Fridge Magnets
By: IT Admin
Fridge Magnets, 7 Uses for the Humble Fridge Magnet That Won’t Cost You a Cent!
Here are 7 uses for a fridge magnet you probably never thought of…
1. Make a bookmark.
This is easy. Just get a fridge magnet you no longer need, some cardboard and craft glue. Cut the cardboard to a longish shape, say 40mm wide by 200mm long, then fold it in half so the doubled up size is 40mm wide x 100mm long. Using scissors, cut two pieces of magnet 30mm square and place (not stick) stick them together, back to back so the printed sides face out. The magnet may not exactly line up squarely because of the magnetic force lines. Don’t worry, it will be fine as it is. Now put some glue on both faces of the magnet (ie the outsides) and apply to the bottom of the inside of one of your “legs” of doubled-up cardboard. Fold over the other leg so that it closes onto the glued magnet and place under a book or weight until the glue has dried. That’s it, you’ve now got a magnetic bookmark. The cardboard can be decorated anyway you choose.
2. Dropped your pins or needles?
Have you ever tipped over a packet of pins or needles whilst sewing? This is how you pick up the lot without spending hours on your knees or upsetting your fingers. Fold an old fridge magnet in half so the plain brown side is on the outside. Tape it to the end of a stick or ruler and use it to retrieve those pins or indeed any tiny metal items that have fallen into inaccessible places. Use a sweeping motion for best results. This won’t work on non-ferrous metals like brass or aluminium – but, hey, how many aluminium pins do you have in your needlework box?
3. Never lose your pen again.
The phone rings and you need to take a message. Where’s your pen? On the fridge of course, attached with a piece of old fridge magnet. Just cut a strip off the magnet and glue it brown side out to the side of a pen. If necessary use two strips to get enough grip. You’d be surprised how much a little piece of flexible magnet can hold up! To be really clever, you can wind a longer piece of magnet right around the pen so it will stick in any direction. You can use this technique for any small, light items that are never there when you want them!
4. Make any piece of paper magnetic!
Its so simple to make your own fridge magnets, Just cut up some of those old ones cluttering up the fridge or filing cabinet and glue them to the back of things you really want to keep like favourite takeaway menus, postcards or telephone bills. Cut the magnets in to handy sized pieces, say 20mm x 40mm and keep them on the fridge ready to be used when that really important piece of paper arrives. For best results use double-sided adhesive tape. Normal clear “sticky tape” works fine for holding up most sheets, even if it covers the magnetic piece entirely. Just remember to attach it with the plain brown side facing then fridge – and don’t try to hold up any phone books!
5. Make any wall magnetic!
In case you didn’t know, flexible fridge magnets will actually attach to themselves as well as to a metal surface. So if you had, say a blackboard, wall or glass panel that you want to stick your magnets to, all you need to do is have a large enough surface of magnetic material. To do this, simply tape or glue lots of your fridge magnets to a sheet of cardboard or stiff paper. You probably have dozens of them already taking up space on your fridge – if not, start collecting now! Once you have your sheet covered in magnet (it doesn’t matter if the printed side is facing out or not), trim to the finished shape or size to fit and pin or tape to the area you want to make your new magnetic-board. You will find that most fridge magnets will happily fix to it! By the way, if you don’t happen to have enough magnets at home, contact us and we will happily send you a bunch of samples.
6. Put up a fly screen.
This used to be a job for the professional, but much easier now thanks to then humble fridge magnet. First measure the window you want covered and buy some lightweight insect-screen material off the roll at your local hardware store. Cut the screen so it covers the whole area and will lie flat against the frame. In the old days, you would have had to staple or glue the screen, but now you want just tape a strip of flexible fridge magnet all round the edge of the screen and a matching strip around the window frame. This will give a nice snug and smooth fit, making it impossible for bugs to crawl around. Best of all, just roll up the screen for washing or opening and closing the window. You can of course remove it all together when no longer needed.
7. Magnetic games.
This will keep the kids amused for hours on a car journey and is fun to make. Find a big enough piece of magnet (or make a piece about 100mm x 100mnm using Tip 5 above). Cover it with plain paper and draw 3 x 3 grid so you have nine squares. Get the idea? Then get another piece of magnet the same size or a bit smaller and cut it into 10 small square pieces to fit within the nine-square grid you have already made. Draw five “0”s and five “X”s and there you have your own portable version of tic-tac-toe (naughts & crosses). Now you know the technique, there are probably lots of other games you can make into portable magnetic versions. Maybe even a crossword game where you can cut up letters of the alphabet and distribute them to players. Each person has to make a word by attaching to an exisiting word, going from top to bottom or from left to right. The letters must link together even by adding an “S” to make a previous word plural. Does this game sound familiar? It is very like a commecial game played ith letter-tiles that has been around for years. This is your own version – and you can have as many of each letter as you like! Try cutting out letters from magazines and newspapers or using your own felt-tip pen artistry.
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