Making and Displaying Photo Ornaments on Your Christmas Tree

My photo tree started with a gift for my daughter's first Christmas. A family friend bought a baby's first Christmas photo ornament for us. I liked the ornament so much that I decided to display it, and other photo ornaments that we had, on its own theme tree.

A photo tree theme is better suited to a small tree that can be displayed on a tabletop. I use a three foot tree, and this size is perfect for two dozen photo ornaments. You can use a tree skirt, but a tablecloth in a coordinating color works just as well. I use a red tablecloth to match the red and gold trim on my tree.

It doesn't have to cost a fortune to buy enough ornaments to decorate your tree. I've bought photo ornaments at garage sales and after Christmas clearance sales. Last year, I was able to pick up a three ornament set at a national department store for free by waiting for a sale and using a $10 gift card that I received in the mail.

It doesn't matter if the frames don't match since most likely, the color palette of your pictures won't be the same. You might be tempted to only use Christmas pictures, but you should use your favorite pictures from every season. You'll treasure the ornaments more if the photos represent favorite memories from vacations, Halloweens past or milestone events. Having a mix of ornament styles and finishes works well on a small tree. You can establish a color theme by using a tree skirt, garland or strands of miniature lights.

Another way to stretch your budget is to make some ornaments. On my tree, some of the ornaments are made from colored scrapbooking papers and cardstock. You can pick up foam or wood ornaments at craft stores and simply glue photos right to the ornament.

I choose to make my ornaments from paper. To make your own, all you'll need is scrapbooking papers and cardstock in your color theme, scissors, glue, stapler, stickers, a hole punch and cookie cutters. The simplest ornament you can make is a simple rectangle cut from paper with a hole punched at the top for the hook. Glue the picture to the center, and embellish with the stickers.

A variation on the rectangle ornament is to use a cookie cutter to make a shaped ornament. I traced a tree cookie cutter on green paper, and then glued my picture to the front. I then turned the ornament over and trimmed the picture to match the shape of the ornament.

Another simple ornament to make is to roll the cardstock into a cone, and attach the picture to the front with a stapler. If you use double sided paper, both the inside and outside of the cone will have a pattern. You can make double sided paper by gluing two sheets of patterned paper with the back sides together.

When decorating your tree, create a space for ornaments by spreading limbs of fake trees flat and spreading them out length-wise. This creates spaces between tiers of limbs for ornaments. Decorate from the top down, with lights and garlands first. Then, you can nestle your photo ornaments over the garlands to make sure that they can be seen.