DIY Magnets

If you are looking for something to do with all those catalogs you got in the mail over the holidays, then make some unique magnets! They are very easy to make and would look great hanging on your refrigerator, file cabinet, locker, chalkboard, or any other magnetic surface. The magnets would make great gifts for teachers and they are easy enough that kids can make them. Have fun making each magnet as cute, fun, elegant, or interesting as you want!

Materials

– Catalogs/magazines

– 5/8″ circle punch/circle cutter

– Clear vase gems

– Craft Bond Paper Craft Glue Gel (or any glue that dries clear on paper)

– Magnetic tape

– Scissors

Directions

1. Grab a few old catalogs and search in them for designs, patterns, or pictures you would like to use for your magnets. Make sure the images you pick are small enough to fit in the area of a vase gem. You may get lucky enough to find images of your favorite team logo, television character, animal, etc. I found many interesting designs and patterns as I searched in my catalogs. There are many possibilities!

2. As you find images you would like to use for your magnets, use your circle punch to punch them out. You could also use a circle cutter or simply trace around a vase gem and cut them out with scissors. Below are some of the images/designs I found.

3. Apply your clear glue to the back (flat side) of a vase gem and adhere one of your circles to it so that the image you want can be seen through the vase gem. Do this for the rest of your images.

4. Cut a small piece of magnetic tape and stick it to the back of a vase gem (on top of the circle you just glued). You may want to use glue to hold the magnetic tape in place better (sometimes the magnetic tape isn’t strong enough to stay on without reinforcement). I just cut my magnetic pieces into squares, but you may want to cut them into circles so they are round like the vase gem. Repeat this step for all of your vase gems.