Project: Christmas Clips

 

Things are settling down and I've had time to do some new things to show you.  First up is this fun and easy project--Christmas Clips! I sold a ton of these magnetic clips at my recent craft shows and they are a perfect inexpensive Secret Santa gift.

Here's how to make your own!

Pick up a pack of clothespins.  I found this batch at the discount store and only spent $1 on the whole bag.  However, I had about 6 of them that were broken on one side and were totally unusable.  Next time I'll spend a bit more to get a more quality pin.

Next you'll need to find some stamps that have holiday phrases that will fit on the clothespins.  You'll see that on the example above, I turned the "THE" so that the phrase would fit.  I stamped the phrases using Jet Black Archival Ink. You can use any permanent ink.  

Next you'll need to decorate the unstamped portion of the clip.  I've used other things on clothespins, such as mini bottle caps, felt flowers, buttons and other small do-dads.  But for this project, I pulled out this container of bingo markers I've been hoarding.  Using scrap decorative paper, I punched out the circles and glued them to the wood with Mod Podge.  Some of the markers were smaller than the punched paper.  I just waited until the MP was dry and then lightly sanded the edges to fit.  Add an extra coat of MP over the top of the paper to seal it.  Once dry, attach the decorated marker to the clothespin using a strong glue.

The final step is to add a magnet to the clip.  For this project I used thin sheet magnets which I cut to run the length of the clothespin.  This was the most economical method since I made a bunch of these.  In the past I've used disc magnets which are very strong.

For packaging, I just clipped them to one of my kraft jewelry tags.  For gift giving, attach them to a card or decorated tag.

Here's how I displayed them at my craft shows--attached to a metal tray.  

At just $2 a set, I sold each and every one of them.