Little girls love dressing up like Mom – trying on her clothes, wearing her shoes. Even Mom’s jewelry is very inviting to a young girl. Your little one won’t be thinking about your jewelry, though, when she has beautiful pieces of her own. If she makes it herself she’ll love it even more. Use a couple of metal bottle caps, and some tiny craft supplies, and she’ll have a gorgeous locket that she’ll love showing off to her friends.
There are so many different ways to make the locket that no two need ever be exactly alike. To make the basic design turn the cap onto a piece of decorative paper so that the flat side is down. Cut one circle to this size. Use the cap to draw around a picture and cut it out as well. Glue one picture inside one metal bottle cap and the paper inside the other cap. Before gluing in the paper kids can write “I Love You” or a name on the paper. The name can match the person’s picture; the picture and name can even represent a pet!
Cut a piece of plastic cord to use for the necklace. Cut a small piece of ribbon as well. The ribbon should be about an inch wide and three inches long. Choose ribbon that is not wired and not thick. Lay the piece of ribbon on a table with the wrong side facing upwards. Place the tiny piece so that the widest side is vertical and the shortest side is horizontal. Lay the cord in the center of the ribbon, horizontally. Fold the ribbon in half over the cord. Crease the ribbon to keep it folded.
Before tying the cord into a knot slide on beads if you want. Kids can use lightweight beads to create any number of patterns and designs on the cord. Make sure the cord you use will fit through the hole of the beads you choose before purchasing. Instead of beads kids can slide charms onto the necklace to create a different look for the finished locket. A new look can be created by combining charms and beads.
Glue the ends of the ribbons to the outside of the bottle caps. This will hold the caps together to form the locket. Make sure the glue for the caps and ribbon ends doesn’t spread to the folded area of the ribbon or the locket won’t open. This particular locket doesn’t open from side to side, but from bottom to top instead.
The outside of the caps can be decorated in any number of ways. Little girls love glitter so that’s one option. Another is to paint the caps with their favorite color. The paint method is colorful but you’ll often be able to still see the outline of the ribbon. You can add embellishments to the lids to cover the ribbon and make them even more beautiful. Cover one cap – which will become the front of the locket – with glitter then glue on a fake jewel. Or, paint the lid and glue on a picture of a heart.
Another option is to cut a picture of the child’s favorite cartoon character from a magazine or product box. Cut the cartoon image and glue it to one bottle cap. Still another idea is to cut a tiny image from a piece of cloth. The other bottle cap will become the backside of the locket so there’s no need to embellish it in quite the same way as the front. Use flat wooden shapes, plastic pieces, a piece of a candy wrapper, or even sequin to decorate the outside of the lid.
The locket doesn’t necessarily have to contain a picture of a friend, family member or pet. The child can cut a picture of something she likes, such as a butterfly, and glue it into the locket. She can write “butterfly” on the piece of paper inside the second cap or do something different. Instead of inserting a piece of paper containing a message just glue in a picture of a second butterfly. Remember that the top cap lifts up to show the picture so make sure it’s glued on right-side-up.
To make the locket into a bracelet design follow the steps for creating the inside of the locket. Cut a piece of stretch cord and tie it into a knot at the ends. Glue the cord across the inside of the back cap. Now use a tiny piece of ribbon, as stated above, to hold the two caps together. Decorate the top lid. The bottom cap backside can’t be seen so there’s no need to paint it unless you want to. Your daughter will love making and wearing the bottle cap locket and bracelet set that costs little but will really get noticed!
Reference:
- Purchase embellishments for the locket here: www.orientaltrading.com
