Happy Festivus!!!

Today I think I will celebrate Festivus for the rest of us. Please join me!!



On Festivus, I like to stuff myself with pie and do crafts. Wow - Festivus should last longer!!!

Note to self - go get some pie & Redi-Whip.

Now, on to the crafts. I'm pretty sure the fam won't peek before our gathering today, so I'll post the handmade Festivus gifts..

Remember way back when we all first discovered Stampin' Up! and the first thing we did was stamp little things and make magnets with Crystal Effects?

Well, I loved those, and so I went through my trusty Martha Stewart Living Magazine (Halloween edition) with my 1/2" circle punch and found some cute images to make magnets with this year.

My absolute fave was a dog food ad that had 4011 images of the can with this cute dog on it. I punched them out cuz I knew my sis would love that dog - it looks kind of like her beasts.

Then there were some other fun ones, like a teeny Home Depot, a little flirty M&M, a black cat - I couldn't stop punching!!!

Here are the steps. Get some:

• Strong little magnets - mine were 3/4" magnets - made in the good old USA. 51 of them for $2.99.
• Floral flat bottomed marbles - 2 lbs of them for $2.47. Unfortunately - made in China. I used 51 of them and it didn't even make a dent in the bag - huge bargain.
• Crystal effects, or clear hobby silicone.

Now I could have used my 3/4" circle punch so that the image was the same size as the magnet, but the marbles are irregular, and slightly smaller than the magnets - what you don't want is paper sticking out the edge that will wear and be ugly. So I chose a smaller image that is completely covered by the marble.

Using a toothpick, smear your chosen adhesive on the magnet.

Gently press your image into it until the image is flat and centered.

Then, put a little bead of your adhesive on top of your image - you'll get a feel for how much is perfect after a few.

Take your marble, and gently press the flat side down onto the adhesive and apply even pressure until the adhesive moves all the way out to cover the edges of the marble. This will push any air bubbles to the edge. It's kind of magical to watch! Be sure you watch and make sure the adhesive gets all over the image though - it will leave a void if it doesn't.

Set aside to dry. You probably need at least several hours - overnight in a dry place would be ideal.

Please note - magnets are gross. Your hands will be all black and nasty after 51 of these, but it comes right off. I looked like a mechanic.

Take a look at some of these.. I love the little Campbell's Soup one and the green LeCreuset pot.

I took the little tins that I got at Memento Mall that had those cute Stampin' Up! pink binder clips in them and put five magnets in each tin. More than that and they all repel each other and don't stick to the tin. They are very strong magnets.

I decorated the outside with Ski Slope DSP and Patty Bennett's adorable penguins.

Then I baggged them up in some gorgeous blue lunchbags I got from Target (are they reading my mind?) and popped my little bookmarks in there and I think I'm all ready for Festivus!! How about you??