Photo Garland
Need a quickie decoration for your house or as a gift for a friend who is hosting a holiday party? I like to crochet a holiday garland each year for our friends, Carol and Thane. They host a lovely tree trimming party every year. One year I crocheted a garland of stars. The following year I crocheted the living Christmas tree garland. I was stumped for this year. I'd thought of crocheting some angels, but all of the patterns that I found were a bit fussy.
After thinking this through, I realized that Carol's and Thane's house is very photogenic and I have MANY photos of their various parties from the past in my archives. Soooooo, I went through my photos and their Facebook album pages and came up with about 25 great images.
Here's how I made the garland:
1. Once you decide on the images, upload them to picnik. This is a free photo editing site.
2. Choose the "frames" tab at the top of the screen. Click "rounded edges" and move the corner radius slider all the way to the right, achieving a circular photo.
3. Save each circular photo to your desktop.
4. Open the Word program on your computer and insert each circular photo into a document. Leave at least one inch space around each photo. Print the photos on card stock.
5. Cut out the photos leaving about a 1/4" border
6. Punch holes into the edges around each photo.
7. With an "I" crochet hook loosely single crochet around the edge, placing two single crochet stitches into each hole for the first round.
8. Second round, chain 1, sc in first stitch, 2 sc in next stitch. Continue around in this manner until you reach the beginning. Tie off, weave in ends.
9. With main color (I used off-white yarn), single crochet stitches around the entire piece, not increasing. Add a small chain loop of 5 chains near the top of each "ornament" as you crochet around.
10. Once all of the ornaments are edged in crochet, decide on the order you want to string them.
11. Chain 10, slip stitch through top loop of ornament; chain 10; slip stitch through the loop of the next ornament. Continue until you've attached all of the ornaments to one continuous chain.
12. I added a little note to the back of each ornament describing each item pictured....in French (because Carol and Thane are definitely Francophiles)!
13. I also flattened each ornament with a cool iron so the discs would not curl.
We hung the photo garland along the mantel of their vintage Spanish Revival fireplace. I just LOVE how it looks!
I might simplify this idea for individual tree ornaments and use a different photo for each side!!
After thinking this through, I realized that Carol's and Thane's house is very photogenic and I have MANY photos of their various parties from the past in my archives. Soooooo, I went through my photos and their Facebook album pages and came up with about 25 great images.
Here's how I made the garland:
1. Once you decide on the images, upload them to picnik. This is a free photo editing site.
2. Choose the "frames" tab at the top of the screen. Click "rounded edges" and move the corner radius slider all the way to the right, achieving a circular photo.
3. Save each circular photo to your desktop.
4. Open the Word program on your computer and insert each circular photo into a document. Leave at least one inch space around each photo. Print the photos on card stock.
5. Cut out the photos leaving about a 1/4" border
6. Punch holes into the edges around each photo.
7. With an "I" crochet hook loosely single crochet around the edge, placing two single crochet stitches into each hole for the first round.
8. Second round, chain 1, sc in first stitch, 2 sc in next stitch. Continue around in this manner until you reach the beginning. Tie off, weave in ends.
9. With main color (I used off-white yarn), single crochet stitches around the entire piece, not increasing. Add a small chain loop of 5 chains near the top of each "ornament" as you crochet around.
10. Once all of the ornaments are edged in crochet, decide on the order you want to string them.
11. Chain 10, slip stitch through top loop of ornament; chain 10; slip stitch through the loop of the next ornament. Continue until you've attached all of the ornaments to one continuous chain.
12. I added a little note to the back of each ornament describing each item pictured....in French (because Carol and Thane are definitely Francophiles)!
13. I also flattened each ornament with a cool iron so the discs would not curl.
We hung the photo garland along the mantel of their vintage Spanish Revival fireplace. I just LOVE how it looks!
I might simplify this idea for individual tree ornaments and use a different photo for each side!!
Labels: Architecture, Art, Fashion, Food, Friends, Los Angeles, yarny stuff
posted by Ellen Bloom @ 1:48 PM
13 Comments:
Ingenious, beautiful and thoughtful.
Just so wonderful. What a cool garland to bring to their party. Instant family treasure!
Wow. Absolutely adore this. I knew I would. That would be so fun to do with any cute image, not just photos. Now I regret throwing out any Christmas cards. You could just cut them into circles, add the crochet, and, voila, instant X-mas garland!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful design ... it's one of those simple ideas that in the right hands looks incredible.
This is absolutely beautiful. My parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary next year. Even though it is almost a year away, I'm already planning their party and gifts. This would be a unique and fun way to display photos and memories of their first 40 years. Thank you so much for sharing!
Wow Ellen, what a wonderful gift! Thanks for all the instructions. Maybe someday I will attempt this project.
Christine G.
What a great idea. Love it. For knitters: you could thread yarn around the edges with a yarn needle, then pick up and knit the resulting loops. Or even fancier, do an applied i-cord around it.
- Brenda C.
Fab - Could work for Valentine's Day too!
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