Class Photos Bracelet

What to do with all those class photos your kids exchange........make a charm bracelet using Shrinkadink! This was an easy, fast and FUN project that costs very little too! For privacy issues (my daughters explained to me that you don't put pictures of other people's children on your blog without permission) I used V-E-R-Y old class photos from the 40's.

I liked the effect that these black and white photo give. Of course you could print them in color for a completely different look. My photos were each printed at about 1 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches on the dull side of a sheet of Shrinkadink. Using a 1 3/4 circle punch, I centered each face and punch it out.

Then I punched a small hole (office size or 1/4 inch) near the top.

Now comes the magic! Holding the disk with a pair of craft tweezers, I blasted it with a heat gun! This is sooooo much faster than putting it in the oven. The disk will quickly shrivel up and then flatten out again. I had a metal spatula handy to press on the disk while it was still warm to get it really flat.

As you can see the shrunk charms are much smaller than the originals!

Once I had all the pictures shrunk, I attached them to a charm bracelet I picked up at the craft store. I used the gun metal finish to match the old time feel of the charms. Now your child can wear photos of their friends and add to them over the years. Or you could make a completely new bracelet each school year! And what about making one for their teacher as a special thank you at school's end! So many options and so little time...... Diana