What's on YOUR Refrigerator? A Tutorial for making Refrigerator Photo Magnets

Most of us have pictures or our children or grandchildren  and/or their art on our refrigerators.  I’m going to show you a way to make the fridge more of an art gallery.  Photo magnets add a level of sophistication to our family picture galleries, or in my case, I can showcase some of my quilts in a small format.

A Mini- quilt gallery on my refrigerator

Supplies you will need:

Photos cropped to 3.5” x 3.5” or 2.5” x 3.5” (wallet size) printed to photo paper

Card stock in colors to accent photos

Beveled artist mat board cut 4.5” x 4.5” or 3.5” x 4.5” (our local framing shop does them for me) in colors to contrast with card stock and accent photos.  You might need to ask them to cut with a reverse bevel to get the color on the front side of the mat.

Self-adhesive business card size magnets (available at office supply stores)

Spray adhesive

Rotary cutter, mat and ruler or other means of trimming photos and card stock

Supplies are all gathered before starting

I choose card stock colors for each photo and cut the card stock about ½” larger than the photo all around.  Several photos could be placed on the same sheet as long as you leave enough space between them to have a ¼” margin outside the photo when you cut them apart.  

 

Photos are placed on cardstock but not yet glued.

Remove photos from card stock and place them upside down on sheets of newspaper or other protective surface.  I put newspaper in a box to prevent overspray of the adhesive.  Follow directions on the adhesive.  I spray as many as will fit in the box at one time.  The adhesive stays tacky for a few minutes, so don’t worry about having to work super fast.

Ready for spraying with adhesive

Remove photos carefully from newspaper and place right side up on the card stock, making sure that you have at least ½” of space between them.

Trim the card stock so it is about 1/8” to ¼” wider than the photo all the way around.  I use my rotary cutter with a blade that I reserve for cutting paper for this step.

Trimming photos

Select mat board colors for each photo and repeat the process, spraying the back of the card stock and then carefully centering each photo on the mat board.  Let them dry for a while, then place a self-adhesive magnet on the back.

For my quilt photos, I put the title of the quilt and my name on the back.  You might want to identify family members and date the photos for future reference.

 

Back of photo magnet with business card magnet. Titled and signed.

All ready for magnets

 

Ideas for displaying photo magnets:

The refrigerator, of course

A metal file cabinet

On a mini-easel anywhere you choose, bookshelf, tabletop, etc.

Kaleidoscope Star on Mini-easel

Back view

Display on a bookshelf

How many more ideas for display can you come up with?