12 Days of Homemade Holiday Gifts Day 9: Photo Keychains

We created personalized glass tile pendants at MOPS a couple months ago, and they were a big hit. Afterward my friend got some glass tile keychains so I decided to give those a try. I can think of a few people who might want them, like grandmas and aunts.

You can get a 5 pack of the keychains for $7 plus $3.50 shipping on the Candy Tiles etsy shop. She usually ships within a week or less. The more you buy, the cheaper it is, so you may want to go in with friends.

You also need some diamond glaze to secure the photo to the keychain. Candy Tiles sells it with her bundle packs.

I resized the photos down to 1×1 inch size and had them printed at Staples (laser printer) on white card stock in color. Sugar Bee Crafts has a great tutorial on how to resize a photo. They ended up giving me the page for free because it was a bit of a debacle, but I think it’s under $1 to print one page in color. (they are already cut below)

I printed the photos before I knew the size of the keychain, and they ended up being smaller. I could have resized them and gone back to Staples to reprint, but I decided a scrapbook paper border might look nice. So I traced it.

After I did that I realized I could have just traced it under the glass. Much easier (sorry for the blurry photo, but you get the idea)

I used my cutter to trim them, but, honestly, scissors work just as well. I usually end up using scissors when I’m in the final trimming stages.

Once the photo and the scrapbook paper are properly trimmed (put them in the keychain tray to make sure they fit), it’s time to glue.

I put a pea-sized drop of diamond glaze on the scrapbook paper and spread it around with my finger. That’s one thing we learned doing the pendants, your finger works better than a brush because it won’t streak. Just have some wipes around to wipe it off before you move forward. I also let it settle for a few seconds before I put the photo on.

Then put the photo on the scrapbook paper, and then do the same pea-sized drop on the keychain tray.

Then into the tray it goes.

To attach the glass, do the same pea-sized drop (make sure it’s a very thin layer because it will bubble=no good) and spread it around. I also put some on the sides of the glass as well to make sure it was secure. Then insert in the tray and press down for about a minute to smooth it out and make sure it’s secure.