tutorial…wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Each Christmas, I wrap the kids’ baby pictures as gifts. Usually with coordinating gift wrap paper. I saw this idea in an Olan Mills Photography studio years ago (25?) when I went with my friend Linda to have her children’s pictures taken at Christmas time. I began wrapping my own pictures then and have done it ever since.

I love the idea of making Christmas gifts both personal and meaningful, which is why I enjoy wrapping up the kids’ baby pictures each year. It adds a nostalgic touch to the season, as we look back on how much they’ve grown over the years. It’s a fun tradition that never fails to bring smiles to everyone’s faces, especially when we reminisce about those special moments captured in the photos. Every year, I choose coordinating gift wrap paper that complements the picture, keeping the tradition fresh and thoughtful.

Similarly, when I think of meaningful gifts for friends or family who love sports, I like to add a personal touch there as well. Custom sports keychains wholesale have become a popular choice in recent years, offering a unique way to celebrate someone’s passion for their favorite sport or team. Whether it’s for a birthday or a special event, these keychains can be tailored to reflect the recipient’s personality and interests, making them a perfect addition to any occasion. The best part? They’re both practical and sentimental, serving as a constant reminder of the memories shared.

Another great way to add a personalized touch to a gift is by choosing something truly one-of-a-kind. Items like soufeel custom bobbleheads allow you to capture special moments in a fun and creative way. Whether it’s a replica of a loved one in their favorite sports uniform or a playful representation of their personality, these bobbleheads make for a heartfelt and memorable gift. They go beyond the usual presents, offering something unique that reflects the recipient’s interests and passions while serving as a keepsake they’ll cherish for years to come.

favorite presents

I took the following picture in 2002, so DD must have been almost four years old. Time flies!

Wrapping pictures 12

A few years ago, I took pictures of the process, so I’ll walk you through it, if you’d like to give this cute project a try. Not hard to do on your own, but I may be able to provide a few hints to make it easier. The pictures are a combination of pics from 2002 and 2009.

Supplies needed: a framed photo, wrapping paper, ribbon (or a bow), tape, scissors, a rotary cutter or craft knife, and a pencil. I like to use a fabric ribbon, but any kind of ribbon will work.

Wrapping pictures 1

Lay the picture face down on the back of the wrapping paper. Check to be sure the pattern of the paper is running in the direction you want it to. I’ve wrapped pictures, cut them open, and discovered I wrapped them upside down. Ooops.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Overlap the paper on the back of the photo frame. Tape it down. I usually tape it in the middle and near the edge of the frame.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

If the paper is too long, trim it so there is about five inches extra paper on the top and the bottom of the frame.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Fold the corners so the paper is close to the frame. If the paper is thin, it may tear as it’s pulled against the corner. If I think it may tear, I place a piece of tape on the paper at the corner before I fold the paper to reinforce it. If the paper does tear, open the fold, carefully place a piece of tape over the tear and refold. No one will notice the repair.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

When the corners are folded, I tape the folded paper to the back just to keep everything neat and tight. Right where my thumb is in the above picture.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Fold the ends up and tape the paper to the back of the frame.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

When both ends of the frame have been wrapped and taped, feel along the top of the frame for the hanging device. If you’ve forgotten which way the picture is hanging, don’t worry! You’ll be able to feel the metal hanging strip through the paper.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Use the rotary cutter to slice through the paper, along the bottom of the metal strip, until the hanger shows through. Cut the paper just enough to hang the picture.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Wrap ribbon around opposite corners of the frame.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Tape the ribbon to the back of the package. Use a hot glue gun if the tape won’t hold it. It will depend on the kind of paper and ribbon you use. Some foils will not hold tape well.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

The next procedure is to make an X-shaped cut through the paper on the front. Use the rotary cutter (or an X-acto knife) to carefully make a slit in the paper on the front of the frame. Stay over the glass so you don’t scratch the frame. Rock the blade back and forth with gentle pressure, until the slit is large enough to admit the scissors. Use a sharp cutter. You don’t want to push so hard that you scratch the glass.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

When the scissors will fit into the slit, use them to cut the X from corner to corner. I don’t go all the way to the edge. If there is an oval mat on the picture, cut from the center to the edge of the mat.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

After cutting the X, use the scissors to cut each of the four sections in half, from the top of the picture to the bottom and from side to side.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Each of the points will be curled back to make the curls around the picture. These can be taped down with a little bit of tape.

Wrapping pictures 7

If the paper is heavy enough, it will hold the curl without tape. If you’re using a heavy paper, wrap the paper around a pencil from the point to the bottom of the triangular piece, turning it in as far as it can go. Release and the curl will stay in place.

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

All done!

wrapping framed pictures as gifts

Hang and enjoy!

2009

my baby boys

2002

Baby pictures

2007

baby pics

2005

baby pics

2010

best presents I ever received

Tell those babies they are the best presents you ever received! Mine are now 13, 24, 27, 30, and 32. I still tell them that. 🙂

~~Rhonda

magical music

During our Christmas open house, my friend Becky and her daughter Kira played lovely Christmas music on their flute and viola. It was wonderful to hear the music throughout the house. My granddaughters thought the music was fascinating! They sat in front of the musicians and wouldn’t take their eyes off the instruments. Kira shared her viola with them.

mesmerized by the magic of music

The girls loved the instruments.

she loved the viola

viola magic

she would have played all afternoon if allowed

It was a sweet introduction to the instrument for the twins. My thanks to Becky and Kira for giving such a treat to the girls and the wonderful gift of Christmas music to us and to our guests.

~~Rhonda

menu plan monday ~ December 5, 2011

I haven’t managed to post menus for two weeks. We’ve been SO busy. But I found out that, just like planning your Christmas preparations, it’s when you are the busiest that you need a plan the most! Our annual Christmas open house was a great success. So much fun! We have several more events to host, all to celebrate the Christ of Christmas. Genny drew this on our chalkboard. The real reason for the holidays.

chalkboard in the music room

Monday
Roast Beef in the Crock Pot
Rice

Tuesday
Roast Beef Sandwiches
Chips / Sour Cream Dip

Wednesday
Cheeseburger Soup
Cheddar Bay Biscuits Scroll down the link for the recipe.
Celery and Carrot Sticks
Red Grapes

Thursday
Baked Chicken
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Steamed Carrots
Green Salad

Friday
Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry with Cashews
Rice

Saturday
Lunch ~ Ham Sandwiches on Homemade Buns
Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Pickles, etc.
Veggies and Ranch Dip

Supper ~ Homemade Pizza with Portabella Mushrooms

Sunday
Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce
Peas
Corn
Green Salad
Garlic Bread

Next week will be a lot busier, with a more detailed menu. We have a house concert with Nathan Clark George on Thursday, a house tour for ladies from Genny’s church on Friday, and my side of the family’s Christmas party on Saturday.

You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

ornament garland

After seeing an ornament garland on the blog Pretty Quirky, I decided to make some for my scrapbook/crafting room.

ornament garland

My sister Genny loves shopping thrift stores, so she began scouring them for shiny ball ornaments. Except for a few ornaments DH bought near the end of the project, all the ornaments used were thrifted.

thrift store or garage sale finds

I ended up with two storage bins full of thrifted ornaments to work with.

enough to make three 9-foot garlands

This project took longer to complete than I thought it would. But it was very easy to do. I watched a lot of Netflix while working on it. 🙂

I wanted a garland for each of three 6-foot wide windows. To begin, I cut three 9-foot lengths of 1/4″ woven ribbon. I just used what I had on hand. The ribbon has to be strong enough to hold the ornaments. I didn’t think string or yarn would take the strain of holding up all those ornaments. I tied one ornament on one end of the string to keep the others from slipping off. On the other end of the string, I folded about an inch of it and hot glued that fold together to make the stringing easier. You can see that folded end in the picture below. The hot glue made the ribbon stiff and the smaller bit of ribbon was easier to thread through the ornament toppers.

the ornaments were slipped onto a 1/4" ribbon

The beginning of the garland.

start of the third garland

Not accident free. I did break a few ornaments along the way.

it's not as easy as it looks...

My garland took a while because I hot glued the caps and hanger clips onto all the ornaments as I went along. It kept them from popping off as I worked. The problem with gluing them down is that if the ornament breaks, the topper has to be clipped with a wire cutter to get it off the garland. But I thought it was worth the effort. Skipping the glue would make the project go a lot faster. Some of the broken ornaments did break away cleanly and we just slipped a different ornament onto the topper.

Two done. At the end of each garland, I tied the last ornament onto the ribbon.

two done

My husband and son put the garlands up. They knotted circles of fishing line to make carrying handles for the garlands. The ends were hung just to hold the weight of the garland while they placed the middle first.

father and son duo

Fishing line was used to hang the garlands from screws placed on the top of the window frame.

tying the middle securely

first garland...a trial run

The ends of the garlands hang down about 15-18 inches.

hanging by fishing wire tied around a screw in the top of the window casing

The garlands are really pretty and I enjoyed making them. Thankfully, we have a large attic where we can easily store all our decorations. I think we’ll take these down, wrap them in old sheets and carry them up that way. The sheets will make them easier to carry and will keep them dust free during storage. If I didn’t have such a great storage space, I’d consider making these in shorter sections that could be stored in containers.

ornament garlands

I hot-glued ornaments to an evergreen wreath to make a coordinating wreath for the scrapbook room door.

wreath for scrapbook room door

Next year, I may make another wreath, using a foam base or a wire hanger, so the wreath comes closer to matching the garlands. But for this year, I used what I had on hand. Works for me!

Hop over to The Charm of the Home for more decorating ideas.

Photobucket

~~Rhonda

open house 2011

Our annual Christmas open house was yesterday. The weather was wet and chilly, with light rain during the first part of the afternoon. It didn’t dampen the holiday spirit, though! We had a wonderful time with 195 guests signing in. We are told each year that this party begins the Christmas season for many of our guests. It certainly does for us! We want to thank everyone who came and a special thanks goes to all the helping hands who made the day possible.

As we were planning for this year’s party, I wanted to save money while still trying some new ideas. I made long lists, gave them to my sister Genny, and she shopped thrift stores and found some great items for me. As I share pictures of the decorations, I’ll mention the thrifting we did. Maybe it will inspire you to do some thrift shopping of your own!

The family tree in the living room is a 9′ tree on a 2′ box that DH built as a stand for it. Pictured is our third daughter. The room in the background is the dining room.

family tree in the living room

I made the paper garlands for the dining room windows with circles I punched from old Christmas cards and winter themed scrapbooking papers. I then sewed them together. Genny helped with the punching after we realized how many more circles we needed when we began to hang them. The tree is “snowed” with fluff. I’ve always used shredded plastic snow before, but we are working at using less one-use plastic and finding alternatives when we can. I am hoping the trees will store well with the fluff snow so it can be used again.

"snow tree" in the dining room

A thrifted frame, poster board and dry erase markers made a great Christmas message board. We placed it on top the cupboard in the dining room.

message board

The candy trees on the cookie table were made by my daughters. The trees turned out beautifully. And they look great on the candlesticks. I made the candy star after seeing one on rubberstampingdiva.com. The plates and plate hanger are thrifted items. I cut printed letters and a printed tree and decoupaged them onto the plates. If I had a Cricut machine, I would have used that to cut letters, but the option I used was a cheaper one and just as effective.

thrifted plates and thrifted plate display

We call the tree in the music room the “bubble light tree.” It is decorated with old style ornaments and, of course, bubble lights. It always reminds me of my Grandma Ruth. I can remember seeing bubble lights on her tree.

bubble light tree

On the other side of the room, I display my Christmas china collection year round. The small tree holds small vintage ornaments from DH’s mother.

music room

We display pictures of our granddaughters on a small tree on the counter in the addition hall. I made “Merry Christmas” and the names of our three granddaughters using silver pipe cleaners and displayed them on the grands’ tree.

Merry Christmas

The bath in the addition has a garden themed tree.

garden tree in the downstairs bath

It has some ornaments I made in 2008, by decoupaging pictures of our garden onto glass balls.

fountain

These items were left on the bench in the bathroom after one of our decorating sessions. A little rearranging and they made a great little vignette for the garden theme. The little bench is a thrifted item. The silver pots are recycled garden pots spray painted silver.

impromptu vignette

In the laundry room, we put thrifted vintage ornaments on the small tree. Can you believe Genny and I painted the upholstery on that wing chair this fall? We did! That’s a whole ‘nother post at a later date.

vintage ornaments in the laundry room

The nativity on the laundry room counter is also thrifted.

nativity on the laundry room counter

In the guest room, you’re greeted with a “Merry Christmas” on this small corner cabinet. Everything on the table top is thrifted except the large white platter. I used dry erase markers to write the message.

all thrifted

The tree in the guest room is decorated in silver and blue.

blue and silver tree in the guest room

Behind the tree, above the bookcase we placed five frames with mirrors. All thrifted. Three of the frames came with prints in them and they were replaced with mirror glass. The frames were spray painted silver. I received quite a few comments on these frames.

thrifted frames with mirrors

We put the putz display in the armoire again and it looked so pretty there. I added battery powered LED lights to the houses, but forgot to turn it on for the party! I made the tinsel wreaths with my sister Genny’s help. It was easier with four hands than two. They are made from tinsel ropes wrapped around embroidery hoops. Easy! I’ll post more about that soon.

putz display

I keep dozing off. As tired as I am, I may leave you in the guest room for now and continue the tour with another post. More to come! Merry Christmas!

~~Rhonda

a few pictures from today

Today was very busy! Genny and the family worked hard today, decorating and cleaning. I spent all day in the kitchen, dipping truffles. Raspberry, mocha, chocolate cream, Oreo peppermint, plain Oreo, peanut butter, and strawberry cheesecake truffles. These are the chocolate peanut butter truffles. The centers are dipped in chocolate, then in almond bark.

chocolate peanut butter truffels

Our son and daughter-in-law came to help. They brought the twins along (yay!) and our youngest daughter spent the day as babysitter. So fun to have the littles popping in and out, big-eyed at all the holiday activity. They even caught some rainbows in the kitchen, made by the prisms and snowflakes in the window.

catching rainbows

The two older girls made more candy trees.

gumball candy tree

They are very pretty, but took a lot longer to make than I thought they would. They look beautiful on the candlesticks.

candy trees

The Christmas cactus opened its first blossom today.

Christmas cactus

And three more double-yoked eggs were cracked! That makes fifteen or sixteen we’ve found, in just two cartons!

double yokes

How’s that for exciting? 🙂 ~~Rhonda

candy cane tree

Two of my daughters worked on this tree. After the fourth tier was done, DD wasn’t sure how to finish the top, so I did that part.

candy cane tree

It will stand on a candlestick…haven’t decided which one yet. I saw two similar to it at “Making the Moments that Matter.”

~~Rhonda

living room tree

We finished the living room tree today. It’s a nine-foot tree and sits on a two-foot box. This tree has red beads, popcorn and cranberry strings, and multi-colored lights. It displays all the family ornaments, the kids’ collections, and the ornaments they have made through the years. It also gets a final twinkle of tinsel. So pretty as the tree rotates on its stand.

"family tree" in the living room

Twenty-two trees done!

~~Rhonda

some new decorations this year

I will have more to say (and show) about our new decorating projects at a later date. We’ve been too busy for me to take time to post, but here are a few pictures to whet your appetite.

A glass ornament mobile in the hall bath upstairs. The iridescent balls remind me of soap bubbles.

finished mobile hanging in the hall bath

Tinsel rope wreaths…made three of these.

tinsel rope wreaths

Paper garlands…still need to trim the length on a few of those…

paper garlands

And candy trees on candlesticks…

candy trees

Our Christmas open house is Sunday…lots to do yet, but we’re getting there.

~~Rhonda

our Christmas letter

Merry Christmas, Family and Friends!
We pray this finds you well and enjoying God’s many good gifts and blessings.

In January, we savored a week of lovely weather in Florida, while home was hit with an ice storm. We were glad to get reports from friends that all was well at our house, though we did lose a redbud tree due to ice damage.

feeding the gulls

lilacs bowing under the ice

In April, we visited our older son and his family. We had a great time. The twins took up with us as though we lived next door and not half way across the country.

thanks for the rolls, Pa!

We celebrated our granddaughter’s thirteenth birthday while we were there.

happy birthday!

During April and May, we watched seven baby foxes grow and play in our back yard. The parents decided our garage made a good den. The little ones were really cute, though they chewed on everything in sight! We’re hoping they won’t revisit the garage next spring! Once was fun, but also enough of a good thing.

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While securing the garage is essential, it’s just as important to make sure the rest of your home is properly secured, starting with the doors. A high-quality door lock is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to protect your home from intrusions—whether from curious wildlife or more concerning threats.

Modern smart locks, deadbolts, and keyless entry systems offer convenience and enhanced protection, making it easier to manage access to your home. If you’re wondering which type of lock would be best for your rental unit or personal property, Check this website for expert advice on selecting the right lock to fit your needs. A strong lock not only deters intruders but also gives you peace of mind, knowing that your home is secure even when you’re away enjoying a week of sunshine.

baby fox

In June, we rescued a tiny kitten after finding her on the back porch. She was skinny and dehydrated, but perked up quickly. After a week or so, she was looking much better. She has fit in well and we’re glad Amy is now part of the family.

Amy, the kitten Amy

Our older son and family came for a visit in July. While here, they asked us about the possibility of their moving to the family farm. That was easy! Yes!

modeling new dresses

When our oldest daughter returned home from her summer job in New York, she brought Cedar with her. Cedar is an orange kitten about the same age as Amy. It’s been all fun and games since. They have a great time chasing each other and wrestling. Their antics keep us laughing.

teasing each other

In September, our younger son was offered a great job opportunity with Woot.com, and he and his wife moved to Seattle, WA. We miss having them nearby. My thanks to them for the use of this great picture.

Daniel and Julie 2011

On the other hand, our older son told us his wife had a job with Whole Foods in St. Louis, and they planned to move to Illinois! In October, they moved to the family farm and now live only fourteen miles away. Which meant we were able to celebrate the twins’ fourth birthday with them.

it's a BIG book! read it to me!

It’s been an exciting fall for us! With frequent visits from the grands, we get help in the kitchen…

making rolls with Ma helping Pa make pancakes

…help in the garden…

wagon ride

…and help with Christmas decorating! Not to mention all the other perks!

snowflake for the ceiling

We look forward to more fun, visits and overnights with our three granddaughters!

We thank God for His goodness and grace throughout the past year and look forward to what He has for us in the coming year. Have a wonderful Christmas!

~~Rhonda and all