Fun with Bottle Caps

When I was making my Tiny Tin Treasure Boxes  for the grandkids, I also had some fun with bottle caps.  I wanted to add a vintage "doodad" to the tins, and chose these as something to add.  I decided it would be a great project for Marie and the boys and I to do when they were visiting; So we had a bottle cap day; the boys loved it and wanted to make one after another.

There are plenty of ideas for what to do with these.   Make a necklace, key chain or  magnet; decorate scrapbooks or picture frames; trade them,  create games with them, or just let them jingle  in little pockets.  The kids enjoyed making gifts with them, and they turned into very nice gifts.

Supplies

You can purchase precut pictures and stickers for this project, or cut your own with a 1 inch round paper punch.  

Decide on your picture and use the window on the punch to place the picture in the right position.

Push down and retrieve your circle.

Put glue evenly over the bottom of the picture and put in the bottle cap.

Smooth the glue evenly by rubbing the picture all over.

 Brush with Mod Podge;  This will seal the picture, and keep it from looking faded, darkened or spotty once the resin is poured over it.

Let the Mod Podge dry 10 to 15 minutes until it is  clear and no longer milky colored.  Then paint another coat of Mod Podge and allow to dry until clear.

Next comes the "Dimensional Magic"/ or what I am calling resin.  Before you squeeze the resin into the cap, turn the resin bottle upside down and tap it to bring all the resin down to the nozzle.  Squeeze a little out onto a scrap of paper to get rid of the air bubbles. Now drip into your bottle cap. If you already have a hole punched in the cap for jewelry making, watch that you don't pour the resin in above the hole.

If you get bubbles like this one (this happened several times to me before I learned how to squeeze a little resin out of the bottle first...after that it happened less), use a pin or tooth pick to pop them; and let me tell you they were stubborn bubbles, they didn't want to pop easily.  If you don't pop the bubbles, they will leave a definite  air bubble in the finished product... one of my mistakes....

Let the resin dry about 48 hours.  They will be dry to touch in 24, but if your little guys poke them too hard, they may still be soft in the center and leave a messy hole (take one guess why I know this).

Gather what is wanted for key chains.

If you haven't already done it, punch a hole in the side of your cap with a metal hole punch (you can also buy bottle caps with the hole already punched in them), then add a jump ring, to attach it to a necklace,  earring or key chain.

                      

    Use pliers to open jump ring, and then close it again once it is on the bottle cap.

Find a vintagey  keychain that you like and attach  bottle cap with the jump ring.

Gather what is wanted for magnets.

Use a good strong magnet and glue it to the back of a bottle cap.

I used the E6000 glue for this part (it is strong and adhere's quickly).

Reuse and decorate an altoid tin to make a magnet gift box.

Put one on an old chain to make a vintage necklace.  This cap is an example of one whose color darkened and faded because I didn't seal it first with Mod Podge.  I did happen to like its old vintagey cowboy look, so in this case I didn't mind.

Supplies

 1.     Bottle caps; If you want to buy them, you can get them with or without holes already in them. 

 2.    Pictures to put in them; you can buy them already cut out, get a 1 inch punch and cut them out yourself,  trace a circle on the back side of a picture or photo using a quarter as a stencil.

 3.     White Craft Glue or Mod Podge to glue picture in place

 4.     Mod Podge

 5.     Modpoge  Dimensional Magic (Resin)

 6.     Metal Hole Punch (Optional)

 7.     Metal Jump Ring (found in jewelry supply)

 8.     Metal Chain 

 9.     Key Chain

10.    Heavy duty Magnets (The cheap roll that you cut doesn't work very well; it is worth   
         spending the money to get the stronger ones)

11.    E6000 Craft Glue

Instructions

  1.    Prepare your picture  by peeling it from the sticker page, or use a 1inch circle punch and punch
         out a circle from paper/picture of choice, or trace around the outside of a quarter  onto the
         backside of your picture (be sure to do this in pencil, so that the ink doesn't bleed once the resin
         is poured).

  2.    Glue the picture to the bottom of  the bottle cap with the white craft glue or Mod Podge;
         Completely cover the bottom of the picture and smooth it out carefully into the bottle cap. Allow
         to dry about 10 minutes.  This secures your picture so that it won't float up into the resin (one of
         my mistakes).

  3.    Lightly Paint Mod Podge on the top of it to seal it. This will keep the color of your picture  
         from  darkening and fading and  allow to dry about 10 minutes.

  4.    Paint another coat of Mod Podge, so that it is fully sealed.  Allow to dry 15 minutes.
  5.    Drip your Mod Podge resin over the picture inside the bottle cap, leaving a little space at the top      
         which will allow you to punch a hole in the side of the cap once dry.
  6.    Allow caps to dry at least  48 hours to ensure it is fully dry.
  7.    Once the resin is dry, these can quickly be glued to magnets with the E6000 glue

  8.    You may also punch a hole in them to make a necklace, earrings or a keychain.  If you don't
         have metal hole puncher, you can purchase bottle caps with the holes already made.
  9.    Place a jump ring through the hole  using pliers to open and close the ring. 

10.    Hang on chain, earring or keychain

Have fun

Pam

Alaskan Cruise Part 3

Day 8: Train to Denali National Park and Mt. Mckinley

We have docked in Whittier.  We enjoy a last breakfast at the wonderful buffet, and leave the ship to board the train to Denali. Bye bye ship, we are going to miss you.  The train ride is 9 hours. We have a wonderful glass domed train where we can see the beautiful terrain as we go on our way.   Denali National Park encompasses more than 6 million acres (is that a lot or what?).  It is the home of  Mt. Mckinley (also known as Denali) which is the highest mountain peak in North America.

Say Hi to Kathy and Dad one last time.

From the train window as we are leaving Whittier

Princess  has a lodge in Denali and  also in Fairbanks (which is where we travel to next).  The view here at the Princess Lodge in Denali is beautiful.

The warm fireplace in the lodge restaurant.  It is warm and cozy; we have been a little cold up here, so we are sure glad for the fire.

What a wonderful spot to sit, rock peacefully, meditate, pray and look out at the wilderness.

The flowers are unlike anything I have ever seen before, huge, healthy and beautiful.  I believe it must be all the extra sunlight they receive.

Begonias

Dahlias

Day 9: Touring Denali

We take a tour of the national park.  I am wishing to see bears... but we come up empty in that department.  We are able to see Moose and end up seeing 5 in all.  There are wild blueberries everywhere.  They are ripe and sweet.  I would sure love to have these in Colorado where we live.

Steve especially likes all the private planes coming and going in Alaska.  He has his pilot's license, so his interest is sparked whenever we see them.  They are abundant here.

Day 10: Bus trip to Fairbanks

It has been raining off and on for several days.  We are feeling the cold more here than we have felt so far.  We board the bus for Fairbanks and enjoy a peaceful 2 1/2 hour drive .

The Lodge in Fairbanks is beautiful also.  It sits on the river.   The food is not included in this part of the tour, and we have been spoiled by the ship, so are feeling the loss of those wonderful meals.   :)

Day 11:  Riverboat tour

We take the shuttle to the Riverboat Discovery Tour.  The sun is shining today.  It feels wonderful.  This riverboat tour is exceptional.  I have included a little video of the tour, which really gives you a nice history of this riverboat and what we see along the way.

 Your three-hour cruise will take you into the heart of Alaska and introduce you to a family who has made the rivers of Alaska a way of life for five generations. You will see a bush floatplane takeoff alongside the boat, visit the home and kennels of the late four-time Iditarod winner Susan Butcher and see her champion sled dogs in action. Be immersed into the ancient Athabascan Indian culture when our Alaskan Native Guides take you on a personalized tour of the Chena Indian Village. The Binkley family invites you to experience a slice of Alaskan life!

This is the home of Iditarod Champion Susan Butcher, who passed away in 2006.  Her husband and daughters still train sled dogs here.

We also stop at this Athabascan Indian village.  these girls are native Athabascans; I really like them; they were so sweet, well-spoken and interesting.  They work on this tour in summer and  are back in college in the Fall.

I sure enjoy learning about how the indians and trappers and settlers survived the winters, how they 

ate, grew gardens, stored their food, trapped animals and so on.

\

Here is a cache where a  all the furs were stored after they are trapped and prepared throughout the winter.

Beautiful Garden, with all kinds of veggies; the cabbage was enormous and rhubarb... well, I don't want to talk about rhubarb anymore(you know I am fighting the rhubarb failure blues right)  hahaha.

Dried Salmon Athabascan Indian way; caught, dried, and smoked.  These particular ones were dried for the dogs; it is how they fed their sled dogs(wouldn't you love to feed your own dogs this way; I think they would be really healthy if they could eat like this)  The better quality fish were dried for their own food through the winter.

After the river tour, we are taken back and fed a wonderful meal.  Miner style.  Each table  is given a dutch oven full of "Miner's Stew" as well as bread, sides and dessert.  We are all hungry, and this hits the spot.  Afterwards, we shop a little and then load up onto the bus where we are taken to our next stop.... another gold tour.  We learn to pan for gold again.  This tour is a little different from the one we went on in Juneau.  and guess what?  Eureka again!!!!!  Dad and Kathy manage to "pan out" a little better if you know what I mean? $35.00 worth for them.  We only hit $15.00.  Oh well... we weren't meant to be gold prosectors I guess. Heehee

.

This is Klondike Clara (I think she goes by a variety of names... hehehe).  She is actually a veteran gold  prospector.  She has found some amazing pieces.  These will make your eyebrows stand up.  They were the real thing.  She has paid her dues, however, and it is not as easy as it seems to find these kind of chunks....just incase you were thinking that gold prospecting is calling your name... hehehe.

Inside of an old cabin

 View of the river from the Fairbanks Princess Lodge

Day 12: Fly Away Home

Today is our last day.  It has gone very fast.  We  get our bags re-packed, weighed and sent to the airport (they offer that service through Princess Cruises, which is a great help)  We have our carry-ons stored behind the front desk.  We take an excursion into downtown Fairbanks.  We eat lunch at "Big Daddy Barbecue" which happened to have been featured on the show "Drive ins, Diners and Dives".  The food was great.  

Our final good byes, and we fly out of the airport at 9:20 P.M.  from there, to Anchorage, from Anchorage to Denver; from Denver 3 hours south and home. From beginning to end, it is 12 hours, not bad "all things considered".

I hoped you have enjoyed our vacation  tour.  It has been fun putting up all the pictures.  I sure appreciate you stopping by and enjoying with me.  Have a great weekend everyone.