New projects.

I have been seeing the cutest button magnets on the internet. I have buttons. I have magnets. Why not make some of my own?

Since I had the ingredients I needed, I was particularly enthused about the fact that this was a project I could do without buying anything to finish it. But then I realized I couldn’t take the backs of the buttons off with anything I already owned, so I had to buy some nips to do that.

Once I had tired of the button magnets, I moved on to making magnets out of the bits and pieces of jewelry I have stockpiled.

To finish this project, I had to go out and buy a metal file. Most of what I was using were clip-on earrings in their former lives, so the backs had to be filed down once the clips were nipped off. I swear, with all of the craft supplies I have stockpiled, it is astonishing to me that I still have to BUY additional supplies when I start a new project.

I decided to put these in the booth and see if they sell, so that, of course, required packaging. Any chance I have to waste an hour or two at the computer playing with clip art and fonts, I TAKE.

While I was making cute little things to go into cute little packages, I decided to try an idea I had some time ago — I have so many cute vintage cards that I haven’t done anything with because I dread cutting/gluing/framing them and then saying goodbye to them. So I scanned a bunch in and scaled them down to fit into these cute little vintage Crane envelopes I’ve had for years to use as gift enclosures.

And this is how they’re displayed in the booth:

Ideally, I would find a little square of metal to package the magnets with, because they get all clumped up in their little bags when they all stick to each other. But otherwise, I’m pretty happy with how the packaging turned out. I worked much of the week on these, and I have no idea if they’ll sell. I’m guessing they won’t, because it’s such an easy idea, and I can’t imagine anyone spending money on them rather than making them themselves. But I figure this first 6-8 months of the booth can be experimentation — figuring out what sells and what doesn’t so I know what to spend my time and money on.