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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Craft: Clothespin Magnets

Here's a little handy craft for the kitchen, clothespin magnets. These clothespins can hold up notes or heavier items such as tea towels. Place them on the fridge or an office idea board. Directions below.

Supplies:
E6000 glue
Clothespins
Heavy duty magnets - can be found at the hardware store
Decorative paper
Glue
Clear embossing powder
Scissors
Wood carving tool - or any other carving tool

Trace magnet on the back of clothespin. Carve out hole to fit magnet. I actually used my linoleum cutter to do this. Make sure magnet fits. Set magnet aside for later, don't glue yet.

Cut out paper to fit the top of the clothespin. Glue. Let dry.

*Craft tip - cut up basic kitchen sponges for spreading glue. They're a great substitute for those craft sponge brushes.

Cover with clear embossing powder. Make sure there's an even coat covering the entire clothespin. Place on tinfoil and put it in the toaster oven. Take out when the powder melts. This only takes about 30 seconds so don't take your eyes off it!

*other option - substitute this step for diamond glaze


Once cool, glue your magnet inside the back of the clothespin. Let glue set up for an entire day.

*You'll notice that the metal part of the clothespin showed through a little on the clothespins (click picture for a better view). To avoid this, I'd cover the metal with plain paper before gluing on the decorative paper. I figured this out after I took the pictures.

12 comments:

Christy Amular said...

what a wonderful idea and so pretty too!

Elsa said...

I've been looking everywhere for a magnet clip to hang my pot holders on and it was in my cupboard the whole time!
thanks for the tutorial! love it!

Pam said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pam said...

Those are cute! So the embossing powder melts without any watermark or other ink on top of the paper?

zakkalife said...

Pam,

Yes, the embossing powder will melt on its own.

Usually you only need the ink when you're using an embossing dryer. The ink keeps it from blowing away.

Yarny Days said...

How cool is that!

Pam said...

Very cool! I had no clue it would melt without the watermark/ink. Thanks!

Novi On The Go said...

I didn't know you could do your own embossing in powder form, this can be applied to cards to highlight a flower picture for example. Clothespin for closing up bags of chips or food can be prettied up this way.

Thank you for your blog, so many simple and great crafts. I have a prize for you on my blog, but only if you want to play along! Bts I love your new shoes.

Esther said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Esther said...

That's a cool idea! I love your blog. especially the recycled ones!
Being inspired by your magnetic clips, I transformed a Bag clip to Magnetic clip.

If possible please have a look
http://www.creativitymypassion.blogspot.com/2011/01/bag-clip-to-magnetic-clip.html

sara said...

super cute idea... and I'm in love with the paper you used. happen to remember where you found it?

zakkalife said...

Sara,

I got the paper at Daiso.

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