Make a Photo Pendant

For Christmas last year, I hosted a craft night for my friends. We made these easy, quick photo pendants! I first saw these at a family reunion, where some of the adult granddaughters had created them for the girl cousins. I thought they were so pretty and so symbolic of keeping memories of family close to our heart.

These photo pendants make unique, affordable gifts. For the girls in my husband’s family, I made six of the same pendant with a photo of their grandmother. I made one for each of my grandmas with pictures of their mothers.

Later, my ward asked me to help them make the same pendants at a combined Relief Society and Young Women activity about preserving our family history. I found a new glaze (Glamour Seal) to make it possible to make all in one night.

If you don’t have a picture to use, try logging in to FamilySearch.org to see if any of your relatives have added pictures of your ancestors. You may be surprised at what you find when you go to the Memories tab and click “People.”

After you’ve found a great picture, you’re ready to get started! To make your photo pendant, you just need to follow these steps:

1. Order your supplies.

Supplies Needed:

-Your special photo printed on matte card stock or cover weight paper (glossy photos or glossy paper won’t work) – photos printed with laser printers work best but inkjet is okay too.

-Necklace chain from Sun and Moon Crafts or other supplier

-Tray and glass tile from Sun and Moon Crafts or other supplier

-Glaze – either Diamond Glaze from Sun and Moon Crafts or Glamour Seal by Annie Howe

-Sealer – you only need this if you’re using diamond glaze (spray acrylic sealer or Microglaze from Sun and Moon)

I ordered the chain, glass tile and tray from Sun and Moon Crafts. I have tried the diamond glaze from sun and moon crafts. It worked okay, but takes a long time to dry and requires that you seal pictures printed with an inkjet printer before using them (with spray acrylic sealer or Microglaze). For the Relief Society activity, I used Glamour Seal for the glaze and it dried quickly. Glamour Seal can be used with inkjet prints without sealing them first so it’s quick and easy.

2. Crop and resize your picture. I used word to resize my photos. Copy or insert your photo into a word document. If you’re doing one of the square pendants from Sun and Moon Crafts, you’ll want the photo to be 1×1.” First, crop the photo to be a square.

Then re-size it to 1×1″ by right clicking on the photo, and selecting “size and position.” At the top, select the size tab. Then change the height and width to 1 inch.

2. Print your photo on non-glossy cardstock or cover weight paper. I’ve used matte cardstock and high quality #90 cover weight paper and they both work fine. The #90 paper is recommended if you’re using Glamour Seal. As long as you don’t use glossy paper, it should be fine.

3. Cut out your picture. If using diamond glaze with inkjet printed photos, you’ll need to seal the ink first. Brush on a thin layer of microglaze or spray with acrylic sealer. Let it dry.

4. Apply the glaze to the glass and adhere to the photo. You may want to follow the directions from Annie Howe (Glamour Seal) or Sun and Moon Crafts (Diamond Glaze) for using the glazes. If you’re using the glamour seal, it’s pretty easy. Just put a thin layer of glaze on the glass tile, then press it lightly onto the photo. Let it dry, then trim the edges. If you’re using Diamond Glaze, it needs to dry overnight.

5. Apply a thin layer of glaze to the back of the photo tile and place it in the tray. Let it dry, then you’re done!

I made this pendant of my great grandmother Ettie Belle when she was a child. My mother and I never knew Ettie, because she died when she was 47. I love this picture of her with pigtails, her pretty doll, wearing a white dress, sitting on a blanket somewhere in Love County, Oklahoma.