Bottlecap Necklaces

I like to make these necklaces for myself and my kids for all kinds of things: holidays, their favorite cartoons, etc. My husband and I were trying to think of some way to keep my kids interested when we went to Yellowstone a couple weeks ago. We were trying to think of some badge we could give our kids when they spotted certain things in Yellowstone. So we found a list of 10 things we wanted them to try and spot or do while in Yellowstone.  For each thing they spotted or completed they would earn a necklace badge my husband and I made for them. It worked just as we hoped. Both my older girls were thoroughly searching while we drove and walked through the park and were super excited each time they earned a new badge necklace. They loved wearing their necklaces throughout the whole trip. It was a hit and we think we might do something similar on future trips. What is extra fun is that is becomes their trip souvenir too.

 

Supplies: (I got almost all my supplies on etsy.com or from craft stores or Wal-mart)

-Diamond Glaze

-Craft glue (I used super glue because I was in a rush and didn't have any more craft glue. I wouldn't recommend super glue. It worked, but not as well as craft glue)

-Small hammer (mine is a craft hammer)

-Nail setter

-Something to nail on (I just have a chunk of wood. I always just use this same one.)

-Jump rings

-Jump ring splitter

-Clips (I think I bought these at the dollar store and they are PERFECT)

-1" circle paper punch

-Bottlecaps (I used the flattened version)

-Necklace chain

-Tweezers

-Toothpick

-Pictures for necklaces (I just googled images and photoshopped them into 1" circles and then printed them at Costco. I tried to use my own printer for the pictures once and the colors bled.)

  

I store almost all my supplies in this fishing tackle box and it is great to just be able to pull it out ready to go when I come up with a new necklace idea to make. 

I use a template like this in photoshop to get my pictures the correct size for bottlecap necklaces.

 

 Here are the pictures we used. I put all the pictures on one 4x6 page in photoshop which saves me money on printing.

 The bottlecaps I bought have that little rubber sealing piece inside that I have to pick out with tweezers

 

I then take my nail setter on the concave side of the bottle cap 

 and I use my hammer to puncture through the bottle cap to make a small hole.

 I then use my jump ring splitter to separate the jump ring (it is too little that it would be very hard to open using your fingers)

 Put the jump ring through the hole on the bottle cap

 Punch out the desired picture with your 1" paper cutter

 I then like to use just a touch of craft glue to glue down my picture so that it doesn't move around in later steps. I used this super glue, but it wasn't as good as real craft glue.

 I use my claps to hold the picture in place with the glue

 I then start at the edge of the picture with the diamond glaze and work my way around in a circular motion until I get to the center of the picture and the whole picture is covered with diamond glaze.  You want to try your best to not have any bubbles. The glaze will thin as it dries, so I usually have a pretty good layer of diamond glaze.

 It will look milky like this after the diamond glaze is on and before it has dried.

 It takes a good 24+ hours to dry. I usually babysit them for the first couple hours because sometimes as they dry they can form air bubbles that I like to pop with a toothpick carefully. I just check back every 15-20 minutes for the first 2 hours or so.

 Once it is dry I put it on my necklace chain.

 Here is my cute girl searching desperately for a fish in a river in Yellowstone. She was so focused to try to earn her necklace badge for seeing a fish. :) Cute.

Here they are with almost all of their badges. I am so glad we did this, it really added something to the trip.