Make Your Own Painted Bead Keychains

While this isn’t strictly an organizing project, it CAN be used to color code keys, bags or even jackets.  Use one color bead for a certain family member or even for a certain type of key….for example…teal beads mean car keys and so on. It’s an easy craft that kids can do and it’s not expensive.  These key chains make great zipper pulls or bag accessories as well.

What you’ll need:

Nail polish in whatever colors you want. I painted the beads a solid color. However, if you had bigger beads you could paint stripes, dots or even letters.

Q-tips

Leather cord-As you can see the pack I bought came with three colors.  I had LOTS left over.  The pack cost about $4.

Key rings-I purchased these at Michel’s.  They were about $3 for a set of 25 gold rings.

Wood beads-I bought them on Amazon but craft stores have these readily available

The first step is to cut the pieces of leather.  I use pieces that were about 8 inches long.  Simply loop it around the key ring or tie a knot around the ring.  Just make sure it’s nice and tight.  If you wanted to make sure everything stays put, add a dab of super glue.

Depending on the size of the hole in your beads you may have to remove some of the cotton on your Q-tip.  I peeled a little away.  You want to put the bead on the cotton swab and have it fit easily, but not so loosely that the bead moves when you’re painting it.  I painted two beads in each color. The beads dried quickly and absorbed some of the polish, so I added a second coat.  I propped up the beads in the bowl of unpolished beads for stability and I let them dry for about an hour.  Once they are fully dry, you could coat them with a sealer or Mod Podge if you wanted.

The last part is really fun.  Just thread them on the leather in any pattern you want and then tie a knot in the leather below.  Again, make sure it’s tight and add super glue if you want.  The options are endless with this so have some fun!  This is a great spring break activity too 🙂