I’m not a very creative, crafty person, but I can usually duplicate other people’s ideas.  And even then, it takes a lot to get me motivated to plan, shop for, and actually complete a project.  But, recently, I actually came up with my own idea of what I wanted to make for the leadership team of my MOPS group.  I needed a gift for 21 women and I wanted something inexpensive but special.  So I swagbuck searched, remember I only search on swagbucks.com so I can earn amazon gift cards, see below for a link to start earning while you do internet searching, anyway, I searched my idea to come up with how to create it.  I didn’t find exactly what I wanted, but found some things close and figured out how to do it.  Then I actually did it, and used it to give away as gifts for Christmas.  I loved them so much, that I ended up making about 30 of them for presents and they ended up costing less than $1 a piece.  Everyone that I gave it to seemed to really like it and since it was really easy, I thought I’d share what I did  … well, I suppose they could have been lying…

Photo Bottle Cap Necklaces

Materials:

1. Photo
2. Self-laminating sheets
3. 1 inch circle punch, or scissors
4. 1 inch Flattened Bottle Caps (I got a bag of 50 Chrome ones off of Amazon for $6.25 plus shipping, click here for link)
5. Glue Stick
6. 3D Crystal Lacquer (I got a bottle off of Amazon for $8.85 but I only used about 1/3 of the bottle, click here for link)
7. Hammer and nail, plus something to hammer on
8. Jewelry Findings, I used 7mm jump rings
9. Needle nose pliers to work with the findings
10. Some type of cord or chain for the necklace, I used suede cord I found at AC Moore.

1. Crop your photos into a square.  You need a square slightly larger than 1 inch.  I think I cropped it to 1.1 inch on each side.  I tried printing them from my printer and they would run when I covered it with the Lacquer, even when I laminated it first.  So I opened Word, inserted multiple pictures onto a document, all cropped to 1.1 sq.inch and had it printed at Staples.  I put the photos in black and white, but printed it in color so the fullness of the black and white would be there.
2. Laminate your photo – either have staples do it or use laminating sheets.  (This step might not be necessary, but with all the trouble I had with the ones I printed from my printer I didn’t bother trying without laminating.)
3. Using the 1 inch circle cutter, cut out the photos.  Use scissors if you don’t have the punch, but the punch makes it super easy.
4. Glue the photos onto the cap.  Let dry.
5. Cover the photo with the 3D Lacquer.  It will look cloudy and you will almost not be able to see the photo.  Don’t worry, it will dry clear.  Let dry 1 day.
6. Apply a second coat of 3D Lacquer and let dry 1 day.  (Almost forgot, since you’ll want to use your Lacquer again, it’s a really good idea to clean out the lid so that it doesn’t get all dried up in there… I do this with regular glue too!)
7. Using a hammer and nail, punch a hole into top of bottle cap.
8. Using needle nose pliers, put jewelry finding through the hole and close findings.  I needed to use 2 pairs, one to hold and one to open/close the finding.  *Make sure the finding is all the way closed, I didn’t on my sister’s necklace and the bottle cap fell off while she was wearing it.  Thankfully it fell into her shirt and I could fix it easily.
9. Use some type of cord or chain for the necklace.  I just tied the cord, I’m sure there’s a fancier way to do it… but I’m only so good!
10. That’s it!  You did it.  Go amaze your friends and family!

So that’s my crafty project… I know it sounds difficult, but believe me it’s not.  I’ve never worked with findings and jewelry stuff before.  If you want, you can skip putting the hole in it and don’t turn it into a necklace.  You can put a magnet on the back.  I glued some onto large wooden clips to hold papers or photos.  What I love, is that this was a project that allowed me, not a super crafty person, make something special for my friends and family inexpensively.  Enjoy!  If you do make some, I’d love to see pics of how they turn out!

♥Becki, imperfect crafty friend