Family Tree

Genealogy work is something that lots of people are doing these days. It’s really neat to find out who you are through your relatives and it’s important to make sure no one’s forgotten through time. It is something that’s great to do with family members, too, so for the extra idea, might I suggest spending time with your giftee and doing some research about their family tree.

Even if you don’t know your family tree very far back, this gift is great for the immediate family in your life. If you don’t have a big family, include several pictures of each member, friends or places that are special to you and yours.

Stores like Hallmark have little kits that have the picture frames and wire tree stands ready to go and all you have to do is print off the pictures and insert them into the frames. You use wallet-sized images and it's a very regal way to present family photos.

I thought long and hard about what kind of tree to make for this project because I wanted to make those little trees....I still haven’t come up with anything that doesn't involve a soldering iron or bandsaw. But then when I was looking at the Christmas tree I thought, “How neat would it be to have ornaments for your tree with different portraits of your family members?”

So today’s project is a picture frame ornament to put family photos in.

Picture Frame:

Materials and Supplies:

~ Sturdy cardboard or matboard

~ Box cutter or Xacto knife

~ Felt or thin quilting batting

~ Material

~ Scissors

~ Glue

~ Ruler

~ Tape

~ Photographs

Directions:

1. Measure and cut the cardboard pieces. There’s a front and back to the frame so there should be two pieces that are the same size—say 5” by 5”—and one of those should have a hole cut out of it. If you want a circle, trace around a glass. If you’re using a 4 x 6 photo, don’t cut the hole bigger than 3.75” x 5.75” (of course, if your frame is on 5” x 5”, your measurements will be smaller!). It’s a good rule to leave about an inch of frame around the picture so the hole will be about 3” x 3”.

2. Cut batting or felt to the size of the front frame, cutting out the hole just the same. Use a dot of glue in a few places to keep it in place.

3. Lay a piece of fabric right side down on the table. Make sure it’s bigger than the frame on all sides, about one inch all around is good. Place the frame batting side down on the material. Trace all around the outside edge and around the frame opening.

4. Cut the aperture out of the fabric. Make sure you leave about an inch of material so that you can tuck the material back around the frame, make it nice and pretty.

5. Glue the material onto the frame. Place it back within the guidelines and carefully pull the material snug as you go.

6. Glue material onto the back piece of matboard. Follow the same process of laying the material right side down on the table, place the board on top of it and glue the edges to the board.

7. Tape the photograph to the front piece of matboard so you know it’s secure and won’t go anywhere.

8. Glue the back board to the front board. Don't forget to glue in a piece of ribbon to hang it from!

Extra idea?

If you’re using photographs of relatives that have amazing stories, create a companion book to go with the ornaments that you can read for years to come.

Pretty Wrappings: Not Just for Presents

This craft is super easy and you only need two supplies—t-shirts and transfers. I absolutely love cute these. I think I’ve made more shirts for people than any other craft on my list because it’s something they can use and it doesn’t take too much time to make—no art skills required!

One of the things I really love about this project is that you don’t have to make a t-shirt. This can be done with any cotton object like a canvas bag, apron, hat or pillow case (You can get these at a craft store). I once made a canvas bag for my grandma and used a picture of all of us. I’ve made shirts for movie openings and for halloween costumes. There really is no end to what you can do with this project.

You only need the two things for the gift but you also need a computer with an ink jet printer. It’s important when you get the transfers to read the back; it’ll say what type material you can use the transfers on and the finished feel of the transfer. Some are softer than others but are more expensive. Others are for dark material. Just read the instructions. :)

The great thing is you can pick up the transfers in the office supply area at discount stores so you don’t have to venture into a craft store if you don’t have one. The great thing about the transfers is they have software which will "flip" or "mirror" the image. The image has to print backwards, like a mirror image, so when you iron it onto the object it's facing the right direction. Make sense? Okay, here are the instructions.

One of a Kind T-Shirts:

Materials and Supplies:

~ T-Shirt

~ Iron on transfers

~ Computer with ink jet printer

~ Scissors

~ Iron

~ Pillow case

Directions:

1. Plan out what you what to use. Truly, the sky is the limit for this. But this is where I must insist not to use any picture that is copyrighted or isn’t your property. And if you quote someone, make sure to include their name. :)

Family pictures really are amazing. But how about a twist? Maybe pictures of everyone at a certain age or with the grandparents. If you have the time, take pictures of each of the kids or grandkids. Depending on how many you have, have them hold up a letter or word in the picture so they spell something out.

Do a collage of the best memories of your time together. Your first date, your first Christmas tree, you first house.

Do you have a funny saying that only the two of you understand?

Remember, it doesn’t have to be a t-shirt. Maybe a new apron with little gingerbread men for holiday time. Or a catch all bag to take to church on Sunday.

2. Follow the instructions on the package—really, I couldn’t explain it any better than they do. :)

Extra idea?

If you’re worried they’ll never wear your beautiful creation out in public, gift it with a super warm and soft pair of pajama bottoms.

These are so easy to make, maybe make them two!

If you’re making them a bag of some sort, pre-pack it with whatever they may need for its purpose. Chapstick, gum, notepad, pen. Plus, you can make it extra special with tomorrow’s fun craft!