Custom printed family tree from My Tree and Me online shop.
Have you ever scrapped your family tree? This is something that has been on my “to do” list for years, but I (Katie) seem to keep putting it off. It isn’t something that I can just whip up in an hour, it takes some research and input from others. In my case, it will probably only be a matter of a few emails to my parents. They have been great about researching and documenting the names of several generations back. My in-laws have also done some of the same, but not nearly to the same extent. I know I will run into roadblocks there. I guess that is one of the reasons I keep putting this project off. I’m sure many of our readers have similar issues. Truthfully, there are very few people who can accurately list multiple generations in their own family tree.
You will never get your family tree done if you don’t start it in the first place. I decided to go ahead and create a layout that I can continually add to as I find out more information. I’m keeping the layered file in a folder on my desktop so I can add to it as I find more details.
Layout by Katie Fei Fei’s stuff the gift, Katie Pertiet Family genealogy brush
The best place to start is with yourself. Whether you are doing a family tree for you, or for one of your children, start with the current generation and work backwards. After all, you know you!
Next, can you list your parent’s full names, dates of birth (and death if applicable). Do you know where they were born, the dates of the marriage(s)? Can you list all of their children’s full names? There might not be a space for that on a scrapbooked family tree, but it is good to know if you want to pursue any other genealogy-related activities.Repeat those same steps for each generation. It will probably increase in difficulty the farther back you go.
Not every family tree has nice and neat branches. Second marriages, step-families, and other situations might change the look of your tree. It’s up to you how you want to handle that. The main purpose of a family tree is to track your direct lineage, so you will want to focus on including those who produced you. However, it’s perfectly acceptable to add your own notes and explain the many branches that make up your own tree.
As always, we’ve done lots of searching on the internet and in digi-land to help you make this project easier. We have tons of resources to share with you!
SOME GREAT RESOURCES FOR PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR OWN FAMILY TREE:
- Call or email family members to find out what information they have. Some of the work might have already been done for you.
- Search your own scrapbooks, family Bibles, and documents.
- Family Search
- National Archives (U.S.)
- Ancestry.com (free trial period, but this site is a paid membership site – our link is NOT an affiliate link)
- World Vital Records (free trial period, but this site is a paid membership site – our link is NOT an affiliate link)
Martha Stewart has a free downloadable template on her site for this creative family tree fan chart.
I love the modern take on the family tree concept from this cool shop!
I’ve heard so many great things about the tv show “Who Do You Think You Are?” so I finally started watching it online. Wow! What a cool show! Totally inspires you to find out more about your own background.
DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK RESOURCES: (all images are linked)
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I’m feeling so inspired to scrap my family tree. I hope you are too!
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PS I forgot to tell you what a great post this was! Thank you!
May I also make a couple suggestions… If you have your ancestors name google it. I’m totally serious. I googled my great-great Aunt’s name. And up popped a couple items that were related. For free. Also Geni dot com is a good site that is free. Also Geni allows you to sign up for free and start your own tree as it can get a bit overwhelming when writing all the information down. And last findagrave dot com. Along with the pictures of the headstones (sometimes with a picture of the ancestor on it) there is information ie.obituary or list of family members. Have fun!
Fabulous post! Something I’ve always thought about doing but just haven’t come up with any concrete ideas. Thank you for all the information to get started.
A cousin & I scrap our paternal annual family reunions. Last year I made a family tree page of our great-grandfather, his wives & 12 children. Our family patriarch who is in his 90′s asked me to make family trees to include EVERY descendant. Whew! Big job. I’ve started working on that this year. It will be a seperate album from our family reunion albums. I decided to organize the pages by family groups (the children – my grandfather & his siblings). This will be an on-going project as our family grows and people die. It’s worth the effort because at every reunion someone always asks the question of where are they in the family tree.
For my maternal family I started a heritage book on them. That’s scrapping my family’s story. I am working to get all the info as exact as possible & include reproductions of documents, so it is slow going.
Scrapbookgraphics Impressions of Heritage is a kit I’ve used a lot & lots of kits at Heritage Scrap. I have no affiliation with either of these sites except for the money I’ve spent there!
A super article with lots of great ideas for sharing my family research. Thanks for introducing me to several new (to me) designers and digi-scrapping resources. I’m in trouble now!
Another great digiscrapping site where it is all geared to Heritage/geneology…. is Heritage Scraps.. with help for geneology questions and of course, all types of older style scrapping materials.
http://www.heritagescrap.com
Just took a look, and there is even a family tree freebie on the site: (check under freebies).
(I have NO affiliation with this site, I just thought since this site has been around for a couple of years now – it is well worth mentioning with this topic!)
Awesome products and inspirations! I linked to your post from today’s scrapbook news article at http://exm.nr/9engCr
Enjoy your weekend.
Fantastic article and so much inspiration shown. This could be just the thing I need to do to help me get over my home-sickness and missing everyone! Thanks so much for the great article!
Thanks so much for all the nice comments everyone! We have been so excited about this post and we love to see that it is inspiring our readers!
Thank you Thank you Thank you! This is exactly the kind of post I was looking forward to from you!
I love all the templates you posted. The hard part will now be choosing. LOL! I’m looking forward to working on this project going forward. Like you said, this is a project that can be worked on, then put aside, then worked on as information comes in. It’s not something that needs to be done all at once. So, I’m very thankful for all this information to work with on the actual project side of things. 
What a great post, great ideas, great stuff!! Really inspiring!
Way to go on this informative post. This has been on my mind, like so many others, and this is definitely an insight on what’s available for scrapping a family tree. Thanks.
You have definitely inspired me to get moving on my family tree. I like your idea of having the file on the desktop ready to update at any time.
Can anyone give me some tips on finding ancestors in Canada? Seems the sites I visit are geared to USA. ANy help would be appreciated.
Parker315@shaw.ca
I really love family search http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp because they are geared to work with people all over the world and the site is free!
Thanks for the tip and link, Katie
Fabulous posts, and to see my own set up there for Sweet Digi Scraps a BONUS!…WOO-HOO! There are some fabulous pieces to use, and I can see paypal will be getting a work out. I have been thinking on how to get this done easily, thank you for showing me some light on what seemed like a HUGE task. Don’t we all need to get this done?…..great ideas shared!
What great ideas! And who knew folks had done so many templates. Thinking on these lines, I’ve been contemplating the best way to scrap an album of OLD family photos…maybe I’ll search around the store for some ideas along those lines too.
The problem is that it tends to turn into a MASSIVE project! I’ve got a bit stuck with mine now, I’m quite a few generations back on all the lines but it’s all a little overwhelming. I think I’ll save it for winter
You have my mind working this morning. What a great project! Thanks!
What a wonderful and informative post! Thank you so much. This site is amazing–day after day you manage to outdo yourselves, providing inspiration and so much good and useful information to the digi community. Thanks for starting each day so joyfully!