DIY: Mother's Day Felt Flower Magnets

 I have the best mom for me, and a wonderful mother-in-law. They're quite fantastic.  I always feel a bit overwhelmed at Mother's day, because there really isn't a gift that you can give a mother, that really shows the appreciation that I have for all that they do for me and my family.  So rather than stressing myself out trying to decide what to get them, I let Clark do it for me.  What grandmother doesn't love a gift that their grandchildren picked out? 

This year when I asked Clark what he wanted to give to his Nana and Grandma, he said that they needed some pretty magnets.  Pretty magnets-great idea.  Pretty magnets to hang up all of the adorable photos of their grandkids.

So we of course decided to go to the standard mother's day theme of flowers for our "pretty magnets".

Tutorial: Little Leather Magnetic Frames

Fridge magnets can be such useful little things, they're great for hanging up masterpieces, and keeping hold of the grocery list, but they can also be so unsightly.  All to often the plumbers magnet that come's taped to the phone book ends up stuck on my fridge along with Clark's art collection. 

In an effort to clean up the fridge, and showcase some of my masterpieces, I made these little leather magnetic frames.  They are super simple, and can be made to any size.

 What you'll need: 

1 Piece of scrap leather
1 piece of clear plastic vinyl
2 pieces of felt
4 small neodymium magnets
Scissors
Thread

To figure out the dimensions of your materials, you first need to determine the size of photo that you want to frame.  Wallet photos are 2"x3".  You will want your frame window to be 1/4" smaller in both height and width than the size of your photo (so 1 3/4"x2 3/4" for a wallet).  Next you will add your frame width  times two, to your window size. So if your frame width is 5/8" then your rectangles would be cut to 3"x4".  Your Leather and felt rectangles would be cut to the same dimensions.  Your clear vinyl can be cut slightly smaller.

On the wrong side of the leather, mark the frame window and cut it out. You can use scissors or a rotary cutter for this step.

 On the sewing machine, stitch the two felt pieces together, by sewing 1/8" away from the raw edges.  Leave a 3/8"  opening for magnet insertion.   Next create small pockets for the magnets to sit in.  Doing so will ensure that you have one magnet in each corner of the frame, and will make sewing much easier after they are inserted. You will want to make sure that the pockets are large enough to accommodate the size of your magnets.

Slide your four magnets into the felt sandwich, and position them in their pockets.

 Stitch the magnet pockets closed.

Place clear vinyl under the leather frame.  Stitch 1/8" away from the inside frame window, securing the vinyl to the leather.  At this point you will also want to stitch along the outside edge of the top edge of the frame, as this side will be left open.  

 Position your leather frame on your felt sandwich.  Stitch along the two long edges and the bottom edge, connecting all layers.

That's it.  A little magnetic frame fit for the fridge.  

Dinosaur, Tiger, and Lion: by Clark the Shark

My boys have loved seeing themselves on the fridge, and love playing with the frames.  Because the magnets are encased in the felt, I don't worry about them playing with them.

A Teaching Toy: Magnetic Shapes

Teaching a toddler shapes, numbers, colors, ect. can be a bit of a challenge. I've done my best to come up with new ways to teach them to my son.  I'll pull out all of his toys and help him sort them by color.  I've printed off different sheets to help him learn his shapes.  We use number shaped cookie cutters when playing with play dough, but it is hard to know what really works best.  Not too long ago I  made some felt magnetic numbers for our fridge. Clark loves to move them around and try to count.  He understands that they are numbers despite the fact that he still can't identify each one.  Just this week I decided to add some felt magnetic shapes to the collection.

This time I decided to make each shape it's own color.  Like the magnetic numbers, the shapes have enclosed magnets.  I love that I don't have to worry about the magnets falling off the back of the shapes and finding their way into my son's nose, ear, or stomach.

I stitched the name of each shape with embroidery floss. Hopefully after we've successfully learned numbers, shapes, colors, and letters we can work on reading (don't worry I know that this will be a few years).

They are so tiny!

 After making the magnetic numbers I ordered some great little magnets.  They are tiny, very strong.  Even though there is  a layer of fabric between the magnetic and the refrigerator, there is a strong attraction.  I can't wait to try these little magnets out on some magnetic bibs.

If you are interested in learning how to make the magnetic numbers continue reading.

Magnetic Numbers

So my husband and I have been trying...I wouldn't say diligently, but trying nonetheless to work with our 20 month old on learning numbers, colors, and shapes. I figure that if he is smart enough to recognize animals and make their noises that he could probably learn to recognize his numbers.

About a month ago I decided that I was going to put the magnets and felt that I had sitting around to good use. I am quite pleased with the way these little numbers turned out. Clark loves to move them around on the fridge. He still can't identify all of them (most of them are "Wee" or Eight- "Wee being how he says three), but at least he can become familiar with them.

One of my favorite things about these magnetic numbers is that the magnets are enclosed. The thing that I dislike about the little plastic magnetic numbers and letters is that the magnets always seem to be falling off. In my opinion it is just too dangerous for little guys. Let me know what you think. I bought some felt with the intention of posting some in my Etsy store (which is the only reason that I haven't done a tutorial yet), but am still searching for the time to get it going.