DIY 90s Magnets That'll Take You Back

I’m living in a rental house that has an outdated refrigerator. It’s small, white and the freezer is on top… you know, everything that people don’t want in a fridge nowadays. I joke to my husband that it’s a 90’s fridge so I decided to embrace it by making some DIY 90s magnets.

I made these fun magnets using my favorite crafting machine, the xTool M1 Ultra. This thing is so cool because you can print on basically any surface then laser cut your designs all with the same machine.

The graphics are printed on wood and I added magnetic sheet to the back. It was a super simple project.

The 90s were different in the best way. We had iconic TV shows with catchy theme songs (do you remember TGIF?). Our school supplies were vibrant with Lisa Frank designs and gel pens. Could you imagine what our 90s self would think of the beige aesthetic nowadays? The 90s were filled with fun, charm and personality. No wonder it’s still a favorite era to throw back to.

These magnets remind me of my 90s childhood and it’s hard not to smile when I see them and think back to that time. I guess I accomplished my goal of accepting my fridge situation. The designs feature a gameboy, vhs tape, yin yang, smiley face, yoyo and a ring pop.

How to Make Your Own DIY 90s Magnets

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What You’ll Need:

If you don’t have an M1 Ultra you could still make these magnets but would need to print the design on paper instead of wood.

Step 1: Pick your favorite throw back designs

Would you believe that I got all of my designs for free from Canva? They have so many fun 90’s graphics to choose from and many of them are free. For an even larger selection you can sign up for their Pro account. It’s totally worth the price!

I’m happy to share the Canva file with you for free. Just enter your name and email address in the form below and I’ll send the design to your inbox.

Step 2: Print your 90’s designs on wood

I chose to print my design on 3mm basswood to give the magnets some weight. If you don’t have an M1 Ultra you can print the design on regular paper.

For the M1 Ultra settings I chose 100% intensity for the ink to make them as vibrant as possible.

Step 3: Cut your design shapes

I used xTool Creative space to outline my graphics so that I could cut them with the laser. Their software makes it so easy. All you have to do is click on your image and then select the offset feature. I chose the external direction and kept the distance as the default 0.079 in.

Here is what the cut graphics look like. There were some burn marks from the laser but they were all on the outside of the design so once I popped them out of the sheet they looked great.

Step 4: Cut your magnetic sheet

I used the cut 3mm basswood as a template and traced the cuts onto magnetic sheet so that I could cut the magnets to match the back of the graphics. I wasn’t sure if the magnet material was safe to use with a laser so I went the safe route and just cut them out with scissors. It was really easy.

Here is the sheet after I traced the shapes.

Any pair of scissors should work just fine to cut the magnetic sheet.

Step 5: Attach magnet sheet to the designs

The magnetic sheet that I purchased from Amazon had a sticky side so all I needed to do was peel off the protective layer and then stick it to the back of each design.

The magnets came out so good! Printing on wood gives a bit of a retro look which worked perfectly for this design. The sides of the wood turn a dark brown from the laser which I think looks pretty cool too.

Here are the 6 magnets on my fridge. I’m still trying to figure out how I want to arrange them and if I should make more. What do you think?

Which of the 6 designs is your favorite? I like the ring pop the best but my husband said his favorite is the gameboy.

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More xTool M1 Ultra Project Ideas

I’m having so much fun with my M1 Ultra and will be sharing more projects in the future. Here is a list of some of my favorite projects so far that can be made with the M1 Ultra.