The lead up to Valentine’s Day can bring more stress than preparing for a visit to the dentist. Save the grief this year, and make your Valentine a homemade penny key chain instead.
Do you feel lucky? You will with one of these.
Penny key chains don’t take much effort to make, and it’s a lot of fun trying to find those ‘perfect’ pennies to include on your key chain.
You could personalize the key chain by selecting a few shiny pennies (learn how to make your pennies shiny here) from the year in which you and your Valentine were born.
You might also add another penny for a significant year in your relationship, like the year you got married or the year one of your kids were born.
Besides the pennies, you’re going to need a jump ring (this is the ring that connects the penny to the key ring) and the key ring itself. You can find both of these items at a local hardware store.
Once you select your pennies, stack them up and drill a whole through their face, near the edge. A standard 5/64″ metal drill bit like this one will work well for drilling the hole.
There’s a bunch of different styles for these penny key chains. Here’s a few to get your creative juices flowing.
This key chain has an extra copper blank with the words “Lucky Us” stamped on it.
Use a letter stamping set to punch the words into the soft copper blank.
This one has names stamped into the pennies.
You could use metal washers as well.
It’s always fun making something yourself – and homemade gifts mean the most! Fortunately, this project doesn’t take much in the way of funds, time, or supplies!