Scrabble Tile Pendants

I need another craft addiction like a hole in the head which is why I was a little wary when I received an invitation from Marie of Make & Takes to join 20+ other crafters for a Night of witchCRAFT. I was right to be afraid but I really wanted to get out and meet some local creative types so I signed up. I guess I should consider myself fortunate that out of the handful of fantastic Halloween creations I made, I only really walked away obsessing over one of them . . . the Scrabble tile pendants:

Photo courtesy of http://www.makeandtakes.com

They are so simple to make but open the door to such creativity. I made my 2 (not pictured here, it seems a certain 3 1/2 year old ran off with mine) then went home trying to figure out how I could justify making a whole bunch more. Then it hit me that one of my nieces would probably love to have a set of them for Christmas.

I'm not going to post my own tutorial because I think the one at Make & Takes is terrific. I will, however, help you find the materials:

• Paper - I didn't purchase any paper, I just dipped into my scraps for some and even printed a bunch of images that I resized to tile-size. More info on this below.
• Scrabble tiles - ask around, you probably know someone with some to spare
• File - I used a nail file
• Mod Podge - At your local craft store (JoAnn, Hobby Lobby, Michael's)
• Diamond Glaze - I found mine at JoAnn. 
• Aanraku Jewelry Bails - I ordered mine from this Etsy shop based on Marie's suggestion. I ordered medium sized ones, not small.

I think the most valuable thing I can add to this project is where to find great designs for the tiles. First of all, search through magazines and catalogs. I cut out lots of neat images containing different patterns and textures from Oriental Trading Company, Pottery Barn Kids and a handful of other catalogs that had recently arrived.

Here are some of the tiles I created using these magazine cutouts and some paper I had on hand:

I also did searchs for images using Google images. I was looking for different season and holiday images so I used search terms like "Valentine's Day Scrapbook Pages." I loved finding photos or scans of scrapbook pages that didn't contain someone else's photographs. Now, I wouldn't sell those but this was for a gift so I didn't hesitate to borrow the designs. Once you download the photos, import them into MS Word and resize to Scrabble tile dimensions. I created a table with set cell size and imported each photo into a cell:

I printed out my table on my home printer and cut them out.

Here's the whole set of tiles that I decorated (I got a little carried away):

I ran out of bails but knowing I'll probably order more eventually, I went ahead and created the tiles anyway.

I picked some of my favorites, made a little purple fleece bag and will send them as a gift to my niece.

    

I'll never look at a scrap of paper the same way again. 

Thank you for reading,
Julie

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