I love a good arts and crafts project. I love one even better when I can involve my kids and do something fun for an upcoming trip, such as the #StrangeMagicEvent press trip I’ll be on next week for the Strange Magic movie that releases on January 23rd.
We set out to make DIY Tile Necklace Pendants. At the end of the day, this is a craft that older kids can even do by themselves, but some of the materials can be messy, so the Type A in me always supervises the making of projects with messy materials.
What You’ll Need
- square tiles
- pendant brackets
- super glue
- printed images for the tiles
- scissors
- white glue
- paint brush
- Mod Podge Gloss and Mod Podge Dimension Magic
What To Do
Use super glue or a similarly strong adhesive to mount the pendant brackets to the back side of the tiles. Let those brackets dry for at least 90 minutes before moving on to the next step.
Next, we printed our images. You can technically use just about any printed medium you can imagine (print out custom images, cut from a magazine, etc.). Because we were making necklaces to honor the upcoming Strange Magic movie, we used photos from the internet of Strange Magic. As a designer, I have access to programs like Adobe InDesign. While I used InDesign, you can use Word or another program if that’s what you have. I made 1″ squares in my document and sized the images I wanted to print within those 1″ squares and them printed them on a thicker paper stock. I then trimmed around the image I wanted to mount to the tiles.
This is the template I used…I made squares and filled with the image I wanted to use. Some I trimmed to the square to fit the whole tile, some I trimmed so it was the character in the tile without any background image.
Using a thin layer of white glue, glue the image to the tile and press gently until your image is mounted evenly without bubbles or lumps. Set aside and let this dry for a minimum of 15 minutes.
Put a think layer of Mod Podge Gloss over the pendant surface and let it dry.
Once the mounted image is dry, “wash” the front of the graphic with a thin layer of Mod Podge Gloss. Set aside and let this layer dry for at least 30 minutes. When you do the wash, make the layer light and as thin as possible so you don’t damage the graphic. Too much “soaking” of the image will cause it to run.
Second layer of Mod Podge Gloss on pendants drying.
Once that layer is dry, you have two options. If you like the look of the Mod Podge Gloss, you can give it another slightly thicker layer of gloss and let that dry and they you are done. If you like the “bubble” look, you can use the Mod Podge Dimension Magic to create a bubble dimension on top of your tile. Apply the Dimension Magic in a thin layer over the top of the graphic all the way to the edges.
It’s a different look, but the top two pendants have had the Mod Podge Dimension Magic added to them and the bottom two pendants only have the Mod Podge Gloss.
Allow the Mod Podge layer to dry overnight.
Once the tile pendants are dry, you can hang the pendant on a necklace of any sort. We used cord necklaces for ours.
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they DO look kinda cute! 😀
Those are adorable and look easy to make. I would love to make my own that match the outfit, or are personalized for family gifts!! Hey, if you’re interested, check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/291506047617043/ and join our crafting blog group – we’d love to have you with us!! 🙂
I love this. My daughter just got a bunch of jewelry findings and beads for Christmas and I think she would love this.
These are so cute. Thank you for sharing, I can’t wait to see this movie.
Did you buy the tile with the pendant loop already attached or did you have to attach it yourself. If so, how did you do it? I would very much like to make these for our next family reunion. Please advise if and when you have the time! Thanks bunches!
We used this kit:
Creativity for Kids Tile Art Necklaces
I also have made them using wooden tiles and we attached them ourselves using these:
Rockin Beads Brand, 200 Glue on Bails Pendant Hanger Steel/nickel Tone Plated 21x8mm
Beadaholique Wood Square Collage Jewelry Pendant Tiles, 25mm