Crafting Personalized Christmas Decor- Family Crest Tree Topper

Each year as the holidays approach, I try to think of a couple of unique projects to add a more personal touch to our holiday decor. The type of thing you just can't buy in a chain store or catalog. Last Christmas, I visited an awesome home tour over at The Crowned Goat blog and among many other things, I pinned a picture of the tree topper that CoCo used. Isn't it fantastic? Hers is vintage and I just love it.

Since I haven't come across one for myself during my many hunts for vintage finds this year, I decided to make my own personalized version. I started with an unfinished wooden plaque that I found at Michaels. I chose this one because it had a piece of crown molding on it and I liked that detail, but they had many shapes to choose from.

I first stained the top piece of molding and then stapled a piece of buffalo plaid felt to the bottom of the crest as a background. I simply wrapped the fabric around the wood and stapled it to the back. Then I glued on 2 crossed oars that I made from scrapbook paper glued to foam oars. I cut out the shape of the oars from some foam board. I added a wooden "A" (also from Michaels) for our last name to the top. The wooden trees are actually a Christmas ornament and the row boat is a sticker that I found in the scrapbooking aisle.

I cut out 2 golden retriever shapes from felt and added a couple of red bandannas, also made with felt. Using the felt reminded me of crafting with my mom when I was a kid. I grew up in a modest home. We didn't have a fancy craft room...or even a dining room for that matter. So during the Christmas crafting season, we would set up an old card table smack dab in the center of our small living room. We would watch the Christmas specials on TV and work on whatever craft my mom had decided on that year. As I cut out the felt dogs this year, I was reminded of the felt stockings she made for my brother and I. Those stocking are long gone, lost in a move I presume, but I still have the memories. I found a picture of a similar stocking on Pinterest. My mom used this pattern, but personalized each square with things that we were "into" at the time. Anybody else remember these stockings?

Source

And then there was the year she beaded a Christmas tree. It is still a proud part of her holiday decor each year. Hmm..maybe a beaded tree of my own should be on the agenda for next Christmas?

Source: Pinterest

Back to the tree topper, I glued all of the elements on and attached it to the top of our tree with string. I think it is the perfect addition to our family room decor this year.

Have you been doing any holiday crafting? I would love to hear about it. 

I shared more of our Sleigh Ride Christmas Mantel here. I will be sharing lots more of our holiday decor in the Holiday House Walk on Friday. I can't wait and I hope you'll be back to see it.

Happy Holiday Crafting!