Church Bag Addition!

I know it's been forever since my last post. I really need to get back in the groove. But now that I'm feeling a little better I feel a huge push to get my house organized, dejunked, and cleaned out before this baby comes. My basement is almost totally done, just a few little things to get done in the workout room and then I can move on to the upstairs. Molly's room is done and ready for her new roommate to move in as soon as the beds arrive, the frames were back ordered and will be coming in April. What does that mean.... I honestly don't know! (start of April or end of April!) Well I decided to take a break and do a project that I have had in my mind for months and have just now got the energy and time to put into action! I'm so happy how it turned out. I have plenty of ideas, most of which are a total busts, but I'm excited about this one and I'm sure the novelty will wear off after the fist week of church, but hey what do you do?

My girls really do love puzzles. I found a bunch when I was in Japan. There were like 6 in a package for $1! Japan's dollar stores are so much better than ours. Well they have been in the church bag and my girls LOVE them. The only problem is they fall all over and we lose pieces and I hate when they are almost done and then they move the puzzle and it all comes tumbling down. This is where the idea started to form. I thought I would get a can and then make magnetic puzzles so here is what I did and how I put it together.

So I went to Office Depot and found some Magnet sheets. They are the same size as paper! Then I printed some of my favorite photos of the girls and some other random ones off my computer right onto the magnet sheets.
My mom has a Cuddle bug cutter and they make a puzzle die cut that I found online and it fit a 4x6 photo perfectly! So I cut them into photos.

I also found the perfect size lunch box looking can for each girl that the magnet puzzle would fit perfectly on, then I could also store the puzzles inside them. I added some vinyl letters on the front so there is no fighting about who's is who (I'm sure my kids are the only ones that would fight about something that silly but I have to cover my bases). So then I put all of the puzzles in sandwich bags and shoved them in the box. Here was the problem with that... I couldn't tell what puzzle was what and the girls like to choose their own puzzles and it took up sooooo much room. So I printed off little thumbnail print of the same photos I used and went and had them laminated and found some awesome library card envelopes that would work perfect for what I wanted. I got home and there was adhesive on the back of each of the envelopes so I stuck them back to back and put the pictures of each puzzle on the front and then bound them together like a book! That way they can just flip though and find what they wanted. The books fit nicely in each can and keep it from the major digging and mess making with all of the baggies.

Each little envelope holds a different puzzle. I love that they stick to the can so we don't have them falling all over and they are pictures of themselves so they will love to put them together.

Really all in all I'm really happy with how it all turned out and hope it will keep them quiet for a few extra minutes during sacrament meeting!