DIY Magnetic Refrigerator Words

Why have someone else's message on your fridge? Reclaim your refrigerator door, by recycling those free square advertisement magnets that cover it into custom refrigerator words!

What you will need for this project:
- Flat refrigerator magnets (Check your phone book(s) for lawyer ads)
- Address Labels (or any equivalent sticker material)
- Razor Blade or Scissors
- Fine point marker(s)
- Ruler
- Optional: Sandpaper

Step 1: Gather Your Material

You can find these magnets everywhere. Check your phone book, there's probably one on it. Restaurants, Lawyers, Doctors, and other "Service Oriented" businesses just LOVE to give these things away.

Step 2: Prepare the Magnets

If you are using thin sticker material, you will want to remove the high-contrast background of the magnets. Use coarse sandpaper to scuff the image off the advertisements. Some ads will come off easily under water, others will take a little elbow grease. Be careful not to tear the magnet itself.

Once you have your low-contrast base, use a ruler to mark off strips on the magnet. I made my words a little over 1/4" wide. Cut your strips using a razor blade or a pair of scissors and start applying the strips to your sticker material, MAGNET side up. Use firm force to get good adhesion, then cut your magnet strips from the sticker material.

Step 3: Make Your Words

You should now have strips of magnet with a white base on the front. Grab your fine point marker (Sharpies rule!), and write words on the strips. Use a good variety of words, you will want:

- verbs (walk, suck, punch, etc.)
- nouns (things: child, desk, home... qualities: beauty, looks, stupidity)
- pronouns (I, you, we, them, etc.)
- conjunctions (and, but, or, etc.)
- prepositions (in, on, from, etc.)
- qualifiers (-ly, -ed, -er, etc)

Customize your words at your will, include friend's names & places personal to you. Once you have written your words down on the strips of magnet, cut them up.

Step 4: All Done!

Your done, put your new makewords on the fridge and create a message for all to make their message.

Comments

[criggie]

I found some "magnetic tape" at the local craft shop - just like thick sellotape (cellulose tape) in a dispenser, but 2 cm was enough to hold an A4 page onto a whiteboard.

[smccarron1]

I've been trying to find fridge magnets in Japanese and having a lot of trouble. This is really convenient and sounds like fun! :-)

[peppermintsheep]

If you don't have flat magnets like that (a lot of businesses have stopped paying to produce them), you can get "magnetic paper" or "magnetic sheets" at your local craft store, and they're usually pretty cheap!

Also, I recommend sealing them with mod podge or spray fixative to prolong the life of these magnets!! :)

[lawdog323]

OMG! I love your idea. It's inspired me to make some of my own..using some awesome fonts. I absolutely love to recycle EVERYTHING! Now I know how to get rid of all those attorney advertisement magnets instead of trashing them! WOO HOO..You rock! Robin

[jongscx]

Heh they did this at my high-school's senior lounge... I swear, we only had 1/3 of the words that were on there originally b/c people were quite... creative with their sentence combinations. :-D

[modio]

or you could cut the words/letters directly from the magnets giving one a ransom note-esque set of 'fridge words

[bug_me_not]

You could also use the business card magnets with the peel off sticky front and stick a piece of a magazine or newspaper to it, then cut up the words. Although, that breaks the original idea of recycling the advertising magnets. This is a neat instructalbe, overall. I always thought those magnetic poetry kits were too darn expensive.

[HamO]

I like it!!

[sinner_93]

what was the dirty word?

[adamazing]

Merriam Webster: Page 145

[karen608]

Excellent, cheaper than magnetic poetry kits. I might use my computer printer to print the words or make larger for 'effect'. A flat baking pan could be a portable message maker. I wil make some to say where I am at as a message board: I am : at work, at Kathy's etc. for my husband instead of making tacky paper notes that blow away before he sees them! Good job, like it very much.