Personalized DIY Photo Keychains

I think every mother appreciates a gift with some thought put into it. Today’s project features photos- and I don’t think it can get more personal than that! It is so easy to make a DIY photo keychain, and having a captured moment attached to an everyday item like keys, or as a charm for a purse or cell phone, is a perfect gift.

You only need a few supplies to put these together.

Supplies needed to make your own DIY photo keychain:

• 63mm Nickel Plated Key Chains
• Round Frame Charm or
• Silver Square Frame Charm
• Bright Silver 7mm Jump Rings
• 1 inch Circle Punch
• Micro-Tip Shears
• TomBow Mono Dual Tip Permanent Multi Liquid Adhesive

The first thing you will do is select the photos you want to use for the key chain charms. The charms measure approximately 1″. You can choose to resize photos to fit, or use existing photos that you can trim down to fit the space.

I used a photo editing app on my phone for the collage photo above! I e-mailed myself the photos I wanted to use, and then popped them into a pre-made template. There are a lot of free collage apps available. Find one that has 24 spaces in the template, and that will be perfectly sized if it is printed as a 4×6 image.

To test existing photos, you can flip a 1″ circle punch over and “frame” the image in the punch. This will show you if the image will fit inside the charm.

I would suggest using photos printed at a lab rather than a home printer. Home printed occasionally bleed when used with adhesives.

Using your circle punch for the round charms, and a pair of sharp scissors for the square charms (or you could use a 1″ square craft punch) prepare all of the images you would like to use for your DIY photo keychains.

Open the package of charms.

They will come with the base, and an epoxy dome to seal in the image.

Set aside the domes.

Place a thin layer of Tombow glue on the back of your image.

Position your photo in the charm, making sure that the loop is on top.

Allow the glue to completely dry. I like to use Tombow on these projects because it dries quickly but it is also flexible if you need to adjust your photo a little when you place it.

Remove the protective backing from the epoxy dome and place it over the photo. Take care not to get your fingerprint on the sticky side of the dome!

Press down on the dome to get it adhered well to the photo.

Add a jump ring to attach the key ring to the photo charm.

That’s it! Add a handmade card with your DIY photo keychain, and melt your mama’s heart.

Shaunte

Shaunte is a 30-something, chocolate-loving, SAHM from Utah. She has been scrapbooking since 1997, the dreaded era of photos cropped with deco scissors. Since then, her work has evolved into a clean, linear, photo-focused style. Her favorite subjects to scrap are her husband and five kids (never a lack for subject material there).