Making A Family Photo Tree...

I was lost on what to get my grandma for her birthday this year... since it is so close to Christmas I decided to make her a family photo Christmas tree.

My grandparents used to deck the halls every Christmas season from top to bottom. We always had an adult tree in the living room and a kids tree in the family room. For years my entire family would gather at my grandparents on Christmas Eve and stay the night to wake up the next day to celebrate Christmas morning. Over the years, as our family grew larger we outgrew my grandparents house. My grandparents stopped decking the halls from top to bottom and no longer put up the two trees.

We now celebrate the Christmas holiday at my house. My grandparents were nice enough to hand me down a lot of their old outdoor Christmas decor that they had handmade throughout the years when I asked them for it and I absolutely cherish it all.

I decided to make the tree because I wanted to give them something back in return, that they could enjoy throughout the Christmas season.

I used a wood M cutout for their last name and peacock feathers as a topper. The peacock feathers reminded me of the farm.

I purchased a 4' tree at Family Dollar, it was on sale for $10, and a box of 100 lights. I then picked up flocking in a can to add to the tree. I LOVE flocked trees. I stopped at my local art supply store and found burlap on sale for only $2 a yard and a yard was plenty. I cut the burlap into 3 - 4" strips and wrapped it around the tree like garland. I also added some country lace as garland.

I used scrapbooking paper, scrapbooking scissors and tags to create the frames for my photos.

Tacky Glue was the best thing for me to use to glue the paper pieces and photos together, although you don't want to use a lot of glue, a little goes a long way..

After I got all my pieces glued together I then coated them with Mod Podge using a sponge brush. This will seal all the pieces together and give it a texture.

I punched holes in the top of my paper frames with a hole punch and then threaded twine through to create a loop, then tied in a knot.

This is how they turned out. I made about 25-30 of them and that seemed to be enough to cover the 4' tree.

This was a pretty inexpensive project and I had a lot of fun making it... it brought back lots of family memories. <3

Growing Up On My Grandparents Farm

There are so many reason why I LOVE my grandparents farm. The memories my family has created there for over 27 years, are absolutely priceless to me.

We moved there Thanksgiving of 1984, when I was two years old. My grandparents reside there to this day.

Growing up, we had every animal imaginable, from horses to peacocks. They only animal my grandparents never homed was a cow... not sure why. Every animal we had were pets to us. Imagine growing up having 3 horses over a dozen turkeys, 6-8 goats, 30 or more rabbits, over a dozen chickens and ducks, 6 peacocks, pigs, potbelly pigs, 10-20 cats and 3 dogs all as pets... It was so much fun! I imagine it wasn't as much fun for my grandparents and mom, who had to take care of them, but I always had something to play with..lol.

The farm has changed over the years... The animals have sense moved on, but the beauty and character of the farm still remains.

I will always consider the farm home.

The view from the front porch of the house.

Present Day

The Outhouse

Present Day

The fence leading into the horse field.

Present Day.

The gate leading into the field.

Present Day

One of our horses Roo... shorter for Rooster because my grandma said I could pronounce Rooster when I was little.

The puppies and the hen and rooster house back in the day.

My horse trainer Bryan.. I think I had a little crush on him back then...lol

The duck house years ago, before we had ducks.

My first time on our horse Cotton with my grandpa.

Grandma and her favorite horse Taffy.

Grandpa and Cotton

The ducks and their pool..

The duck house

Present Day

The back field behind the barn many years ago.. we always loved going sledding back there.

The back of the barn

Present Day

The End.