My daughters participate in many fun activities through our church, one of which has been a Thursday morning girls group where each week they gather and a different guest teaches the girls a special skill, while the jr. high boys are off on another activity. The first week the girls learned to sew their own aprons, last week they all made homemade pie, and today was my day to teach a project.
Hartlyn, the jr. high group leader, chose the decal penny pendant from my blog as the project to do and it was a fantastic choice for the girls ages 12-14.
I pre-ordered enough copper ball chain, connector ends and jump rings from the Etsy shop, Cindy’s Art & Soul/casbeads. Cindy put together a custom listing of everything I needed to make up to 20 necklaces.
Instead of hammering a nail into the pennies as before, I lined them up on a block of wood, Lincoln’s head straight up, and duct taped them to the board, (a technique suggested to me by jewelry maker, Julie Ke Banwellund). I used a bit of spray lubricant on each penny and drilled a small hole in each. 
It was good to show up with the pennies ready to craft with rather than having each girl try to punch or drill their own.
I went through the project step by step and then let the girls loose to choose their own vintage decal from my stash and start creating their own pendants with the embossing powder.
One by one I helped them bake the powder to the pennies in the toaster oven, while another mom helped with jumprings and chains.
The finished pieces all turned out fantastic! We did have two that didn’t quite work out well the first time around, so it was good I had extra pennies and decals. Here are the sweet results!
For more details on how to make these decal penny pendants, click HERE.
What a great idea!
Those are just adorable! I bet the girls loved it.
Now I want to make one!
Kelly
i saw these about a year ago and lost the tutorial…so thanks for doing one! these turned out so cute. 🙂
good tip about the duct tape too……
Taping the pennies together like that before drilling may be the best idea I've heard all year. Thanks!
These are so cute!
those are beautiful.
That is Fabulous ~ Guess I'm off to check out your details on How To Make….. Thanks for Sharing!
How lovely! It's a terrific idea.
Those are so cute!! Each one so unique. Thanks for sharing. Love & blessings from NC!
these are beautiful! thank you x
This is such a great idea, forget about the young girls. I love it. I would have never thought of this in a million years.
Thanks for sharing all of your inspiring ideas.
I love this idea! I will have to try it. I just want to add that I don't think you can get in trouble for using a coin, it's not any different than all those souviner penny smashing machines you see at tourist attractions!
Oh, and I had a question… So that backside is the national monument? I have never used this stuff before, can you do the same to the flip side once side one is cooled?
bigeyedchick, you are correct. It is not illegal to do this to a penny. You can modify money as long as you don't put it back into circulation or try to pass it off as a more valuable penny (coin).
I do not recommend doing anything to the other side that requires reheating the piece as it will also reheat the front again. Try another resin such as Diamond Glaze that air dries.
Fabulous idea and great item for teenage girls to make. You are super clever and generous to show the girls they can be creative and make something fun. Happy creating…
Awesome idea – Also if you don't have a drill – My favorite tool is a steel coin punch. A. few twists and poof your thru the coin ! Like butta : ) works on all sorts of metals and is so easy a four yeart old can use it ( mine did LOL )If you want to cover both sides UV resin ( like Magic Glos) which sets after about 5 minutes in the sun would work great !
WOW! So glad I stumbled on your blog today! I am your newest follower…one of the thousands that admire you! Can't wait to look around some more.
So fantastic proyect! So creative too.
Hugs
Charo
Those are AWESOME! I can imagine how much fun the girls had making them 🙂
I love this idea! They are lovely necklaces and I know the girls must have had a blast making them. Thanks for sharing!
what a cute idea! They must have had a grand time
What a great post…happy to stumble upon this too! Cindy's Etsy shop is wonderful…and who would have thought. I think this would be a fun project to make with my kids…thanks for the inspiration!
Cindy
http://www.sweetbeadstudio.com
Cathe, I haven't visited in a while, and I'm enjoying getting caught up! The penny pendants are so charming! Thanks for the directions. I might give them a try this summer!
That is a really cute idea. reminds me of the fun I had with my Campfire group eons age. Be Blessed
I really really want to try this!!! 😀
olivia
x
http://goldielocksandcupid.blogspot.com/
What a neat project. I'm always looking for things to make with my daughter and her best friend
That's amazing! Beautiful pendants. Now I know how to drill holes into tiny bits and bobs at one time. Thanx for the visuals.
these are AWESOME!! The girls did a great job! thanks for the quick tutorial!!! I see some of these in my future!
what a fabulous project!!! they are so cute!
These are just gorgeous!!
Those are so fantastic, i love this, i want to make one! Thank you!
I'm new to your blog and I love it!! I enjoyed reading every post! Thanks for all the amazing fun craft ideas! I'll have to check by often!
Daile
dailecwilson.blogspot.com
I love this but I am not understanding where to get the decals 🙂
Oh they are just gorgeous!!!!! I love them I love them I love them so much and the spray painted one may have not turned out as you thought it would but I love the results!
I would love to try this! Very creative. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi!! Just wanted to drop a line and let people know that there is a store on ebay called wildrose2828 that sells ALL KINDS of Decals!!!!!! All different sizes and fairly cheap! And they will even take custom orders!!!
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What a great idea!
🙂
This is a fantastic idea! So fantastic in fact that my granddaughter’s girl scout troop is going to make them to give to the ladies at her local senior center for Christmas where they volunteer. They are so excited to make this project and can’t wait for the ladies to receive them.
Thank you again for this wonderful, creative and inexpensive gift to give and receive!
PS Forgot to tell you they are maing tie tacks for the gentlemen!
Really lovely ideas, I make jewellery and work with epoxy resin and love it, but this looks much easier to use, thanks for this tip.
http://actionlasers.com/
I love this idea. I was hoping to make these for my roommates for Valentines. Where can I find these decals? I love your blog!
Thanks,
Allie
where can i find the meyerford decals? can any decals be used? what about customizing a small decal?
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Hi,
I finally am going to try making these. Do I have to use new pennies? Do I have to shine the old ones? Thank you.
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My 9 year old granddaughter spends a lot of time working in our little studio and I’m always looking for things she will enjoy doing. I can’t wait to show her this project. I’ll have to find the embosing powder and some decals but that shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll check out the Cindy’s site tomorrow. This should start summer vacation art at Nana and Ceara’s studio off with a big smile. Thanks, Nannette
I love this and have made a couple for
my mom. I’m wondering if there’s anything
you do special over the amazing glaze to
keep it shiny. I’ve tried numerous cleaners
and even another coat of the clear amazing
glaze. Eek! Any suggestions? And thank you so
much for the inspiration! I’m on disability
and this helps me make me feel much better
about myself! I’m trying to save a little st
a time so I can buy more crafting supplies!
Thanks for all you do!
Kirsten Cook
so cute want to make one
Bake what powder on the decals and penies?
Embossing Powder