Simple Homemade Stocking Stuffer Idea

At the risk of revealing some of my family members' Christmas gifts, I wanted to share a few crafts I am making this holiday season.

Today I'm going to show you how to make personalized picture magnets.

Materials you will need for picture magnets

Pictures resized down to the dimensions you want (and printed)

Lightweight wood (about 1/8" thick)

X-Acto knife (or something to cut your wood with)

Ruler

Cutting mat

Low grit sandpaper

Mod Podge

Foam brush

Adhesive-backed magnet roll

1) Select the pictures you would like to use and resize them. There are two ways you can do this: you can either cut your wood to fit the pictures, or you can resize your pictures to fit the wood.
     a) If you want a variety of magnet sizes and  more freedom in selecting your pictures, resize your pictures and cut the wood to fit. Pro: you can choose the pictures you want and crop them however you'd like. Con: This way takes more time (cutting the wood is time-consuming, and you will have to measure each piece individually).

    b) If you want more uniformly sized magnets, decide on the dimensions of your magnets and resize your pictures to fit. Pro: this will save you time in the long run, because cutting wood to fit is a pain. Con: you may have to crop pictures strangely to fit your wood pieces.

Paint.net, a free program available to download online, is a good way to resize pictures. The pictures I used here range from one to two inches on each side.

2) Cut your wood. We have used different types of wood - lightweight Balsa wood sheets are too flimsy, we prefer a heavier wood. The magnets shown here used a sheet of wood that was about 1/8" thick. To cut the wood, we used an X-Acto knife, a ruler, and a self-healing cutting mat.

3) Sand your wood. We sanded each piece with a low grit sandpaper enough to smooth rough edges and corners.

4) Print and cut your pictures; make sure they will lay neatly on the wood pieces.

5) Adhere the pictures to the wood with Mod Podge and a small foam brush. Apply one layer, wait about thirty minutes for it to dry then add a second layer.
We used the gloss finish (rather than matte), so the magnets turned out shiny. Matte Mod Podge will give your magnets a more muted finish.

6) After your Mod Podge is dry, attach the magnets. We just used a roll of adhesive-backed magnets. Set something heavy on top of your magnets so they will firmly attach to the wood.

You can make your magnets even fancier by cutting the wood to allow for a border around your pictures. Decorate the border using things like scrapbook paper, glitter glue, stain, paint, rubber stamps, etc.

If you don't have time to be crafty, you can hire me to make your magnets. I will make you a set of 3 magnets on wood for $9, or on antique wooden dominoes for $12. I will give discounts for multiple sets. These are perfect for giving to family, friends, and kids as regular gifts or as stocking stuffers.

Enjoy!