Homan at Home

I don’t know about other moms, but my favorite gifts for Mothers Day are the ones that remind me of how my little ones looked that year. One of my favorite all-time gifts was the salt dough thumbprint heart Alex made for me when he was just a few months old. I love tracing the little thumbprint and remembering how small and sweet he used to be.

So this year, my kids made me these sweet magnets. They’re made of cardstock, finger paint, clear contact paper, magnetic tape, and a picture. I know it’s a little early, but I figured it doesn’t matter since I’m the one helping them do it, right? (And this is no judgement on Dad – I wanted to!).

Anyway, they came out pretty cute, and they really work for holding stuff up on the fridge, which makes them both adorable and practical. To me, that’s a win 🙂

Mothers Day Flower Magnets, Step-by-Step

Start by printing a photo of your child. Wallet sized photos (2″x 3″) work really well. Then, trace a circle around the head part of your child’s picture and cut it out. I used a spice container to make my circle. You will also need to cut out a dummy circle from scratch paper to use as a guide.

Now, use a loop of tape to tape the dummy circle into the middle of a 3″x 3″ piece of cardstock. Use fingerpaints to have your child make a circle of thumbprints around the dummy circle (Side note: When I did my 4 month old, her thumb was hard to get straight enough to make a good print. I used her index instead, which turned out just as well.)

This is what the end result looks like:

Now, peel off the dummy circle and tape or glue the real picture in its place (I recommend taping if you’re using a picture that’s printed on regular computer paper. Glue tends to wrinkle the picture.)

Now we’re going to use clear contact paper to “laminate” our magnets. Cut a piece that’s twice as large as the magnet you want to cover. Peel off the paper, then press the front of the magnet onto the sticky side of the contact paper. Fold the rest of the contact paper over to smoothly cover the back of the magnet. Use your fingers to smooth out any bubbles.

Then, cut around the magnets. You don’t want to cut right on the paper; instead, cut just slightly outside of it so there’s a thin edge of contact paper around the entire magnet.

Your last step is to add the magnet! I used two strips of magnetic tape, which worked great. It’s a cut and stick thing. You can also hot glue a standard round magnet to the back.