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This blog post was originally published on June 10, 2020.
Father’s Day is less than two weeks away, and I definitely forgot about it this year. Looking for a DIY gift for dad that you can do with the kids this year? This adorable portrait keychain is a hit and so much fun to put together with just 6 materials. Fun crafts and Happy Father’s Day!!
I think both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are great times for children to make homemade gifts for their parents. It’s so special to receive something your child actually made for you. I’d suggest *additionally* offering some other type of gift lol, but Father’s Day just wouldn’t be Father’s Day without some cute crafts. This year I decided to make these cute DIY portrait keychains for Kyle with the kids.
Photo credit: Julia Dags Photo credit: Julia Dags Photo credit: Julia Dags
Since Kyle recently moved into a new house in the city, we thought a key chain would serve as a sentimental gift. I love using shrink dink paper for crafts. When it shrinks, it becomes a really cute size, and you can store pictures, shapes, and letters in miniature. For this project, we asked the children to draw a portrait of Kyle and sign his name. I made it into a keychain! My kids wanted to draw a large portrait, but you can also make the drawing space a little smaller if you want the keychain to fit in dad’s pocket. We also made a “Letter to Dad” to keep on Kyle’s desk or in his glove compartment. It is always very nice to hear messages that children want to write to him. I hope he loves this gift as much as the kids enjoyed making it! I’ll link the exact kit I used to make this. Because it was great and had all the key chain accessories.
Photo credit: Julia Dags
material:
Step 1
draw!
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Have your child draw a portrait of their father! You can limit the size of the portrait at this stage by cutting the shrink dink paper to a smaller scale, or by cutting out an oval for the face if desired. Use a permanent marker to draw on the matte side of the paper.
Step 2
cut!
Use scissors to cut out your child’s picture and place it on the cookie sheet provided. Don’t overcrowd your shrinking dink portrait. If you need to do it in rounds, no problem. I also drew a “lined paper” on a small, thin page and had the kids dictate a letter to Kyle, and we both signed it at the bottom. Make holes in the paper before cooking. Use the hole punch fairly close to the edge so you can easily thread the keychain device through.
Step 3
bake!
Place the parchment paper with the portrait on it, frosted side up, in the oven and bake for 2-3 minutes. Shrunken dinks curl up during cooking and then spread out. It’s okay now! Don’t panic and wait for the cooking to finish. If it’s still curled after 3 minutes, use tweezers to peel back the cookie sheet from the top, gently uncurl it, and press the edges to make them as flat as possible.
Step 4
Add your keychain!
Allow it to cool completely before attaching the key chain parts. enjoy!
