I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a craft I’ve made in a really really really long time!! I LOVE these magnets. Since I made them on Saturday, I’ve tried to think of anyone else I can gift them to. I would make them for everyone if I thought they’d put them on their fridges. However, I think they’re reserved for people with a special (amazing!) taste. I made them for my sister-in-law, and I think she loved them as much as I do. That’s why she’s so fabulous.

I saw something similar to these online (for $12 each can you imagine!?!) and thought about how EASY (and cheap!) they would be to make myself. Because I have experience cutting plastic animals in half, I knew I could somewhat easily cut the heads off of plastic animals. I used a serrated knife, and sawed them in half. Just something to keep in mind: make sure your plastic animals are hollow, or it will take you a lot longer than a few minutes to saw them in half! You should be able to tell by the weight of each animal. That, or if you are like me and buy them at the Dollar Tree – they’ll most likely be hollow.

Ingredients Used:

* Plastic Animals (The Dollar Tree) $1 each

* Gold Spray Paint (Michael’s) Small Can $2.40 w/40% off coupon

* Serrated Knife

*Magnets (somewhat heavy weight) – (Michael’s) $2.99

* Glue gun

* CardboardThe steps are easy (and pictured below):

1. Cut (or saw) the animal in half. I chose to keep the front legs as well, just in case my elf Reuben wants to go for a ride.

2. Trace the animal shape onto cardboard; cut out.

3. When you’re sure the cardboard is perfect size, hot glue to animal. Use glue generously! Better to have extra than not enough (isn’t that true for most things in life!?)

4. When it’s dry, just make sure it doesn’t show at all from the front view, you can trim the excess off with a razor if necessary.

5. (not pictured) Glue the magnet to the cardboard using glue gun.

6. (not pictured) Just spray paint the animal! I used a few coats, and had to do them at different times to get all sides. I also painted the back, including the magnet, so the whole thing was golden.Now you have your fun animals for your fridge! Or your friends fridge. Or your parents fridge. Maybe I’ll make one for my mom and insist she hang it right in the middle of her fridge. She would love that…