Owl magnets

Welcome to another post in my Peru-inspired month!

The owl is a bird that I saw represented in a lot of crafts in Peru. I bought myself a red and black owl ornament, and I bought a gourd carved as an owl for my mum. Animal symbolism is a big thing in Peru - each area is represented by a bird (which flies above the earth), a mammal (which lives on it), and a reptile (which slithers through it).

So here's an owl craft that's cheap and easy!

As well as being inspired by Peru's owl-related items, I also took inspiration from (OK, I outright copied!) a set of four small owl magnets that are treasured nostalgic items from my childhood. I've got the blue and green ones on my fridge, and Mum and Dad have the red and orange ones!

Here's what I did to make my (larger) version of them:

1. Clean some jar lids and spray paint them a bright colour.

2. Draw a design in pencil (I used a stencil to draw the circle shapes).

3. Using acrylic or household paint fill in the design.

4. Glue a magnet or magnets to the back. I stacked two magnets to get the right depth, and in fact I didn't even glue them, as they will be attracted to the metal lid anyway (that way I can use the magnets for another project if I get bored of these! You could add a coat of clear varnish to protect the design too, if you want.

I think this would be a fun project for children if you spray painted them and glued the magnets in place, then got the children to add their own design. I'm thinking Angry Birds could be an idea! I also think it would be nice to use the decorated lids on the original jars, as a fun way of storing craft supplies.

These magnets were made from quite small lids (like the ones you'd get on Lazy Ginger or Garlic jars). I'm tempted to make an even bigger version, from a jam jar lid!