Wooden Toddler Locket Tutorial

One of my favorite little girls just turned two the other day so I wanted to make her a very special birthday present.  She LOVES playing with my necklaces, particularly my locket.  Whenever she sees me wearing it, she says, "Open! Open!"  I thought it would be nice to make her her own little locket.  This is what I came up with.

I spent quite a bit of time brainstorming on how to make this kid safe.  I even enlisted some help from my husband.  We started by taking a wooden heart and a wooden circle and drilling a hole partway though the middle of each piece.  I then glued a magnet into the center (NOTE: use a strong magnet!)  This will hold the two pieces together but allow for them to be easily "opened" by little hands.  You should also drill a hole on the top to tie the ribbon on.

Next, I printed out a picture of her mom and dad as well as a picture of her and her little brother.  I used Mod Podge to glue the pictures onto the wooden pieces, over the magnets.  Notice how I cut one picture to fit behind the heart.

Once this was dry, I painted the rest of the wooden pieces around the pictures.  Next, I used more paint to decorate the front of the heart.

Finally, I sealed the whole piece with Mod Podge.  Once dry, I tied a long piece of ribbon on that can easily be slipped over her head.

That's it!  She liked it a lot.  I told you to use a strong magnet because mine wasn't quite strong enough and the front heart tended to fall off when she was playing.