Personalized Clay Rock Magnets

This project came about for a couple of reasons.  1) I love magnets.  2) My kids love rocks.  Put them together, and they turn out pretty cute!
I also had some darling inspiration: This nest with "eggs" inside by Two Shades of Pink - where each egg is stamped with their family's names.  And also, these little balls of love from the crafty CPA. 

So, I took 2 light, natural colors of sculpy/fimo clay (the kind you bake), and squished them together to make a mottled, marbled looking "rock". 
To make the rock shape I used a little piece of foil for the middle, to save on the amount of clay I used, and to make the rocks lighter in weight. 
As you can see below a little piece of clay can just be wrapped around a ball of foil and pinched together and shaped with fingers until it looks like a rock. 

Since the clay is warm and pliable from squishing it and holding it in your hands, you can use small alphabet stamps to impress words into the clay.
I found this little set for $1 at the craft store, and it worked great!:

I tried to line them up, and space the letters evenly, but imperfection adds to the charm:)  I pressed as far as I could, without impressing the straight lines or corners of the edges of the stamps. 

Below is a picture of the indentations from the letter stamps, before it has been baked or painted.

Bake them according to the clay package instructions.  Here are a few that my daughter, mom and I made. 

Once they are baked and cool fill in the indentations with paint in order to make them stand out. 
I used acrylic paint - and applied it with a little stylist (a very pointy metal utensil, often used for embossing, etc.) 
You could instead try to water down paint, brush it over the letters, and wipe away the excess, but it is difficult.  We tried it and it was hard to wipe away all the excess and still leave enough in the indentation. 
If you don't have a stylist you could try using the tip of a sharp pencil, or mechanical pencil, and dip that into your paint to trace inside the indentation. 
Below is an in progress picture:

I super glued super strong magnets onto the back - and now I can use them on my fridge or these magnetic burner covers I have hanging on the wall near my craft table....

They are super easy, and so fun to personalize!  My mom made some with the words "peace", "joy" and "love"...you could make a whole rock set for yourself or friends!  Because who doesn't love a personalized (easy-to-make) gift?!

Check out these parties I often link up to!