December 20, 2008
Project: Fridge Magnets and Purse Mirrors
For our first craft this year, our MOPS group did pocket mirrors and fridge magnets. I got this idea after seeing a bunch of these cool accessories on http://www.etsy.com/. The moms LOVED this craft! It was very easy to do, with professional looking results even for the least craftily inclined among them.
It was super easy: I rented two 3″ badge making machines from a Seattle shop (http://www.buttonmakers.net/), along with the graphic punch that cuts out circles in just the right size from whatever paper you want to use. Button Makers also sells all the parts you need — in my case I got kits for 3″ fridge magnets and 3″ pocket mirrors. The same machine is used for both kinds of end products.
I decided to get scrapbooking paper and glittery alphabet stickers so that our MOPS moms could make monogrammed mirrors. Here is the one I did for myself.
Some of the paper I got featured montages of words and phrases having to do with girlfriends, friendship, and authenticity. During our chapter’s summer leadership meetings one of the things we had talked about was how much we all loved and appreciated how “real” everyone is at MOPS — we are all just mothers, in the same place in life, celebrating our successes and feeling comfortable to be honest about our perceived failures, knowing we’ll be encouraged by our fellow moms. In the introduction to the craft instructions at that meeting, I talked a bit about this and told the moms that it was my hope for the year that they would find MOPS a place where they could be themselves and find support and caring from the others they meet here.
I was really happy about how this craft turned out. Nearly everyone did the craft — a couple gals had photos of their kids in their wallets, and cut them to size and used the alpha stickers to make a magnet or mirror that showed their child and his/her name or initials. People got creative with the paper and made collages with different patterns. Some people made theirs as gifts for sisters or friends — this is a great option for moms who don’t really like a particular week’s craft for themselves, since it allows them to still participate.
We had set up two button machines, one with mirror kits and instructions and the other with magnet kits and instructions, just to make the process simpler. There ended up being a line near the end of the scheduled time (we allotted 1/2 hour) but it all worked out… people who’d already made theirs were able to help those behind them in line.
Supplies:
- Button machine (also called a button maker or badge maker or badge machine). You can buy these from http://www.buttonmakers.net/.
- Mirror kits and/or magnet kits, to fit the size of button machine
- Graphic punch, that goes with the size of button machine. (To make a 3″ finished size button will require paper that is more than 3″, since the edges of the paper will wrap around the edge of the button to the back.)
- Paper — solid or patterned
- Optional: stickers, ribbon or other flat embellishments
Prep:
- Cut or punch the paper to size
- Set up button machine(s) on one (or more) “assembly table”, with kit parts in clearly labeled containers
- Print out the mirror-n-magnet-machine-instructions (click on this link to view and print) and put a copy near each machine on the assembly table(s)
- Put on each MOPS table:
- Glue sticks
- Scissors — straight-edge and fancy-edge
- Pre-punched paper circles (1 per mirror or magnet, plus extra if you like to give your moms a choice of patterns)
- Extra paper, stickers, ribbon, and other flat embellishments
- Mylar circles and metal badge shells (1 each per mirror or magnet)
- mirror-n-magnet-table-instructions (click on this link to view and print)
The way I led this craft, I had the moms do their little collage, and assemble it with the mylar and metal circles like a sandwich that they would then take to a machine, where they could make it into either a magnet or a mirror. This seemed to work well. I got enough supplies so each mom could make one magnet and one mirror.
The MOPS Crafts Blog 