Fish Extenders

I am a Disney fan.  Not over the top obsessed mind you, but I grew up close to Disneyland and visited the park at least every other year.  It is a magical place.  So during the past year I got the idea in my head that I wanted to have my boys experience the Disney magic.  I started to plan a trip to Disney World.  Then I got my hubby involved and he talked me in to switching to a Disney cruise.  The announcement to the boys was made Christmas morning and we took our trip over spring break.  It was fantastic fun!

While planning our trip I learned of a fun game Disney cruisers like to play.  It is a gift exchange called "Fish Extenders" or "FE" for short.  Families sign up to participate in the voluntary exchange and leave gifts for each other throughout the cruise.  Naturally when I was choosing my gift, it HAD to involve vinyl and a crafty flare.  :)

Each person on the gift exchange received a pocket sized bottle of hand sanitizer with a Mickey Mouse hand vinyled on it.  They turned out adorable!  And each person also received two black tile magnets, one with a Disney or cruise symbol and one personalized with their initial.  They were meant to help decorate their cabin doors which are magnetic.  Here are the pictures of my handiwork.  Enjoy!

Fun Teacher Gift

I sure love my 4 year old.  He is so sweet and fun, and he loves to give presents.  This year I suggested he make some magnets for his preschool teachers and he came up with the clever idea to make "magnet puzzles."  We decided to make Christmas trees.

We made a trip to Home Depot to pick up a sheet of one inch white ceramic tiles, and then (twist my arm) another trip to Hobby Lobby for some craft magnets.  Hobby Lobby is pretty much the best store in the world, or at least in my crafting world.  :)

We separated the tiles and washed them, then I let my son color them with special inks.  He colored one tile brown to be the tree trunk, one yellow to represent the star, and the rest in green to be the pine needles.  After the ink dried I gave him free reign to my assortment of scrapbooking gemstones.  He stuck several on the green tiles to be Christmas ornaments.  And finally I gave him some iridescent star stickers to use for the tree topper.  I finished up by gluing magnets to the back of the tiles so my little guy wouldn't glue his fingers together.

The next morning my son mixed up the tiles and we placed them in a gift bag.  He really enjoyed showing his bonding buddy how to put the puzzle together.  His teacher loved her set so much she asked if the magnets would be an easy craft for the entire class.

Although he landed on Christmas trees, I thought a snowman might make another cute magnet puzzle.  Any other clever ideas out there?

Snowflake Decals

Snowflakes are so fun during the holidays.  This year snowflakes graced our windows, mirrors, fridge, and soap dispensers.

Here is a shot of snowflake tile magnets.  The magnets are made of light blue glass tiles and white glossy vinyl.

In our kitchen we use an olive oil dispenser for hand soap.  This season we covered it in snowflakes made out of frosted vinyl, which has the same effect as glass etching.