DIY Personalized Keychains make a great gift and they are so easy to make with a Cricut machine and iron-on!
I’ve gotten a little obsessed with making key fobs and keychains with my Cricut. First I made these DIY leather key fobs, then these personalized leather keychains for Dad. Now I made personalized initial keychains and I love how they turned out!
How to Make DIY Personalized Keychains with a Cricut
Video and written instructions.
All of these DIY keychain ideas are super quick and simple to create and can be made with a Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore Air machine. They can be made out of faux suede, faux leather (like these), or even fabric. Iron-on gives them such a professional look, no one would know they are handmade! I especially love the Holographic Iron-on, this was my first time using it and it’s quite the showstopper!
You will just need to adjust your EasyPress heat settings accordingly for whichever type of material you use (you can find the settings for any type of material here).
These are the blank templates for each keychain style that you can find and use in Cricut Design Space here.
The general instructions are the same for all 3 styles; there are more specific instructions for each style in the instruction card below. To cut faux suede on a Cricut Maker, you can select it from the Leather material list. For cutting the faux suede on the Cricut Explore Air 2, you will turn the knob on the machine to Custom and then select Cricut Faux Leather in Design Space.
Personalized Initial Keychains
Ingredients
Additional Supplies for Hexagon Keychain
- Holographic Iron-on Cobalt
Additional Supplies for Circle Keychain
Additional Supplies for Split Initial Keychains
- Everyday Iron-on Party Pink
Instructions
Follow these general instructions and see then below for specifics on each style.
- Open the keychain cut file in Cricut Design Space and customize as necessary.
- Load the faux leather onto the cutting mat. Click “Make It” and select Faux Leather for the cutting material for the keychain and everyday iron-on for the lettering. Remember to mirror the wording for the iron on. Cut.
- Weed out the negative space from the iron-on. Set the EasyPress to 280º F. Position the iron-on vinyl onto the faux suede and lay a protective sheet over the entire keychain… be careful not to shift the design. Press for 30 seconds. Allow to cool before peeling back the iron-on lining.
- Position the keychain around the keyring and apply permanent adhesive to the inside of the keychain on one side. Apply a very thin line of glue along the edges so there isn’t any leakage. Press the 2 sides together and place under a book or heavy object to fully flatten while it dries overnight.
Directions for Hexagon Keychain
- Create the letter for the initial keychain with the text function and select your font. Center the letter in the middle of the hexagon. Select both the hexagon (just the hexagon, not the entire hexagon keychain) and the letter and click Slice. Delete the sliced letters.
- Apply the holographic iron-on onto the front of the keychain.
Directions for Circle Keychain
- Follow the same process as for the hexagon keychain, except the slice will be through the actual keychain itself.
- Apply the iron-on to the inside of the keychain so that i peeks out of the sliced initial.
Directions for Split Initial Keychain
- For this version, you will position your letter centered with half of the letter above the half-shape (the pink section shown). Select the half shape and the letter and slice. Delete the sliced parts with the exception of the top of the letter. Change that section to be the same color as the half-shape.
- Position the top of the letter and the bottom and attach so that the cut will look like this. Press the iron-on split initial onto the keychain.
Which style is your favorite? The possibilities for these DIY suede keychains, what other ideas would you want to try to make? I’d love to hear in the comments!
Donna says
These would make great gifts.