DIY Picture Magnets

Hello, Blissful 55 readers! I'm really excited to be sharing a fun idea with you all today! Jen is one of my good friends since high school so I felt very honored when she asked me to guest post on their beautiful, talented, and crafty blog, especially considering I'm not nearly as crafty or creative as them. Jen and Laryssa are pretty amazing right?

A quick introduction, my name is Megan Robinson and I blog over at "And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson." I am a wife, mother, Marriage & Family degree holder, wannabe crafter, Oreo connoisseur, comedian in my own way {at least I think I'm funny}, and sucker for Rainbow Chip frosting. My blog follows my journey through marriage, motherhood, and all the ups and downs that come with life. I also like to pretend I know something about clothes, cooking, and occasionally crafts.

Today, I wanted to show you an easy and fun tutorial for picture magnets that is great for family gifts. I made these for my parents and in-laws for Christmas and they seemed to be a big hit. And you can't beat the price!

So here it goes!

DIY Picture Magnets

items needed:

-images to use {I used Instagram pictures. and I'll show you how to make them into a collage}

-2x2 plain tiles [found at Home Depot for about $3 for a sheet of 36]

-Mod Podge and brush

-magnets [I got a pack of 50 at Wal-Mart for cheap]

-hot glue gun

-paper cutter

steps:

step.one.

You need to print off your images that you are using first. I made an 8x10 collage of pictures using PicMonkey and then got it printed off at Costco (in matte format, not glossy).

a few tips about making your collage with PicMonkey:

- I used the 4x4 square collage template and then added an extra image to the rows so it was 4x5. To do this, you just need to hover an image in the white space until a gray box shows up where you want your image to go.

-I had to resize it a lot to make sure it would fit an 8x10. I finally settled on the dimensions 1657x2000 (you'll have to make sure the dimensions aren't locked) but even then I still had to crop it a tiny bit when I was ordering the 8x10. And I also still had to trim them quite a bit to fit the tiles after they were printed off. But thankfully most of the pictures I chose had space on the edge that i could trim down without affecting the actual focal point of the picture. So just be aware of that when choosing the pictures for your collage.

hopefully all that made sense.... 

-And one last tip with the collage: I adjusted the white space around each picture to be smaller so I had room to cut around the pictures and could then trim them as I wanted instead of how PicMonkey cropped them. I wanted to be able to show the majority of my image in each square and the larger, default white space didn't allow that as much.

Here is the finished collage result that I sent to be printed:

Hopefully all those tips helped...

moving on.

step.two.

once the collage is printed off [I got mine printed off at Costco for cheap. You can also just print them off at hope on photo-paper], cut the squares to fit your tiles.

You can also use these as photobooth pictures. So cute!

You will definitely need to trim, trim, trim to get the pictures cut to the size of the tiles.

Not even all of the scraps from trimming because I kept cutting crooked...ugh.

step.three. 

After you cut pictures to the size you want, it's time to glue them to the tiles.

First, I added the Mod Podge to the back of the pictures and laid them on top of the tiles.

Once the picture was dried somewhat, I then Mod Podged the top of the picture to the tile to seal it better. Make sure you get around the edge where the picture meets the tile. And don't be afraid to use too much because it dries clear.

tip: I originally tried to cut all the pictures so they fit perfectly on the tile, but then as I was gluing them I found that the ones that had a little white space around the edges stayed on the tile better, were able to be sealed better, and didn't slip around while I was gluing it. I also thought they just looked a lot better to have the small border as well. So if I did it again I would make sure I had that extra space.

Not dried Mod Podge. just to show you how much I put on. It dried clear and there wasn't any white streaks.

 step.four.

Next, after the glue is mostly dry, it's time to glue on the magnets.

Just use hot clue to adhere the magnets to the back of the tiles.

tip: Try to get the magnets as close to the center as possible! I didn't realize that even if they were just slightly off, the tile would not stay straight on the fridge. The ones that are a little off center end up shifting because the weight is not even (you can tell in the picture at the bottom). It doesn't look that bad and honestly, when you are just throwing stuff up on the fridge the magnets are not always straight. But if it's something that will really bother you make sure you are cautious on where you glue them.

step.five.

ENJOY!!

I love having the pictures right where we can see them every day.

And my son, Elijah, loves to look at them and tell stories about them.

"Baby Za-Za at Halloween."

"Mama and Za-Za."

"Look, look, look! I on swing!!"

"Ooooh, Cowboy!"

{That was all supposed to be Elijah talking, p.s.}

And want to hear the best part??

They were less than $10 to make!

Happiness all around!

Also, I just made these again the other day for some friends and instead of using pictures I used some cute scrapbook paper that I had. They turned out SO cute and are great to add some flair to your kitchen or for gifts to people who don't your face all over their fridge. :)

Please let me know if you have any questions or want anything clarified. And feel free to share your picture magnets as well! I would love to see if any of you make them and how they turned out.

Thank you so much, Jen and Laryssa, for letting me guest post for you! I really appreciate it and hope your readers liked the tutorial as well! :)