I created these little beaded safety pin pendants for the grandma’s for mother’s day this year. They are quick and easy.
Supplies:
Large Safety pins (without the coil, I got mine at Joann’s in the beading aisle)
Beads (Club scrap ones work excellent, if you buy at store tho, go with the mini pony beads, the others that we bought, wouldn’t fit around the end of the pin (or would break), for some reason the Club Scrap ones must be a higher quality or something, they just worked better.)
Shrink plastic (or you can improvise with transparencies, or laminated photos)
Crafter’s pick glue
Head pin with a loop
Jump ring
Hole punch
Beading tool pliers
Instructions:
1. Start by getting your picture ready. There is a few options for doing this. My preferred method is the shrink plastic, because it is see through, durable and like a little charm when completed, but the transparency or laminated versions work nicely too.
Shrink plastic Method: Choose your photo and change the brightness on the photo, so that it is lighter. When the photo shrinks it will darken the photo back up. If you don’t lighten it, it may be too dark of a photo when you are done. Make sure you find shrink plastic that is clear and meant for the kind of printer you are using. GENERALLY….Print the photos out approximated twice the size you want the final charm size to be….so if you want a 1x1 inch photo charm print it at 2x2 – THIS CAN AND WILL VARY depending on your shrink plastic, so be sure and read your package…shrink plastic does not always shrink to the same exact size every time. Then cut out your photos, punch a hole (standard size) now, before you shrink it. You can either use a heat gun to shrink or the oven (I cook at 325 degrees and just watch for them to shrink, you will know because they will first curl up and then start to flatten back out) I use a wooden spatula or the like to help flatten them – do this while they are still warm. Then let cool.
Transparency Method: Print small photos onto transparencies (make sure they are the ones designed for your kind of printer), cut out and punch with teeny hole punch.
Laminate Method: Print 2 copies of the small photos, cut out both and adhere back-to-back and laminate. Punch hole with teeny hole punch.
2. Add a jump ring to the tiny photo and loop in the loop on the head pin.
3. Bead on 3 or so beads.
4. Using beading pliers, bend end of head pin around, creating another loop.
5. Take safety pin and bead on half the pin worth of beads, add the photo dangly, then the rest of the beads.
6. Slide all the beads to the end of the pin and add a drop of crafter’s pick glue, let dry. This will keep all the beads on the one side of the pin, so they don’t go trying to fall off when you (or whomever) goes to wear it.
Good luck and have fun!!
Debbie Weller
