Welcome to day 2 of the 4th Annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop! A few years ago we were looking online for handmade gift ideas and thought it would be great if there was a resource dedicated JUST to handmade gift ideas. Enter the Handmade Holidays hop! We’ve gathered over 100 of our creative blogger friends in the craft industry as well as some of our fellow product manufacturers to bring you a plethora of inspiring gift ideas you can make now to give to your friends, family, and colleagues. Pin and bookmark these ideas for this holiday season and to use throughout the year! Each day of the hop features approximately 30 gift projects and you can “hop” from one blog to another to check them all out.

 

 

DIY “Family Tree” Frame Holder / Jewelry Tree

 

A few years back, my mother found this super cool tree that she puts up at Christmas time – she has ornaments for each member of our family, in the color of each of our birthstones that she hangs on the tree.   I love the sentimetnality of it.  Whats even better about this tree, is that once Christmas is over, she can decorate it with hanging eggs for easter, and small flags for the fourth of July, and with twine for Thanksgiving.   And all the other times of the year, she hangs small silver picture frames on it, as a “Family Tree”.   Its got great versatility for everything from Holidays, to birthdays, and then showing off pictures the rest of the year.   Its a super easy to make, so I put all of the steps together for you below – enjoy and happy gift giving!

Materials Needed:

  • Twigs/branches from nature (or you can use some plastic branches from a craft store) pick a couple with nice full branches
  • Spray paint (any color – for branches)
  • ~1 Cup Plaster of Paris – available at any home improvement store
  • 1 x 9″ Wooden round from Walnut Hollow (available at Michaels, Hobby Lobby)
  • Glitter or glitter paint (if desired)
  • Add some bling to your tree from The Buckle Boutique
  • Jute rope

Step One:

Go in your backyard (or find a park) and grab a couple of small branches with nice full twigs.   I picked these up while Apple picking this fall!

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Step 2:

Put the twigs into the oven at 250 for 3-4 minutes – to kill off anything that might be living in or on the branches.

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Step 3:

Mix a batch of Plaster of Paris.  You want a consistency sort of like pudding – I used about 1 cup Plaster of Paris to 1 cup water, and then added a bit more water as needed until the consistency was right.   Take a paint brush and paint the plaster onto the twigs – this will help provide stability and support to the branches.

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Step 4:

If you’re using more than 1 branch, use tape or wood glue to adhere the base pieces together (these will get repainted and covered with the jute)

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Step 5:

Spray paint the branches white (or your preferred color)

 

 

Step 6:

Use your widest drill bit to drill a hole into your wood slice base.   If you need your hole to be bigger than the drill bit, just move the drill around in small circles to widen the circumference of your opening.

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Step 7:

Mix about 2-3 tablespoons of plaster of paris and put it into the drilled opening, and put your branch base into the wood slice.

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 Step 8:

Take some glitter paint or other accent color paint and have fun with the branches or the base – go crazy!   I added gold glitter paint to the very tips of all the branches.

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Step 9:

Hot glue the jute rope around the base of the twigs, gluing as you go – go as high as you want, making sure you cover any of the tape (if used).

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Step 10

Decorate with some GORGEOUS Bling from The Buckle Boutique and your jewelry box – and enjoy!!

 

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Or, for the more sentimental type – hang up some ornament frames with pictures inside – and make a Family “TREE”!

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Are you ready for lots more creative handmade gift ideas and projects??

Follow along on our blog hop! Simply click on each of the links below to be taken to that post with additional information and photos on how to create a handmade gift project. Have fun and pin away!

Clearsnap

Ellison Educational Equipment

Walnut Hollow

Graphic 45

Hydrangea Hippo

Westcott 

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L 

Rowland Technologies 

Neat and Tangled 

ICE Resin   ‎

Therm O Web

Elizabeth Craft Designs

Pink and Main 

The Buckle Boutique

Clearsnap – Vivian Keh

Ashley Rader – Giddy Upcycled

ICE Resin – Jen Cushman   ‎

Candy Spiegel- Candy Scraps

Graphic 45 – Andrew Roberts

Rina Gonzales – Mothership Scrapbook Gal

Therm O Web – Amanda Niederhauser

Cori Warner – The Flying C

Yana Smakula – My Cardmaking & Scrapbooking

The Buckle Boutique – Shawn Mosch

Eileen Hull Designs – Eileen Hull

Angela Muir – Handmade in the Heartland

Krista Winters – eat, knit & d.i.y.

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L – Erica Houghton

Katie Smith – Punk Projects

Elizabeth Craft Designs – Karen Aicken

Jeanie Hevener – Create & Babble

Ellison Educational Equipment – Hilary Kanwischer 

Fancy Shanty – Stacy Molter

Liz Hicks – Blogerisms

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Follow our Handmade Holidays Gift Ideas Pinterest board for even more inspiration!

Follow Jennifer Priest of RainMaker Media Works + Hydrangea Hippo’s board Handmade Holidays on Pinterest.

A huge thank you to our sponsors for this hop – please visit their blogs below and follow them. And be sure to come back tomorrow for another 30+ amazing Handmade Gift Ideas!

Handmade Holidays 2014 Hop Logo SPONSORS 300dpi

Clearsnap || Ellison Educational Equipment || Walnut Hollow || Graphic45 || Westcott || ICE Resin || Therm O Web || Rowland Industries || Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L || Pink and Main || Elizabeth Craft Designs || The Buckle Boutique || Neat and Tangled

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