Staying in Europe for four years gave us plenty of time to go on weekend road trips and travel around during the summer and winter holidays. It would not be an exaggeration to say that till date, we have set foot in over 30 cities. While most of our friends were happy to be shopping for branded bags, shoes or watches in London or Paris, the one common thing about the hubby and I is that both of us don't really like to shop. We prefer sightseeing, taking pictures, walking around aimlessly and simply relishing the joy of being in a foreign land. There is only one thing that we always try to purchase when we visit a new place - a souvenir magnet.
Last week, we finally decided to shift all our magnets from the fridge to the bomb shelter (a.k.a storeroom) door and repair those that had broken or had missing parts. One by one, piece by piece, they allowed me to reminisce some of the fond memories and once again breathe in the beauty of the places we visited. Wanna see how they look now? Voila!
Impressive? I tried to do a count but got lost along the way. Nonetheless, I am pretty sure we have over 150 magnets now and thinking about it, they have likely cost the hubby a small fortune! But considering how this is usually the only thing he buys for himself while spending the rest on the family, I suppose we can keep this habit going and continue to collect magnets for keepsake when we go on holidays.
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Now, the girls were helping us with arranging the magnets and it suddenly struck me that everything there seemed to be bought from stores. Wouldn't it be nice if we could stick on something handmade with love too? So, we decided to have a simple craft session to come up with our very own
DIY magnets.
What we used:
1) Shrinky dink plastic sheets bought from
Eatplaylove (read our previous craft
here)
2) Hot glue
3) Magnets (bought from Daiso at 25 for $2)
4) Permanent ink markers and paint markers
5) Pencil
6) Scissors
Before we began, I asked Angel to think about her design for the magnets. Her first instinct was to draw a house with a happy family which seriously touched my heart. Firstly, she used a pencil to sketch her design on the white opaque shrinky dink sheet.
Next, once she was happy with the design, she applied colours using the permanent ink markers. Tip: You can erase the ink using a soft eraser, and a little strength, if you need to.
She also outlined the picture with a black marker, drew on stick figures of Papa, Mama, Meimei and herself, and wrote the words
"I love my family". There - our first DIY magnet is named
A Happy Family. I am just heartened by the fact that she is learning to spell quickly these days and has been showing a keen interest in reading and writing, which makes me really glad to be her teacher at home.
Moving onto the second magnet -
Flowers of Love, she used a white paint marker to draw on the black opaque sheet. I find this to be the most outstanding magnet because of the bright drawings against the dark background. Paint markers are really hard to erase so do make sure your child is confident before drawing on the plastic sheet. Tip: You can let him/her practice with a pencil and paper beforehand if needed.
Lastly, we decided to make a third magnet - named
Bright Hearts using the frosted sheet. What was interesting was that she actually drew one heart for each person in our family - beside the four of us, she also included those in the extended family from the grandparents to the cousins. Cute, right? Once the designs are completed, cut them out neatly and it's time for some magic!
Place the cut out sheets on a piece of baking paper in a tray and put them into a toaster oven.
Turn up the heat and watch the sheets curl! When they have flattened out, give them 5-8 seconds more and then remove them from the oven.
Leave them aside for a couple of minutes before sticking the magnets onto the back with the help of a hot glue gun. This can be pretty dangerous so do exercise caution and remind your child to avoid touching the glue or the tip of the gun.
Ta-dah! Easy, right? Probably one of the easiest ways to make cool-looking DIY magnets and the best thing is I can leave most of the work to my girl, who was more than delighted to design and create her own magnets.
Now, don't you think these help to further jazz up our door? I love that her simple creations speak large volumes of happiness, love and family - the exact three things I wish for her to have and to cherish her whole life.
Do you like to collect magnets too?
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To fellow bloggers who have a fun craft session, DIY tip or creative
idea to share, come join in the party! Highlight and press Ctrl + C to copy my button above,
include it in your post/sidebar and add your link
below. I will be hosting Creativity 521 on the 5th and 21st of every month, do hop over for more inspiration. Remember: The sky's the
limit when it comes to creativity!
Your magnet collection is impressive! I'm sure Angel is now inspired to add more to it :)
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks! Yeah I think we will have to find another door to keep this collection going, but it is a great way to keep the memories, right? Angel's favourites are, of course, those that she made! =) Thanks for linking up!
DeleteHi , may I know where did you buy your hot glue gun? Thanks.
DeleteHihi, I got mine from a stationery shop in my neighbourhood. You can get it from Popular or hardware stores or most stationery stores too! Have fun making!
DeleteThanks for replying, I have another question, where did you get those magnets? Which Daiso? Because I went to Daiso Tampines and I cannot find those magnets :)
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