One of my traditions is getting a magnet every time my husband and I go on a vacation to a new state (or when we have been lucky enough to go to another country). It’s my own personal way of buying a little, special souvenir to remember a wonderful adventure; a souvenir that doesn’t take up too much room in my suitcase or in our house!
But with our busy tourist schedules, and with all the exciting activities we have planned throughout the vacation, there are many times I hop on a plane to come home, just to suddenly realize I never picked up my vacation magnet. It used to really bother me whenever I’d stand in front of the fridge and not see a certain magnet-location that we traveled to staring back at me. That’s when I realized: why not make my own magnets?!
Yes, a little margarita-shaped magnet was nice for St. Thomas Island, and a sand-filled bottle magnet was great for Florida… but perhaps the best magnet would be one that visually made me remember what I did and what that trip was all about. It was then that I decided to make a photo magnet!
You too can make your own photo magnets of special summer vacations or adventures. Instead of filling the front of your fridge with random magnet knick-knacks, make others take notice of your special photo magnets; or just enjoy a fun reminder for yourself of places you’ve been and things you’ve done, and give your fridge a photo-makeover!
So how do you get started? Follow these incredibly easy 4 steps to make your own photo magnets:
1. Take a favorite photo and make it even better with a little photo editing. Brighten the colors of the photo and remove shadows, especially beautiful pics of the sky or ocean, and make sure to always remove nasty-looking red eye and blemishes! You may need to crop photos so that the magnet isn’t too large, and focus on the important aspects of the picture (like you and your spouse, or kids, for example!). To learn more about photo editing, check out Digital Scrapbooks and More’s Digi MakeOver Madness Tutorials.
2. Add text to photos to include important names, dates, and places. Use your Digital Scrapbooking skills to add text to photos and personalize them with important information. Just may real magnets, you may want to add the name of the place you visited and even the date you went! See our tutorials to learn more about adding text to photos or digital scrapbooking pages for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.
3. Make the photo magnet at home. If you want to make the magnets on your own, print the photos, and buy some magnet-making supplies. You’ll need a small plastic case, a magnet, and a hot glue-gun with glue. Cut the photo to fit the plastic case and insert. On the back of the photo/plastic case, use the hot glue gun and glue the magnet to the back. Let it dry, and whaa-laa! You have a photo magnet!
4. Save some time and use an online printing company. An easier solution? Log onto an online printing company and upload your favorite edited photos in order to turn them into magnets with just a few clicks of your mouse! This means you don’t need physical prints of your photos and you definitely don’t have to buy magnet supplies. Just choose the options to have your favorite photos be converted to magnets and buy, and you’re done! Super-simple! Check out our instantly downloadable tutorial on Saving and Printing for Photoshop or Saving and Printing for Photoshop Elements for detailed tutorials and information on saving your favorite photos, and printing them at home or through an online printing company!
Special Note: Also don’t forget you can turn Digital Scrapbooking Pages into magnets too! You can combine your photos and digital scrapbooking supplies to make digital scrapbooking magnets, just the same way you make photo magnets but using a digital scrapbooking page instead!
What’s great about photo magnets is that not only will these special photos bring back good memories and feelings each time you look at them, but you’ll make your fridge space more efficient by removing some of the need to buy magnets specifically to hold your photos! With photo magnets, you need less photos on your fridge, leave room for special kid artwork or good grades, and your magnets can have a double-duty purpose! Remember, you’re magnets don’t have to be limited to summer vacations, make school photo magnets, pet photo magnets, or convert other special photos into magnets for your fridge!
Happy Scrapping and Photo Magnet-Making!
-Jennifer
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When making your Photo Magnets do forget to edit your photos so that you don’t have any red-eye! Removing red-eye is easy and red eye really ruins a photo and isn’t fun in a Photo Magnet either!
If you aren’t sure how to get rid of red-eye then please check these tutorials for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements!
Need to fix other things like blemishes in Photos? If so, then visit Scrap Shop for our Digital Makeover Photo Editing training.
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