Magnet Mania!

 

The holidays were a blur, with finishing classes and then taking on the full-time job of trip planning for the holiday to Spain.  I can completely understand why people use travel agents.  But that's a story for another day.  Nonetheless, in the wee hours of the night, I managed to get some Christmas crafting done.  Having mostly stopped buying Christmas presents except for the kiddos in my life due to wanting to cut down on consumerism, etc., I still realized that over the years, something does get lost when presents are not exchanged.  It's one of the few times in the year, besides birthdays and such, where even if we're obligated to do so, we have an opportunity to show appreciation to the other person in a material form.  So I decided that I would try to make some gifts, even if they were small, in order to still convey my sense of gratitude for that person's presence in my life.

Personalized magnets are a simple yet pretty gift to make.  All you need are some magnets, glass stones, craft glue, black felt, and some pretty paper.  Cut the paper out and glue it to the glass stone and let dry.  Then cut out some black felt for backing and then glue the magnet to that and voila!  you've got some beautiful and functional gifts (My two hallmarks for a great gift!)

 I made one set made up of different colored macaroons from a Lauduree brochure and a couple of other sets featuring birds and flowers.  I was able to find some metal frames threaded with a ribbon to make gift-giving even easier.  And because these guys are small and portable, it made it simple to slip some in my suitcase and give them away.






Once I get over magnet fatigue, I want to make some for myself as well.  In my world, there's no such thing as having too many cute magnets.