Personalized Garland and Ornaments

to Gift or Treasure

Sep 4, 2007

We last made a personalized tree skirt incorporating our precious photos of loves ones. This time we are going to focus on making ornaments and garland to match or gift.

If you didn't make the tree skirt, you can still do this project. You will just need a selection a fabric pieces and trim, probably no more than a few yards of fabric and at least four yards of trim, in patterns and colors that will coordinate with your Christmas decorating. Allow for extra fabric to make the matching garland and ornaments from this project.

Materials Needed:

Photo to fabric transfer paper
Computer
Printer
Photo to fabric transfer paper-10 pack
Sewing machine
Fabric
Sheet of paper or large brown paper bag opened up
Scissors
Needle and thread
Scanner-optional if photos are not on your computer
Trim
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Stuffing
Pencil
Clothes pins
Twine or ribbon

This is a fun project to make that can even be a gift with very little effort and money. Whether making the ornament or garland, they will be made the same way.

First you will need to choose a shape. You can use a Christmas shape like a bell or stocking or go as basic as a circle or triangle. Whatever shape you use is fine. You can even have different shapes for each photo. For ease in explanation, we will be making them all uniform today.

Using our paper or brown bag, we will draw a 6-8” star. Cut it out. This is your template. Depending on how many you are intending to make, cut out twice as many pieces from the fabric. Print off the photos, making sure they are small enough to accommodate the surface of your star. (You can save money by inserting all the photos on one or two word documents and then printing so you don’t waste the photo paper). Follow manufacturers instructions.

Cut out the photo and sew onto the center of your star. Lay a piece of star fabric over it and stitch them together using the sewing machine. Leave an opening to turn and stuff. Hand stitch the opening closed. Stitch a twine or ribbon loop on top to hang. Repeat for each photo. Hot glue trim around photo.

For the garland, attach each photo star to a long piece of twine or ribbon by using clothespins. You can decorate the clothespins first if you desire. Make one for each of your friends and as they come for the holidays they can take it home with them.

More Ideas

This is fun for using your children or grandchildren so that you add a new photo for each child each year. When they come of age you can gift them the set of ornaments of their life.
Make ten of all of the best family portraits and give one to each family member.
Make a set of ornaments for the newlyweds featuring scenes from their wedding.
Make a garland for the graduate that takes them from birth to graduation.
There are so many special touches you can add.