This year, I’m learning to live with less in my 2014 Simplicity theme year.  And that means repurposing items in a creative way to make them useful again. I saw this idea on Pinterest and I loved it.  Coin magnets! It’s an easy project that is useful and repurposed old coins and other favorite trinkets.

Pinspiration: Coin Magnets. This is a cute and easy project that you can complete in 15 minutes (hands-on time). And help you repurpose items you already own.  I used coins from around our house, my grandmother’s old pocket watch and a favorite pin that had a broken backing.  Now all of these items are something usable for our family.

Store items together until you’re ready to complete the project. I’ve been cleaning & organizing our house for a while looking for items to eliminate.  I keep a small tray beside my projects bin for any trinkets that would work for the coin magnets.  Once I had about 20, then I decided to make the magnets myself.

Gather your supplies and go outside. Pick a nice day that you can complete this project outside and take all of your supplies to a clean area.  You’ll need:

• Coins & Trinkets
• Magnets (one for each item)
• Glue: I use specialty craft glue E-6000.  If you use this glue, you’ll need to be in a well-ventilated area or outside. (This glue also works great for permanently reattaching ceramic tile pieces).  You may also be able to use super glue or hot glue depending on the weight of the item.

Make the magnets. Place the magnet on your glueing surface, add a dot of glue and place your coin/trinket on top of the magnet.  You’ll need to let it set for about 2 hours before moving it.  After 2 hours, I move my magnets to my porch to let them air out overnight.

Display your magnets. After I’ve let the magnets sit outside overnight, next morning I bring them inside and place them on our fridge. You can arrange the magnets however you’d like and they even make cute gifts. Plus it’s a great conversation topic for kids and helps them learn about money from different countries (if you use coins).