FYI, there’s a giveaway at the end of this post worth over $100 – keep reading!
Over the past few years I’ve seen popsicle stick bracelet tutorials on various blogs, and while I always thought the idea was cool, the finished result always seemed a bit juvenile. Since Mother’s Day is coming up I’ve been thinking about some personalized jewelry celebrating my kids, and I had an idea: would adding photos to a popsicle stick bracelet turn it into something I’d actually wear? Well, that would be a yes.
This little project actually turned out really fun! If you soak really big popsicle sticks (aka super jumbo craft sticks) in warm water long enough, you can bend them to fit inside a glass or jar. Once they’re dry they keep their shape, making a cute wood bracelet, which you can then make cuter with pictures of yourself & kids.
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Adorable, right? I have a couple videos for you demonstrating how to make the bracelets and add the photo strip, and then I’ll show you how easy it is to crop your favorite photos into a photo strip using Adobe Photoshop Elements.
Before I get to the how-to, I want to let you guys know I’ll be partnering with Adobe for the next few months as a brand ambassador. That means every month I’ll showcase at least one project made using Photoshop Elements. I actually use Photoshop Elements nearly every day, both to edit my own family photos and blog photos, and also to create all my printables and pretty much any project that includes photographs. It has everything I need and is easy to use. And I get to give away a copy Photoshop Elements 14 and Premiere Elements 14 (video editor) at the end of the post, so keep reading!
Ok, back to the bracelets. These would make a great DIY Mother’s Day gift! As soon as I take new pictures of my kids I’m going to make a bracelet with a photo of each of them and give it to myself 🙂
This video shows you how to form the bracelets:
A few notes:
- I used super jumbo craft sticks that are 1 inch wide and 7.5 inches long. You want to find a glass or jar that is small enough to bend the sticks until the ends are pretty close to touching (or if you have small hands/wrists maybe actually touching). When I used the pint mason jar and pushed the bracelet all the way to the bottom it ended up the right size, but the one I left near the top was a bit too big (it’s the one you see in most of these photos, and I was able to fix it after I took the photos).
- I boiled the craft sticks for 30 minutes, then let them soak in the hot water for over an hour. At that point they were pretty soft and it wasn’t too hard to bend them into shape, although it did take a minute or two of coaxing for each one. Be gentle when doing so; if you push too hard you’ll snap the stick (so you might want to boil some extras).
- Place the jars/glasses with bracelets in them in a 250 degree oven for about half an hour, or until completely dry. Once cool, they’ll come out easily.
And this video shows you how to add the photo strip to the bracelet:
A few notes:
- I used matte Mod Podge and a foam paintbrush. Trim the photostrip to size first (it should be 1 inch wide and 7 inches tall). Then paint a layer of Mod Podge onto the bracelet and smooth the photo strip on. Try not to get any Mod Podge on your hands at this point – if you do, wipe them off before you touch the front of the photo.
- You might need to hold the photo onto the ends of the bracelet for a minute or two to let it start drying. Then you can set it down to let it dry completely (about 15 minutes).
- Once dry, sand the edges of the photo strip. Then paint another layer of Mod Podge right on top of the photos. Try to use smooth brush strokes as they will be slightly visible when dry (if you really don’t want to see any brushstrokes you could spray with a sealant instead). Once that’s dry, your bracelet is done.
One last note: one of the bracelets I made ended up a little too big, so I got brushed water onto the inside of the bracelet to dampen the wood, slid it into a slightly smaller glass, and baked for about 10 minutes. I let it cool and now it’s perfect!
Ok, here’s how to make a photo strip in Photoshop Elements 14:
(Quick note before we start: I like to use Floating Documents mode in Photoshop Elements, which means you can see and work on more than one document at a time. To turn this on, go to Preferences -> General and click “Allow Floating Documents in Expert Mode”.)
1. Start by opening 5 photos you’d like to put on your bracelet in the photo editor in Photoshop Elements. You’ll want them all to be either horizontal or vertical. Mine are horizontal photos. Also open up a new blank file that is 7 inches wide, 5 inches tall, and 300 pixels/inch. (Note, if you use vertical photos you’ll want your new file 5 inches wide and 7 inches tall).
2. Hit “C” to select the crop tool. At the menu on the bottom left, set cropping to “custom” and then set the crop size to 1.4 inches wide and 1 inch tall. Make sure the resolution (on the lower right) shows 300 pixels/inch. Click and drag on your first photo to open the crop markers. Adjust until you like what portion of your photos is showing, and then hit the green checkmark to complete the crop. (Note: If the Crop Tool Options are not showing along the bottom, click on the Tool Option button near the bottom left of the window.)
3. Repeat the cropping process on all five photos. Hit “V” to get the Move tool, and drag each cropped photo on the new blank file. Arrange them in the order you want them to be in the photo strip. Make sure the leftmost photo touches the left edge of the file and the rightmost photo touches the right edge of the file.
4. To get your photos perfectly spaced, hold down the shift key and click on each photo to select them all, then hit “Align Top” and “Distribute Middle”. The photos will automatically be arranged in a perfect photo strip.
At this point, you can save your photo strip as a .jpg (use Save As and be sure to choose JPEG for the format). Then you can order the photo as a 5×7 from whatever photo processor you normally use, or print it out at home on photo paper or heavy weight card stock. Trim off the white space, and you’re ready to make a bracelet, or display your photo strip in any way you like. Photo strips are perfect for adding to a bulletin board, displaying on the fridge, or decorating a mirror.
And now for the giveaway! Just use the widget below to enter to win a software bundle of Photoshop Elements 14 and Premiere Elements 14, worth over $100:
Thank you to Adobe for sponsoring this post.
I’d love PSE for editing pictures of my sweet family! Great project, thank you for sharing!
Cute! Though they may be a bit juvenile, I’d want to make something Mom would actually wear 🙂
frankly that’s rude. keep that type of thought in your head rather than raining on this blogger’s parade.
Oh, good grief! The blogger, Autumn, indicated that she thought her predecessors’ craft stick bracelets were juvenile. I might agree that some seem that way to me, but if I’m going to borrow others’ ideas, I might want to use tact. Laura was calling attention to that jab.
Sometimes we say what’s on our mind and forget how it might come across.
I agree , keep rude comments to yourself .
I would love an update on my Photoshop Elements program, I need to use it more. This project is awesome!
I’d love to learn how to edit photos for projects, like your bracelet!!! Thank you!
these are so clever, thank you. it’ll be a great project for my granddaughter and I!
These are so cute. My brain is buzzing with all the possibilities.
Photoshop Elements is something I could “play” with all day !
Such a neat idea and the perfect Mother’s Day gift!
I’m having problems leaving a comment with the contest – but I presently don’t have any photo software at all – so this software would be fantastic! I’ve been wanting to do all kinds of crafty-gifty things with photos for our family (they’re all a plane-ride away), and I know my two little kidlets would get a kick out of being able to create things for grandparents and other family. Can’t wait to try this bracelet – thanks Autumn!
I have an older version of the Photoshop Elements software. I would love to upgrade!
I WANT IT TO MAKE A BRACELET LIKE THIS AND MY SOC. SEC. INCOME JUST DOES NOT KEEP UP WITH INFLATION.
I’m a crafter and love taking photos and videos of my family. PS Elements and Premiere is what every crafter and mom needs! Thx for sharing this fun project!
Thanks for the great photo bracelet tutorial. I would love to have the new Photoshop Elements 14 and really learn how to use it. Looking forward to your upcoming PSE tutorials.
these are cute. i could help MS. Becky in her sunday school class do these. the kiddo’s moms would love em i’m sure. having a new Photoshop Element would help out alot since my photo editing program is old and confusing to use.
I love this idea. Perfect Mother’s Day gift.
I would love to learn how to use a more diverse photo editing program to be able to create more keepsake items of our family!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful project, can’t wait to make my own!!
I really, really want to edit photos better. I love taking pictures of my family.
I would love to have it because my husband loves to do photos of the kids and nature and this would really be what he needed!
Hello! Great project! I would love to win the Photoshop program. I have nothing like it and think it would be an awesome addition to all the paper crafts and home decor that I currently make. Thank you for the opportunity!
Love, love, LOVE those bracelets — and I would love to make one for my DIL! I have lots of photos of The Grands, too — but, alas, no PSE! I have wanted to get it for so long, and would be so happy if I could win one from you! It would open up a lot of possibilities for this doting grandma’s scrapbooking, gift-making, and photo displays!!
this would be great for my marketing class
What a neat idea! Photoshop Elements would help me make photo keepsakes like this!!
I need a new photoshop program!
I am the director of Activities at an Assisted Living facilities in Pelham Alabama. This with make a great activity for residents. We also would love to the Photoshop to use. Hope we win. If we don,t Please go to our Face book site and LIKE us we just love to have people visit our site. Thanks,again Barbara Corley Hope we win. Love the Idea
Thanks for sharing this super craftprocject. Photoshop element are perfect for any family picture collage for albums or having fun with editing pictures. I’d love to have the possibility:).
It would be So Very Helpful to have the upgraded version of Photo Shop Elements. Thanks for offering a chance to receive it for free!!!
This would be awesome and I would love to win because I currently have a little one on the way! It’s so exciting and I will definitely put Photoshop to use!
I would love to win as I’ve always wanted a copy to use for my photos!
I’d use it in a lot of my projects involving photos, and my daughter would love it now that she’s in a Multimedia Class in H.S.
I have so many fun things I want to do with photos (plus basic editing), but there’s only so much I can do with free programs.
I have so many photobooks I’ve been meaning to work on. Case in point, I still haven’t finished my almost 3 year old’s baby book yet. A copy of Photoshop Elements 14 would really help out with photo processing!
I would like it because it would make a great gift.
I’d love to finally be able to learn how to use photoshop! Its a bucketlist item for me!
I’d love the opportunity to learn photoshop. I’ve been considering opening an etsy store and blog and photoshop would really put me in a better place!
I love this tutorial and I would live to win a copy of Photoshop Elements! You can do so many things with it and get really professional looking results!
I love the look of the bracelets, this is a great idea to try for my mother in law. the software would be great too, since I don’t have any.
This is an area I could really use some more expertise so it would be great to have a new program to learn on. It would definitely take my blog photos up a notch!
If like to teach a friend to use it!
I’d love an updated version — I love the PSE I have and use it often! 🙂
I have never used Photoshop and have always wanted/needed to learn. This is an amazing giveaway. Thank you for giving us a shot at it!
I loved watching your video on FB! Your hair is so cute! This looks like a great idea for when my nieces and nephews come to visit us this summer! Something that I wonder is if you can do sayings and word art on adobe? I am not familiar with much in regards to photo software but I hope to get an opportunity to learn. See you at the next Orchestra Concert, I hope!
Thank you so much for this great giveaway . Been wanting this software and haven’t had a chance to get and I am a crafty addict. I have never tried Photoshop, but I know its a great software. Thank you for your thoughtfulness of this wonderful giveaway.
What a cute project.
I would love photoshop elements. I use a free graphic design program (inkscape) for most of my projects but it’s not the best for photo editing. This would really make my life easier.
Oh gosh so cute and I would be so stoked to win!!! I love photo editing!
I would use PSE for all kinds of creative projects. Next one on my list is photo coasters and with PSE I could combine pics and image files.
I have plans to start a lifestyle blog in the near future and would love to use PSE to help make my blog look more professional! Thanks for all of your wonderful posts!
Great idea!!!
Cute project, I love seeing what you can do with PSE!
I love new crafts ideas, this one is awesome. I have a cameo but feels like I’m limited with Photoshop Elements 14 & Premiere Elements 14 I can create a tons of items for family and friends.
I have really old version Elements – like 6 years old! I would love to win an upgrade for the fancy new features! Also, their the best looking Popsicle stick craft. I want to use this same technique to make napkin rings for my outdoor wedding, but I was afraid it would look too cheap. Adding photos is a great idea!
I use photoshop elements for not only editing my photos but for digital scrapbooking as well. The version I am using is quite old, it would be great to have a new updated one. Thank you for the chance to win!
I just love your post and really woukl enjoy making some of these bracelets. The biggest reason for wanting the PSE Bundle is that I have close to 10 years worth of photos that I would love to get into albums and do some scrap booking. It would be an amazing help to me.
Fantastic idea. My granddaughters will love doing this? especially using the PSE. They love photos of family and friends.
What a cool craft idea! I can’t wait to give it a try. So many possibilities.
I don’t have any programs like that, so it would be incredibly useful
I have a 2 year old granddaughter and it would be awesome to have this photo editing bundle.
Par is the perfect compliment to Lightroom. Easy to use great results!
Thank you so much for the awesome tutorial! You make it sound so easy! I’d love to have a copy of PSE to make myself a photo strip bracelet.
I’ve used Photoshop before but a new version would be awesome!
I would love this! I’ve been wanting something with more editing options.
Such a cute bracelet of Monique and her baby!
I am just starting to get into photography by practicing on my 4 kids. I would love to have Photoshop so (among other things) I can do some face swapping and have a picture of all my kids looking at the camera!
These are so very cute!! I want to try it for my mother and mother-in-“love”. This year for Mother’s Day! One thing the videos do not work and I’m not sure if it’s because I use Pinterest in my phone to look at your article. Just wanted to let you know.
Thanks for the cute idea
Where did you buy the super jumbo craft sticks?
i love this idea it is amazing. i probably wouldn’t ever think of doingbthat