Snow Globe Photo Ornament DIY Tutorial

These  Homemade Snow Globe Photo Ornaments are a fun easy project and will make a wonderful personalized gift, addition to any tree or tie one onto a gift for extra special gift wrapping.

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I’ve noticed that the older I get, the quicker the holiday season seems to arrive. Before I know it, I’m caught up in the chaos of decorating my home, gift lists, shopping, baking cookies, family get-togethers, holiday parties decorating, watching Christmas movies, wrapping presents, and singing along to our favorite holiday tunes.

A quick holiday homemade gift can take a little stress off my “what to give” list.  I just love homemade Christmas ornaments!  They bring a personalized element to any Christmas tree, and they made great gifts as well!

A few years back I made 3 homemade Christmas ornaments using clear glass ball (or plastic) ornaments.  They are so fun to fill and decorate, the possibilities are endless.

This year I wanted to make some homemade ornaments with photos.  Our oldest daughter, Heather bought her first home back in March, and I thought the picture of her holding the “sold” sign in front of the house would be a fun little keepsake ornament for her first tree in her own home!

The snow globe photo ornament of her first home turned out so cute, I just had to make a few more.

I actually had everything I needed right at home.

Snow Globe Photo Ornament supplies

clear plastic or shatterproof glass ornaments (I used the round balls and the flat ones)

photo – you will want 2 copies of your photo so it can be seen from both sides.  I just printed these at home on copy paper.  2.5″ – 3″ wide work best for the 2 sizes of ornaments I had.

packing tape

artificial snow or glitter

scissors

ribbon

Ziploc® Holiday Container (for catching snow when filling ornament, and for storage)

Snowglobe Photo Ornament Tutorial

1. First I resized the photo I wanted to use, to about 2.5″-3″ wide (I used photoshop, but almost any photo editing software or website or even word processing program will let you do this).  I printed 2 copies on copy paper. I placed the copies with back sides together and  “laminated” them with packing tape. – basically just cover the image in packing tape beyond the edges of the picture, on both sides.
2. Next, I trimmed the excess tape so I had a very small edge around the picture.  (note:  do NOT cut all the way to the edge of the pictures.  if you do, your pictures will not be laminated, going past the edge of the picture is what keeps them stuck together)
3. Remove the top of the ornament, and set aside
4. I filled a Ziploc® Container with my artificial snow.  I held the ornament over the container and filled about 1/4 full of snow. By keeping my ornament over the Ziploc® Container I avoided the mess of getting snow all over while filling the ornament, and I had a simple way to store my snow for the next project.
5. I rolled the laminated photo and dropped it into the ornament.
6. I used my finger (or you could use tweezers) to open/unroll the photo.
7. I placed the ornament top back on.
8. Added a ribbon and it’s ready to hang on the tree!!

SO easy!!  After I printed the pictures, it took me less than 10 minutes to make all 3!

The snow globe photo ornaments look beautiful on our new flocked tree.

The girls love their ornaments with their dogs.

The ornament with Heather’s new house will be a surprise I’ll give her on Christmas Eve.  It would be fun to make one for each home you’ve lived in, or with an annual family Christmas photo, a class photo for a teacher, grandkids for grandparents, wedding picture for newlyweds, new baby’s, graduate……..I could go on and on.

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The Ziploc® Holiday Collection is perfect for crafts, recipes, entertaining, gift-giving!  They certainly came in super handy for keeping my mess contained while I worked, and I love that I now have a storage container for my snow and glitter.  The One Press Seal allows the containers to be securely closed with one simple press on the lid and they are designed to be nested within each other when empty and stacked when full, saving valuable storage space.

Don’t you just love an easy personalized gift/craft like that?  What photo would you put in an ornament?

If you like this snow globe ornament craft, you might also like to make Waterless Snow Globes.

Disclaimer:  I have a working relationship with Ziploc®.  As always, all view and opinions, and my love for Ziploc® Containers, are all my own.