Fabric Paper Glue: Shower Details - Family Tree Shadowbox

I made several gifts for my friend Sarah, who is expecting her first child in June. Even though it required the least amount of work (and money), I think my favorite project was a family tree shadowbox.

Prior to the shower, I had secretly reached out to both Sarah's mother and mother-in-law to get pictures of Sarah and her husband Adam for a potential project or display at the shower. They kindly sent me some adorable baby pictures of not only Sarah and Adam but also of themselves and their husbands. I knew that I had to do something with these little treasures.

I'm not sure where I first saw it, but I had recalled seeing an adorable family tree shadowbox by Martha Stewart. I still can't seem to find it on Martha Stewart's website, but I was able to track it down on another blog.

Martha Stewart via Poppytalk

I began with a simple white shadowbox that I picked up from Michael's. With a sale and a coupon, I was able to nab it for under $10.

Before jumping in, I got all my pieces ready.

First, I made a sheet of the photos in Microsoft Word, applying a sepia tone to all and cropping each to a circle (which are both functions available in newer versions of Word). I printed these off on photo paper. I also printed out all the needed names in a fun font (Japan, free from Dafont.com) on green cardstock.

Next, I punched out the photos with my circle punch (but can just as easily be cut out) and cut

the leaves out.

For added stability, I pasted each photo to a circle of cardstock.

To give some dimension to the leaves, I folded the the plain ones in half. To get a clean fold, I suggest scoring first with the non-sharp side of an Xacto knife blade.

Finally, I picked up a twig in our courtyard.

Once disassembled, using spray adhesive I covered the back of the shadowbox with some light blue fabric and trimmed to size. No need to worry about the edges. The frame covers that up.

Next, I assembled everything using hot glue. First, the twig. Then, the photos, which I mounted on little squares of foam board, and finally, the leaves. Since Brooks has not yet joined us, I left a blank circle for Sarah to add a photo to later.