Hello! It has been a while since my last blog post, and we are now well into the swing of things of the year 2026. I’ll be honest. I haven’t had the most energy in the world to create, but I really wanted to make some Valentine’s themed magnets, so I needed to work on them little by little, bit by bit. That is probably why I’m just posting these on February 10th and Valentine’s Day is just 4 days away. There wouldn’t be enough time to ship any of these out for this season, but I will have them now for inventory for any future craft sales and for next year if deemed “totally out of season” for this year. :)

The beginning of 2026 has not been kind to us. I am in Minnesota, right where the immigration enforcement has become heavily targeted upon. Those who know me, know I don’t and haven’t ever followed politics, but with the endless news stream coming from all angles, it has become impossible to ignore.

I have known for a long time that the government doesn’t have our best interests in mind no matter which side you may align with. Every administration has been littered with lies and cover-ups, false media reporting, (or no reporting at all) and distractions (now more so than ever it seems) to get us to hate each other and divide us even further. It roots way further than just the president. There are evil people, evil corporations running the Country, with evil agendas. It has become very heavy and weary on my soul, even as a life-long middle grounder. Heavy and weary souls seems to be the general consensus for most people I know these days it seems.

That’s why this batch of magnets is important to me. This batch focuses on various types of love, not just romantic love. The love we give to ourself and to others. That is what we need most these days. We all need to lead with it. Holding hate in your heart does nobody any good, and you know what? That is what the powers that be want from us.

Which brings me to the first creation of the bunch

"Lead With Love"


I had this idea in my head of how cool it would be to create a heart shaped spiral, with an arrow pointing inside of the heart, as well as outside of it at the tail end, thus leading with our hearts in all we do, say, and embody. I added the letter beads “lead with love” along the heart’s curves. It’s a little sloppy, but I’m pleased with the turnout overall. Hey, it’s a one of a kind ;)

"Love is in the Air"


I kept thinking that heart shaped balloons to symbolize 2 partners in love would be a really neat idea. I love how the hearts turned out. Side note: I had bought some heart stencils for these projects, which ended up being WAY too big, so every heart is hand drawn! (as I’m sure you can tell! giggle) Anyway, once I added in the clouds, my concept was complete. I think this is way cute.

"Convo Hearts"


These were the magnets I was honestly looking forward to doing the most, but they turned out to be my least favorite of the bunch. I had wanted them to look more 3D, and it would have required adding a lighter tint on one of the sides of each heart of each color. Yes, I could have done it, but I just didn’t have the energy bandwidth to do it. Just being honest! I also think the hearts turned out a little sloppy. I will try this one out again next year for sure. It’ll be interesting to see if I can improve! What I do love about these is each heart has their own little saying, just like the candies we ate as kids (or maybe we still eat them, I don’t know) ~ For the lighter pink one, I wanted to convey messages about inner beauty, confidence, and everything positive and light in the world, and for the red one I wanted to convey more of a spicy, sultry, x-rated, bedroom type messages. However, I couldn’t think of enough words for each theme so some were repeated on both. Oh well!

"Love is a Song"


This is a concept piece I’ve had burrowed deep in my head for a very long time, and I’m glad to bring it to life! ~ it is my take on Shakespeare’s speech “All The World’s A Stage”

Spirituality has taught me that the events of the world, have all been planned out for us, and the best thing we can do is to just be with it. To sit back, in a sense, while the world does it’s thing, and focus on what you can do to make life meaningful for yourself and for others. For me, this intermeshes the themes of “political theater” as well as “if we’re stuck in this play, might as well give it all we got!” I’m including this in my Valentine’s themed batch because to me, it conveys the message to “love loudly and proudly” in our daily lives.

“The World Is A Stage

Love Is A Song

Grab The Mic

And Sing It Out Strong”

"Spectacular"


Where are my “American Beauty” fans at? For me, I had to have watched this move at least 20 times in my late teens into adulthood. Very controversial topics with, yes, a controversial main actor, but I appreciate the movie for what it is. It is iconic. I will never forget that floaty plastic bag! Truth be told, ever since I got some fake rose petals, I wanted to create a canvas full of them, and after I glued them all on, the word “SPECTACULAR” immediately came into my head. Exactly as Kevin Spacey says it to himself as he’s imagining underage (eek) Mena Suvari half naked and covered with rose petals on his bedroom ceiling. This portrays a Valentine’s concept of Lust. Of aching and longing for someone/something so beautiful, even if you shouldn’t be doing so. It’s pure fantasy.

Experimentation


Here’s where I got crazy with it. I bought a kids crafting tool set off of Amazon which included some textured paint rollers, sponges of all different shapes, and some stampers. What I pictured the turn out in my head would be is not anywhere NEAR how they turned out. I think I put too much paint on the rollers, which caused it to become gloppy and not give the negative space effect I was going for. I wanted clean checkerboard, but got semi checkered mess instead. But I just went with it anyway, and honestly don’t think they’re half bad now!

It is always good to create art, even if you’re bad at it!

“Happy Valentine’s Day!”


After the checkerboard/checkered mess totally didn’t work at all, I blended all my pink paints together and created a somewhat textured background using a sponge. Then I put one bright pink sponge heart in the middle and used the flower stamper on on the corners using a lighter pink. After that dried, I used my acrylic paint pens to outline the shapes, color in the flowers, and add a little heart border on the sides. It’s cutesy, and I like it.

“Bleeding Love”


I really like this checkered mess piece. I think the colors are cool and it’s non symmetrical-ness / rectangle blotches gives me a feel of graffiti, or street art. I thought it would be cool to try to do a paint drip style as if the heart was bleeding. That didn’t turn out as I hoped, probably didn’t water it down enough or had too much paint that it quickly absorbed the water I did add, but I still enjoy how it looks. All the while I was trying to do these drips, I had “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis in my head. “Keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love” – So it fits the Valentine’s theme in 2 different ways. Pining for someone unrequitedly like the song itself implies, and to literally “bleed love” in all our daily encounters, to show kindness, etc.

“Love Will Triumph”


Another checkered mess salvaged by a little bit of paint blending. The message is simple, and it’s one of hope for brighter days ahead. LOVE WILL TRIUMPH. Hate gets us nowhere, fast, and it does not matter what “side” it is coming from. This follows the “lead with love” theme that most (though not all) of these magnets in this batch embody. I started off with that paint drip “bleeding” technique and then scratched that completely painted the heart solid. You can still see the paint drip bumps covered under the top paint layer. I feel that it delivers the message well that even though we are struggling, and our hearts are hurting, we can absolutely overcome it with love.

And there you have it, my Valentine’s batch. A little messy, a little sloppy, but all 100% handmade from my heart thanks to the ideas that float around in my head while I’m typing away the days at my desk job!

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Valentine’s Day and hope you get to spend it with the person, or people, who are most special to you.

If you’re interested in any of the magnets I’ve shared here, the 2.5” x 3.5” ones are $10, and the 4”x4” ones are $20 (plus $5 additional shipping if I don’t just hand it to you). I have only made one of each kind so it is a first come first serve situation. However, I can always replicate! (but never duplicate) - Send me a message on my Facebook or email hi@magnakatie.com to place an order. If you have a special request for an order, or anything else you’d like to share, please reach out!

Magnetically yours,

Katie <3