How to make a 3D family tree chart

So, in honor of memorial day I have decided to share with you my latest project. 

You know how you see something in your head, and it is amazing, and then you make it and it doesn't look the same?  Well, this came out SOOO great, and just like my head.  I love it! 

I actually made it for my mom for Mother's Day, and she loved it.  I also loved it, and now want to make one for my father with me on the end.  So without further ado, let's get started!

Step 1: Gather Pictures

I know it seems slightly obvious, but this project is kind of hard to do without pictures of your ancestors.  When I went, I visited FamilySearch.org and found how many of my ancestors had pictures already.  I bet you would be surprised at yours.  I then decided how far I wanted to go back by how many I had full pictures of.  I guess you could go as far back as you had pictures, even if it isn't complete.

Step 2: Format Pictures
Now, I took all of mine in and turned them black and white, and tweeked them to look good.  Some of mine needed more tweeking than others (doesn't my mom look cute there?)  I also made sure that the picture was the right size for the blank I was using by having a circle outline.

Step 3: Print

I printed mine out just on a sheet of photopaper, a little 4x6 I think.  I made sure to not let it stretch or shrink in size or else the pictures wouldn't have been the right size.

Step 4:  Get the Blanks
I got these from Michaels.  I whipped them out of course.  I looked at a lot of things that came by themself, but decided on the bracelets, this is three I put together, because I am weird.  I actually decided it would make a nice necklace choker.

 

Step 5: Separate Blanks

I just took them apart because that wasn't the configuration I wanted.  I might have had too much fun with this step actually.

Step 6: Cut out Pictures
This was very handy that I had my bright pink border.  I just cut them out with scissors.  I thought about other things, and maybe you have a fancy cutter, but I just stayed simple.

 

Step 7: Glue on Pictures

I have this glue, called Duco Cement.  I could only find it locally at one place.  Love the stuff, works great with arcylic, wood, metal, just about anything.  Love it.  I call it Magic Glue. Just make sure when you glue something on it is facing the right way.  I decided to have all of mine faceing upright.

 

 

Step 8: Order Charms

This is the really fun part.  It is like a game.  See if you can remember who is who and where they fit in your tree. Honestly, it was like a puzzle, trying to find where everyone fit.  I did pretty good on a lot of them, but did struggle on others.  I got my cheat sheet out, and was able to fit them all in.

Step 9: Attach Jump Rings
You really need a lot of jump rings for this project.  I started with the highest level 3 each, the next level had 5 and the lowest had 7.  Yeah, a lot of jump rings.  I just attached them to each other first before connecting the charms.  That way I knew where they all were needed and how many I still needed.  It worked out well.

 

Step 10: Connect Charms

I then started to attach things together.  I started with just attaching the rings to the bottom, than the mothers to their children, then finally the fathers as well.  That is just how I did it so I could keep straight who went with who and which side they went on.

Step 11: Magnets
I had been pondering how to hang this for a while, and decided that magnets on the fridge would work well.  So I grabbed some sticky magnets and attached them to the back of the top row of ancestors.

 

 

 

Step 12: Hang on Fridge

I then took it and hung it on the fridge.  Be careful, it can get so mixed up as you carry it from place to place.  I actually gave it to my Mother in a box, and man, it was just a mess of metal.  It looks cool when hung, but when not, it is not pretty. It's kind of another puzzle when hanging to figure out who goes where with the parents on the right side and everything.

 

I hope you like it as much as I do.  I had also thought about framing it, but did not.  I also thought it would be cool as a bib necklace, but man, that is a lot of bib.  Let me know what you think.  If you make one, please post a link to it so we can all see it as well.  Love ya!