Halloween MARBLE MAGNETS

HALLOWEEN MARBLE MAGNETS

I am finally getting around to sharing how I made these

HALLOWEEN MARBLE MAGNETS.

I actually made them in 2012 and have yet to share them!

I bought 2 bags of those jewel looking marbles at the Dollar Mart for $1.00 each. 

I got a bag of both sizes, the large and small.

They are by the candles and such. They are great for these because they have a side that 

is flat but the other side is bubbly looking. They are like a cabochon (shaped, polished gemstone with a flat side basically,) but a super cheap version made of glass.

For the Halloween marble magnets, I went with the smaller sizes though.

For images to use, I went to Etsy and found a collage sheet by Kellymedinastudios , for only $2.99 available in the 1 inch size I needed.  They are adorable and she allows for personal and small business commercial use. So they were just what I needed.

For the exact images I purchased, click here.

Then I got all my stuff ready to go. Here is what I needed:

I have a round, 1" hole punch that I got from eBay to punch out the Halloween images easily.

Some E-6000 glue from Walmart

some round magnets, size .75" in a pack of 50 also from Walmart

(I didn't use any of the roll of magnet sheets over to the left)

After punching out the Halloween images with my hole punch, I just laid it all out on some wax paper.  Dabbed a bit of E-6000 glue onto each image, and then quickly pressed the glass marble down. Press hard enough that the image is fully covered with the E-6000 glue. The glue is great that it doesn't hurt the image colors at all!

And then after that all dries and cures for a few hours, I just went back and glued on the round magnets. 

It just takes a little bit of the E-6000 and these are pretty strong magnets. (Unlike the strips!)
In fact, I don't think I will every buy the strips of magnets again. Their hold sucks on almost everything.

And then there you have it.

Please ignore my "Body Jewelry" bags. They were all I had on hand at the moment. But I did go back and add a paper topper to cover up the saying.

These .75" magnets are the perfect size for these smaller glass marbles!

I put 4 each in a bag and just priced them for a $1.00 a bag.

I think that is a great grab and go item for passerbys looking for a cheap gift or keepsake.

If you look close, in the lower left handed corner, I also used some cute kitten images. I also bought them from ETSY from a great shop called  PrintMarksTheSpot.  I figured I may need a variety in case some people didn't want just Halloween marble magnets.

This was a really fun and cheap craft to make and sell.

It's about time to make some more!

Until next time ya'll, have a good'en!

~Lisa

SNOWMAN MAGNETS from FREE Paint Stir Sticks : Primitive Snowmen

 Super Simple and CHEAP Snowmen Magnets!

Need a really cheap way to make some magnets? How about using the free paint sticks from the paint department?

That's just what I had on hand after winning a auction lot of crafty wood supplies for $2.00. In the assortment of hundreds of items was a zip lock baggie of paint stir sticks. Mid sized ones that are approximately 6 inches long.

As soon as I saw them I knew they would be cute as primitive snowmen. Then I thought MAGNETS!

And here's how I done it. Super Simple and CHEAP!

Above, here you see them in the original, plain wood. I laid them outside on wax paper, on top a box and sprayed them with Rust-oleum spray paint in gloss white.

 I let them sit and dry in the sun about 2 hours or so. One coat was enough for me.

Then I brought them inside and used a roll of magnetic tape that I had on hand from Wal-Mart. It was only about $3.00 a roll I think, and it goes a long way.  If you've ever tried them, you knw the single, round magnets are best and my favorite for almost all other magnet projects with a stronger hold, but for these lightweight sticks, these are fine.

They already have a strong tape on one side that you just peel and stick, after cutting to your desired length.

They held great on the unfinished wood. That's why I didn't paint the backs. Seems to be a better hold on these type of magnetic tape magnets.

For some reason next, I started working backwards. lol. I usually paint all the faces, then bodies, then add homespun. But for some reason, probably being it was around 3am, I just mixed and matched and jumped back and forth when I got bored from noses,to bodies and homespun. lol.

Above, I used stencils to do little stars and other designs down the body. Just to take up room. I now wish I'd left them blank for just buttons...

Oh well, next time!

They were really starting to come along!

And I started to add some rosey cheeks to make some different. And different eyebrows.

You really can't go wrong as you see. I just experimented with different everythings. lol

And if you look close, I took a sponge with a touch of barely any black paint on it, and roughed up the white a little bit. To make it look a bit more aged.

My next batch, I am definitely going to take more time on them. As you can see, I was just hurry stenciling on the bodies and it shows big time. But the faces I did free-handed.

And then when done, I put them in little plastic baggies. You can buy many different sizes of baggies in the wedding section in WalMart.  But I had about 10 of these bags from a previous order of thermometers, that I'd saved. lol. Yes, I save lots of stuff! lol

I still have to add a topper price tag. I use the Avery labels to print them off on handmade crafts such as these. It just makes them cuter. And I also staple a little piece of homespun beside the price tag. I just gives it a more country look. But I haven't done that yet, so I don't have a pic.

But here's another few pics of how they ended up. Really cute snowmen magnets on free paint sticks if you ask me! lol.

The snowman wooden spoons inside the pitcher above, you can find the post on how to make them HERE: HOLIDAY WOODEN SPOONS. 

And many thanks to Eyeballs by Day, Crafts by Night, for that great craft idea. I went on to make some of them into spoon refrigerator magnets also. It turned out great! But just use the round, stronger magnets for the spoons if you try it!

And one last pic:

I priced these for $1.99 each for sale in my Peddlers Mall Booth #555 and Etsy.

If I put them in my Etsy store, I probably will have to raise the price and allow for shipping though.

Are you going to try making these cute Snowmen Magnets from free Paint Sticks?

I THREW IN MY DISH SOAP APRON

I wanted to make some cute dish soap bottle aprons that I saw for sale in the local flea market. And just happens on Saturday I won a Sears brand sewing machine at a local auction for only $9.00! I know right?

I think it is doable for me.
I started out by searching Google for "dish soap apron pattern." And I was flooded by hundreds of links. I quickly choose one from sewing.about.com that said available in two views, .jpg and .pdf. I just figured this way I had a double chance of getting a page that was useable. lol. And I thought I was right.

Wrong.

After printing it out and cutting the pattern out of my fabric, I noticed something was wrong. It was way too big. Well, it was kind of huge. Take a look at how big it is compared to regular sized pc paper:

Think about it, being held up to your dish soap bottle.... Yea little too large.

Well, I set off anyways to add some ruffles around the edges, which by the way, is only going to make the apron larger...

And boom, all of my thread got tangled together underneath the needle in that little hole. I pulled and pulled and finally it broke. Breaking the thread line all the way to the top and back of the machine.....

Hum. Being as it is was now only 5:00am I threw in my apron. Ha Ha!!! For real!

Then I jumped over to Etsy to search for some premade dish soap aprons and Bam! All over the place and o'so reasonably priced!

I found a wide variety from one Etsy seller named MyApronLady who really must know how to sew! She sells them here for only $3.49 plus $1.25 shipping! So worth not sewing my fingers together. lol.

I'm going to pick up about five of these as Christmas gifts. And use my sewing maching for the simple straight lined things such as cornhole gaming bags.

Have you ever tried making dish soap aprons before?



Things you may need:
Fabric approx. 8" x 4"
Scissors
Sewing Machine or Sewing Glue
Patience lol
Etsy Account lol