Looking for some creative and non-traditional ways to create and display your family tree? There is nothing that says that you have to make your family tree look exactly like a typical template design. Instead, use your imagination! It’s time to use your art and design skills, and have some fun.
There is nothing wrong with using a standard family tree template as a guideline for your genealogy work. But, if you are intending to display your family tree so that other people can enjoy it, you will most likely want to use a different format. Make something artistic, and nice to look at! A very attractive and eye catching family tree is going to get attention. Perhaps another member of your family will become interested in genealogy, after seeing how beautiful a family tree can be. That person just might decide that he or she wants to learn more about the ancestors that you both share.
You can find some excellent ideas about exciting ways to design and display your family tree from the Martha Stewart website. Most of these ideas require you to use a large, previously empty, space on a good sized wall, in order for the design to really be effective.
One really cute idea involves cut paper silhouettes of each individual ancestor. These are attached to a specifically color coded background. Each color is used to represent one generation in your family tree. At a glance, everyone can see exactly how each family member relates to the rest. The Martha Stewart website suggests that this is a great display if you are trying to get young children to learn more about their family tree. If you don’t have the available wall space for this design, you might want to try one of the other family tree designs by Martha Stewart, that are much smaller.
You can also find some unique family tree designs at the craftpad website. My favorite design from this page is a very simple one that I am considering using myself. Take your old family photos, and attach them to one of those paper clips that is normally used to keep large batches of paper together. Attach the clip to the wall with a thumbtack. This makes a simple, yet compelling, design, and is an excellent way to display old photographs. What creative family tree idea are you going to try out?
Image by Manatari on Flickr