These little guys are pretty much the greatest thing that happened to my kitchen in the past month.  Not only are they incredibly easy to make, but chances are you have everything you need to make them at your house already, which means they are potentially free as well.  Make a slew of them in colors that match your decor to keep the fridge clutter at bay, or make a bunch to keep on hand as last-minute gifts.

In order to make clothespin magnets, you need:

-clothespins (duh!).  If you don’t have them at your house already, you can get a pack of 100 at the dollar store.
-glue that dries clear (Elmers works well)
-scissors or an Xacto knife
-cool-looking paper.  I used origami paper, but you could cut up magazine pages or use bits of photographs that didn’t quite turn out well.  Whatever you use, just make sure that it isn’t printed with an inkjet (e.g. a picture you print off of your computer) or the colors will run.
-magnets (I used an old rectangular magnet that I got for free in an ad for a pizza company.  It made like 15 clothespins).
-super glue or some other strong glue for gluing the magnet
-A paintbrush (since you’re using water-based glue, you won’t ruin the brush as long as you wash it as soon as you’re done)
-A plate or piece of scrap cardboard or whatever you want to put your glue on

And this is what you do:

1. Cut a rectangle out of whatever paper you chose.  It should be roughly the same shape as the face of your clothespin, but slightly larger (leave about 1/4 inch around each edge).  The exact measurements aren’t really important.
2. Pour out some of your glue (a quarter sized dollop should do) and paint a thin layer of glue onto the clothespin.  Press your rectangle of paper onto the clothespin and smooth out the paper so that it lays flat.
3. Let the glue dry enough that the paper doesn’t move or crinkle up (if you’re making a bunch of these at a time, the first one you make should be dry enough by the time you finish putting the paper on the last one).  Cut carefully around the edges of the clothespin so that the paper is the exact same size as the pin.  Paint another thin layer of glue on top of the paper to seal it.
4. While the second glue layer is drying, cut up your magnet to be the right size if you’re using an old magnet.  Then, once the glue side of the clothespin is dry, use your super glue per the manufacturers instructions to glue the magnet strip to the other side.

Voila!  You have clothespin magnets.  If you’re giving them as a gift, clip them to a cool postcard or photograph, or use a piece of cardboard with a message stamped on it.  If you’re going to use them to hold more than a few pieces of paper at a time, you might want to use stronger magnets (which you can almost certainly buy at a hardware or craft store) instead of recycling the free ones.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Craftiness, crafts, free. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.