The Legend of Zelda Key Holder

I've been meaning to make a key holder to go by our front door for a while now, but then Perler Bead Armageddon took over all my crafting ambitions. However, we are tragically out of black Perler beads right now (and the nearest store that has any is probably 30 min away), so I turned to other pursuits. Namely, this.  Apparently it got hugely popular on Reddit, so the Etsy shop owner is (or maybe was) swamped with orders for it. Rather than pay $19 with shipping for one, I decided it couldn't be too hard to make myself... and it wasn't!

Supplies needed:

- one wooden rectangular plaque (whatever size you so desire - I chose a 5x7 inch) (should be $2-$3)
- a color printer and paper
- black paint suitable for wood ($1-$3)
- a brush ($1 for a cheap sponge brush)
- ModPodge ($5-$6)
- a hook (I used one called a Tieback hook that was about 1 1/4 in long including the screw-in part) (~$2 for a pack of 6)
- something to hang it on the wall

Step 1: paint your wooden plaque black.

Step 2: Let it dry. Apply second coat of paint if necessary.

Step 3: Wash your paintbrush.

Step 4: Re-size the following image to fit your plaque, and chop out all the unnecessary bits. Photoshop is easiest to use for this part, but if you're struggling, I've inserted the template I used in the end after the actual picture.

Original picture

Re-sized to fit a 5"x7" plaque, though my plaque has a border so the actual picture should be 6.5"x4.125". Nathan did this part for me in Photoshop and then chopped out all the extra black so that we didn't waste the ink from our printer.

Step 5: Cut out the pieces of the picture. I left the top part all in one chunk, but cut out the sword and Link separately.

Step 6: Apply a thin coat of ModPodge to your plaque. I chose to cover the entire plaque so as to have an even finish, but you'll see in later steps that it doesn't really matter if you do that now or not.

Step 7: Carefully place each piece of paper where you want it on your plaque. Smooth it down and let the ModPodge dry completely.

Step 8: Put another coat of ModPodge over the entire plaque to seal the paper. If desired, apply a second top coat after the first coat dries.

Step 9: Screw in hook for keys wherever you want. I put mine between the sword and Link so that I wouldn't mess up the paper at all.

Step 10: Install hardware to hang it up on the back of the plaque. And you're done!

Completed key holder!

I actually did the ModPodge steps a little differently - I basically combined step 7 and 8, attaching the paper to the plaque and sealing it all in one go. I think as a result, my paper got a little too wet and the ink ran a bit. You can't really tell in the final product, but hopefully letting it dry in between will prevent that from happening to you.

All in all, this project cost less than $10, not including the cost of the ModPodge (which you only use a little bit of, so if you can get away with borrowing some from somebody, even better). All the supplies were from Joann Fabrics, though I had to ask someone where the hooks were because they put them in a very non-logical place...  Total time spent on the actual project was maybe 30 min, adding in 1-2 hours of drying time for the paint and ModPodge layers.

If you decide to try it yourself, let me know how it goes!

UPDATE: If you don't like being able to see the edges on the paper bits, you can also print out the picture with the full black background and ModPodge it onto the front of the plaque, effectively covering the whole front part instead of having pieces. It will use a lot of black ink but won't show any faint lines.