Three Magee: DIY: Clothespin Magnets

I first saw these on Under the Sycamore, which if you have not read this blog you must! I must admit I read her blog every day! While Ashley uses pretty paper, I'm using ribbon. This is a great activity to do with the kids. They can personalize theirs and they can make these as gifts for grandparents or teachers. They are also really easy to make! You can make some fun adult ones or holiday themed magnets. The sky is the limit as far as creativity goes.

Materials Needed:

Clothespins
Hot glue or other adhesive
A roll of craft magnet
Paint, crafty things to decorate with (feathers, buttons, bottle caps, beads, ribbon, etc)

If you want them to be painted do this first. Remember you don't have to paint the side that will be covered by the magnet and you will have a side to lay it on for drying. Craft magnets have adhesive on the back but in my experience it never holds they way you want it to so best to just glue it onto the clothespin. You could use the magnet just the way it is however it's wider than the clothespin. Cut your magnet to size and then cut it in half lengthwise. The half piece is plenty strong to hold papers once up. If you are using a hot glue gun you will want to really push that magnet down fast. I turn mine over and press on the clothespin with the magnet sandwiched between the clothespin and my work surface.

Once you have the magnets glued down its time to get creative. Just glue down your fun stuff and you're done. Well lets talk a little bit more about that. If you are using ribbon cut the length longer than the length of the clothespin. You will need to heat seal the edges to prevent it from fraying. This is really easy with your hot glue gun. Just run a really thin line of hot glue along the edge. If you get too much glue just wait a second for it to cool off and trim the excess. You can also light a candle and run the end of your ribbon through the flame, quickly though don't linger. There is special stuff you can buy, but after a few tries you will be a ribbon sealing pro! I used a satin ribbon on the kids magnets so I only glued it at the top and bottom so there wouldn't be any distortion of the ribbon from the hot glue.

I made 5 for the kids school stuff on the refrigerator and 1 fun adult one. I have been having my husband buy different kinds of beer for a long time now and insisted that he get bottles. I have quite a collection of bottle caps and we haven't minded the sampling!