Birthday Magnets

Back in February, we celebrated Olivia's birthday. Every year for Christmas and for her birthday, it's always such a struggle to find a gift for Olivia. The girl pretty much already has what she wants (or so it appears that way to me). So for awhile, my only option was gift cards. I know she likes the gift cards because she will use them. But after seeing Olivia receive so many great personalized gifts (she absolutely adores her family) and after partaking in a scrapbooking party at her house (where the goal was to sort through her 1000+ wedding photos from 3 years prior)... it was time I attempted to join the "personalized" bandwagon.

With some tips from Candice, my work neighbor crafter, and a quick visit to Michael's, I attempted my first round of personalized magnets. For Olivia, how more personalized can I get than use her family photos and pictures of her baby boy (yes, I admit it... I swiped some images from her family photographer's site and some more photos from her facebook page despite the possibility of there being the words "copyright" somewhere on the page... but I have good intentions!).

Not too shabby, in my opinion! I was actually surprised at how super easy it was, and how decent it came out, without prior knowledge of how to assemble them. For the images, I scaled them down (after attempting to remove the words "proof" from some of them :/ ) to sizes of about 1-1/2" in diameter and printed them out from my "free with purchase of a computer" printer. I should have printed them with actual photo paper, as the glass marbles really emphasized the inkjet printing. 

I bought two sizes of clear flat-backed marbles: one that is about 1/2" diameter and one that is about 1-1/2" diameter. With a clear super bonding glue (bought at Michael's), I squeezed a small amount onto the flat back of the 1-1/2" glass marbles and then pressed it onto the individual images until the glue oozed its' way in between all surfaces where the marble touches the image. I then took an exacto and cut the image around the marble to fit and set aside to dry for 1 day. I then used the coil of magnetic tape (bought at Joann's) and cut pieces to fit the back of the 1-1/2" marbles: the magnetic tape is perfect because it is already sticky-backed.

I then searched online for various black and white damask prints, and used them as a background for the smaller 1/2" marbles, which I also printed in green each letter of their last name per marble (with each marble having a different damask print background). Like the photo magnets, I glued the marbles to the print, cut around  it and set it to dry. For these smaller ones, I used the small round super magnets (bought at Michael's) as it was pretty similar in size. As these are not sticky-backed, I had to use (the same) glue to glue the magnets to the back of the prints.

To package, I found a simple silver pencil case holder at a nearby stationary store that was the perfect size (it was a two-sided pencil case holder, so held all of my magnets).

I hope she likes it. I know I do! And just an FYI... clear your refrigerators everyone! Personalized magnets are accompanying your birthday cards!

...and anniversary cards and Christmas cards and Halloween cards and Happy Independence Day cards and...