Create Your Own Memento or Keepsake

This year I’ll be away from my cousins for the first Christmas in about ten years. Last year my grandma passed away. I’m going to take one of her photos I’ve uploaded to Respectance and make a cool ornament as well as encourage my cousins to make the same ornament to hang on their Christmas trees. WHAT YOU NEED • A horizontal Respectance tribute image (about 4X6 landscape) • A printer – color or black and white • Paper • Scissors • Single hole punch • Paper Fasteners • String HOW TO DO IT 1. Pick a Photo: To get a photo, go to the Respectance photo’s page and right click the image. From here, choose “Save As” and save the image to your desktop. 2. Print your Photo: If you’ve got a color printer then go for it. I’ve only got black and white so I’m going to settle for that. 3. Cut your Image: Once your photo is printed, cut the white parts of the paper away so that you have an image about 4X6 inches. You can recycle the white parts of paper. 4. Make Strips: Cut the remaining image into ½ inch wide strips so that you have about 11 strips. These will become the round part of your ornament. 5. Punch Holes in the Strips: Take your strips four at a time, and use your hole puncher to make a hole at the top and bottom. 6. Fasten the Strips Together: Stack all your strips in order and stick a paper fastener through the hole in one end. Repeat with the other hole and bend back the fasteners on the reverse side to repeat the bundle. 7. Bend the Bundle: Take your bundle of photo strips and bend it gently to give the strips some curvature, as shown in the photograph to the right. This will give your ornament its spherical shape when it’s fanned out. Do this a few times until the strips hold the curve. 8. Fan out the Strips to Form the Ornament: Pull out each strip and evenly distribute them around the globe of the ornament. It should look like a little ball. 9. Attach String: You’ll use a loop of string to hang your ornament from a tree, mantle, wall, ceiling, or wherever you decide to put it. Pick a color of string that goes well with your photo and cut off about 6-8 inches. 10. Share with Your Friends and Family: Click the “Share Group” button or “Share Post” button and send this How-to to friends and family. FOR PICTURES ON HOW TO DO IT I need to confess. The idea for this ornament came from another website. I know…I know…You're surprised we're not brilliant. I just have a decent internet connection. If you want to see the pictorial How-To for this craft visit http://photojojo.com/content/diy/photo-christmas-tree-ornaments/

Respectance: NICE IDEA :)