The making of a "Holiday Tree", A nostalgic craft project

As I was planning new craft activities to do with my girls for Valentine's Day I had a nostalgic moment! I pictured myself as a small child sitting on my mother's kitchen table in Manti, Utah. What sat on the table next to me is what inspired this blog post. It was a darling tree that my super talented, crafty mother had created. It was made out of a branch from a tree, but was decorated for Easter. I remember as a child that I loved this tree! So I decided to try to replicate it for my kids. But I want mine to stay as a more permanent part of the decor in my home by changing it's decorations for each holiday. That's how I came up with the name "Holiday Tree". I thought it would be fun to decorate it with different ornaments for every month/holiday. Since my girls love to do craft projects with me. It will be a great activity to do together. When I asked mom what was her inspiration for the original tree, she said she wanted to make something cute to decorate for the Easter Holiday. But that "back in those days there wasn't a Walmart close, so you made your own decorations!" I did the same thing she did by using a real branch as the tree part and we decorated it for Valentine's Day. Here are some pictures of how ours turned out! I spray painted a #10 can white so it would go with any color decor since that part is permanent. I used Plaster of Paris to secure the branch inside the can. And when it sets up it's heavy enough to support the tree. Then we made lots of different decorations out of felt, paper, stickers, bows, ribbon, tulle and pipe cleaners. My kids love the tree and I think they will enjoy making and changing the decorations for the different holidays/seasons.
It will also give us future crafting projects by making new ornaments for the different holidays.

Now if I could just find the picture of me and  my Mom's original tree. (The nostalgic part) I can see the picture in my mind, but I wonder what happened to the picture...Maybe someday I will find it and post it. Until then, here are my girls with their new Holiday Tree.