Favourite Photo Ornaments, the 2019 Edition

Today is the first day of Advent, 2019! As you can see by my Advent Calendar for 2019, today is our annual tree-trimming party! This means it’s time to add yet another set of Favourite Photo Ornaments to our collection.

What are Favourite Photo Ornaments? They’re small prints of our favourite photos of the kids from the current year, framed or laminated in plastic, and strung with a pretty ribbon on the tree. In 2019, we’ll have 32 Favourite Photo Ornaments.

I’ve now fully committed to using clear plastic business card laminators for my FPOs instead of clear plastic dollar-store frames, as we’ve run out of the latter. The benefit of this method is that you get to use two photos per kid, producing double-sided FPOs.

Here are this year’s photos, fronts and backs!

Now attention all ye folk not interested in displaying kid pics….I’ll say it before, and I’ll say it again….While we decorate our tree with pictures of the offspring, you can just as easily decorate yours with photos of your pets through the years, vintage family photos, or glam celebrities from days gone by. It will look freaking amazing! I guarantee!

In terms of “styling,” we like to save our FPOs for last when we decorate the tree. We hang them starting from the top and wind down chronologically, from infancy (near the star) to current teenage status (lower branches). [Cue Cher’s “If I could turn back time….”]

Speaking of…here’s a closer look at this year’s stunners. The kids are already like 20 feet taller and 50 years older:

Here’s ye olde DIY in the form of a recipe card:

Print Recipe

Favourite Photo Ornaments, A Streamlined DIY

Ingredients

• Digital Photos [or 2.25x 3.5 Printed Photos]
• Computer
• Photo Printer
• Photo Paper
• Business Card Lamination Sleeves
• Hole Punch
• Scissors
• Ribbon

Instructions

• Pick a favourite photo or two.
• Use your favourite photo editing software to:

  a) size your image close to a 2/3 ratio so that it will fit into a 2.25X3.5 inch holder. I tend to default to 450×700 pixels. 

  Keep in mind that you are going to punch a hole about 1/2 inch down from the top of the photo. So, crop accordingly!

  b) Make the image black and white.

  c) Create any additional borders you desire.

  d) Add the year in a festive font on the picture.
• Print your photo to approximately 2.25 x3.5 inches.
• Insert your photo (or two photos back to back) inside a laminating sleeve and seal according to package instructions. You might need to trim the photo(s) so that there’s sufficient tackiness around all four sides.
• Punch a hole about 1/2 inch down from the top centre of the laminated photo.
• Cut a ribbon of about 5 to 6 inches in length.
• Tie the tail ends together with a large knot or knots larger than the punched hole.
• Slip the loop from the backside of the photo through to the front, so that the knot stops at the back of the photo. Et voila!

Notes

And here are ALL of the Favourite Photo Ornaments from 2003-2019:

Now, Spike the Egg Nog! Let’s get this Tree-Trimming Party Started!!!