Making Magnets for Our Disney Cruise

We are gearing up for our very first Disney cruise! I hope it lives up to the hype and we have a fabulous family time! Naturally, I have been researching the heck out of it and trying to absorb all the information. One thing I learned is that apparently personalizing your cabin door with magnets is kiiiiind of a big deal, so I am jumping on the bandwagon! I tried and it worked out okay....and now I am here to share my rough step by step newbie's guide on making magnets!

1. I tried my best to find free Mickey and Minnie graphics online, but in the end I bought them on Etsy from here and here. They were absolutely worth the $4 I paid. The graphics were consistent in size, high in quality, and very easy to manipulate and use in Photoshop. It saved me lots of headache.

After I purchased the files, all I had to do was add our names (using Waltograph font) to the Mickey and Minnie heads in Photoshop.

2. The only other thing I had to buy for the project was magnet sheets. It was $8.50 for 5 sheets, so not exactly cheap, but I am just glad that the sheets ran through my printer just fine. I was pretty worried about that because the package clearly stated "ink jet" and I thought they might get jammed in my laser printer.

3. The magnets sheets aren't too thin, but aren't very sturdy either, so I decided to laminate. I have the laminator and a bunch of laminating pouches at home so I didn't have to buy anything extra. If you don't have a laminator, you can skip this step, but be careful to not rub off the ink...it rubs off easily.

4. Then it was time to cut. Luke did the job for me :)

Annnnnnd, done.

I made 5 magnets -- one for each of us and a family one -- and I am really happy with them! They are not entirely flawless, though. When I printed a test page on regular paper, it printed the black color evenly. Unfortunately, it did not on the magnet paper. As a result, I can see faint blotches on the magnets. Still, they are handmade with love and I only spent $13 (as opposed to $40-$50 for a family set on Etsy). Now our cabin door will be easier to spot in the sea of identical cabin doors :)

^^The family one is the biggest. Luke's and mine are also slightly bigger than Anna and Will's. Note: the picture is full of glares...they are NOT the actual blotches.^^

Had I wanted to spend even less, I could have just printed on cardstock, laminate, and attach magnets in the back. But it was definitely fun and rewarding to experiment with magnet paper. If I ever see a sale, I am loading up!