Magnet Mania Tutorial

These are one of my favorite gifts to make.  There's been a bit of an "inchies" craze going around the blog world ... well these are my 3/4 inchies.  What they both have in common is that you have to look at your stamps and papers differently when you're only going to be displaying a very small portion. Often, I take a glass accent marble and move it across the paper to see how things look when magnified by the glass.

I discovered that the glitter flowers from the DCWV glitter paper fit perfectly inside of the 3/4 inch circle punch (top row).  Also, one of the tiny snowmen from the A Muse Snow Pals stamp looks great too.  I also punched out flowers, snowflakes, and some words (all from DP scraps).  I even stamped some small hearts on dictionary pages and DP (click the image for a close-up view).

I start by punching out a variety of 3/4" circles.  Then I use E-6000 craft adhesive to adhere the paper circles to the flat side of the glass accent marbles that I get by the bags in the floral section.  When I choose a bag, I try to find the ones that are the closest to round, but they still work fine if they are a little oblong.  Don't use too much adhesive, or it will ooze out the sides (if it does, just wipe it off).  Make sure there are no air bubbles by pressing the glass down firmly on the image.  I let these dry for about an hour before adhering the magnet. 

Once they are dry, I use the same E-6000 adhesive to adhere the magnets to the images.  The magnets are the most expensive part of this project, so I always buy them at Michael's with my 40% off coupon.  The 3/4 inch magnets come in packages of 50.  I rub a very thin layer of the adhesive on the magnet, and then press the image down onto the magnet to let it dry.  I package my magnet sets in origami gift boxes.

*** You can see more Magnet Mania here.

Comments

[Sharon (notimetostamp)]

These are just adorable - and you've made so many -- impressive!!! Thanks for the instructions!!!

[gina]

WOW these are sooo gorgeous ~ what a great gift idea. :O)

[Sarah Rice]

This are soooo cool!! How creative

Congrats on being one of the new VArks girls ;)

[Lisa642]

these are fantastic, I think that little snowman is my most favorite!!

[Kim Hughes]

these look amazzzzing!
congrats on your new Caardvarks venture :)

[Annie]

what a fantastic gift idea! I wonder if it would work with clear acrylic bubble stickers and the thiner sheets of magnet .. .. maybe I should have a go. Annie x

[Shirley Doucet]

A hint for using magnets-we are always getting flat advertising magnets (I get a new one on the phone book every year) that I cut up and use for applying to small things. Works great no cost!

[Melissa Fountain]

Can I ask how many of these you consider a 'set'? What paper do you use for a set..some for each season, etc? This is such a great idea..you've made beautiful magnets. Thanks so much for the tutorial! :)

[Lily's Treasures]

Love this idea, I keep it for my embellishments.

[LadiesHoliday]

Looking forward to doing this with my kids over vacation. Thanks for the easy instructions!

[valerie robertson]

how do you melt the marbles

[valerie robertson]

forget the last post I get it now lol thanks

[Karie]

I just saw this on Pinterest and wanted to say thank you! The magnets are adorable! My parents are coming for a visit the end of Septmeber and I have been looking for a fun easy craft we can do together and this is it! Thank you again for sharing!

[R Wood]

I have used tacky glue too....cloudy, white at first but dries clear. Again, don't use too much or it takes a while to dry.

[Deirdre]

This was so easy- great instructions- just made successfully! Yay!

[Andrea]

I made these and they turned out awesome!! Only thing is that when using the larger glass pieces, they are a bit heavy and slide down the refrigerator :/ going to try again using the smaller ones! But otherwise, they turned out beautiful!

[Tammy]

I am gonna do this with my granddaughters art work! Reduce it on the copier and put it under glass!!

[Kathryn M.]

Can you use scrapbook paper for these? I've seen so many ideas on pinterest that require scrapbooking paper and it'd be awesome if it would work on these too!

So cute!

[Robin McQuillan]

Love this idea. Thank you.
I'm going on a scrapbooking weekend and have to bring a game or activity with me. This is exactly what I need to get my friends to open up my stamp box!

[crystal]

You say you ounch out the image.. What do youuse to punch it out?

[Cheryl]

This is such a clever idea. Thank you for sharing

[Ashley Reeder]

Do you think the index prints that come with prints from wal-mart, shutterfly, etc would work under these stones? They are tiny...

[Susan]

I have tried making these now using e6000 glue, modpodge, and paper glaze and none of them seem to dry clear. It gives a dingy look to my picture. Do you have any suggestions on how to correct this? Thanks

[Jan Verhoeff-Stauffer]

These are so cute! Is there any reason you couldn't punch out the magnet sheets from Walmart that cost only $.99. I've not tried it, but think it could work and would be very cost effective - or just cut chunks with an old pair of scissors if you're worried about ruining your punch. Just thinking . . .

[Ashley U]

I also used the large glass flat marbles and the magnets I found weren't strong enough. Any ideas? FYI: dollar tree has the marbles for a dollar a bag! Love that store.