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How to Make Beaded Bag Charms and Keychains

This post may contain affiliate links; all opinions are my own. See Disclosures here.

I made the cutest beaded bag charms and keychains using a variety of colorful beads and paracord string. These charms were so easy to make and they are the perfect accessory for any bag or outfit. Keep reading for a guide on how to make beaded bag charms and keychains!

I love to personalize my things with cute little charms and decorations. If you read my post on how to make a phone charm strap, you know how having a little decoration on your device can be a fun boost to your day.

I make a lot of crafts with beads and lately I’ve been making rainbow loom keychains with my niece. I have a rainbow loom keychain on my bag, but I thought it would be cute to make a beaded keychain as well.

BAUBLEBAR BAG CHARM KIT

I started looking for inspiration online for cute keychains and bag charms, and I found this bead kit from baublebar. Whenever I see bead kits like this (especially at this price!), I always wonder if they’re worth it. Or would it be better to buy the beads and strings on my own?

This particular kit lets you customize the carrying case which also includes a matching set of custom beads. I started researching what all beads were included and how much it would cost if I recreated this kit on my own.

via baublebar.com

The product listing says you get:

*We include 1 unique set of oversized alphabet beads to spell your name plus 3 other alphabet bead sets in A-Z.

*You’ll also get five sets of numbers, motifs, and hearts and all of the zodiacs for plenty of personalization. 

*In total, 350+ beads for countless design options.

*Browse from 10 novelty paracord bag charm bases, each with 2 strands for beading.

*The case comes personalized with your name on it.

*The beads and bases are organized in our sturdy, clear and lightweight case that has been engineered to keep everything in place.

KIT VS BUYING SEPARATELY

I found nearly all the beads and supplies (or similar) included in the kit separately online. Here’s everything I found:

Of course when you buy individually like this ^ you get a larger quantity of beads so the cost is higher. But you can also make way more keychains or bag charms, and you also get a lot more variety. I love these chunky beads and think they would make great gifts for family or to diy with friends. So having the quantity you need could be best for you.

Kit Option

If you don’t want to commit to so many beads and buying so many materials, then the kit is definitely the way to go. You get to have all the fun of making the project without having to invest in so many different kinds of beads or researching all the specs. With the kit, you also get a cute carrying case which makes this project feel more manageable.

The cutest keychains and bag charms are the ones that are personalized to you. So I bought the baublebar kit, but I also ordered some beads separately to enhance the kit and make it more custom for me.

HOW TO MAKE BEADED BAG CHARMS AND KEYCHAINS

If you are using the bag charm kit like I am, your paracord is already attached to the keychain, and you can begin stringing your beads. But if you are making your beaded bag charms and keychains with individual materials, you’ll need to first attach the paradors to the keychain.

Attach Paracord to Keychain

This video is super helpful in demonstrating different knots you can use to attach the paracord to the keychain:

With these knots, you’d only need to repeat your pattern a few times to just ensure the keychain is attached. The first few designs in the video are great because they leave you with two tails that we will use to bead on to. I think the multiple beaded tails looks best!

With the paracord, you secure the ends by melting them — similar to making wax string friendship bracelets. So once your paracord is attached to the keychain, give yourself about 10″ on each tail, trim the excess, and melt the ends to seal the fray.

The paracord included in my bead kit is the micro 2mm paracord which was harder for me to source online. I found this kit that has micro paracord in 6 color options, but it also has 30 extra colors in the larger 4mm size. If you are ok with a limited color selection, I found these options that are less expensive.

String Beads + Customize

This is the fun part. Mix and match different colors and beads to create a unique bag charm and keychain. There is no right or wrong way to create your keychains.

Like I mentioned, I got a few other beads to supplement my baublebar kit. These rainbow stars and this set of multicolor gem beads. I loved the colors and variety of these beads. However, the smaller star beads didn’t fit the paracord so I’m saving them for another project.

I like to lay out my beads to get an idea of how things will look. I chose this keychain with pink and blue paracord which I thought would look cool with the large holographic ‘ALOHA’ beads.

Once your beads are positions how you like, simply tie a knot at least an inch from the end to secure your beads. This DIY is so much fun and easy to do.

Gift + Use

I made 5 bag charm keychains to give and some to keep for myself. These easy to clip on charms add a fun color pop to your bag or keys. I even put one on my water bottle. I love having some playful personality and personalization without it being permanent.

Here are the ones I made for some inspiration:

Share this post on Pinterest if it helped or inspired you!

MORE BEADED DIYs

If you liked this post on how to make beaded bag charms and keychains, you’ll love my other DIYs:

How to Make Daisy Flower Beaded Bracelets

These bracelets are so dainty and cute. In this post, I teach you how to make three different types! I loved working with such perfect beads and the gold clasps; these were definitely my most ‘professional’ DIY jewelry.

How to Make Letter Bead Bracelets

These bracelets use the same techniques from my Pura Vida-Inspired bracelet post, so you can make an adjustable bracelet. So many ways to customize; these bracelets are perfect to make with or for friends.

How to Make Stretchy Friendship Bracelets

I loved making these bracelets! I think they are my most-worn bracelets too. Stretchy bracelets are nice because there are no clasps or adjustments needed. I love to customize my bracelets with encouraging words or positive reminders.

BAUBLEBAR BAG CHARM KIT

My baublebar bag charm kit was expensive, but I am happy with my purchase. With this kit, I made 5 super cute keychains and I got the fun of making and personalizing them. Like I mentioned, I also bought beads separately to supplement the kit, and I feel like it would be difficult to make all 10 keychains with just the beads included.

I definitely loaded up beads on all of my keychains, but I’m sure you could stretch all the beads across the 10 included keychains. For me, I prioritized the more unique beads, and I wasn’t too inspired by the remaining beads after my 5th keychain. So all together, I paid $20/keychain including the extra beads I bought.

What You Get

The carrying case feels like good quality. It has little pictures of the beads and my customization (ALOHA) melted in? to the outside of the case. The case has two locking closures along the top, so your beads are safe and secure.

Inside the case, the beads are separated into individual compartments and protected from falling out by a plastic locking cover.

Here’s a look at all the beads I got in my kit:

My kit had a total of 387 beads. The alphabet beads came in different styles — I had all letters in the colorful cubes, but I was missing two letters in the white cubes (and then I had duplicates of two other letters). I had one full set of the white oval letter beads, and the second set was missing one letter, and duplicating another letter.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

I’m happy with the kit and the variety of beads included. I also really love the carrying case and I’m transferring some of my other beads over. This case is lightweight and keeps all the beads secure which will be perfect for travel.

I’ll be hanging onto my remaining 5 paracords and beads to hopefully finish out my keychains as I acquire new beads. I could see a custom keychain like the ones I made being sold in a boutique store for $20, (especially when keychains like this are $100+) so I feel like the bead kit is a good deal even if you don’t make all 10 keychains and bag charms.

The real value in this kit is having everything all together, ready to go. You don’t need to research bead sizes or if a seller has good reviews. It’s all done for you and you can get started making your keychains right away. It was a lot of fun making these charms and customizing them for my friends and family.

I hope this little review of the baublebar kit helped you. I had a hard time finding reviews when I was researching my purchase. If this post helped you, please share it on Pinterest!

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