Friday, April 27, 2012

Covered Button Magnets (A Mini Tutorial)

Today I'm sharing a really cute, quick, and simple gift idea.


This month's Point of View theme is "Teacher Appreciation/End of School". We have eight (yes, I said eight) people to give to at my daughter's preschool. It can get pretty expensive when it comes to holiday and end of school year gifts for eight teachers, so I wanted to come up with something inexpensive that my daughter could help me make. I decided to go with fabric covered button magnet sets for each teacher. These are so easy; anyone can make them. Seriously, no excuses... my two year old was helping us. I'm not going to go into a full tutorial on these because they are pretty self-explanatory and the directions for covering the buttons come right on the package of the cover button kit. But I will tell you what you need and what sizes I used.

Materials:
  • 7/8" (size 36) cover button kit (I used this one)
  • fabric scraps with images no larger than 7/8"
  • 0.625" round magnets
  • glue (I used E6000)
  • scissors
  • cardstock (optional)
Instructions:

My cover button kit came with a round plastic template to trace onto my fabric for each magnet, but some kits have a circle template that you cut out from the cardboard backing of the package. Look over your fabric and choose which images you want to display on your magnets. Center your template over each image, trace around the template, and cut each traced circle from your fabric.

Now it's time to cover your buttons. The directions will be on the back of your cover button kit, or you can check out the very first tutorial I ever wrote on this blog for more details on covering buttons... scroll about halfway down that post to the title Part II: Making and Adding the Fabric Covered Button.

After your buttons are covered, glue a magnet onto the back of each button. Test your magnets first. Some magnets only stick on one side, so make sure that the "sticky" side that sticks to your fridge is not the side you glue to the back of your button.


I wanted a cute way to display the buttons, so I used my Sizzix Big Kick die cutter to cut out some extra large tag shapes from cardstock. My daughter signed her name on the back of each tag, then I used a little piece of double sided tape to stick the magnets to the front of the tags. Easy-peasy and ready for gifting!



These are not only a great teacher appreciation gift, but they are also a great little gift to keep on hand for unexpected (or forgotten :) occasions. And I think it was nice that my daughter was able to help out with this one, too.

Now it's your turn... Check out this month's Point of View collage and link up your past or present Teacher Appreciation/End of School projects at the Point of View Link Party! We want to see what you've been up to!




I'm linking up...

monogram
kojodesigns

11 comments:

Amy at Ameroonie Designs said...

Love it Gwen! They are darling. Now I'm going to be on the lookout for fabric with small details I can use for these. ;)
xoxo

Unknown said...

those are so cute Gwen. The display tags make them extra special too. :)

Jonie Marie said...

These are so dainty and cute. I want to make some for my daughter. I am thinking she would love them too!

Meeling said...

Those are super cute!! As a preschool teacher I would love these.

I totally understand how expensive it can get with all the staff you want to give to, so these are perfect, cute and useful!!

Personally I always love the little handmade gifts and cards I get the best! :-)

Unknown said...

So cute, Gwen! I love the prints you chose.

chris said...

Oh, how fun! I love the happy little owls.

felicity said...

Thank you for a great teacher gift idea! We'll definitely be making some of these.

Leanne said...

These are adorable. The teachers are going to love them and I love the way you packaged them.

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

you have such a pretty scrap collection!!! Such a sweet gift and presentation, that particular paper punch is my all time favourite. Great project to show appreciate.

Lucy | Charm About You said...

I love this idea! Super cute and useful too :)

Whatever Dee-Dee wants said...

They are darling!

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