ABC magnets

This is, by far, one of the most fun projects I've done for the girls, and I really do have Pinterest to thank for it! I was looking for projects to do for the girls, mostly things to do over the summer, when I came across this idea from Everyday Art to make magnets to teach the ABCs. I'm not the world's best photographer, so it's a little blurry from the light, but hopefully you get the idea!

I used clear stones that I got for about $2.50 at Michael's and traced the shapes onto card stock. (I have so much card stock, it's kind of sad!) Unfortunately, you can't just make a set of templates and glue them to the stones are each a slightly different shape, so you have to trace each stone onto the card stock. When cutting out the card stock, cut inside the line so it fits on the flat side of the stone. I used black letter stickers, but you can draw them on or use other colors. On the Everyday Art blog, she used different kinds of letters and glued them all onto the same card stock. Then, glue the card stock to the stone. Now, my fingers show the evidence of this as I used jewelry glue so it was completely clear. My fingers were a mess for more then a day and I couldn't use my iPhone as result! Last step is to secure a piece of magnet strip to the back of the stone! Again, more glue to ensure it stays in place (hey, I work with toddlers, so everything needs to be secure!). And there you have them!

Next weekend, I'm going to work on 1-10 as I still have a ton of stones left over! My aunt suggested writing names and phrases on the stones and using them as gifts, which is a cute idea. Glass magnets in craft stores cost upwards of $6 or more for a set of maybe 5 magnets! These are so cute and it took me about 5 minutes to make each of them... plus a day to get the glue off! Perhaps with practice, I'll come up with a better way to keep the glue off my fingers!