You may remember the how-to fish extender post I did after our last cruise. I’m back again to tell you about the fish extender gifts we made for our upcoming cruise on the Disney Magic.
Last time we made paper bag books and filled the pages with holiday print-outs and activities. This time, considering that there were far fewer participating cabins (and therefore less expense) we went with a gift that was slightly more costly, but still had every bit the TLC put into it as the paper bag books.
We made bottle cap magnets and a bottle cap key chain. Here’s how:
I ordered the bottle caps and neophyte magnets from an online wholesaler. Jeff re-sized one of our previous shirt designs to fit the bottle caps. We cut out the designs and used Mod Podge to glue them into the bottle caps. We also “painted” the Mod Podge on top of the paper design to seal the image. After letting that dry for 24 hours, we poured resin into the caps to create a shiny finish. We then let that cure for 24 hours before gluing a tiny neophyte magnet to the back of the bottle cap.
We used the same method to make the key chains, only first drilling a small hole in the top of the bottle cap so that we could affix the key chain. I adorned each finished key chain with some decorative beads in complimentary colors.
So that our friends would know where the gifts came from, we tied each bag off with nautical-inspired decorative ribbon and affixed a short note and the key chain. I signed the note with my Disboards username. {Side note: fish extender gifts are sometimes given anonymously. We chose to identify ourselves.}
To assemble the gifts, we stuffed small cellophane bags with colorful paper stuffing. With that in place, we stuck six of the magnets to a 4×3 rectangle of magnet paper and carefully placed those inside the bag. Lastly, we attached the notecard. And voila! I think it’s one great fish extender gift, but then again I’m a little biased ;)
I remember your previous post for the door magnets. Very creative! Please tell me what a neophyte magnet is. :-)
In highly technical terms, a neophyte magnet is one that is super strong ;) No, but honestly, I don’t know. I ordered them from a bottle cap wholesale store and that’s just what they were called.
I want to be in your fish extender group! We’re cruising in June of 2012, I need to get on the ball and get working on our gifts! :)
You’ll have to share what you come up with!
What an amazing idea!!! I love your thoughtfulness when it comes to these gifts.
Pretty awesome! Sure to be a big hit.
You are so creative! I have to get started on our FE gifts for March 2012. Do you mind sharing what vendor you used to purchase your supplies?
Thank you! As for the vendors, I bought the bottle caps from an online wholesale store. A Google search for bottle cap wholesaler should yield you the correct result. I’m sorry, I don’t remember the proper name, only that it had wholesale in it. I got my key rings from Michaels. My daughter had the beads and my husband created the images for me. Oh, and I got the resin from JoAnn Fabric and Crafts.
Thank you Darcie! I’ve been looking for the magnets, since the ones I’ve found so far are pretty weak. Thanks also for the rest of the info. They are so cute!!
I just found your site looking for some great ideas for fish extender gifts for a June 2012 cruise. This is a GREAT idea! I have some others running in my head, but I need to know, how do you “sign up” for a fish extender group for a cruise? I’ve checked out disboards, but was VERY overwhelmed. This is my first cruise EVER and I wanted to make it a special as possible for my family. Thanks for any help.
What size do you make these to fit in the bottle caps? I’m going to do this for my upcoming Cruise – so cute!
I wish I could be more helpful, but my husband made them. He just kept playing around with the size until they fit. Good luck with yours!
We leave for our disney cruise to the Bahamas in a few weeks. It is our first cruise that I have prayed so long for! I have got together bags for my husband and son to surprise them and filled it with all kinds of things they love. But I knew nothing about the fish extenders. I am trying to figure out by the post I see and your post to figure out what I need to do to get this ball rolling. Any words of advice would be appreciated. Thanks so much and you have awesome ideas.
Fish extender gifting groups are formed on the Disboards, Angela. Go to the disboards, and then locate the forum for Disney cruise line. From there, click on the Disney cruise meets forum on the top of the page. Within that forum, you should be able to find your particular sailing. You’ll have to ask there whether or not your group has closed already. Sometimes they don’t have deadlines and sometimes they gladly extend them. Good luck!
Would you be willing to share your ship image? I’d love to use this for bottle cap keychains!
I am new at the fish extender idea. I love the images on the bottle caps and the key chains. How do you suggest I make the pictures small enough to fit the inside of the bottle cap? I am excited about creating the craft and thank you, thank you for the great ideas.
Once you were done and you glued the magnets on the back, did you see any of them fall off? I glued some on and three days later they were falling off the caps.
Love your project, would you be willing to share your images, I’m unable to find some of them and yours are so cute, thanks