Magnifying gems

After the party we had a ton of glass gems left-over so I figured we'd use them for a new project. I've seen these glass magnets all over the place recently and had wanted to make some of my own.

Since it was close to bed-time, I sent Miss M off to brush her teeth before getting started.

I then had her go through the New York Times Fashion magazine that was on it's way to the recycling bin, and had her pick out the pictures she thought would look nice magnified.

Next we glued the gems to the paper with regular craft glue and left them out to dry over night. In the morning I cut the gems out with nail scissors (the curvy kind so you can easily cut a smooth circle).

We're thinking we can use these for board games like Chess and Checkers, or with our Mancala set. Or with our made up games. They're also fun to just hold and look at. To sort. To give away... Oh yeah, we'll probably also make some magnets :-)