An Idea More Than A Tutorial...

I have lost my keys.  I had them the Saturday before my cruise for sure, but I don't know where they are now.  Bill handed me is spare key to the Old Man Truck (it's getting so old it's creaking and groaning) and I had forgotten all about the key chain he keeps it on.  It was a Valentine's Day present I made for him a few years ago (pre-blogging era) and I thought it would be cute to share with you guys in case you have any men in your life who would get a kick out of something like it.

 The tag reads "I'M NUTS ABOUT YOU, THE WIFE"  That's what he calls me... "the wife."  Better than "old lady" I suppose.  =)

I can't take full credit for the idea.  I saw a key chain like this in an Uncommon Goods catalog and had to have it for my mechanic hubby.  But I thought it was a bit pricy for a key chain and realized I could totally make it on my own.  So I did.

It's really simple. 

Head to Home Depot, Lowe's, or you probably could find everything in the hardware section at Walmart.  You need an eye bolt, about 2-3 inches long.  You will need to make sure that the rest of the parts will fit onto this, so pay attention to the size.  Get an assortment of nuts that are slightly larger than the eye bolt, some wing nuts, and some little nuts that will fit snugly onto the bolt.  Try not to go crazy... if you get nuts and bolts that are huge, it's going to be really heavy and impractical.  Just arrange everything on the bolt and tighten that little nut onto the end to keep everything from sliding off.  If you have some Loc-tite, use it.

Next you will need some sort of keychain.  This was kind of before I really got into crafting, so I didn't have any supplies and I never thought about making a key chain for it.  Now I would go find a plain tag-style keychain at Hobby Lobby and stamp it myself.  However, at the time I went and had one engraved.  The nuts part was super cheap, just a few bucks at the hardware store.  The tag.... well, let's just say I didn't get out of this much cheaper than buying it from the catalog. 

But anyway, get just some plain tag keychain and stamp it yourself.  You can find stamping kits and blank key chains way cheaper than having one engraved.  My stamping set was $5 at Harbor Freights. 

So there you have it.... 

Oh, and as a bonus, when you lose your keys and have to take your husband's keys to work with you, you can make punny innapropriate nut jokes.

You're welcome.