Souvenir Coin Earrings

This quick and easy project will leave you with a functional accessory to remember your international travels.

I have been incredibly lucky with my day job to have seen so much of the world.

 From Belfast, to Zealand, to the Philippines, I've had some amazing adventures.
​After a vacation to Cancun, I realized that I can't keep bringing back shot glasses as mementos from all these different countries. I really trying to de-clutter.

While trying to think about something small and functional, I realized that I usually come home with a little bit of local currency left over in my wallet.

Now, this I can work with!  I had an idea of using epoxy to seal it on a surface...but that is kind of a one and done. It would be hard to add more later after future trip. Maybe adding them to a lamp or the edge of a shelf? Again, that's probably something that I would be odd if it was incomplete.

Then I started thinking about the machines that press pennies to turn them into a souvenir. Wouldn't it be adorable to put all of them onto a charm bracelet?  I kicked myself for not thinking of this sooner! 

Looks like the only one I have is from the old Point Pleasant pier in New Jersey. 

All those places that I have been to in the US and I failed to squish pennies!  That's okay though. I'm used to working with what I've got. In the future I will be sure to grab a penny when I visit US locations, but for my foreign coins that I have laying around the house, let's start with something small and easy.

​These little Centavos from Mexico looked like they would make the perfect earrings!

As always, here is the list of supplies that I used:
(affiliate links)

These are some of the products that I used or suggestions for something similar: 

• ​This inexpensive Jewelry Making Kit has earring hooks and needle-nose pliers
• Or here is a small pack of earring hooks and a nice set of Needle-Nose and other Pliers
• Drill and Drill bit for metal
• Sharpie (if you want to mark the dot)
• Small clamp to safely hold the coin
  
  

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Really, there are only two steps to making these adorable accessories.

1. Drill a small hole close to the top edge of the coin.
2. String the coin into the fish hook earring holder.

For step one, determine the desired orientation of the coin. If it has a face, you will probably want to make sure that they are not upside down or both coins are in the same direction

It might be good to mark where you want to drill with a small dot from a sharpie.
(sharpie dot picture)

As for the drill. Wade and I are obsessed with our Ryobi set because you can just swap out the batteries in all the different tools. The drill, however, doesn't matter too much. It's the bit that you need to worry about. Make sure that you have a bit of strong metal that can handle drilling a hole in soft metal (I read through this explanation on the Lowes website)


I used scrap piece of wood underneath to make sure that I didn't damage the surface of my coffee table.  I thought, for safety reasons, I should probably use a small clamp to hold it in place when I drilled the hole and that is what I recommend you do. Although you can see in the pictures that I just held it carefully with my finger.

About halfway through, the coin started getting pretty hot from the friction and I had to take a break. (Another reason why you should use a clamp) Once I started to see wood shavings instead of metal, I knew that I had drilled all the way through.  This is not a kitchen table craft. You don't want to end up with a few small holes drilled in your dinner table!

On to part two. Threading the coin is pretty easy but a few things to remember. Think about which side you want to have facing front before you put it on the fish hook.  I made a set of each with my Centavos because I liked both sides.

It's not terribly hard to take it off and switch it around if you have it going in the wrong direction, but it is a nuisance.

Using some needle nose pliers, bend open the hook so you can insert it into the hole of your coin.

Then just bend it closed as best you can.

And just like that, you have some beautiful new earrings to remind you of your travels. It's much more functional than a key-chain or shot glass.

Now, I think I will work on making a charm bracelet with the rest of the coins that I have laying around. Also, I need to remember to squish some pennies when I venture around the States.

​Let me know how your crafting goes and if you have any other ideas.