Love Grows On Trees

Last year for Christmas my family gave my grandparents a Memory Jar filled with all our favorite memories involving them. They loved it, and I've been wondering ever since then how we would top it this Christmas. I was looking through a magazine and saw a picture of a painting someone had done of their family tree. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, "I'm going to give it a try and see how this turns out."

Now, I'm not very good at painting - but Grandparents are supposed to love whatever their grandkids make, right? I figured if I could do this, anyone could! I decided to document the process and give you step by step instructions in case you wanted to create one for yourself or a gift!

I bought a 20 x 24 canvas. I went with a cheap canvas since most people don't know the difference. Then I put a base layer down, but didn't cover the whole canvas. I also stuck with acrylic paints. They are cheap, easy to use, and dry quickly.

I added a darker color and repeated the same process.

Next I took a pencil and outlined my tree on the canvas.

I put down my first layer of brown for my tree.

I added a second layer and expanded some branches.

I then added my leaves.

I went back in with a small brush and added a darker color of green to the leaves, and some highlights around the tree branches.

I went back with black paint and added dimension to the tree, wrote everyone's names around the leaves, and added "Our Family" at the bottom! This is an inexpensive, but priceless gift!

Creatively Chic.....and a little crazy