Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas Ornaments

The annual ornament exchange has taken place this year. I was extremely pleased with how my ornaments turned out this year. And I am extremely grateful to my husband who cut all the blocks for me.

These definitely stretched my limited painting skills to their max. I wasn't sure if I could transfer the ideas I had drawn onto the ornament, but I definitely like the way they turned out.



All the ornaments lined up.


The finished products. On the back of each of the ornaments is a spot for a 3x3 picture of family. I kept the "Ho, Ho, Ho" one for myself.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
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Friday, December 18, 2009

A family tree

I recently moved across the country with my husband and we are now living 2,500 miles away from our families and it is a little hard at times. I have been feeling a desire recently to make some kind of family tree. I wanted it to be something that I could put in a frame and see everyday, rather than something that gets filed away in a book. For a long time I couldn't find anything I liked. I didn't want to do a basic pedigree chart - how boring! - but I couldn't find any other way to do it. Then, one day while surfing blogs, I found this tutorial for a family tree on Sutton Grace.

The one on this blog was a little too big for what I was wanting to make, but it was PERFECT! So, I used the pattern to create a much smaller one of my own. The pattern was for a 19" x 22" tree, and that wasn't going to fit in our new place, so I made a 12" x 12". I love it. So, without further ado, here is the finished product.


I really wanted a blue background, and I really like the way the colors turned out. The men are in green and women are in yellow.



A close up of one of the branches


The trunk


The final framed product. I don't suck this badly at taking pictures, I just didn't feel like blurring out every single name on the tree, so I just blurred the whole picture :) Oh, and yes, I realize that some of the names get blocked by the frame, I'll be fixing it soon.

I am going to be making a few more of these trees, and when I do, I will be changing a few things about the tree base. I am overall really pleased with it but there are just a few adjustments I'll make so it is even more perfect.

I hope you (all two of you that still read this :) enjoyed my family tree. I am thrilled with how it turned out.
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