DIY Our First Christmas Ornament

Even though we've already gotten an "Our First Christmas" ornament from Rhett's mom, I decided to go ahead and make one myself. I have been planning to for a while, I am just a great procrastinator! I bought a bunch of those little wooden hearts at JoAnn's, so I plan to make one each year with a different picture. I love consistency. Anyway, here's what you need:

• wooden piece from a craft store in whatever shape you want
• print of the photo you want (on sticker paper. measure your wood piece first, and size the photo accordingly in editing software)
• hammer and nail to make the hole
• cutting board and X-acto knife
• paint brush
• Mod Podge
• some kind of ribbon, string or ornament hanger

First make the hole by driving the nail in with the hammer. I started it on one side and flipped it over to finish it. That way you don't nail it into your surface! Next get your cutting board and knife out. Line up the shape over the photo and carefully cut it out. You can use scissors, but this will be a lot cleaner if you do it slowly and carefully. It might be a good idea to print your photo 2 or 3-up on your sheet so you have extras! Luckily I didn't mess up, but that's a rare occurrence over here. 

After you cut the shape out, peel the backing off of your sticker and place it carefully on your wooden piece.

After that, you can brush on a thin layer of Mod Podge to seal it. I've never used this stuff, so I'm really hoping it works! Everyone else seems to use it though, so I took a chance. Let it dry for 15-30 minutes.  Use a needed to poke through the hole. It will make it look ugly on the front, so go back through the hole from the front to hide extra paper that poked through. 

When it's dry, flip it over and paint or write your date and message! I am terrible at this part OBVIOUSLY. I'll probably paint over that and have someone with good handwriting do it for me. Now you can put your string through and hang it on the tree. Wasn't that so easy?!

I grew up with a very eclectic tree. Most of the ornaments were either made by me or given to the family. We never had plain balls or anything. Since I don't have just a ton of ornaments quite yet, I did buy some red and gold balls to fill up the tree. On the right you can see our other first Christmas ornament and the Sheriff Woody ornament that my mom got us (get it? The Woodys!)

I love our tree :) I hope you guys are all having a festive Saturday so far. Only a few more days until Christmas. SO EXCITING!