Tutorial: How To Make a Personalised Snow Globe with Photos

When the days start getting frosty and Christmas is peering around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about presents and decorations. With so much to choose from in the stores, people often look for something really special. You can make Christmas extra special this year and make your own snow globe to put in your window or to give away as a gift.

We’ll show you how you can create your own personalised snow globe by using laminated digital photos and disposable/real wine glasses.

You’ll need:

• Disposable glasses
• Photos of your loved ones
• A laminator
• Distilled water
• Glycerine
• Glitter or snow globe snow
• A hot glue gun
• Gloss paint or nice ribbons
• Additional decorative elements as needed, such as small fir trees

You can find glycerine in most pharmacies and you can get glitter or snow globe snow, as well as other decorative elements, in craft stores or online. Should you not have a laminator at home, most copy shops will be able to help you with this step.

Full-body portraits work best for this DIY project. Once you’ve decided which pictures you’d like to use, get your photos developed on ifolor premium photo paper. Make sure you order photos in the correct size because the height and width of the person in the photo should be able to fit inside the disposable glass . Also keep in mind that you’ll need some extra space in the glass to add other decorative elements such as small fir trees.

Once you’ve received your digital prints in the mail, cut out the people you’d like to use from your photos and laminate them. When laminating, make sure you leave enough space around the edges of the photos (about 2-3 mm) so you’ll later be able to cut them out without cutting into the middle of the lamination.

Now the creative part of the project can begin. You should glue your photo figurines and little trees to the lid using a hot glue gun. Simply apply some glue to the lid and place the bottom of the photo in it. You can use the empty glass to stabilise the photo while the glue hardens or alternatively glue some decorative stones or a pile of snow globe snow next to it. While doing this, make sure you don’t decorate the lid up to the very edge since you won’t be able to properly seal the glass afterwards.

Then, fill up the glass with water and add a few drops of glycerine. Once you’ve mixed this a bit, you can then add the “snow.”

Once the elements on the lid of the glass are securely in place, carefully sink them into the water and securely fasten the lid. You can then add a nice ribbon around the rim of the lid and your completely personalised snow globe is all finished!

This is a faux version of a snow globe as it is not filled with water, and it can’t be shaken. However, it can be used as a decoration or as a candleholder to compliment your home Christmas decorations.

For this idea, you’ll need a decorative glass, your laminated photo figurines, artificial snow, and other decorative elements or figurines. You can follow the steps listed above to create the photo figurines.

In order to decorate the wine glass with Christmas figurines, first start out by cutting out a circle of cardboard that is as large as the opening of the glass. Attach your photo figurines, decorative elements, and artificial snow to the circle using a hot glue gun (just as in the craft idea above).

To seal the wine glass, apply glue along the rim of the glass with your hot glue gun and lay the cardboard circle onto the glass with your decorations facing down. Once the glue is dry, simply flip over the glass and voilà! Your own winter landscape wine glass is finished!

Do you want to make things even easier or don't fancy doing any DIY? With our photo shaker frame, you can make hearts, sand or snow swirl around your pictures. All you need to do is insert your favourite photo which you can switch out whenever you want.