My oldest daughter, Rachel, (age 15) asked to have a sleepover-party with a few of her Catholic friends. She doesn\’t normally ask for too much so I really wanted to make this happen. Aside from all our other fun party plans Rachel wanted a craft or two to do with her friends. I came up with two things for the girls to create and I want to share the craft that the girls absolutely LOVED!!!!! My daughters and I all agreed that this craft is \”addicting\”! We all just wanted to keep making them!!
These saint medal necklaces are perfect for Catholic teen\’s parties, youth groups, or even All Saints Day parties! They would also make perfect DIY gifts!!
BUT here\’s a caution to those interested in making these: Be prepared to make more than one pendant, because no body could stop at just one!
BUT here\’s a caution to those interested in making these: Be prepared to make more than one pendant, because no body could stop at just one!
To make these saint medal pendants you will need:
- Saint Medals (no jump-ring is needed)
- Washers
(We used ¼ x 1¼ sized. A box of 100 only cost $1.50 at our local hardware store.) - Nail Polish (LOTS of colors – We bought ours at the Dollar Tree)
- Nail-art glitter or other glitter (We bought ours at the Dollar Tree, also.)
- Clear nail polish or clear glittery nail polish (A must if you use glitter)
- String (we used black waxed string we bought at A.C. More)
- Fun-Tak or other mounting putty
(Found at Wal-mart in the stationary section *Or use super-glue if you prefer.)
The first thing you need to do is paint a washer with nail polish. This is the fun part!!!
Add glitter while it\’s still wet, and allow that to dry. Once it\’s dry coat it with clear nail polish (or clear-glitter polish) This will help seal the glitter in place. It also just makes it look more finished.
Cut a string to the length you desire. We found that 24 inches seemed to work well.
Thread the open ends of your cut string through the saint medal hole.
Like this:
Add the washer to the looped end, like this:
Now thread the cut ends into the looped end, like this:
Pull it all tight, and keep the cut ends as even as you can.
Center the medal in the center of the washer.
The medal will pop out as pictured below:
Add a small ball of mounting putty to the bottom-back of the medal.
Press the medal down against the washer to stick them together.
You could super glue the medal down, but I wanted to keep the medals nice in case the girls wanted to change the backing that they painted.
It should look like this:
As for the cut ends of the string, we tied a loop in one end and a large knot in the other so it can be easily taken on and off. You could buy clasps to attach to the ends if you wish.
Here are some of the beautiful necklaces the girls made.
(The pictures don\’t do them justice! They are so sparkly and shinny!!)
(The pictures don\’t do them justice! They are so sparkly and shinny!!)
The example pictures above are only a few that my daughters and friends created. Yes, these are addicting!!! I have a feeling we will be making more soon!!
God Bless!
~Jennifer
Oh, and one more thing…
I will be hosting the \”Catholic: And Living it!\” link-up on August 14th.
I plan to have a \”Catholic: And Living it!\” link up on the second Wednesday of each month.
This is a link-up for any Catholic-centered posts. These would be posts that focus on Catholic decor, crafts, books, celebrations, what you wore or did on Sunday, or any other Catholic centered thoughts or activities. Please, join in on Aug. 14!!
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I'll be doing this with the kids this week. Thank you for a great idea!
I think my niece will love this! She will be so excited
I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE AWESOME!!!!
what a great idea and wonderful tutorial!
So beautiful! Definitely pinning this idea 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
http://www.dollartree.com/Donna-Michelle-Salon-Basics-Nail-Decorations/p328098/index.proJust so you all know, these tiny nail polish embellishments are available in tiny glass vials at Dollar Tree. Not only do you get the cute decorations for super cheap, but you get glass vials to create a whole new craft!
Oh My! What a great idea and awesome tutorial! I can't wait to show this to my daughters…and their friends.Thank you for sharing!!Looking forward to your Catholic: And Living it! link-up…
Thank you, everyone, for your encouraging comments! ♥♥♥ Blessings to you all! May you have a wonderful week!
What a great idea!! We made these washer necklaces last year without the medals, I love the idea of adding the medals!!! SO cool!!! You did such a great job of showing us visual learners how to do it! Can't wait to try these!
These colorful medal outlines are very beautiful!
These are gorgeous – thank you!
These are beautiful! Love this! Maybe I'll have to bring supplies the next time I see my girl cousins. Or have a girl and wait for her to grow up a little bit. 😉
Am having that moment of envy when I wish I had a daughter to make these with! Love them – what a creative idea!
I love this idea! I think we might tackle it in our scout troop's Family of God Award retreat! (Something to break up the \”book stuff.\”)
I love this one. These are so beautiful. And I really love to give this a try. But I hope it would come out as beautiful as yours. Thanks for the tutorial. PatronSaintMedals.com
What a great idea! I would like to do this craft for All Saints Day with my class. Is there something other than nail polish that would work? I have both boys and girls in the class. I think the boys would like to do it if they could make them camo or something. I know they won't use nail polish. Thanks.
Great idea! Model paint might work. It's the kind of paint guys use on little model cars. (It smells just like nail polish.) I'm sure boy's wouldn't mind using that. I think it's more expensive than nail polish, but you can buy it at hobby stores. I've seen some at A.C. More with the boy toy/model area. Hope that helps! God Bless!
Thank you for the model paint idea. I am going to try it.
Great craft! Can you tell me where you purchased the medals? I am not having any success in locating the type you used. Thank you!
Hi! I bought mine at a local Catholic gift shop, but you can buy them on-line. Here are a few places: Discount Catholic ProductsGifts Catholic Inc.LeafletThe key thing to look for is \”oxidized\”. Those are the cheaper ones. (They cost between $.40 to $.75 each) Hope that helps! God bless.
for polish, DOLLAR TREE has multiples of 3 for 1.25 (minis), and for the mini-vials, there are 3 diff kinds: fine, round and elongated…expect to grab these multiples while available…washers…5/16th of an inch works just as well, but larger ones gives more surface to paint
I've been looking for a cool craft to do with my Little Flowers club..this is the perfect craft! I LOVE your page. God bless you for all you do.
This looks like something my daughter would enjoy making for gifts for friends and maybe even for her godmother! Clever idea 🙂
We just made these as part of the Vacation Bible School craft sessions at our parish, with groups of kindergarteners up through 5th graders. They loved them!! The middle school and high school helpers wanted to make one, too! We had them paint the washers on coated paper plates with their names written on them, and had them select a saint medal (I purchased an assortment at our local Catholic store). We put a light coat of clear polish on and then added the cording. I could not believe how beautiful they all came out! Very creative, and all different for the most part. Even the K's and 1st graders' looked great! Thank you so much for sharing this brilliant craft!! 😀