DIY Magnet Board & Magnets ~ Trial & Error

Sometimes when I start a project I know exactly what I need to do.  Sometimes it takes a little trial & error!  This DIY magnet board has been on my list for a little bit & I decided to try some different things to see what worked best.  That’s the only way to know sometimes!  : )

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Painting Pans & Tin Lids

I started out with this stack of old Christmas tin lids & rusty pans.  The bottom parts of the tins are being used like a basket to hold things in the laundry room.  {They need to be painted too!}

I bought the pizza pan & cookie sheet for 88 cents each at Wal-Mart a long time ago.  They are not very good pans, because they have rusted just sitting on my shelf!

I wanted to paint all of these & decided to try out using chalk paint.  In perusing the web, I found some conflicting information about using chalk paint on metal.

Some suggested applying one coat, letting it cure for at least 24 hours, & then applying a second coat to prevent chipping.  Another only let the first coat dry for about an hour.  I sort of went halfway & let the first coat “cure” for about 10 hours.

I applied chalk paint to the pans & one tin lid.  The other two tin lids got a coat of Rustoleum’s 2X UltraCover in navy blue & seaside.  The navy blue one looks scuff up because I dropped it on my porch steps before it was dry!  Grrr!

The spray paint covered everything just fine with one coat.  I had to add a second coat of the chalk paint to get good coverage.  I’m not really liking how it turned out…

You can really see the brush strokes still, which I don’t have a problem with on wood.  These haven’t been waxed, so that’s why they look so flat.

I decided to put the chalk paint ones aside until I figure out what to do with them.  To give the spray painted ones a little more personality, I spritzed them with a contrasting color.  Fire orange on the light blue one & spa blue on the navy one.

I like the speckled effect & the coverage of the spray paint much better!  Time to make some magnets!

Making Magnets

I bought several different kinds of magnets to see what would work best for this project.  Whatever I don’t use can always be for another project down the road!  ; )

I chose to work with the magnetic sheets & little squares of fabric first.  These are about 1″ square.

I started to trace around the squares then cut them out, but decided to peel back the paper & stick them down first.

I used my “general purpose” scissors to cut these out, which was easy because it’s so thin.  These grab hold nicely to the tin lid, however…

They are not that easy to lift back up!  Plus, I blew away a stray thread & the fabric blew right off the magnet!

These are supposed be designed to make picture magnets for the fridge.  Maybe they will stick better to pictures than fabric!

Next I tested out the dot magnets.  They have adhesive on one side, so I decided to use some glitter with these.

I also wanted to test out these micro beads…

These were so easy & satisfying to make!  I just pulled off the paper, dropped them into the glitter, & blew off the excess.  Shiny!

The micro beads left gaps, so I sprinkled some glitter over them to fill in the blanks.  I also had some mini star confetti that I mixed in with gold glitter.

These go really well with the navy tin lid.  It looks like a galaxy & planets!

I’m hoping to use the magnetic strips to make some clothes pin magnets.  The heavy-duty magnets are exactly that & I’m sure I’ll come up with a use for them eventually!  I haven’t hung either of these up yet, since I’m still making magnets & figuring out what to do with the ones I painted with chalk paint.  As soon as I decide/figure it out, I’ll share pics.  Hope everyone’s having a wonderful Wednesday!

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