This idea sprang from something I saw on Pintrest, and I just embellished it.

My dad's 60th Birthday was this year and I needed simple ideas for decorating a large, open, outdoor space for 100+ people.

I wanted to share older photos of my dad along with newer photos.

So I decided to put his pics on blocks of wood with little eyes for the balloons to be tied to.

Step 1: Print, Cut and Sand

First: Print out the photos. You should really have time to let the ink dry on the paper. *side note... reds and blues bleed. B&W photos work best!
I used regular paper... but in hind sight, I should have used a medium weight card stock.

Second: Pick out the wood you are going to use. Best decision I made was going to the scrap bin at Home Depot. AND they cut it for me for free!

Third: Sand it down real good. You don't want splinters :)

Step 2: Paint

I'm always in favor of cheap... so I used leftover indoor house paint.
Depending on the type and color of paint, you may need a second coat.

Step 3: Mod Podge

1. Generously layer mod podge on the wood.
2. Line up the photo (I recomend starting from a corner)
3. Press the photo into the previously layed mod bodge by painting mod podge on the front of the photo.
4. Roatate by putting modpodge under and then on top of the photo till its down.
5. While it's still wet/damp rub with your fingers to get out air bubbles and wrinkles <- The reason I should have used card stock!

Step 4:

After its all dry I screwed in the eyes.
It's helpful to drill a tiny hole to get it started.

Step 5: Optional Finishing Touch

Because this party was going to be all night I thought it would be cool if when it got dark... little Happy Birthday messages would glow on the photos.

I also blew up one of dads high school football photos and posed the task of finding him in the photo. I used the glow in the dark paint to point him out so that when the sun goes down you could see him :)

It worked out really well, but I would recomend getting a better glow paint. I had to use quite a few coats and keep charging with a flashlight.

Step 6: Ta Da!

The actual finished product.
It turned out really well and I got tons of compliments.

See those paper flags in the back...?
I made those off a pintrest post. They look awesome, but they were super time consuming!
I would make them again... be never 10 strands. Never again.