Design Your Own Abstract Christmas Tree Cross Stitch

Adults are not immune to the power of Christmas and sometimes nothing can make the magic of Christmas come more alive than a good craft project, maybe even a craft project centered around the classic Christmas tree. A solid project choice for an adult should be challenging, creative, and flexible to allow for the varying schedules so many of us have during the season while presenting a bit of us within the bits and pieces of the craft. I recommend designing your own Christmas tree cross-stitch ornament with a few twists along the way.

Supplies needed for the design:
Graph paper or a quad pad
Pen
Pencil
Colored pencils (if desired)
Supplies need for follow-up
Cross-stitch material, 18 ct
2-1/2" cross-stitch frame
At least 3 shades of green cross-stitch floss suitable for tree coloring
2 shades of brown cross-stitch floss for tree trunk
1 shade of glittered cross-stitch floss, preferably a gold or magenta color
Cross-stitch floss colors as needed based on customization

Steps:

1. Take your graph paper and draw a large circle on the sheet. Ensure that the circle is close to perfect in size. In my example, I have a circle that is 26-squares lengthwise in diameter and 28-squares in width. In terms of our pattern, the cross stitch field represented on paper is approximately 3 times the field we will be working in within our 2-1/2" cross-stitch frame.

2. Draw a rudimentary Christmas tree on your graph paper. Use your ink pen to make the boldest lines of the tree and trunk. When you follow-up your design with actual floss, these will be represented by your darkest green floss shade.

3. Add "needles" to your Christmas tree edges with your pencil or with a lighter touch of your ink pen. When you actual do your design in thread, make these out of your second darkest green color. The needles will add depth to the lighter shade of green that will make up the body of your tree. Use the medium green color at random intervals throughout the tree body to dimension.

4. Draw garland or tinsel on your tree with the pencil (in case you want to shift the option later). At design time, the glitter floss will make a lovely accent.

5. Draft your year onto the graph paper. This is the step that takes this craft project beyond the cross-stitch representation of a child's Christmas drawing. This design will become an ornament that your work on during the entire holiday season and then pack away to actually display next year. To make the project personal, add elements of your year in place of the presents that typically appear under the tree.

In place of my presents there is a netbook to symbolize my year online and there is a fragmented heart to symbolize the sadness my parent's divorce and little brother's incarceration have caused me in 2010. I also added the faintest outline of curtains at the side of the ornament field to symbolize the year will close.

When I sit down post-Thanksgiving and actual take this design and begin to bring it to fruition, the transition from Christmas tree craft design to ornament will be a snap. Because cross-stitch fabric is a series of squares like a quad pad the "blow-up" of the design will serve me well and reduce the number of actual stitches I have to make per quad pad square.

Since this is an adult craft, keep in mind that you are fully capable of altering your construction as needed. After you begin stitching if you feel your tree is wide enough before you reach the end of your self-designed pattern, end the tree and merely bear in mind that ratio when adding your other elements.

The main point is to create a customized memento that both contains the traditional Christmas element of a tree coupled with key moments in your year. Represent these key moments with merely a tiny object underneath the tree, and if you need to, keep the meanings of the objects to yourself as a Christmas secret and, perhaps, a Christmas wish.