While walking around Austin, TX…we were total tourists. Checking out all the cool vintage stores, taking lots of pictures, and basking in sunshine and Mexican-inspired art. We kept seeing these cool bottle cap magnets – simple little picture magnets made using bottle caps, glitter, tiny pictures, and a little resin (and of course a magnet.) We decided we should make some of our own.  Is there a better way to remember our fun little getaway every time we open the fridge? I think not.

How To Make A Bottle Cap Magnet

Craft Supplies Needed To Make Bottle Cap Magnets

–most of the craft supplies I used are pictured at left:

1. Metal Bottle Caps – we saved them from beer/soda bottles

2. Metal Paint

3. Heavy Duty, All-purpose craft glue (like Craft Goop, pictured)

4. Small circular magnets

5. 1in. by 1in. pictures

6. Glitter glue

OK – Now Let’s Get Started:

Take plain, clean metal bottle caps and spray paint them with a metal-friendly paint. First spray the inside, then flip them over and spray the back. Let this dry taking care to move them with a toothpick or something dainty if they are drying in a pool of paint.

Next, find a picture you like that will look good in a small format – you will want to cut the picture into about a 1 inch circle. Some use a quarter to trace a perfect circle, I just used the back of a bottle cap and traced around the edge under the lip. If you happen to have a 1 inch circle punch handy, well that would work too! These are a couple of cool pictures from Austin – the iconic cupcake trailer topper at Hey Cupcake and a sweet snapshot of the inside of  Big Top Candy Shop on South Congress.

Next you will need to glue the picture into the bottle cap using your heavy duty craft glue. You don’t need much – the glue I used is super sticky and thick which is why it looks like running water in the picture.

Smoooosh your picture into the glue and let dry. Next, you can add a rim of glitter glue to the perimeter of the picture to give it a finished-looking edge. Once the glitter and glue holding the picture in are dry, you can flip this puppy over and apply the magnet.

These little magnets can be purchased at most craft and hobby stores and are super magnetic which makes it interesting when you attach it to the back of your metal magnet. You may find it wants to attach itself – make sure to add enough glue to hold it on securely but not so much to cause significant drip over the edges of the magnet. It will surround the magnet a little…that is ok. That is what all the ones we saw looked like.

Once your photo and glitter are mostly dry, it is time to pour the resin. I used a low odor resin, but still…the stinky parts of this project really need to be done outside. Mix a small amount of resin per the instructions on the box (this one was 50% resin to 50% hardening agent – both were included in the kit pictured) then pour in to your bottle caps taking care not to overfill them.

Wait 24 hours and…VOILA!

Your new bottle cap picture magnets are pretty sweet! They are sturdy and shiny and ready to go on the fridge.

Now that you have got this project down…ready for some other craft ideas like this one? Here are a few other bottle cap projects for your inspiration:

Retro Bottle Cap Picture Magnets – http://thenewnew.blogspot.com/2008/04/dont-toss-that-cap.html

Very, very simple flipped bottle cap magnets — how cute would these be painted or beaded?

And you can even make bottle cap jewelry!  http://original.toadhaven.com/Bottle%20Cap%20Necklaces.html