How to make a Treasure Keeper Necklace

Hi Friends, Sorry it has been awhile since I posted anything. I seem to have lost all blood flow to my brain and it is now surrounding my uterus! Last week was kinda rough for me so I decided to lay low... the weather was bad (cold and rainy and gray) and my OB doctor's office called me to report I had a urinary infection. I had no symptoms and have never had that with my other pregnancies! Needless to say making a pregnant woman take an antibiotic four times a day for one week with silly rules to have an empty stomach before and after is just plain cruel! Also a word to the wise when doing your laundry double check thoroughly as you might just wash a disposable diaper like me!!! All I have to say is those suckers hold alot of water. ALOT! And the gel inside the diaper will ooze out and stick to some of your clothes but thankfully if you wash the load again it will resolve and clean up nicely. I'm just trying to save you from my mistakes here people!

So to follow up after my post on these cute beauties my blogging pal Buckeroo Mama kindly requested a how to for these treasure keeper necklaces and I am happy to oblige.

Here in Texas the grocery store we shop at has an incentive for the kids to earn a peice of paper called a buddy buck and you get to put it in this machine with a crane and it pulls up one of these plastic guys with a numbered sticker inside. The kids collect stickers and work towards earning a prize. We just sent away for watercolor paints. Anyhow we have a ton of these and I could recycle them but have found uses for them like the treasure necklace, sorting activities and even putting candy in them for birthday party favor bags.

So to begin you need a lid from a vending machine prize. I recommend you have extra, my first few attempts got cracked until I figured out how to do this. If you notice this lid has 2 letters on it so I just lined up with them and poked there. I used the tip of a grilling scewer. An ice pick would work too.

Poke 2 holes for stringing a shoelace or ribbon through.

Now you'll notice the plastic poked in would be hard to thread anything by. So get a small screw and push into the hole going back up through the top of the lid. Use a screw driver and screw and unscrew the screw about half way. Work it around to get the hole big enough to thread whatever string you will be using.

Since my kids are young I used shoe laces as they have the solid tip making it easier to slide the beads on. Older kids may like a more colorful ribbon or yarn with a blunt needle.

Run the other side of the string through your hole and string away. We used pony beads with a bigger hole. You can find these at any craft store. String away and tie off the necklace to whatever length. Attatch the bottom to the cap and fill with trasures! For safety recommendations always monitor kids with this for safe wearing and use. My daughter wanted hers once at naptime but I was worried it could twist too tight, use your safest judgement as a parent!

This is a great craft activity with the kids, a fun play date idea and would make a fun birthday party activity. We sure had a blast making them and going on our nature walk afterwards. Enjoy! I'd love to see pictures if you make one too.