What to get my dad for a present... This is a dilemma I face each gift giving occasion. The things he likes are way out of my price range and I can only go to the clothes well just so often before I get sick of buying plaid shirts and khaki's. I started thinking about ideas way back in March, but nothing was ringing my bell.
Then I got an inspiration from Wise Craft's new sponsor, Cozy Blue. Her unique family trees are adorable! I thought about getting one of these for dad - he's way into genealogy - but hers only have parents in the middle and kids on the outside. Great for a small family, new birth, or Mother's Day but a little too cutesy for my corporate father. Plus somehow I thought he'd be disappointed with such little posterity shown.
I perused Etsy, but nothing really hit it. So, I made him a family tree of my own. I drew the tree and scanned it into the computer. I don't have Photoshop so using my paint program I filled the tree with black and added our family name. I then printed the image using a high quality setting onto thick watercolor paper, which is fast becoming my favorite craft paper. I tried to add the names with the paint program, but couldn't position them how I wanted, so I wrote the names by hand. There's nothing that adds more individuality than handwriting. It offers a bit of who I am to the picture.
I kept it tight as far as family goes - just dad and mom, my family, and my sister's. With all the genealogy my dad has uncovered it would have taken years to make the whole family tree, not to mention it would have been the size of Texas. But this way, it focuses on the part he had to play in our heritage and it is a reasonable size (8 x 10).
The frame I bought to put it in really makes the whole thing. The large width, color, and grain of the wood fit right in with the tree-ish-ness of the whole thing. I'm having to restrain myself from driving over this very minute and giving it to him early. And you know how I feel about giving presents early! I'm just so excited about this one.
You can click on any picture to see it bigger.
