I made some business cards to hand out at the upcoming Stack unConference, which is a part of Omaha Creative Week. I printed a minimalist design on 4 different colors of cardstock and then glued scrapbooking paper strips for texture and color.

Check ‘em out!

Hope to see you there too!

Painted this little wooden box that I’ve had around for a while.

Awwww!

Finally a project that pairs my love of monotonous gluing and my hoarding of fabric scraps and fat quarters.

I’ve made these as magnets and also as push pins (for cork board), but it seems nobody uses cork bulletin boards anymore and apparently everyone has a fridge, so I focus now on magnets.

This is a really easy craft project, but it is rather time-consuming and a little pricey after you add up all the supplies. There are ways to cheap-out on supplies here and there, but it will show in your final product.

Supplies:

• CLEAR Glass “Accent Gems” AKA: those flat-bottomed marbles you can find at any craft store and  sometimes even the dollar store.
• Your Content! I use fabric scraps with a small or abstract pattern. To find the right fabric, I take a spare glass gem (or another nickel-sized object) with me to the fabric store to place on fabrics BEFORE buying. If you’re not a fabric freak like me, try some other ideas for your content: photos, magazine art/images, stickers, book text, etc.
• Magnets. For strong, quality magnets, I recommend the ProMAG 1/2” Magnets, found in a 50-pack.
• Big comfy craft scissors. You will be holding these A LOT… be sure they’re not cramp-inducing.
• Glue. Some glues I’ve tried really suck. My favorite, tried and true, is Aleene’s Platinum Bond Glass & Bead.

How To:

1. Glue the flat back of the glass gem(s) to your content (fabric, in my case) and PRESS DOWN. You can test first by placing them glue-free to see exactly where you want them on the fabric.
2. Let the glue set up for about 10 minutes, then cut each gem out carefully, so that when you face the gem you can’t see any fabric poking out from the edges (this may take practice, be patient with yourself).
3. OPTIONAL for THIN/LIGHT FABRICS: You may need to add a layer of plain paper between the fabric and the magnet. Repeat steps #1 & 2 with a piece of paper. This is a nice buffer between fabric and magnet, preventing any weird discoloration on thin or light fabrics.
4. Glue magnet to the center of the flat, fabric-covered gem.
5. Let the glue set for approximately 24 hours before any hardcore magnetizing.

There’s a lot of flexibility and possibility with this little project. Post your own ideas on changing this up in the comments! I would love to hear from you.

For those of you who want to skip the whole “DIY” thing and buy these, I have a ton of sets “in stock” and I  also do requests and encores. Here’s a few more pics of my current stock (click for full-size):