Family Tree Photo Board

I got the idea for a photo board from a friend and decided to put my own twist on the idea by making a Family Tree photo board. I had a lot of fun doing this and very excited about the end result. Darling Daughter (DD) loves it too... I made it for her. She loves looking at photos and because she doesn't get to see her family very often, it's a good way for her to get to know their faces. She can identify many people. Each of the leaves are attached with Velcro, so DD can pull the pictures off and carry them around the house/show Mummy/Daddy. I love seeing the enjoyment she gets out of the trees.

Unfortunately it wasn't a craft activity that DD was able to help me with, but she benefits from the end result! Hopefully the next crafty thing I do can involve her.

If you are interested in making one of these yourself, I've included instructions and progressive photos below...

Family Tree Photo Board - Instructions

Material Required
- Board paper - 250gsm - green shades and white
- Scissors
- Leaf stencil (I googled one and found this)
- Grey lead pencil
- Family photos
- Glue stick
- Black marker/texter
- Laminator (I picked up a great one at Officeworks for $48, but they have cheaper ones as well)
- Laminator pouches
- Tree silhouette (I googled one and found this)
- Brown crayon (I used a Crayola jumbo)
- Contact (optional)
- Velcro Strips - hook and loop - self adhesive

Instructions
1. Using the leaf stencil and grey lead pencil (I adjusted the size of the leaf in Microsoft Word so that I got the size I wanted), trace the required number of leaves for your family tree onto the pieces of green board paper. Carefully cut each piece out.










2. With each family photo, cut around the people you want and glue them onto the leaf. When gluing them on, make sure you alternate which way the stem of the leaf is facing, so that you don't end up with all the same facing leaves!

3. Using the marker, hand write the name of the people around the photo, on the green leaf.








4. Using the laminator and pouches, laminate each of the leaves. I used A4 pouches and put 2 leaves to a pouch through the laminator, but the size of your leaf will depend on which sized pouch you can/should use. Once the leaves are cooled, cut out the leaves, leaving about 5-10mm gap from the edge of the leaf.









5. Using the tree silhouette, hand draw the outline of the tree on the white board paper with the grey lead pencil. Once you are happy with the outline, draw over the line with the crayon. Then colour in the branches and trunk. I liked the uneven tones the crayon gave, to make the tree look more "woody".

6. This step is optional, but I covered the board paper with contact to give it more protection from grubby hands etc, as well as to help with the adhesion of the Velcro, to ensure the Velcro didn't rip from the paper when a leaf is removed.










7. Cut out strips from both the hook and loops from the Velcro, approximately 5cm (but this will depend on the size of your leaves). Remove the backing from a piece of hook and attach the sticky side down to the leaf. Press firmly. With the loop, remove the backing and place sticky side up so that the Velcro is joined together. Carefully position the leaf on the tree and press firmly to attach. NB: Instead of Velcro, you could attach a magnet to the back of the leaf, but the board you use for the tree would then need to be magnetic as well, or attached to something that is magnetic.

8. Repeat Step 7 until all leaves are attached to the tree.

9. Look back and admire your creation!

10. I attached the tree to a wall using blue tac, but you need to be careful when removing the leaves that it doesn't pull the blue tac off as well. I need to work out a better way to attach to the wall, so if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!