“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.” - Walt Disney

Monday, December 3, 2012

My Medal Tree

The idea of Christmas "Medal Trees" has really boomed this year, but I attribute my first knowledge of the trees to my friends Steph and Dana, who have been doing their own medal trees for a while now.  I really wanted to create my own last year, but didn't have enough medals to cover the tree.  This year, thanks to the "Year of Bonus Bling" I had the amount I needed.  

I also ended up supplementing the medals with 4"x4" bib ornaments that I made out of my 20 favorite race bibs.  I think it turned out really well, and I'm so proud of it that I had to share!


In placing each medal on the tree, I realized that there's not a huge variety of race locations represented by these medals, and that I should probably branch out a bit (pardon the tree-related pun):

  • 6 Texas medals
  • 6 Florida medals
  • 5 California medals
  • 4 Virginia medals
  • 1 virtual race medal
Looking at my race calendar for next year, I'll be adding 2 more Florida medals, 1 California "medallion," 1 Washington State medal, and 1 Maryland medal.  Apparently I have a "thing" for racing on the coasts if I'm not racing at home.
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5 comments:

  1. UnknownDecember 3, 2012 at 2:23 PM

    Beautiful! I especially like the kitty under the tree!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JennyDecember 3, 2012 at 8:12 PM

      Thanks! And she's barely moved out from under there since the tree went up - she loves the fabric of the skirt and I'm guessing the lights put out a nice warmth!

      Delete
  2. Jessica and RodDecember 4, 2012 at 2:23 PM

    I love it! It looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ms. ThulinJanuary 5, 2014 at 7:41 PM

    How did you make the 4"x4" bib ornaments?? LOVE THIS!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JennyJanuary 13, 2014 at 10:35 AM

      They're actually very easy, despite the number of steps:

      1) Scan your race bibs (you can also take pics, but the scans are higher quality images).
      2) Use photo editing software (doesn't have to be fancy - even Microsoft Photo Editor & Paint work!) to add color borders if necessary and crop the images to 4"x4".
      3) Print out the images (photo paper not needed, normal is fine).
      4) Cut out the images
      5) Laminate the images (I use thermal laminating sheets because my office has a thermal laminator, but I would guess that the self-laminating pockets would work, too)
      6) Trim off excess lamination and use a hole punch to create a hole for ribbon or ornament hook.

      And you're done!

      Delete

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