Hello everyone! December snuck up on me…but I'm grateful Heather is so sweet to still share my photo ornament project! Hopefully some of you are like me, and still doing holiday crafting and decorating. Anyone? Buhler?? haha! I love subtly incorporating photos into decor…as seen here. 🙂 I made quite a few photo ornaments this year…and hope to carry on the tradition in years to come, making just a few more ornaments each year to add to the collection, displaying sweet winter memories.
Supplies you'll need:
Cardstock (I used gold glitter cardstock from Joann Fabric & Craft)
White Cardstock (or whatever color you'd want to frame/outline your photo)
Hot glue gun (with extra glue!)
Scissors
String/twine/yarn
Photos!
You can print/create your circular photos a few different ways:
–> I used two apps on my phone–Afterlight to get the photos into frames, then Diptic to put the circular photos into a collage (I put one picture in one part of the two-picture collage, and printed them out as 4×6's)
–> Print a bunch of photos (I liked mine black and white) and then use a cup or something circular to trace circles onto the photos….just make sure they're as uniform as possible.
–> Or you can use an online photo editing site like PicMonkey to create the circular pictures.
Then cut!
You'll want to reinforce the sturdiness of the photo by hot glueing the photos to card stock, then cut them out again (I left a thin frame/outline around the edge).
To create the paper fans, I used a tutorial Heather actually shared a few years ago over on the lovely Stephanie Lynn's blog, Under The Table and Dreaming. 🙂 Go here to see the how-to. Just be sure that the width of the paper strips you cut out (you'll need two strips per ornament) are a little more than what the radius (half the width) is of your circular photo.
Heather's tutorial for the paper fan has you glue a piece of paper to back, which I did here–and I wrote the month/year of the photo that would be on the front. And with the thicker card stock paper, I needed more than just a drop of glue, so I put about 3 or 4 circle/swirls of hot glue (moving quickly, as it dries fast) on each cut-out circle and pressed them onto the paper fan and held for a few seconds to make sure it was secure.
**A photo is hot glued on the back of the lower fan already…that way I didn't have to hold it for the picture I was taking. But you'll need to hold it tight and flat on your work surface until you hot glue your paper to it.
Then you'll hot glue the photos…it's coming together! Again, quickly swirling the hot glue around the back of the paper/photo to make sure there is good coverage, then press it onto the paper fan and give it a good rub down to make sure it stays put. 😉
Next, put the "hangers" on. I just cut pieces of the string/twine and, with a dab of hot glue, glued the two ends to the back, in one of the folds). And I used a pen to push the string down and get it nice and stuck in the glue. Remember to make sure you're putting the loop at a spot in the back where, when it hangs, the picture will be straight. 🙂
Voila!!
Then trim your tree and deck yours halls!! I used ours as ornaments…but I'm thinking I may make more and create a garland for over our mantle. Lots and lots of possibilities. 🙂
Thank you Heather! And thank you WhipperBerry readers! Happy Holidays everyone!
xo
Haley
PS – Here are a couple Christmas projects I shared last year:
Go here for our Christmas box advent calendar…love this magical season and the sweet traditions that come with it!!
Go here for stencils to create these Christmas photo booth props. We used them for our Christmas card, as well as at an Ugly Sweater party and a company holiday party! SO FUN.
