Painted Cardboard Magnet DIY

This project was a just-because-I-feel-like-making-something-to-express-myself, but it would work well as a gift, too.

Start with some cardboard.  Easy enough, yes?

Draw--whatever you like!  I've been really into the geometric/gem shapes, so that's what came out of my pen (I used a LiquiMark Note Writer, but anything like a black marker or sharpie will do, too) when I began to draw.  I also created some mini quote banners, which you can see at the finale of this post.

I used acrylic paint for this project, and I didn't want to make it too complicated so I just chose five colors.  You'll also need a paintbrush, a "palette" (you can see I use a very well-loved foam plate), and protective paper to go below your project in case of messes (which, for me, there always are).

There was some traditional painting involved with this project, but I largely relied on dipping the rounded end of my paintbrush into the paint and then applying dots.

Once you've completed your paintings and they've dried...

...you need to cut them out!

(scissors or a small box cutter will do)

I bought my magnets from Wal-Mart.  They are super easy to use because they are just like stickers with an adhesive backing--no glue gun needed!  I did use a glue gun for the three pins I made (I'll be honest--my original idea was to make all of these into pins, but then the magnet idea hit me and I realized magnets would be a much more practical fit; I still wanted to experiment with the pins though, and they turned out well, too, fyi).

Now you have unique creations for your fridge--or your friends' fridges!  You could even use these as guerilla art--which I think I am going to do, and I'll post with the results if/when I do.  Please post your own magnet/gift/guerilla artwork below!