How to Create a Family Tree Display

Family trees can also become artwork for display.

Tracing heritage and roots is an important part of maintaining and exploring familial identity. Discovering family hardships helps children to understand the importance of struggle and gain a better appreciation for their current situation. With a family tree, information gathered from online databases and family interviews is translated into a visual image that is easy for all family members to understand. Although family tree displays are often created as school assignments, a well-crafted display will document family history for future generations.

Things You'll Need

• USB drive
• Paint (optional)
• Small paintbrush
• Craft cutting mat
• Craft knife
• Gold craft paint
• Felt-tip marker or ballpoint pen
• Craft glue
• Ruler
• Large frame (optional)

Instructions

1. Gather family information through actual documents. This information is sometimes found in family Bibles, which often have a family birth record in the front. Homemade antique quilts will occasionally be embroidered with family names. Old correspondence may have names of relatives as well. Interviewing family members gives you a starting point for research and helps you answer questions about unfamiliar discovered names. Other historical information is also available through many online databases, as well as state documents. Announcements for graduation, births, military records, deaths and other legal references can provide additional names.

2. Keep careful notes of all the uncovered information. Much of the information, although valuable and surely interesting, will be unnecessary in a family tree display. Depending on how many offspring each aunt or uncle had, excessive data leads to an "overgrown" tree. Keep all the information stored for future reference, but there is no need to display the offspring of every ancestor. Keep the tree simple on a small scale, with each branch depicting one set of parents and their offspring.

3. Locate a shaded tree outline online in your preferred style. The tree needs to be large enough to contain the amount of family members you intend to use. Smaller branches within the tree are unnecessary, as the name tags will become the tree's limbs. Save the outline to a USB drive. Alternatively, draw or paint your own image on paper to fit the frame, if you are artistically inclined.

4. Find small templates to serve as name tags on the tree. These can be found in the scrapbook section of your local craft supply store. Alternatively, many templates are available online.

5. Print the tree design, if you haven't drawn it freehand. It should be large enough to contain all the familial information or to fit the exact dimensions of your picture frame, if using one. Print out the needed amount of templates as well.

6. Lay the name tag templates on a craft cutting mat and cut them out with a craft knife. Paint the edges of the templates with gold paint and a small paintbrush. Allow the edges to dry.

7. Write the names of each member of the family tree on each template face in your best handwriting. Larger tags should be used for recent names, while smaller tags should be used higher up in the tree for ancestors. Allow the ink to dry completely.

8. Apply a small amount of craft glue to the back of the first name tag, which is the youngest member of the family and the starting point of the tree. Place the name tag on the lower part of the tree trunk. If there are siblings, set the name tags evenly, side-by-side.

9. Add glue to the next name tags, which are the parents of the first name tag level. Place them on the lowest branches, using a ruler to line up the pair of names. Use this same process for all the names, creating as much space between the layers of names as desired. Encase the family tree into a frame when completely dry, if desired.

Tips & Warnings

• Tip 1: Follow up with Elders Once you've determined the accuracy of the data, contact the relative you interviewed to tell them what you've found. Many times Senior citizens will remember something relevant to your research.

• Tip 2: Get more bang for your buck! When seeking out the best Printers, be sure to research that company's history on the Better Business Bureaus web page. www.bbb.org

• None

References

• "The Art of the Family Tree"; Jenn Mason and Patricia Bolton; 2007
• Martha Stewart: Giving Tree Family Tree

Resources

• Ancestry.com: Home
• Martha Stewart: Template: "Branching Out" the Giving Tree