Baby Shower Guest Tree

Hi All-

Here is a great little project to create for a baby shower, wedding, bridal shower, or really any party you want.  It's a tree with leaves for guests to write their names or wishes for the baby/bride/birthday girl, whatever!

I created this one in particular for a friend's baby shower.  I started with a large piece of watercolor board.  I found my board at Michaels.  I had never used this kind of board before but wanted something sturdy but also something with the option of framing. I prefer ink and watercolor, but you can use whatever medium you prefer :)

I started by sketching the outline of a tree with pencil.  I then outlined everything in ink and erased the pencil.  Then watercolor!  Be sure to check that your ink will not run when you start painting with watercolor.  I have made this mistake before and it is not fun.

For this particular tree, I added the baby's initial in a heart on the tree trunk.  Depending on whether you already know the name, you may want to omit this or add another detail. 

Finally, cut out leaves from thick cardstock for the guests to write on.  I chose colors that will coordinate with the nursery because I know they would like to hang this in there.  I also chose to outline each leave in black to help it pop a bit. 

I didn't get a picture at the party of the finished tree because I'm awesome like that.  The guests had a lot of fun writing wishes for the baby on their leaves and then I used a heavy duty glue stick to attach.  Be sure to bring extra leaves because people will mess up and want another one.