DIY Vintage Photo Ornaments!

I'm gonna tell y'all something ok?  Its BIG...BIG...BIG!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING IN 5.5 WEEKS!

 Not too much longer eek!

And the first Christmas tree in the Dean house is already up..but I'm adding to it this year so I can't share yet.  And we hunt for our 12-13 foot real tree for the family room the first week of December. Then I will get the other 6-8 trees up as well.  And I'm always looking to add ornaments to my trees each year. And nothing better than homemade ornaments with meaning!  

So these photo ornaments fit the bill!  I saw similar ones on Pinterest over a year ago but never had time to make any (story of MY life).  I did mine a bit differently, went vintage and embellished them my way.  And I made a tongue-in-cheek fun one for my mom heehee!  They are great for gifts, place-setting favors during the holiday season or just for your own trees.

Use a photo editing program (free ones like Pic Monkey will work too) to make a 4x6 size blank page.  Then pick out the headshots/photos you want to use - you could also have these photos made online or at Target or another photo printing place if you don't have access to a laptop or computer.  I made duplicate photo files in Photoshop and then turned each of my photos into black & white versions.  Size them so you have 5-6 pics evenly spaced across...then duplicate and make 3 more rows of pictures like I have above.  Then you need to cut them into long strips.  I used pics of my family and did two each of the teens.  I want to do an animal version as well since I have 8 animals...they're worthy of their own :)

I wanted mine to be more vintage feeling so I inked them with Tim Holtz Distress Ink (antique linen) and my Inkssentials Blending tool.  You could print them in sepia tones if you wanted too...I did it this way because I wanted more ink on some of the strips then others for a more random, aged feel.

You will also need to cut more strips of paper from decorative scrapbooking/crafting paper the same length as your photo strips (however I varied the width of my strips for a different look).

Cut as many as you like...I cut more than I originally thought I would.  I cut strips of scrapbook paper  and then stamped sentiments on some in black ink...one says "Merry Christmas", one says "Peace" and the other says "Baby Its Cold Outside".  They all got inked as well for that vintage look.
I cut 9 strips from various papers along with my 4 photo strips...total of 13 strips to use on the ornaments.

Then I started laying them in a star pattern, pattern side UP, to space them as I liked.  Make sure the matching strip (twin) for each is across from itself like I did above.

As I added a few strips of paper where I wanted them, I pierced them with my paper piecer .

That way I could easily add the other strips on and have them evenly spaced and pierced for the brad I'm using to keep them together when I finish.

If you need a larger hole or don't have a paper piercer you can use a paper punch too.  I used a Crop-a-dile to make my pierced hole just a wee bit bigger.  Then I used a fun nail-look brad to insert and keep all those strips together.  This is the BOTTOM of the ornament.

Then you need to bring each strip and its twin up to create a ball shape and tape or staple them as you go.  I used low-stick tape for this because I found that I needed to adjust some strips as I went along.  The tape came off cleanly and allowed me to do that easily.  Once I was done I pierced the top again and put another brad in the top but you could staple or add some stronger tape if you chose.  

THIS IS THE TOP OF THE ORNAMENT!

Then you get to decorate and embellish the top of your ornaments.

I used ribbon (in black satin and gingham), a die cut from black cardstock and some burlap and paper-print flowers to layer.  I use Scor-Tape to tape my embellishments together and add to the top of each ornament...super strong stuff and no cutting, you just rip it!

This ornament above is a bit different from the other one I made with pics of my family.  This one is for my mother...she's a wee bit crazy for Kip Moore the country singer.  Kinda like how I am for Luke Bryan & Tim McGraw..obviously it runs in the family heehee.  So I used pictures I had snapped when we saw Kip in September and created photo strips of him and a sentiment that says "I {heart} Kip Moore" LOL!  A little tongue in cheek humor for the holiday is ALWAYS appropriate I think!  I used some music note scrapbook paper on this one too seeing that its a bit more musical.  The "Baby Its Cold Outside" I stamped onto paper to make strips too...I like the mix of different prints and words along with your photos on these.

So there you go...some unique, personalized ornaments for your tree.  Inexpensive to make, not much time involved and looks lovely on your Christmas tree this season.

You of course could make these in ANY COLOR or STYLE...that's up to you!

And if you don't want to use photos you don't have to.

If you give it a try, let me know....I'd love to see your version!

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Entering these into the following fab Linky Parties:

Thirty Handmade Days - Party Bunch
Making Home Base
Savvy Southern Style
Making Monday
Give Me The Goods
All Things Christmas Linky Party
That's What {Che} Said - Monday Funday
Home Stories A to Z
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Awesome Things Tuesday
Best of the Weekend Party
Get Your DIY On (holiday ornaments)
Hi Sugarplum/ Holiday Cheer