Clear Marble Fridge Magnet Creations
I was so excited when a friend posted a link (on my Young Mommies site) to this really interesting craft : created using clear marbles with small strong magnets underneath, they create really awesome magnified tiny photo mementos for your fridge. Since I already have a 1/2″ circle punch, all I needed was clear marbles and some 1/2″ magnets to get started…
I decided to first try the craft at one of my Scrapbooking Crops, and it was very fun to create them! They turned out really well!
I created the ones with the family photos inside, and since my friend didn’t have photos with her, I came up with the idea of just stamping little images on scrapbook papers – so cute!
The only thing I was not too too happy with for these batches of magnets was that I used magnets (bought at Michaels) that were not all that strong. So they make great decorations on a fridge or board, but they can hardly hold anything up. So I bought a set of super-strong magnets (purchased online) to try again…
… and this batch was better able to hold lots of paper! I had to be very careful with the magnets actually because they were SO strong they could pull each other off the backs of newly-drying marble magnets (yep, learned that the hard way and wrecked one!). I gave this set (in the tin) to my son’s daycare on his last day there as a thank-you gift. It was a big hit! 
Here’s what all you need if you’d like to make these yourself:
* 1/2″ magnets (I recommend super-strong)
* 1/2″ punch
* clear stones with flat bottoms
* clear-drying glue (silicon glue or podge)
* white cardstock
* photos with details or faces in a small area
* OR decorative scrapbook papers and tiny stamps
Instructions:
1. Prep your layers: punch white cardstock in 1/2″ circles. Punch photos or papers in 1/2″ circles OR stamp images on papers and punch them out.
2. Prep your magnets: pull apart and line up (away from each other!) – we used a metal ruler to keep them separated. Optional: test polarities and plan to place magnets so that the side of the magnet facing outwards when completed will repel.
3. Prep your surface: put down some paper or spare cardboard.
4. Prep your glue: open up your podge and get a brush or take off the cap of your silicon glue.
5. Prep your marbles: pick out stones that are nice and round and are very clear in the middle with limited occlusions.
6. Smear some glue on your cardstock circles, place your photos (or papers) on top. Let this dry a little (it works well to do the craft in an assembly-line way: glue all the photos, then all the marbles, then all the magnets – by the time you’ve reached the last magnet in one step, the first one is ready for the next step!).
7. Smear some glue on the photos (or papers) and place the clear marbles on top. Press down to get the bubbles out. Try to center the image so that you can see it clearly. Let this dry a little longer.
8. Flip over the magnets and smear some glue on the cardstock backing. Place the magnets onto them (centered). Don’t forget about your polarities if you are doing that optional step!
9. Let everything dry completely before trying to stick them to anything (I’d recommend a day or at least overnight).
10. Place your magnets on the fridge, magnet board, or in a metal tin and enjoy!
This was definitely a very fun craft and I’m sure to be creating more – keeping some clear stones tucked away for creating Christmas gifts! Thank you Ashley for posting the link & thank you “not Martha” for the great tutorial! If anyone creates their own magnets I would love to see how they turned out so please post a comment!
August 23 2010 10:05 am | scrappy / stampy
