Christmas is so much about spending time with family and making memories. Well, that and eating so much sugar and refined flour it should be illegal. It’s also a time where lots of photos are taken but sometimes those photos don’t get out and get displayed year after year. I have been thinking that I would like to make some kind of a Christmas Memories banner or something for a while but then I got the idea to make some ornaments instead! The kids always help with the tree and it’s always amazing how so many of the Christmas ornaments have a special memory attached to them. Why not make some with some Christmas photos? I have also been dying to try out this photo transfer technique that I heard about a couple of years ago and this was the perfect project! It’s so much cooler than just mod podging a photo on (although I do love me some mod podge, no doubt on that). The image is actually TRANSFERED onto the wood. I love the look!

If you would like to make some Photo Transfer Ornaments too, this is what you’ll need:

• Wooden ornaments (found at Michaels for a couple of dollars each)
• Matte Gel Medium (found by the art supplies in your local craft store)
• White craft paint
• Christmas images you’ve had printed on a LASER printer (ink jet will not work. Kinko’s self serve printers are laser. Just put all your images onto a paper sized image in your photo editing software, put on a memory stick, and take stick to Kinko’s… the self serve machines are easy! They are 59 cents each to print). If you have wording or care about having the image a certain way, make sure you IMAGE FLIP the photos first.
• Foam brushes
• Glitter craft paint (optional)

STEP ONE: Paint your wood ornaments with your white craft paint (a lighter background is best to trasfer the photo). I distressed the edges with sandpaper. Totally optional but I love that look!

STEP TWO: Cut photos to size. Apply a coat of the GEL MEDIUM to the image side of photo.

STEP THREE: Put photo IMAGE SIDE DOWN onto ornament. Use a credit card or other burnishing tool to smooth paper down and get rid of any air bubbles. Allow to dry overnight.

STEP FOUR: Use a squirt bottle to mist water over the back of the paper. Then use finger to gently rub the paper away. You can also remove any paper that is hanging off the edge as well. Best technique is to rub paper off entire surface and allow to dry. Repeat this until you no longer see any paper remnants. It took about 4 times to get all of the paper off for me. Luckily it only takes a few minutes for it to dry. And don’t worry if you rub a little of the image off… it just adds to the charm!

STEP FIVE: Sand around edges again, if you want. Apply glitter paint to anywhere you’d like! I put it where there was snow, or there was a Christmas tree in the background, or on the plate of sprinkle cookies my son is holding in one (hard to see in these photos though). Get creative! Add twine to hang and you’re done!

I love this technique because it makes the image PART of your ornament rather than just attached to it. You can see the wood grain texture through the image and it looks so cool! I also am glad I tried it with both black and white and color images. Black and white is more “vintage” looking but I love the look of the color as well!

Thanks for reading and thank you for having me Jen! Have a wonderful Christmas season! I’d love for you to stop by my blog and follow along on my social media sites as well! We can be e-BFFs!

BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM | GOOGLE+ | TWITTER

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Thanks Landee! What an adorable ornament idea, and it would be perfect for giving as gifts to relatives! I love this idea. Landee has amazing ideas on her blog. Here are a few I think you’ll love:

Here’s another great idea for gifts this year, use her cute Merry & Bright Printables to make this fun gift for neighbors and friends!

And if you’re looking for a great way to use up that Halloween Candy, start this Countdown to Christmas Chain idea with your kids. So fun!

And, I love this idea of dressing up your chairs for Christmas with this Christmas Chair Wreath idea! So fun!

Visit Landeelu.com

and

xoxo

The post HAPPY Holidays: Photo Transfer Ornaments appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.

A handmade Christmas ornament is always something that is well received. You can’t go wrong! This Handmade fingerprint christmas ornament is a great school activity for kids to give something unique to their parents or grandparents. It is inexpensive to put together…a little bit modern….which I love and is completely 100% unique!

All you will need is:

vellum paper

tacky glue

ribbon

wood frame pieces (recollections set from Michael’s is what I used)

regular paper

black ink pad

printer

camera of some sort

You are going to need to enlarge the fingerprint first. Do this by making a few ink stamps on regular paper and taking a picture of them. Upload to a photo editing program like Picasa.

Enlarge the print to a wallet size and make the contrast enough so that it will be easy to trace. Cut out your print and fit to the frame.

Cut out a piece of vellum and trace with your marker. I used a metallic copper color. Begin tracing from the inside of the print to the outside so that it does not rub. Cut out the vellum and glue in between the two frames. First you will want to tape the ribbon so that it is in between the frames. Mark on the back of the year and who the print is and that’s it! Looks so cool with the Christmas lights shining through:)

Thanks Jen for having me visit!!

xo

Tracie

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I love it Tracie! SO unique and fun for the kids to do too! Tracie has been such an amazing contributor this year. I’m so glad she could share an idea with us for the Happy Holidays series too! Here are some more fun ideas I think you’ll love:

Tracie contributed lots of yummy recipes this year. This recipe for Slow Cooker Beef Barley Soup looks delicious!

She also has amazing DIY ideas. I love this DIY Necklace Holder! So pretty in her bathroom!

Tracie also moved this summer, and she has lots of inspirational posts about decorating her new home. Check out her post on the light fixtures she bought for her new home. I’m loving this one.

Visit Cleverly Inspired and

Follow the HAPPY Holidays Event at Tatertots & Jello

all through the holidays with awesome tutorials, recipes, decorating ideas and more from some amazing blogs!

xoxo

The post HAPPY Holidays: DIY Fingerprint Christmas Ornament appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.

It’s perfect to hang from the tree, a door knob or even a fun teacher’s gift!

Here’s how you can make your own!

I purchased 3 unfinished wooden blocks and 3 packages of chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby. If you wait until these items are 40% off you can get a real steal

I also purchased one package of Finial Dowel Caps in the unfinished wood section of Hobby Lobby as well.

To start, I used a favorite of ours, Rust-Oleum Dark Walnut stain on the finial caps and the wooden blocks.

Paint one coat on with a foam brush…

and wipe away with a cloth after 5 minutes.

While the stain dries, we have time to pretty up the chipboard letters!

I chose the new Glitter spray paint by Rust-Oleum in silver! It is soooooo pretty and is available in red, gold and silver!

I chose to use the word ‘JOY’ for my ornament and wanted a letter on each side of every cube, so… you see above I have 4 j’s, o’s and y’s. I sprayed 2 coats of glitter making sure to let each coat dry before the next.

While the glitter is drying, you can drill holes into the blocks. I used 4-ply jute (also available at Hobby Lobby) and matched a drill-bit to the thickness.

Using my 18-Volt Ryobi drill, I pre-drilled a hole in each block, from top to bottom (don’t worry, no granite was hurt in this process)

Our letters are now dry so, flip them over and squeeze a little hot glue on the back and place one letter on each side of each cube.

Starting with the last letter (y), thread the jute through each cube. It helps to twist as you thread to keep the jute from unraveling

tie a knot at the end and cut the excess jute…

apply hot glue to the finial cap…

and cover the knot

Make a loop, for hanging, at the top of the ornament. Tie and knot and cut away the excess! That’s IT!

I hope you all love it as much as we do Thanks so much again for letting us come share Jen!
A little bit more about the Shanty Sisters…

We are 2 sisters sharing how we transform our homes on a budget! With 8 kiddos between the two of us, we put every naptime to good use !
From building projects like this $65 farmhouse table…

To transforming things like this $15 mirror made from a Walmart mirror…

And even offering free printables like our latest free alphabet banner!

We would love for you to come check us out anytime at our site, Shanty-2-Chic.com!

You can also follow us on Facebook!
And keep up with all of our posts by following us on Pinterest!

Aren’t they just AMAZING???

My Pinterest boards are FULL of their projects. You will love their bog!! Be sure to go over to Shanty-2-Chic.com and say hi ASAP.

Have a Festive Day!!

xoxo

The post HAPPY Holidays — DIY Wooden Block Ornament appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.

I decided to take those clear ornaments and turn them into sparkly snow balls.

I’d love to share my Snowball Ornament tutorial with you.

You can make these in less than an hour (minus drying time). And by adding a little polymer clay you can turn your Snowball ornament into a Snowman ornament.

Here’s what you need:

• Clear glass ornaments. You can find these at any craft store.
• “Snow” medium. I used two different kinds. But you only need one for this project. I used Aleene’s True Snow and DecoArt’s Snow-Tex.
• Some sparkly glitter. I love Twinklets Diamond Dust. It’s kind of chunky and looks like ice.
• If you want to make your snow ball into a snowman – then you need some Polymer clay – orange for the nose and black for the eyes.
• Ribbon to loop at the top of the ornament so you can hang it on your tree or garland.

Here’s what I did:

• Paint the ornament with the “snow” medium using a paintbrush.
• While the “snow” is still wet, sprinkle the glitter over the whole ornament. Shake off the excess.
• Let it dry. I punched a hole in the top of a cardboard box and stuck the top in that so the ornament was upside down and could dry.
• If you want to make snowmen, shape your polymer clay into a nose, eyes and mouth. Bake the clay in your oven at 275 for 10-15 minutes.
• Once the ornament is dry, loop some ribbon through the cap on top and tie in a bow.
• If you are making snowmen, attach the eyes, nose and mouth clay bits with an adhesive like e-6000. Let dry.

So easy and festive. And they really do sparkle like ice. I love looking at them!! And here are a few of my favorite ornaments I have seen around the web lately. And these ornaments would be so pretty on a present. I am excited to make some of these this week while my kids are out of school!!

Fabric Fortune Cookie Ornaments — Keeping it Real

Baby’s First Christmas Hand Print Ornaments — A Sorta Fairytale

Snowglobe Ornaments — Craftberry Bush

Crafty Red and White Ornaments — Cottage Magpie

Jersey Pom Pom Ornaments — Skip to my Lou

Jolly elves — Parents.com

Pom Pom Snowman — Martha Stewart

Salt Dough Stamped Ornaments — Simply Savannah Events

Photo Ornaments — House of Smiths

Typography Ornaments — Burlap + Blue

Paper Straw Snowflakes — Centsational Girl

Pine Cone Place Card Ornaments — Positively Splendid

 Have a FABULOUS Friday!!!

PS — It’s Friday!! And you know what that means!!! It’s one of the last Weekend Wrap Up Parties of the year!! The party starts at 6 pm MST. I hope you can come by. It’s my favorite time of the week!!!

The post Make Sparkly Snowman Ornaments plus 12 of my Favorite Ornament Tutorials! appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.

Typography Ornaments

Step 1: Make a template for your hearts, and cut these out of felt. They can be any size you desire, mine are about 4″ wide at the widest point. Then, using alphabet stamps (or even your own handwriting!), stamp out your words onto cotton fabric (I used Kona Cotton). Some suggestions? Noel, Merry, Bright, Angel, Celebrate, Joy, Peace, Hope…or, if using as gift toppers, stamp out the recipients and the date. Wouldn’t that make a fun keepsake? Cut these out as well.

Leaves and Lace Wreath

And check out Linda’s Advent Calendar

Linda makes the most amazing cake plates

PS —I hope you will join me TONIGHT  — December 7th @9-9:45 pm EST for a FUN twitter chat and linky party — where we share will talk about messy moments and craft fails and surviving the holidays.

There will be gift baskets, $100 Target Gift Card and a $25 VISA gift card given out at the twitter party AND another $100 Target gift card, a $25 VISA gift card given away at the the linky party!!

I think it will be a great time to connect, share great ideas and funny messy moments. I hope you will join in!!

You can find out more about the Clorox Messy Moments contest here or on the Clorox Facebook page.

I hope someone I know wins!!!

The post Make Typography Ornaments {Holiday Tutorial}!! appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.