace, flowers, art, anything you want!  You can even take photos of people from different eras and create a collage using them together...........when they may have never been together in real life.......Wow....I'm powerful.  This is 

fun....Manipulating reality. Yeah!!!!!!!!

(For this one,  I actually cut out letters from a magazine, and made a little banner, "sisters forever" then cut around my hand in the photo and slipped the banner beneath it, like I'm holding a sign. Neat, huh?)

4)After you have your montage to your liking, use a digital camera to take photos of the tabletop display.  I like to change things around, cuz you never know what it's going to look like really until you upload the photos...Once you have the photo you like....the real fun begins!!!
5) Manipulate your image, adjust color, crop, etc., and then print it out on photo transfer paper.
6) Following the directions, iron on the image to muslin or other light colored fabric.......Make sure you iron it enough to have the image transfer....peel the backing off.  Then take this piece of fabric, and just start designing your pillow front.........I use beads, charms, pompom fringe, rickrack - whatever you want.  It's also fun to stitch around the figures and then "stuff them" by adding polyfill between the fabric layers.

Here's one I made for a friend who lost her dear pet to cancer.  "Detail earns his wings."

This commissioned pillow features two sisters with their actual mom as a child as well....Here's a pillow I made for a friend's daughter. She found it on Christmas morning in this Princess Chair I made from scratch.  "The Princess is In."



So start snipping.  And have fun!