Hi friends! Today we're customizing a regular deck of playing cards with photos from your life! We love sharing our favorite photos in unexpected ways around the house. Next time you have friends over for a game of cards they'll be so impressed with your adorable customized set!
This card set also makes great gifts. Think Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day… the possibilities are endless!
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own set of playing cards:
1 deck of cards
52 printed photos (repeat 5 or less photos)
Scrapbook adhesive 
First, we resized our photos to be 2.5 x 3.5 inches (the same size as our playing cards) and then printed 52 of them with the Canon MG6320 printer. We used the 8.5 x 11 Canon Matte Photo Paper to make the colors really pop. 
Once they were printed, we trimmed each photo and applied scrapbook adhesive to back side of each playing card. We carefully lined up the back of the playing card with the back of the photo and pressed them together. Then, we took scissors and trimmed the edges and corners of the photo so they were the same exact size as the playing card. Repeat these steps with your photos until all your cards are completed, and then you’re done!
TIP: We'd recommend repeating 5 or less pictures across all the cards, so you aren't giving away your hand! Maybe even fewer if your friends have a crazy memory. 🙂
Thanks so much for joining us for another round of crafting with Canon USA. We're having so much fun printing photos. Please let us know if there are any photo printing projects you'd like to see here in the future! 
xo. Elsie + Emma
113 Comments
Ah, these would have been the perfect Father’s Day gift last week! Must keep it in mind for Christmas 🙂
Cathy
Turquoise Flamingo
http://www.turquoiseflamingo.com/
That doesn’t make it easier to memorize the cards?
Anyway, supercute!
I’d probably never have the patience to do it, but this is a really cool idea! Maybe in one of my fits of boredom…
So neat! You can make different themes with different photos – how cool would that be?
They look cute, but wouldn’t be practical for playing any card games because you’d soon figure out what picture went with what card 😉
Though maybe you could use that to your advantage and play a little trick on someone…
This is such a fun idea! My family played cards so much growing up!
The pictures shouldn’t be all diferent 🙂 otherwise you make fix which card is each photo and you will know what the other have :)But this is a great tutorial!!! Totally gonna do it 😀
Kisses
Sofia G
I love this. I want to make my wedding invites on giant playing cards (going for an Alice in Wonderland theme) so sticking something on the back makes them so personal. I could even make name card place settings with photos on cards… Love it.
This is an Ah-mazing idea! This is seriously a sweet gift idea! Love it! I know what you’re thinking. Enough (!!!’s) already…but seriously…this is AWESOME!!
This looks wicked!
Slight problem may be that you could start to remember what each card is by its back 😉 (only if you were really keen though)
Alice x
This is SUCH A CUTE IDEA! 😀 wow.
Thanks for sharing!
And there’s a giveaway at my blog:
http://bananaandbear.blogspot.com/2013/06/our-50th-post-and-giveaway_18.html
Anna
I think this is a great idea, except you’d have to use the same photo for every card or eventually your opponents would realize that the card with the oil pastels is either a Two, an Eight or a Queen (for example.) That would change the rules of a competitive game quite a bit and give an advantage to someone that’s played with or made that deck!
My hubby loves poker, so this could be a great DIY gift… With pics of our family maybe 😉
Saludos,
Clau!
http://clobyclau.blogspot.mx/
I’m not sure if it just wasn’t thought through but putting pictures on the back ruins the anonymity of the cards!
I quite like the idea, but aren’t they somewhat impractical? I mean, after a while, you’ll know what cards they are, since they all have different photos on the back… Not great for an exciting game night 😉
hmmm. They are super cute, but honestly… kind of useless as playing cards. The point of having the backs of cards all the same is so no one knows what is in your hand…
I loved the idea – but then I thought: doesn’t that basically give away your hand? at least after a couple of times playing…? Using only one photo would work – but surely less fun! 🙂
very, very clever…
What a completely wonderful idea!!!
Keri-Anne
http://gingerlillytea.blogspot.com
A cool idea, but if you actually used a different photo for each card, it could make it amazingly easy to cheat at cards!! Maybe just have a few different pictures and repeat them on random cards.
i love this idea, but wouldn’t the person you are playing cards against be able to know what your card is with the different backs? You would have to be sure not to have 52 different images, maybe only a few so no one would be able to know exactly what hand you are holding (especially for poker)
@Everyone,
Sorry, we should’ve clarified in the post. We didn’t print 52 different photos. That WOULD defeat the purpose of playing cards. 🙂 We repeated 5 photos across the deck and placed them randomly. But if your friends have an awesome memory, try it with fewer photos. We added a tip to the post.
you guys always keep surprising me with your creativity ! loved this
http://www.thestyletographer.com
Somebody is AMAZINGLY tanned in these photos!
Such a brilliant idea! Absolutely love it.
http://sincerelylara.com
This is so pretty, but looks pretty time consuming. I’m probably just lazy.
http://www.fullbellywornsoles.com
This is such an awesome idea! Especially if you make those “52 Reasons Why I Love You” booklets using playing cards that seem to be really popular nowadays!
http://OhHayDesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
i absolutely adore this idea! it would make such a thoughtful gift
xx
http://petalandplume.blogspot.ca
LOVE LOVE LOVE 🙂
I love this idea, its awesome!
Super cute. I love this idea since it’s so customizable! They would make a lovely gift.
Becca
http://ladyfaceblog.blogspot.com
this one is really fun!
How cute are they! This is certainly a lovely idea for a gift. an engagement gift would be a good one!
http://emeraldandmay.blogspot.com.au/
This is a super cute idea! Now all I need is a fancy color printer like yours. 😉
– Amber
http://youngbrokeandartsy.wordpress.com
Wow, this is an awesome idea.
I’ll have to remember it for Christmas for sure!
xxTheresa
http://rhymeswithdresses.blogspot.com
This is a fabulous idea! I would love to try this DIY project with different pictures of my dog! LOL! I would love to give these as gifts, and I think that my future gift recipients would love them so much that they will not even notice how little $ it costs to make it! 😉
GREAT IDEA! Will definitely do this! Please check out my blog as well! Freshly made today! http://thelifeoflexi.weebly.com/
Oh how fun! I feel like these would make a great gift!
xoxo
Juliette Laura
http://juliettelaura.blogspot.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/InfiniteStyleShop
This is such a cute idea!
Ah, I love these! These would make game night a blast. Thanks for another adorable craft to add to my DIY to-do list!
What kind of scrapbook adhesive did you use and do the cards and images stay affixed even after multiple shuffles? I think this idea is great even if the deck doesn’t last super long. 🙂
Love this. I don’t understand all the other comments, don’t people read? Use 5 or less pictures, repeated; not a different picture on every card!
Such a neat idea! I have such a huge stack of photos from my darkroom days. They’d be great for these 🙂
This is such a great gift idea!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Erica
sweet-endeavors.blogspot.com
Wow. What attend in comments. Like no one reads the one above them 😛 I love the idea.
I adore the idea. I think it can be amazingly personal.
Could you do a DIY on homemade photo frames?
These are so cute! I don’t know how you guys keep coming up with so many great ideas 🙂
-Karina
http://www.seeingbeautyblog.com
I love these cards so much! Great idea
Seaside Beauty
xxx
Such a cute idea girls!
http://talisatalksbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/crown-brush.html
What?!?!?! This idea is amazing!!
What a lovely idea! This is so cute! 🙂
http://annescribblesanddoodles.blogspot.com/
Great tip about only doing 5 or fewer photos, I totally wasn’t even thinking about how the photos could give your hand away! Very clever idea 🙂
xox
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
This is such a cool idea! I must do this.
Such a great idea and a fab gift!! going to do our camping set for with photos from out roadtrips. Love it.
Zoe @GypsieSister
This is cool. But you can identify the card by the picture and that can help you to cheat your mates in the game. What say?
Cheers,
Janaki R.
http://www.crazysketchbook.blogspot.com
What a great idea! I have to make some for my grand mother, she loves to play cards, and i haven’t known what to give her for birthday in years. Old people have everything!, but she don’t have playing cards with her grandchildren on it.
Thank you for the tip!
that’s so cute!
http://somebodyfromsomewhere.blogspot.com/
This is such a fantastic idea, thank you for sharing it with your readers. What a great way to personalise your cards – and also a stunning personalised present for a friend!
Great idea….I like it !
Greetings….Yvonne
These would make a great Father’s Day gift, especially for a card playing Daddy!
xoxo PARIS BEE kids blog
Super cute idea 🙂
pedrapapeltesoura.typepad.com
So Cute! definitely makeing some of these for our holidays, so much prettier than a regular deck <3
Sammy xxx
http://liveitloveitmakeit.blogspot.com
Cute! Unless people start cheating… I’m pretty sure my younger brother would deliberately memorize certain cards.
xo Heather
http://ahopelessnotebook.blogspot.com/
these are great! x
– Jianine
Great idea! This would be a pretty cool gift to my friend. I might use 2 or 3 photos only so that it would be harder to memorize! 😀
So cute! xx
http://www.creativityandchocolate.com
Fab idea – I really like this Canon at home series. You girls are being super creative with it!
Martina
htpp://snapshotsandwhatnots.typepad.com
This would probably work better if you just used one image for all the cards. People will just start remembering the cards otherwise!
i really love this idea! this would be a great diy gift for christmastime or birthdays, etc.
Really love this idea, thanks!
This would be great to make a personalized gift for someone! Such a great idea 🙂
Emily
http://www.growingwildginger.com
What a great idea! I am saving up a bunch of ideas for Christmas gifts and I think this one definitely makes the cut!
This is a really cool idea~ excellent for a gift. Thanks so much for sharing!
so cute! id love to make these if printer ink wasnt so dang expensive.
This is really cool! 🙂 Such a good idea! Need to do this to!
http://leenphilips.blogspot.be
I like these very much! They are a really great gift idea 🙂
~Tina
http://ohhappychartreuse.wordpress.com
so cute!! love this 🙂
-Krista
Notjustinnovels@blogspot.com
Such a cool idea! Love it, this will be a perfect valentine’s gift for any card lovers out there.
There is no way I could get all of them to be even! They would look like a 6 year old made them. Now to find a 6 year old who can use scissors safely…
This is such a great idea! My family is SUCH a game family! My cousin once described it as “our DNA looks like Chutes and Ladders.” You could do this for amazing events – like family reunions, weddings, etc! Thanks for this idea!
xoxo,
Laura
http://lauraisthriftingthroughlife.blogspot.com/
nice idea! x
ATA|AllThingsAnita – please take a minute to give me some feedback on my blog! xx
What a cute and simple DIY. Love it. Such a fun way to customize your cards – you could even have themed decks! Oh the possibilities..
Alex from http://www.polkadottedpixels.com
Love this idea. I am an avid card player and so it most of my family so this is a great gift idea! I might try it with a thin patterned fabric…that’d be kind of fun!
Cool idea, and you’re really really selling these Canon printers to me…
Rosie x | Every Word Handwritten
love these, such a fun idea!
This is amazing.
I am definitely going to make this for my friend as a Christmas gift with photos from her summer wedding!
Love this tutorial! I would have never thought of this!
xox
Jordan
http://thattallgirlinheels.com
Such a cute idea! Regarding the anonymity I thought your idea of 5 pictures or less are a good solution, but for those here that are still in doubt, maybe making a picture collage that then goes on all cards would help. Sure the pictures are not that prominent anymore then, but its still a very personal very individual deck. As I am often playing card games which require two decks I was thinking of creating his/her versions with only two pics. What programme did you use ladies to print the pictures? Did you just line them up on a word doc?
Love, Nadine
This is such a clever idea! x
uni-of-life.blogspot.com
I love this idea!
I love this idea, great way to personalise a boring pack of cards. But while everyone’s going on about the number of pictures used for the cards and how easy it would be to cheat, my first thought was, wouldn’t this make the cards extra thick, making them harder to shuffle and deal out? Have you had a problem with that? 🙂
Wow! This is such an amazing and unique idea!
🙂 x
love these playing cards, it’s so nice to gave something personalised! xx
isnt anyone reading the description ??? they said you should repeat the photos so nobody would be able to guess your hand…. geez !
Great idea !! I love it !
Amy, The cards are thicker than average, but not hard to play with at all.
XO! Elsie
This is such a great gift idea! Love it.
Cathy
http://www.whiskshooksandbooks.blogspot.co.uk
What a fun personalized gift these would be! Thanks for the idea!
If you used 4 photos and used the different 4 for the 8’s, Aces, 10’s etc then it would not give your hand away!!
Deffs making them for birthdays and chrissy! <3
These are awesome. I would love to do them with all my instagram photos!
xo
LesliMarie
http://www.linenandtulle.com
Such a cute idea !
Check out my new outfit post :
http://hidinginheaven.blogspot.fr/2013/06/the-one-with-grey-pink.html
This is such a cool idea! I’ll definitely have to try this out!
Yasmine xx
http://www.yasminebrooke.blogspot.com
People are dumb. I say this with the most love possible…but seriously, it says, IN THE TUTORIAL, use 5 images or less so that not every single card is different. Only every 5 or so.
If you made the pictures smaller and put them on the front of the card rather than the back, the way that the old playboy cards used to do with pinups that would work and you could use 52 different pictures
Omg, this was the coolest thing ever. I collect playing cards so definitely have to try this. xox
This one is great! I would never have thought of that!
Well, now that I read other’s people comments, I realize that there is a little change to make (because of the ease to cheat). But I still love them!
How about four different photos, one for each suit? You might memorize the suit photos but you wouldn’t know which cards per suit anyone else is holding.
This is a very silly question but do you know how to actually get the photos to print the right size. Even if I select it and paste on a4 file, it always changes it.
this is a good idea for when you have a deck of mis matched cards, since you lost a few and found a few and kind of adopted a few!
what kind of scrap book adhesive did you use? would mod podge work or would that warp the card? also, is double sided tape a reasonable alternative?
What a great idea!
OMG so cool! Αβσλθτφε! (Greek for Awesome) Cant wait to see what you’ll make next! ????????????????????????
What kind of adhesive did you use. I would like to make some of my own, but needed
to know what kind you used?
Mendy
Struggling to find the right adhesive, please can you let me know what you used. Thank you.
Lucy
We had lunch our new product Cardistry Playing Cards this is proper designed and used best quality products for everyone uses.