One year when my parents were away on a business trip, my grandma came to stay with us. She made felt stocking ornaments with us and also these photo ornaments. I have such good memories of that week with her and I wanted to re-create some of those memories with my kids. Last year, we made the felt stocking ornaments and this year, we made the photo ornaments.
My kids completely LOVED making these. We chose pictures of them from a few years ago because I had copies of those on hand and they went on and on about how cute they were. I was using older pictures for convenience reasons, but it ended up having a positive effect because the kids felt freer to comment on how cute they were. I saw them light up about the compliments they were getting from each other. I feel like it actually was a good self-esteem builder.
When they hung their completed ornaments on the tree, they were beaming with pride and they all loved having their faces so prominently displayed in with the other precious ornaments we’ve collected over the years to commemorate special occasions and holidays.
Materials needed:
- doily (we used 4 inch doilies)
- scissors, circle cutter, or circle punch
- a photograph
- contact paper
- hole punch
- string or thin ribbon
Choose a picture that has a face that will fit well within the center of the doily. Cut a circle around the face. You can do this either by using a cup to draw around the face and then cut out or using a circle cutter or large circle punch.
Place the cut photo on the center of the doily and carefully place a piece of contact paper over top. Press down to adhere the photo to the doily. Cut around the edges of the doily. Hole punch the doily near the top and string a thin ribbon or thread through. Hang the photo ornament on the Christmas tree.
These photo ornaments are easy enough for even young children to make on their own (though they may need some help with the cutting) and make perfect grandparent gifts. They look so pretty on a lit-up Christmas tree!
