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Postage Stamp Magnets: Teeny Tiny Works of Art for your Fridge

This little project was the result of two of my biggest hobbies/vices: shopping for gadgets and collecting. 

I have a small jumble of stamps that I have collected over the years. Theyre nothing special and I dont take great care of them. I just tear 'em off the envelope and throw 'em in a box. 

Recently my little box got to be too small so I switched to a little drawer. In doing the changeover one day I ended up spending hours going through my collection. There were a lot of very decorative stamps and a lot of duplicates. None of these stamps are worth anything, as far as I know. For the most part theyre not even in mint condition. I just collect them because theyre interesting and because I like learning about other regions of the globe. Not to mention that if someone else sends them to you, theyre free!

I have often thought that I would like to display my stamps somehow. But how? I could do a collage in a picture frame format, but honestly I am rather short on wall space. I may still do this sometime, but now it just wouldnt be practical. Also I dont think I have enough stamps to make it a really stand out piece yet. All in good time.

But what to do in the meantime...

Enter my second vice: buying things I dont need. This past weekend I found a Xyron 510 in the discount bin. The Xyron 510 is a 4 in 1 sticker, laminator, label, magnet maker. Just take any piece of paper (max. 5" width) and roll it through the machine and whamo! You have stickers, cards and magnets galore. I didnt know at the time why I needed this so badly, but it was on sale and it was definitely cool. A box with potential.

Enter first vice once again: Collecting. (In truth, this vice should be amended to read, "collecting things with little or no value".) 

I maintain a growing collection of magnets. All sorts of them. Most are pretty classy. I dont mean the kind from the Chinese restaurant that delivers, either. Although, those can be handy for cutting up and using to magnetize other stuff, so I do keep those, too. 

I collect magnets that are fun to look at and in some cases play with. Some are bought, some are homemade. Well, wouldnt you know it, all those pretty and interesting stamps make perfect little magnets. Mini fridge pictures! All of the stamps youve seen on this page are the results of my labour. Actually, this was about the easiest thing I did all week. It's hard to tell that theyre magnets, but just try and imagine them on your fridge or your filing cabinet or any metal surface that could use some kitschy decoration.

Note: Best not to do this with your prized stamp collection. I also only used the ones that I had duplicates of or were in poor condition.

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