beaded keychain tutorial

Just as St. Monica prayed fervently for her son,

St. Augustine, mothers can use these keychains

to whisper prayers or tuck written prayers inside.

In our group, each girl made two of these-

one to give to her own mother,

and another to give to a mother at a local pregnancy center

(appropriately named the "Hope Center" ).

Here is how we made ours:

Materials needed:

beading wire

prayer box charms (found ours on ebay for $1 each)

beads

keyrings

crimp beads

beading pliers or needle nose pliers/wire cutter

*optional: wire protectors

**also optional, but helpful- crimping tool

Set up ideas:

Precut the wire.

We set up each girl's "bead plate":

Foam plate with double-sided tape to keep beads from rolling around.

*Since we had 12 girls and 3 moms to assist, we prepared the prayer box with wire and a crimp bead (see first few steps below)

Wire protectors are nifty little loops that protect the wire from wear and tear

that might occur with a keychain.  If you are using them, here's how they work:

Thread wire through one hole like this, then...

thread through second hole to finish the loop.

Again, these are optional!

Place charm on wire, and pull wire, leaving about a 1-1 1/2 in tail.

Thread crimp bead over both wires, squeeze with crimping tool or pliers until snug,
 then add one small bead.

Add beads as desired, finishing with one small bead, and a crimp bead.

Be sure to thread the beads over both wires until the tail is covered.

Loop wire over keyring, then thread the wire back through the crimp bead.

Use pliers or better yet,
a crimping tool to secure the wire.
Cut excess wire, and tuck remaining
wire into beads.

Watch this expert video for a better explanation...