Hanging ornament

 

Change a photo or favourite image into a hanging ornament that you can even add to a greeting card

I have some nice photo's that I thought would be lovely to turn into a hanging ornaments. You can either hang them around your house or send them as or in cards.

This is a photo of my puppy when she was really young, chewing a stick in our garden!

I'll show you how to turn a photo into a hanging ornament but you could use any image as long as it's the right size. I do cross-stitch aswell and this can be turned into a hanging ornament using the same process but use felt for the frame and backing and instead of gluing the layers together - sew them (Felt does seem to cut nicely with dies).  There's a photo of one I have done at the bottom of this blog.

The ornaments are made using nesting dies. I use circular ones but you can use any shape nesting dies. You can also adjust the size if you would like a smaller or larger ornament by using different size dies. I use a digital photo, so I will also show you how you can adjust the size before printing it to fit your ornament.

Also, if you wish your photo ornament to last - use acid free card to mount your photo as this will help it stop turning yellow.   Scrapbooking card should be ideal as this has been made especially to protect your photo's.

Follow the below link to find out how the ornament was made

 
You will need

• Photo
• Nesting dies (I use circular ones - 11 . 5 cm and 9 cm diameter)
• Coloured or patterned card
• Small length of ribbon
• Double sided tape and glue
• Die cutting machine
• Extra decorations (I punched out some flowers and used some gems)

1. Firstly I will show you how to adjust the size of your digital photo before printing it. You can do this on your computer using Inkscape, a free graphic editing software. Click on the 'create circles, ellipses and arcs' button - looks like a circle down the left hand side. Move your curser to the blank page, hold down the ctrl button on your computer and the left mouse button and drag it down to the right. Release both buttons. You should now have a perfect circle (holding the ctrl button down ensures it stays a circle rather than an oval). Click on the mouse pointer button down left hand side of screen - ensure your circle still has arrows at it's corners (if not you just need to click on it) and then change the size of the circle by adjusting the size to 90 mm wide by 90 mm high (if you are making a different size ornament, make this size your smallest die)
   
   
   
   
   You now need to import your photo. Click on 'file' then 'import', locate your photo in your filing system then click open. Accept the message box that appears. The photo will possibly fill your whole page - it did for me! Find the corner arrows of your photo, click on it with the left mouse button, hold it down and drag the mouse pointer inwards. This will make the photo smaller. Keep doing this until your photo looks like it is a better size for your ornament.
   
   
   
   
   Click on the circle. Then select 'Object' from the top tool bar followed by 'fill and stroke'. An option box will open on the righthand side of your screen. Click on the fill tab and then click on the X which means no fill. Then click on the 'stroke style' tab and the width to just above 1.00. Whilst the circle is still selected, click on 'Object ' from the top tool bar followed by 'raise to top'.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Move the circle on top of your photo image. The circle shows what will be seen in your frame. Click off the circle and click on your photo then adjust the size of your photo to show exactly what you want in the circle.
   
   
   

   

   Reduce the size of your photo so the image you want shows nicely within the circle. 
   The rest of the photo will be cut away in a later stage.

   
   
   
   When you are happy with the size of your photo and what will show in the circle, move the photo back onto the blank page (or if your photo is already on the blank page - move the circle off the page - you don't want the circle to print). You should be left with a new document and just your photo on it. Print this document onto photo paper or card if you would prefer.
   
   
   


2. Using the largest circle die, cut one out of your patterned card.


3. Now using both of your circle dies cut a frame out of your patterned card - lay one inside the other as centrally as you can get it and I use washi tape to hold it in place whilst it is cut.
   
   
   
   
   
   


4. Use your largest circle die to cut out your photo. Put the photo on your die machine cutting plate and lay the largest circle die on top. Directly on top of the die, place the frame you have just cut out. Move the die and frame until the part of your photo you wish to show in the ornament is centrally within the frame. Remove the frame without moving the die and run it through your cutting machine.
   
   
   
   
   
   


5. You will now have a large circle in patterned card which will be the back of the ornament, your frame which will sit on the front and your circular photo which will be sandwiched in the middle (my photo has a little white showing around the edge of the photo but this doesn't matter as it won't show when the front frame is on)
   
   
   


6. Put a little bit of double sided tape on the back of the largest card circle (back of ornament) - ensure you put the tape on the plain side of your card and the pattern is on the other side.
   
   
   


7. Make a loop with your ribbon and stick it to the tape
   
   
   


8. Glue the frame to the front of your photo
   
   
   


9. Glue the back of the ornament to the frame and photo, ensuring the ribbon ends are sandwiched in the middle. This is your finished ornament.

   

   Back of your ornament

   
   

   

   Front of your ornament

   
   

I added 3 punched flowers to the bottom of the frame to enhance the flowers that are showing in the photo. You can leave the ornament like this and just hang it up or post it to someone.

 
However I then went on to attach it to the front of a greeting card. The recipient can remove the ornament to display it up when they have finished displaying their card. I started by folding a piece of A4 card to create the base card. I then cut a piece of brown card measuring 13 cm by 19 cm. I punched another flower and attached it to the top of the brown card with a brad. Glue the brown card to the centre of your base card. Hang your ornament over the flower and brad. Add a greeting - I used a peel off.

This is a cross-stitch I have completed recently and have used the above process to turn it into a hanging ornament.  The cross stitch was a Mouseloft kit and I have just used a little blue felt from my craft stash.

The components cut out as per above steps

I have then used my sewing machine to sew the layers together.
I think next time I might sew it by hand and add some fancy stitches around the frame as it was quite difficult to get a neat circular finish with my sewing machine.