While trying to devise a way to hang our holiday cards one year, my husband helped me to craft a magnetic display.  Now that Riley is in preschool and bringing home lots of artwork, we made a few more strips to display his creative handiwork.

Last week, my mom helped me to make the new strips in the photos above.  We made 3 for our hallway, 1 for Riley's room, and 1 for her to take home.  We decided not to dress up the magnets this time but I may go back later to finish decorating them.  These new magnets are from Target as Home Depot was out both times I went looking for them.  The Target magnets aren't nearly as strong so some of Riley's heavier and/or thicker work does not stay up, even with multiple magnets.  Hold out for the stronger ones - it's worth it!!

1) After you decide where you want to hang your art display, use your measuring tape & Sharpie to mark the length of the magnetic strip.  Use the metal cutter to snip the metal on your mark.  I also used the metal cutter to round off the edges so they weren't so sharp.

2) The next step is the most fun - select and trim your paper!  It could be a theme, a mix of leftovers, whatever you like!  The first strip I made had a winter theme for our holiday cards.  The new strips were leftover scraps that sort of went together and then I also made a couple of rainbow strips. 

Trim your paper down to 3/4" strips. Double check the first strip to make sure it covers your magnetic strip; you may have to adjust trimming the paper accordingly.  Since I was making a few magnetic strips, I just trimmed a bunch of paper at once so I could easily mix & match as needed.

3) Time for the Mod Podge - I think this was my mom's favorite step!  Use the paint brush to glue the paper strips to the magnetic strip.  When everything is in place, use the mod podge once again to paint a coat over the top of the paper.  You could also use a clear sealant but the Mod Podge was already out so I just used that instead.

4)  Magnets!  Hopefully by now you have decided if you'd like to decorate them or leave them plain.  If you leave them plain, move on to step 5 - you're nearly finished!

For the holiday card holder, I decorated the magnets with paper scraps & clear flat marbles. Cut out squares of paper slightly larger than the flat marbles.  Use a dab of the E6000 to glue the paper to the marble.  Trim off the paper around the marble with scissors or a razor blade and memory mat. Use the E6000 to glue the marble to the magnets.

5) Hanging the strips can be tricky...at least for me it was!  It took two of us to measure out the spot with the aid of a level, mark it with a pencil, then attempt to center all three strips one above the other!  I recommend using the pencil to mark on the wall where you'd like to place the bottom of the strip.  Follow the directions on the 3M Command poster strips to attach your magnetic artwork strip to the wall.  I used three of the poster strips - one at each end and one in the middle.

6) Hang up your children's artwork or perhaps your holiday/birthday cards.   Stand back and admire your new magnetic artwork display!! 

You can see in the photo above how I decorated the magnets as well as the magnetic strip for the artwork. I learned the hard way that hot glue is not the best option for really strong magnets - the glass marbles kept separating from the magnets! Which is why I now recommend E6000 - it has a lot more strength to hold things together.

~Be sure to share your photos of your magnetic artwork displays with me on my Facebook page or link to them in the comments below!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!  We enjoyed a week long family vacation including visiting friends & family, a trip to the zoo, a bed & breakfast, and attending the Alamo Bowl (Go Beavs!).  We have spent this last week recovering from the one thing we didn't want to bring home from our trip...a nasty virus!  Althought I didn't get the bug, I was still home all week taking care of the boys.  So, I used my down time to make some no-sew fleece pet beds.

I bought the dog bed pattern at Hancock's for $3, fleece on sale for $2-6/yd, and spent $10 on used blankets & pillows from the thrift store for the stuffing.  I still have fleece left over to make more beds (I bought a ton...it was on sale and I had a coupon!!!) so I may make a few more beds for donating or gifting. 

As you can see, there are three different sizes, and two different shapes.  For the first bed I made, I followed the dog bed pattern to make the largest bed with contrasting colors and made the orange circular bed.  Following the pattern left me wasting too much fabric and taking too much time to cut the fringe.  So after I completed the first bed, I decided to make it simple - a rectangle using the maximum amount of fabric from the 1 3/8 yards of fleece I had already bought for the pattern.  Essentially, I made a no-sew blanket then stuffed it to make a pet bed!  Easy peasy!  Bonus - they are completely machine washable!!

My modifications were this:
*Line up my two fabric choices & straghten up the edges with a rotary cutter and quilting ruler. 
*Trim off a 5x5 square on all the corners. 
*Use THIS amazing tool to quickly & easily cut 5" fringe, 2" apart with a rotary cutter.  (I am not kidding - if you want to make any fleece blankets/pillows - go buy this ruler!)  I must note that I used pins to hold the blanket together as it made lining up the ties a whole lot easier when I took the whole thing to the couch to work on in front of the TV.
*Leave open about 5-10 ties so you can stuff it with a blanket/stuffing. 
*Finish tying and voilia!  A cozy, no-sew, fleece pet bed!

~If you decide to make your furries a cozy, no-sew fleece bed, be sure to share your photos with me as I'd love to see how they turn out!
~Also, check out this tutorial on how to use your fleece scraps to make dog chew toys - fleece is great way to help clean their teeth!

After I saw this pin on Pinterest, I knew I had to do this craft with Riley!  Lucky for me, Hobby Lobby is always having great sales and the canvases were on sale in a pack of two...one for Riley and one for his friend, Noel.  

After you remove the tape, I recommend coating the painting with a clear spray to help protect your lovely artwork.  We used washable finger paints so a clear sealant was a really good idea to make the artwork last.

Now we have some great artwork to hang in the boys' rooms!