Mothers Day Project: Jewelry by Kids

by Mary Ruthven
(Palm Coast, FL.)

Take kids drawings and turn them into jewelry for mom! This mothers day project is the perfect sort of thing that a teacher (or grandmother, in my case) can help kids make for mom.

Any mother or grandmother would agree that one of her most treasured gifts is a picture that a child drew. I know I display mine proudly but thought it would be neat to come up with another way to show them.

I often create from recycled items and after sewing projects, I end up with a lot of empty spools. I combined my enjoyment from the grandkids drawings with a way to use all those empty spools and came up with this idea for jewelry.


What materials did you use?

• Printer, scanner and computer
  
• Empty sewing thread spools
  
• Clear nail polish (to use as varnish)
  
• Beads
  
• Elastic for bracelet
  
• Cord for necklace
  
• Mod Podge glue
  
• Double-backed tape
  

Step by step directions

Step 1

Scan your children's (or grandchildren's) drawings into your computer and resize each to fit width of spools. You want them to fit on spool the way the thread did. This picture shows how I made the drawings the same width as the spools.

Be sure to position photos in center of page before printing because you will need a little extra paper over and below each photo.

Step 2

Cut photos into strips. Cover spool with double-backed tape and place the end of strip above the photo, on to spool. Carefully roll the strip, adhering it to the tape on the spool and slightly overlap at where you began. Cut off any excess paper.

Step 3

Brush on mod podge to cover entire rolled strip on spool and also a small amount under edge to seal closed. Allow to dry and give another coat. When second coat is dry, brush on clear polish. This will help seal the paper and give the photo a nice shine.

Step 4

For the necklace, I chose to have the drawing hanging. I cut the paper above the photo long enough to wrap around spool and left the drawing photo part hanging off, like in the photo below.

After applying mod podge, I allowed it to dry on a piece of fun foam I threaded on to a dowel for a rippled effect. I applied several coats and when dry, applied two coats of clear polish. I also used real jewelry closures on the ends.

Step 5

For the bracelet, I threaded the photo spools and beads on to a piece of elastic and knotted the ends.

Step 6

For the keychain, I made one photo spool of each grandchild. I attached a bead larger than the spool hole to one end of a chain.
I threaded the photo spools on to the chain and attached another bead at the other end, followed by a key chain ring. Now I can take my grandchildren every where I go!

Step 7

To wrap the gifts, I made decoupage tins using drawings my grandchildren drew or photos of them, with foam flowers on top. This photo shows the original tin on the left, and then two decoupage tins I made on the middle and right.

Anything else you'd like to share about your Mothers Day project?

I originally made the necklace and bracelet for the 7 year old artist herself so I chose to use wood beads but the creations are endless. You can use more stunning ones such as glass beads and even add charms. I think any woman would love to wear her child's "Work of Art"!

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Check out more of Mary's craft ideas on her website www.craftingtales.com.
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