DIY Dictionary Necklace

Each year at Christmas my girlfriends and I have a Pollyanna.  This year we decided to try to save some money by having a “Crafty Christmas Pollyanna”.  Well, anyone who knows me KNOWS I love me a good craft, so I was all about this!!!!

I thought and thought and thought.  Hmmm…. a crafty gift. After a 30 minute Google search, I decided to head on over to Pinterest.  AH HA!!!  This little idea has been pinned to my “Gift Ideas”  for over a year now.  I’ve been dying to try it and now I had my chance!!!!

All I needed was…..

• A Dictionary (luckily I had two!  I’ll tell you why in a second.)
• Mod Podge Dimensional Magic (My new obsession that I also used as an adhesive)
• Razor blade
• Paint brush (not pictured)

• Beveled pendants (mine came with glass beads but the Dimensional Magic could be used instead)
• Necklaces
• Jump rings (little tiny circle to attach pendant to necklace)

Now grab your dictionary, find a word you’d like to display in a necklace and cut it out with your razor blade.  I just traced around my glass bead.  You may need to make a template to cut around first.

Next use  a tiny bit of  Mod Podge and “paint” a thin layer on the glass bead and then place your word on.  Press tightly so there are no air bubbles.  If you use too much Mod Podge  things get messy!  Believe me, I learned the hard way!  In fact, I learned A LOT while making these.  My first attempt was a HUGE FAIL.  And here’s why….

After my words were dried to the glass bead, it was time to glue them to the pendant.   THIS IS WERE I SCREWED UP!  SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!! 

The first time I did this, I just applied some Mod Podge to the pendant and slapped my word right in.  It looked awesome…. UNTILL I checked them the next morning!  All the text from the back of the page had bled through.  OOOPPS… TOO MUCH MOD PODGE!

Luckily they were still slightly wet.  I soaked them in water, pried off the bead, removed the word and STARTED OVER!!!!!!!

On my second attempt, before I “glued’ the bead into the pendant, I “painted” a thin coat of Mod Podge to the back of the word on my glass bead.  I let that dry and it gave a slight barrier so when I glued it this time the words didn’t bleed.  I also only used a tiny amount of  Mod Podge and rather than just squirting it into the pendant, I again, applied some to the back of the bead with my paintbrush and then placed it in to the pendant.

WHEW!  SUCCESS!!!!  

In the end, I think they were totally worth 🙂 !!!

OH!!  I almost forgot… I didn’t just make necklaces.  One of my Pollyanna Pals is a guy so no necklace for him.  I make him some word cufflinks.  For these I actually used the Mod Podge Dimensional Magic  for what it’s meant for….

You just squeeze on the Mod Podge and although it does look cloudy when wet, it dries completely clear when dry!

And here are my finished DIY Pollyanna gifts…

 YES my Polly Pals loved them!  and YES, those ARE adorable paint swatch boxes they are sitting in.  I made those too!!!

When you tell me “Crafty Christmas”…. CRAFTY is what you get !!

Don’t worry… I’ll be showing you how to make these adorable FREE  gift boxes later in the week!

See ya then!!

xx,

Heather