When I was growing up, we had a formal dining room that was only used on special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. At one point I thought that was a really wasted use of space, but now looking back- because it was so special, that room was home to some of my most precious family memories. It’s the only room where we used my great grandmother’s gold-plated china. And where we sat on fancy padded chairs and got to drink sparkling cider and use the fancy butter knives. It’s also the only room where every meal was eaten by candlelight- and it was magical. My parents would dim the lights and right before we started our meal, they’d light tall candlesticks and the little flickering lights would reflect off the crystal goblets and make everything twinkle. My family meals now, even on special holidays, are much more casual. I purposely didn’t build a formal dining room, and sometimes we even use (gasp) paper plates! However the one thing that I still love, is having flickering candles on the table.
Recently I was cleaning my garage and came across a big pack of vellum from my drafting days in college. I was showing my kids how fun it was to color on it and how when held up to the window, it became translucent and let the light through. That’s the moment I had the idea for this project, and I love how they turned out. This is such a fun, easy, and inexpensive way to create a personalized decor piece that’s perfect for a centerpiece during a special family meal, or just to enjoy at home. These would make darling gifts, too!
To make these, I used my photo printer to print some of my favorite family photos onto vellum. You might have to experiment with your own printer to make sure it can print onto vellum, but most inkjet printers should work. I’m using a Canon PIXMA photo printer and it worked beautifully. I even used the coordinating PIXMA Printing Solutions iPhone app and printed some shots straight from my phone.
So just print out a variety of photos. If you’re using these as table centerpieces for a holiday meal, try highlighting your favorite moments from throughout the year. Horizontal photos will work best since you’ll need the width to wrap around your luminary.
Next you’ll need some glass jars or vases. Since nothing happening here has to be permanent, you can do what I did and poke around your house to see what you can round up. Glass mason jars, flower vases, and hurricanes work great. Try however, to avoid irregular shapes. Squares will work, but the very best is smooth cylindrical shaped glass.
Trim your photos to the proper height of your glass.
And then apply a piece of double-sided tape. (I told you these were easy!)
Simply attach your photo to the tape. For larger containers, you’ll need more than one photo to cover all of the sides. Just have them meet right up in the middle of the tape for a seamless look.
And if you want, you can even attach a piece of washi tape for decoration.
The fun part is that these little luminaries look beautiful in broad daylight. Set on a windowsill, the light pours through them and naturally makes them glow!
And if you’re like Kate and me, and have a crazy obsession with scented candles, these little glass jars work beautifully for this project. The lower the candle wax, the better, so if you’ve got some almost-empty ones, they’ll work perfectly!
Play around with a variety of sizes and group them together for a fun display.
The real magic happens when the lights go dim, and the candles start burning. Place a few tea lights in your glass containers (I put several in my really jumbo ones!)
And everything will come alive with a flickering glow.
The soft light pours through the vellum and illuminates the photos, creating a beautiful work of art!
I used these at a dinner and they were the topic of conversation. People couldn’t stop looking at them, and wondered how on earth I made them, and my kids especially loved seeing their pictures on there. The best part was hearing them say things like, “Hey, I remember that! That’s from our trip to the beach! Remember when….”
It’s such a fun conversation starter. I could see these being so beautiful for a wedding celebration as well. Can you imagine photos of the bride and groom all lit up? You can also use a battery-powered tea light and use these for night lights! I let my boys put on in their room and they loved it.
Start thinking about your own family memories you could light up! (Hover your mouse over the image below, to Pin it!)
Glowing Photo Luminaries
Tutorial by Our Best Bites
Supplies Needed
blank sheets of vellum (available at craft stores)
photo printer (I used a Canon PIXMA)
double sided tape
round glass hurricanes, mason jars, etc.
tea lights or battery powered candles
Instructions
Use photo printer to print a variety of photos onto vellum. Cut images to fit dimensions of your glass jars. Use double stick tape to secure photos onto glass. Place tea lights inside containers and light candles to make images glow.
Presented by Canon PIXMA Wireless All-in-One Printers. PIXMA Printing Solutions (PPS) lets you print photos or documents directly from select popular online Cloud services.
Questions & Reviews
do you think a flame less candle would work? My grandpa is in assisted living and can’t have actual flame candles!
Yep, absolutely!!
thanks for the brilliance. 🙂
I have an old railroad lantern and love to figure out a way to put a vellun photo inside. Any ideas?
Just cut to fit 🙂
I love this!!! There is so many pics I can think of to put on some!!!
Hi….just an fyi…I did this on glass bricks for a wedding they come in 5″ to 12″ square sizes…rule of thumb with printers is if you want the pictures or art work to be permanent on vellum you need to use a lazer printer, being thermal it won’t run if you get liquid on it.
Do you need to use vellum paper or can you just use different kinds ?
You’ll have to just experiment, I’ve only done it with vellum 🙂
My concern is using an inkjet printer will it smear if you try to seal the photos on the glass? Your projects are beautiful! Thank you for sharing
Is there a way to seal the pictures? Like with modge lodge or something?
I had trouble with the photo clarity after printing on vellum. Landscape photos were fine but photos were too detailed and did not print well at all. For example, eyes would come out solid black. Maybe depends a lot on the type of printer?
Ok so my question is how do you get them small enough for a tea light candle? What size do u print. Because when i print wallet it makes my picture the whole wallet size..
I looked online for vellum, there are many kinds to choose from. Which one works best?
These look fabulous! It looks like you used white vellum and low weight cause the edges are curling up after you printed them? The pictures are sized (enlarged) before you print them. Tape and vellum are applied to the OUTSIDE of the jar?
I was in the same boat! I found the lighter your picture is the better it comes out! I was using a picture of ornaments on snow and if I make the snow bright white with no shadows it comes out fine try brightening the contrast. I found if I put a small strip of color duct tape on it to seal it, it works great! hope this helps!
I Have wasted 5 sheets of vellum now and my question is my color does not come out it horrible it’s nothing like the picture almost blurry, I’ve tried just to do black but nothing comes out do I set it on color setting, do I need to adjust my color setting some how, do I just use black/white pics, tell me what I’m doing wrong was gonna make these for Christmas cuz they didn’t seem too hard but now I’m thinking different.
I have to change mine ink to the ink saver and i just get the vellum paper from walmart
I had to change the setting on my printer to print on the vellum. I have the choice of translucent I think & that worked. I decorated some vellum with stickers & made it into a cylinder with double sided tape. Put a battery operated candle in the middle for Christmas decorations to share.
I was thinking of making these for Christmas gifts so I bought the stuff I needed and tried one but it will not stick! the double sided sticky tape sticks to the glass but the velum will only stay for maybe five minutes anyone have any help for it to stay?
Thank you for a wonderful idea! To make them more permanent, perhaps some clear polyurethane spray?
If you put more than one photo on a single jar/container, when you like the candles do you see the one in back shining through on the front photo? Does that make sense?
I looked up the vellum paper but not sure which kind to get? Thank you!!!
Amber
Sara, I do not have a photo printer. Would a regular printer work instead? I would love to do these for Christmas presents.
I wonder if a very small dab of hot glue would work..
What kind of Vellum paper are you supposed to buy????? I don’t know what will work best and its not listed? No stores around here seem to carry it, i can just get it online and everythings really vague about it being translusant? Can anyone please help me?? 🙂
hi there i am guessing vellum is available in the USA? please does anyone know the equivalent what to buy in the uk please??
My mother passed away this past May. I am thinking of making these with pictures of my Mom and giving them as gifts this Christmas to my grieving family members. Thank you for this great idea!!!
Thank you for sharing this… my daughter and daughters in law are going to love getting these as gifts!
These are so fabulous! I shared this on Facebook the other day and it was a HUGE hit! https://www.facebook.com/CraftsbyAmanda/posts/10154283682585217
This is awesome !!
Thank you.
These would look awesome using porn pics too
I want to make these for my husband’s 40th birthday party. On Amazon they have “clear” vellum paper – all different pounds. The shipping is quite pricey. At staples they have white vellum paper. Can I use white vellum paper? What pound can I use? Is 29 pound to thick? My friend suggested 17 pound paper. The paper at staples is white and 29 pound. Would white be better than clear!, Please HELP!!!!!!!! His party is next weekend. ThanKS for the great idea!
Thanks for sharing this! I had printed some photos on vellum about a month ago to see the affect. I loved it but then was like, “what can I do with them, they’re sheer and would be nice with a light behind them”….. Now I know!
Could you please email me this my parents passed away I would like to have a go at this for my sins I don’t have a printer at home thank you