Willow Joy was born, surprise!
My son and I were sitting across from each other and the Family Heirloom Children's Block Christmas Tree I had made a couple of year's prior was in between us. My son said, "Mom, how are you going to add Willow to the tree?" Willow was an unexpected arrival in 2017. Willow came two months early and weighted only 1 pound 10 ounces. She created quite a stir and was in the NICU for 67 days. I hadn't been thinking about how we would add her to the Family Heirloom Children's Block Christmas Tree! However, she was born in May and it was now December--time to start thinking all things, Christmas! My son suggested we take the tree apart and start again. "NO, NO, no, no, let me think a bit.", I said. This is what I came up with!
I bought a plain unfinished wood block at an independent hobby/craft store. I removed the Santa Claus from the top of the tree. I followed the directions exactly as explained in the link below. I tried the process first, making the decal and transferring it to a mason jar. It worked! I did it again and transferred the decal to the unfinished wood block. It turned out great!
It worked perfectly. I was a little concerned as there were several comments on the above blog, saying there were problems. I had no problem. One reason why, was I was transferring to a small area, not a large area, which reduced the room for error. I also have a toner printer. I took the time and burnished the back of the paper and tape 7 minutes for each transfer, a total of almost 30 minutes. The transfers did not seem that sticky once the white paper was removed, but they stuck, as did the ones I practiced with on the mason jar. In fact, I have washed that jar several times in the dishwasher since and the transfers are still on and it does not appear they are any worse for the washing!
Because the other three children have their names spelled out in blocks in the tree, I also wanted Willow Joy's name spelled out on the tree. I ordered small gold letters from Etsy. They were plastic with little loop at the top of each letter. I removed the loop with pliers. I glued the letters on a peppermint stick and red ball from a Christmas garland and placed it near the top of the tree. I also added some other small red balls, peppermint balls, and small white balls from the garland throughout the tree to bring it all together.
Thoughts and comments, please!
Merry Christmas
2017
