It's Christmas in October!

Well, not really, but for our October Ruth meeting (Monday night, Oct. 18, at 7pm in the JR HIGH YOUTH LOUNGE upstairs), we will be decorating our submission for the Festival of Trees.

See http://www.festoftrees.org/ for more information on this great event.

We will be decorating a 4 foot artificial tree. This tree (with pre-lit white lights) will be provided to us. The theme we decided on is "Christmas Memories". Our idea is to decorate the tree with small silver photo frames of different shapes, hung by pretty ribbons. We will fill the frames with some kind of stock image/phrase/etc, with the intent that the winner of the tree could customize these frames with their own Christmas/family photos. For the color scheme, we decided to do a rather modern look of red/black/white/silver, using bold, fun prints/ribbons/ornaments (think stripes, polka dots, anything retro/funky).

Sally, Nicole, and I are going to be attending the Jeffrey Alans workshop on Saturday, Oct. 9, 1:30pm-3:30pm. We have 2 more spots available if anyone else is interested in joining us. If you are, please let me know ASAP so I can get your name on the list. It sounds fun, and they’re giving out coupons!

I have compiled a list of items we’ll need to decorate our tree. Please email me, or comment on the blog post, if you have any decorations, topper, or frames you could donate (and if you purchase anything, be sure to save the receipt...I'm not exactly sure how much decoration we'll need, so things may need to be returned). I anticipate buying some things at Jeffrey Alan’s when we go to the workshop, so if you are only interested in donating some money for us to buy the stuff, that would be a huge help. If you could just let me know how much you are able to contribute, then I could have a good idea on our budget.

I’ve also listed out what we have for under the tree so far. If anyone is able to get any other donations, email me or comment to the blog post. We have a pretty good list so far, but the more the better.

Here is a list of the decorations we need for the tree:

• Tree skirt (Claire and I are working on this)
• Flocking kit (and experience) *I will ask at the Jeffrey Alan’s workshop to make sure flocked trees are ok and if they have any tips, as I’m a bit nervous about this.
• Frames (silver, different shapes) *I have 6 rectangle shaped frames (4”x5”, with a 2.5”x3.5” opening). The lighter the weight the better. I think metal frames will be too heavy to hang.
• Images/text to fill the frames (old Christmas cards may be good for this, ideally black and white. Sally is taking black/white photos of local landmarks.)
• Ribbon for hanging frames (Claire got this: red ribbon)
• Ribbons/bows/garland (red, black, silver, white...Claire got white ribbon with black dots)
• Balls/ornaments (red, black, white, silver, clear chandelier type)
• Tree topper (Janet has a topper, Claire got red and black feathers to add to top)
• Tools needed to decorate it: wire cutters, wire, glue gun with extra glue sticks, scissors, glitter, crystals/jewels to decorate frames? (bring your craft supplies)

Here is a list of the "swag" items we have collected so far to place under the tree:

• Photography sitting and 10x14 family portrait (Nicole)
• Photography package (Erin)
• Scrapbooking kit (Leta)
• Black/Ivory photo albums (Nicole)
• $10 Gift Certificate to the Garlic Press
• Small journal and stationary
• Still need a basket to put all the swag in

Some other ideas I was thinking of were photo boxes, jigsaw puzzle, journal, and of course any kind of gift certificates…basically anything to represent preserving and creating Christmas memories.

Thanks so much, ladies, for the work you have put into this so far. I am really excited to see our finished tree. I’m always open to any ideas/suggestions you have, and if I've forgotten anything, please let me know!

Janet