You hold the key

Hello friends.  It's Robin today with another fun little project for anyone with school-aged children.  I made this key fob specifically with teachers in mind, but you could easily adapt this for other uses.  When I was in school, teachers kept the supply cabinet or rest room keys on a block of wood so that we kids wouldn't lose them.  That's where this idea was born.

If you have ever bought a container of blank recordable CDs you have probably noticed the blank at the bottom.  This disc-like piece of plastic is there to protect the discs until you're ready to use them.  But what do you do with it when the package is empty?  You could certainly pitch it into your recycle bin.  But if you are into upcycling at all, you might want to be a little more creative.

I chose to use the School Rules! collage sheet and printed it a couple of times just in case I needed duplicates for any reason.  I cut out all of the cartoon school images.  There are really nice photos on this sheet as well.  Once my images were all cut out I grabbed a roll of double-sided adhesive tape.  Although I didn't, you could seal the disc once all of the images are taped down.  If you use laser printed images, gel medium would be a great sealer.  I suggest doing that before finishing off the back.

Using your favorite heavy duty punch, make a hole at the bottom close to center large enough to hold an S-hook.  Use a pair of pliers to close the hook so it doesn't fall off.  Add your key to the other end and close that, as well.  Additional hooks can be easily added at evenly spaced intervals to the left and right of center.

You could stop here and keep this key fob in a desk drawer or add another hook at the top to keep in on a peg.  I chose to make it a magnet. 

These magnet sheets have an adhesive side so you can turn virtually anything into a magnet.  It's strong but also thin.  I used a round scallop cutting die and had no trouble at all with my manual die cut machine.

Just press the adhesive side to the plastic disc and you're done!

And hey, have you ever wondered what you should do with that empty round container that these discs came in?  Use it to hold your yarn cake as your knit or crochet!  Cut out the center circle on the lid for a feeder hole.  The center post will hold it securely.  No more runaway yarn!

Come back tomorrow to see more project ideas that the Altered Pages Design Team has to share!