Photograph Magnets Upcycled with Bottle Caps

I've been wanting to make these for a while.  This past week, I finally did!  :)

Want to make your own?  Here's what you'll need...

• Bottle caps (you may need to start saving a few weeks ahead of time unless you go through a lot of beer quickly or you can have friends save them for you)
• Round magnets (mine were about $6 for a large pack from a craft store & I used 3 packs)
• Dimensional Modge Podge* (about $5 for 2 oz. - I used 3 packs & made just over 100 magnets)
• A 1" circle craft punch
• Craft glue (I switched to Weldbond to glue the magnets to the bottle caps & the photos to the bottle caps - be sure to read label)
• Small photos - my black & white ones (pictured) I clipped from left-over Christmas cards from the past two years (Snapfish makes you buy them in packs of 20 so I buy 3-4 packs & end up with at least 10 leftovers - so happy I have a use for them now!  I plan on using the rest of the Christmas cards to make sets of magnets for the family over the holidays.)
• [If you have a basic knowledge of photoshop, you can put together prints with 1" photos to maximize paper efficiency.  I did some color ones like this & also just using photo paper & our home printer & Microsoft Word.  I duplicated the photos I wanted to crop using iPhoto, cropped the photos to square using iPhoto, & dragged & dropped them into a word document, changing the size of the photos to 1" & when the paper was full, I used photo paper & my home printer & had an entire sheet of photographs.]
• Scissors
• Cookie sheet (optional)

*I know DIY Modge Podge has been gaining in popularity, however I've read accounts of people's projects yellowing & flaking after time so I just buy it.  I haven't been getting much at Michael's lately so I use the 40% coupon each week.  If you only have 1 coupon but are making more than 1 trip in a week, you can ask at the register & they'll scan a coupon for you.  :)  

1.) Glue the magnets to the back of the bottle caps.  (Optional - organize on a cookie sheet.  I found this to be wildly helpful.)

2.) Using scissors & a 1" circle craft punch, cut out your photographs.

3.) Glue photographs to inside of bottle caps.  Let dry.

4.)  Add Dimensional Modge Podge to inside of bottle caps.  Let dry.  (It was humid when I did mine & it took over 24 hours to dry fully.)

5.)  Arrange & enjoy! 

I used one B&W set to start a frame around my magnetic organizer in my bedroom.  It's such a treat to have so many favorite pictures on display!  A great passion of mine is photographing my children but I have SO many shots & SO many favorites that if I were to try to display them all in prints at once, my walls would look quite cluttered & I despise clutter, so this is perfect for me.  :)

Mirrored, Magnetic, Customizable Accessory Organizer (upcycled from medicine cabinet)

One trip to the metal pile at the dump a few months ago, I saw this old medicine cabinet. The mirror was still intact so my initial thought was to try to take the mirror off of its hinges but I didn't have any tools with me to do so. So I went back later, but after looking at it more, I noticed it was still in working shape as a cabinet, and it was 100% metal & magnetic, it really just needed to be cleaned & get a fresh coat of paint, so I took the entire piece home with me.

I've been in LOVE with chalkboard paint for the past few months, so I decided to paint it inside & out with chalkboard paint, as well as give it a chalkboard paint "frame" so that I could decorate the frame around the mirror with different colors of chalk if I wanted to. It had two glass shelves (a third had shattered) inside but I didn't take them with me as I plan on using this primarily as a jewelry organizer. I don't have much jewelry so I should be able to hang my necklaces & bracelets on the inside of the door & inside of the cabinet with magnets, as well as put my small jewelry boxes inside or on top of the cabinet.

Want to make your own? Here's what you need:
Mirrored metal medicine cabinet
Chalkboard paint & brush
Old newsprint (or old towel, sheet, etc - just something to protect your floor front paint while you're painting)
Scotch blue painters tape with edge lock
2 screws, 2 wall anchors, drill, hammer, screw driver
pen or pencil
Spray cleaner (I use 50% water, 50% distilled white vinegar) & old rags
Photograph Bottle Cap Magnets

The above two shots I took pre-cleaning.  Looked pretty gnarly.  ;)





1.) Wipe down the medicine cabinet, inside & out, top & bottom.

2.) Paint inside & out, top & bottom with chalkboard paint.




3.) Using Scotch blue painters tape with edge lock, create a "frame" - width of your choosing - & paint.  Allow to dry in between coats per the instructions on the label.

Note - this was a high-gloss white cabinet, so it took 3-4 coats of chalkboard paint.

4.) Using pen or pencil, note holes on wall.  Drill.  Using hammer, tap wall anchors into place.  Using screw driver, screw screws into place, leaving them sticking out enough to place holes in cabinet on.

5.) Hang.  Decorate.  Enjoy!  :)

I decided to decorate the "frame" of mine with my bottle-cap photo magnets - instructional blog post to come.  To the right is a scarf organizer from (shock) a free metal "rack" I got from the metal pile at the dump (blog post to come).

The plate is a family heirloom that my paternal grandmother & grandfather bought on their honeymoon & the plaque below was a gift from my mom.  It's nice to be able to have a place to display these items now. :)  The rocks were from a family vacation last summer that I just glued magnets to.  Nice to have them serving a function on display & not just in a jar. ;-)

I glued magnets to my tin of Badger balm so that I could have it off the shelf-area.  It's nice to have a place for my meaningful trinkets.  I'm not one for clutter, but I do have a few things that hold special meaning & it's nice to have them displayed now, organized & neat.  :)