Now this idea SO DIDN'T SUCK enough that I went right out to Michael's and bought the supplies (Mod Podge, mosaic tiles, magnets and foam brushes). My kids made them one afternoon for fun over the summer, and I'm thinking they can each make a set of 4 or 6 (probably 4, I'm lazy like that) for their godmothers for Christmas.
All you do is cut out pictures from magazines, brush a tile with Mod Podge, smooth a picture down, let it dry and then put a coat or two of Mod Podge on top. The you glue a magnet to the back. EASY! The only drawback is the tiles are VERY small, but they had other things at
Michael's that could be used as well, like irregular shaped pieces of "washed glass." Anyway, it's a fun and easy project for the kids AND the end result is pretty cool too. The magnets are good and strong, so they're GREAT for refrigerator magnets."
Okay, more fun ideas like this, anyone?
6 comments:
I already typed this comment once, but it disappeared...
Anyway, what a great idea! I wonder if you could use pictures of the kids? Or would the mod podge make the photos blurry? I bet it would work fine...
Thanks for the fun project!
Clever! Love this idea.
Ooooh, look, it's ME! I'm FAMOUS! ;)
It's funny you posted this today. My kids were just making some of these this past weekend for godmother and grandmother Christmas gifts. I know it's a little early for a procrastinator like me, but they MADE me let them. We did Christmas themed ones: Santas, snowmen, snowflakes, etc. I'll be putting some pics of them up on my blog soon.
marie green - I think photos would work fine; the Mod Podge dries clear. The trouble would be finding pictures small enough.
Three from me:
My mom used to make magnets by cutting pictures out of cross-stitch and puzzle catalogs and Mod-Podging them onto small pieces of balsa wood. These take a little more work than the ceramic tile ones, because you have to cut the balsa wood and then she painted or stained the edges so that the magnet would look nicer.
Mom also bought a bunch of those plastic candy molds they sell for use with those meltable colored wafers. Instead of using them for candy, though, she filled them with plaster of paris. Once dry, paint with craft paint (Delta, Apple Barrel, etc.) and hot glue one of those strong round magnets to the back. These are great for even small kids, because Grandma won't care if they don't stay perfectly in the lines with the paint.
One last one: Mom and my sister took a bunch of those free AOL CDs and made them into ornaments. Use a plastic lid that's slightly smaller than the CD as a pattern, and use it to cut down old Christmas cards to size. Then, use Mod-Podge to glue the picture onto the shiny bottom side of the CD. Once they're completely dry, top with a coat of Delta CeramCoat and glue a loop of ribbon onto the back. Not really a magnet, but still cute and easy!
I was going to wait until I had pictures, but I don't think we're going to do this project this year so I'll just describe.
We buy some whole walnuts in their shells. Also: gold and silver paint (craft section at Wa1mart for 88c each--you can get shiny metallic or you can get a nice brushed look). Also: gold and silver narrow ribbon (craft section at Wa1mart, in rolls).
I let the kids paint the walnuts. (We don't remove the nut. We just leave it in there to rot. We've had some on our own tree for several years and no ill effects from this.)
I always think the kids are doing a bad job and getting paint everywhere EXCEPT on the walnut, and I ITCH to do it for them, but the walnuts always end up looking awesome even if they're only splotchily covered and then smudged by painty fingers. So I am HANDS OFF with this. I paint a few for my own tree.
When the paint is dry, I take a loop of ribbon that "looks right" for hanging the walnut as a Christmas tree ornament (maybe a 5-inch length total?). Older kids can do the cutting of many lengths of ribbon.
I hot-glue one end of the ribbon to the top of the walnut. Then I hot-glue the other end of the ribbon to the top of the walnut. Let dry for, like, 5 seconds, and VOILA.
These look surprisingly pretty, especially if you give a teacher, like, three gold ones and three silver ones. Or we've done all gold (or all silver). Sometimes we nestle them in gold or silver tissue paper. They're pretty on the tree, too.
Two more notes:
1) Spread newspaper and wear smocks: the paint is permanent. (And don't use a non-permanent/washable paint or it will flake off.)
2) I always give an additional, purchased gift from Paul and me. The handiwork is by the kids, but I'm firm on teachers not getting JUST handmade kid stuff, even if it doesn't suck.
Post a Comment