The other day I was looking through the school supplies and educational whatnots at Dollar Tree when I found a memory game with weird, blocky animals on the square tiles.  I looked at it and immediately saw it as a package of 60 chipboard squares with rounded corners, just begging to be turned into ultra-cheap pendants.   I rounded up a few other odds and ends and, in honor of the leaves that are starting to change around here, made myself a fall leaf necklace.  You can embellish the memory game tiles in an infinite number of ways!

Project estimate:

• Memory game, $1
• Paper, on hand
• Paint and/or ink, on hand or $1 and up
• Embellishments, on hand or $1 and up
• Glue, on hand
• Bead, on hand
• Cord, on hand or $1

Total:  $1 and up

Punch out the chipboard squares of the memory game.  (Yup, we’re working on the floor today.  The craft room table is monopolized by a giant rug project!)

Cut a piece of scrapbook paper to the same size as a memory game tile and glue it to the front of the tile.

Dab a tiny bit of paint on a cotton ball (I used metallic copper), then blot the cotton ball on a paper towel to remove most of the paint.  Rub the blotted cotton ball lightly across the surface of the paper.  If you use a textured paper, the paint will appear mostly on the higher parts of the texture.

Give the pendant base an aged look by dabbing a cotton ball on a black or brown ink pad and applying it to parts of the paper.

To embellish my pendant, I used a plastic leaf button.  The button had a loop on the back, which was easily removed with a pair of nail clippers.

Once the button was glued to the paper, I added a touch of copper paint and black ink to it as well, since the button also had a textured surface.

Glue a pony bead to the back side of the pendant.  Use the bead to string the pendant onto a cord and it’s ready to wear!