Thursday, August 23, 2012

"Mia Familia"

 My Family Tree

 
I first want to say my family tree project was inspired by a picture
I had seen on Pinterest. Megan Petros' blog, No Dime Design,
had done her own remake of a family tree from
Wallverbs Family Tree. It's a great blog, you need to check it out!
Anyways, thank you Megan Petros!

This is the beginning of my design. I used that cling on vinyl you can buy at
any craft store. I first measured my space on my wall and what I had to work with.
Then I started cutting out strips of the vinyl and placing them on
an open space on the floor. (so no, this is not my wall, it's just an area rug.
thank goodness, right? That would be pretty busy wallpaper!!!)
these are the stages of the tree











Tree stump with the root of it being Family!!!
My second inspirer was famous quiller, Yulia Brodskaya
She does the most 'awesome' artwork with quilling that I have ever seen!!!
Her webpage is a "must see". You're mouth will drop open when you see
what beautiful art, paper can create!!
Anyway, I knew I wanted to include quilling in my family tree. (Yulia's work actually
brought my passion of quilling, back into my life. Yeah, thank you, Yulia!!!)
I did one practice one on paper before I made this one on canvas.
I really didn't have a pattern of any sort, I most of the time, just create
as I go!

All four placards, had different designs but 
same technique and colors
 I, then, knew I wanted to create a collage of pictures, blended with canvases of quillings. So I created name placards of the generation that is no longer with us. Which would be mine, and my husband's grandparents. His grandparents I never got to meet, and I believe he only met them once when he was little. He only met one of my grandmothers before she past away. (I also figured it's kind of a nice way to honor them)


 As you can see, I moved things around quite a bit, until I was really happy with it.
In this one, the only quilling I had done was the tree stump. (I even ended up
moving some of the lines of the tree. And since I used the vinyl cling on, I was
able to do that easily with out leaving a sticky goo on my walls.)
This was the start of this canvas.

The next quilling canvas I wanted to do would have the word
'Love' on it. (because that is what makes a family grow)
I actually thought of leaving the heart the way it was up above. It kind of had little abstract look to it. But I didn't. I kind of created the letters on my own.
This is my own design. And I was so happy and pleased with it when I was done, I made one, similar for my sister!I used my 'Serendipity' style to fill in the heart. (S shape coils) Down in the corner I tried the white puffy paint with paint over it to give an embossed technique. (not too sure I like it so I didn't do it on the other corners)
 Next, I wanted to add our family initials to show my husband's side
and my side of our families.

This project didn't really cost me much either. Most of my frames were
from the .99cent store. The colors I chose for my quilling pieces are the
colors I have throughout my home. (not so much turquoise as that vintage aqua color)
If you notice, in the center is a carved piece of art, of the Blessed Virgin Mary
with the Infant Jesus. (I wished it was 'The Holy Family', but I received
this as a gift and figured since it was carved out of wood, it would be
perfect there. I really wish it had St. Joseph there too)
 I believe that in my family, we should always try to have
God as the center and focus of our family!
(because that is what feeds our family)

I had actually, almost, finished this project about 5 months ago, but was waiting on
two pictures, to make it complete.

The base of the tree is the stump and word 'family', then I have our grandparents wedding pictures with their name placards, then the next level is our parents wedding pictures, then our wedding picture and at the very top are the pictures of our three children. (their pics are when they were at the ages of 2)

This is the completed project!!!
I know, there is a picture missing. Well, both my husband's grandparents
came here from Italy, and no one here has been able to trace
his dad's parents heritage. So with that, no one has a picture
of their wedding day or any other picture of just the two of them together.
(I always have that 'want to know' everything I can find about our family's history. And back then
 immigrants had a much harder time coming here to America. My dad's parents were second generation here from Italy and my mother's parents were first generation from Slovakia. Alot of great history!!) Anyway, I still have hope that I will find a picture to put in that
last frame!

I had so much inspiration to do this family tree wall, I hope that
 'it' may touch your
inspiration!!

:0)

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