Personalizing a Glittered Photo Ornament

If your family plans a family vacation each year, photos of the location, your activities or other special events/places will make cool ornaments and bring back those happy memories as you decorate your Christmas tree. I saw several demos on youtube for making ornaments with a photo inside. But, for some reason, none of their methods worked for me.  I couldn't get the photo to stand up straight after it was in the ornament. So, on to Plan B- fine/extra fine glitter. Always have a Plan B. '-)

Glitter on the inside of a glass or plastic ornament is a less messy project and a lot neater than glittering the outside. And glitter is like the bacon of the craft world: it makes everything better:-)

One of the 'grands' was with me for the day and this was a great family project to do with him. The ornaments we made have the initial of their first names and a photo of him/siblings taken in school this year. The plan is to make new ornaments every year until he no longer thinks it is fun.

The most difficult part was reducing the photos to fit on the ornament. I finally ended up with a 1" x 1" image after it was cut out of the surrounding background. I printed on glossy paper. But, plain 20-22lb white might have been a better choice. No matter which weight of paper you use, the photo will not lay completely flat on the convex ornament surface. It is better to cut out around the edges of the image of the person. A square, rectangular or rounded off image doesn't lay as well. You might need to make tiny cuts in the image to sort of smooth it out with the Modpodge.

We used 3-1/8" clear acrylic disc ornaments. He picked the color of the glitter and the initials are 1/2"-3/8". I let him pour in the glue and showed him how to coat the inside. We drained them then, he added the glitter while I held the funnel in the ornament top. A good shaking later, we poured out the excess glitter to set them down to dry in the valleys of upside down egg cartons.

Need help with glittering the outsides of a number of ornaments? Check out my project sheet. It will be helpful to you.

Normally, when I do this for the glass ornaments on my website it takes 3-5 days for the ornaments to get completely dry. These were dry in two days. Can't quite figure out why.

Anyways, we kinda had a minor 'spat' over who was going to use the hot glue gun. I think you can guess who won. But eventually bows were added to them all. :-) I found some at Etsy seller name CardsCraftsnMore She has pre-tied 1" satin bows in many beautiful colors. The glued on bow sits very nicely on the throat of the ornament just under the cap line.

I used one coat of ModPodge under the photos and two coats, drying each one between on top. I hand wrote their names and a message on the back of the ornaments. After a couple of days when everything was dry I hit them with 2 light coats of clear enamel spray to hopefully help the ornaments/photos/message last a little bit longer.

And speaking of making ornaments to celebrate a memory, this would be a great way to make your own memorial photo ornaments. Remember loved ones at Christmas with an ornament and their photo. Especially if you have a favorite photo of a loved one or one that makes you smile. Here's an example:

You can handwrite one of their favorite sayings on the back of the ornament (remember the kiddies - keep it clean!) or put it on a clear label. Depending on the color of the glitter you use inside, any gold, silver, white fine point pen with metallic ink would work. Gussy up your ornament with a bow, or ribbons, micro-beads glued around the outside edges, a fancy ornament hook, etc.  The total project would cost less than $10 and will be a fun project for you and the kids in your family. 

You can also order finished ornaments available in five colors at I love Christmas.com or with a Bible verse on the reverse side of the ornament at KCIC Christmas Ornaments.

Thanks for visiting I Love Christmas.com holiday decorating blog. Use our Contact Form to request permission to reprint or quote from this article. For more Christmas decorating ideas visit my Christmas blog: https://www.i-love-christmas.com/Christmas-Decorating-Ideas . Get beautiful, handmade glass ornaments, garlands, metal ornament trees, ornament hooks, tabletop Christmas trees, photo ornaments and other holiday decorations at I Love Christmas! https://www.i-love-christmas.com . Note that I assume no liability for the use or misuse of these instructions or those provided by the product manufacturers.