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5.06.2012

Organizing Puzzles to Save Space and Stay Sane

Through the Winter we found that having a puzzle out was a great way to keep us sane while we were cooped up in the house.  It was fun to have something that all of us could work on together, no matter what age. 


We put the puzzles together on a poster board on our living room table so if they needed to be put away when company came we could simply pick up the poster board and move it out of the way.  (It's also nice to be able to turn the puzzle when you get stuck and need to look at it from another view.)



After time though it's inevitable (with kids) that the corners of the boxes will tear and puzzle pieces will be lost.  Finding random puzzle pieces around the house drives me crazy, it's such a pain to figure out what puzzle they belong to and so frustrating for kids to put together a puzzle only to find out that there is a piece or two missing in the end.

I decided to spend a little time and organize them, based on a tip that my sister shared with me.


I cut the picture off of the front of the box and labeled it with a number on the back.  Then I wrote the number on a zipper seal bag and on each of the puzzle pieces on the kids puzzles with 100 pieces or less.


Now when (not if) I find random puzzle pieces around the house, my kids will know what puzzle they belong to and can put them away.   All of the puzzles pictured above fit into one box now with room to spare, which is a big space saver.


The font that I used for the vinyl on the box is a fun font called Hercules.


This is all of the extra packaging that I was able to throw away!




 This puzzle was cute, but tough--it has a whole lot of green and red!


Does your family like to put together puzzles?  Do you have any tips to share?  What is the largest puzzle you've ever put together?

Today's Fabulous Find...
Organizing Puzzles to Save Space

I was able to spend most of Saturday working on projects and got a lot done that I'm excited to show you including a home decor piece that to date is the dirtiest thrift find that I've ever purchased!  I didn't even want to put it in my trunk but the possibilities of what it could be won out and I brought it home, you won't even recognize it!



Linking to:   Lil' Luna     Creations by Kara     Someday Crafts
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9 comments:

Jule aus 9B said...

I love the idea. My daughther has a few puzzles, but when she outgrows them I will sell them (she always takes good care of her toys so they will be as good as new) so this is not a solution for us. She keeps them on one "puzzle shelf" in her Ikea Expedit. The craziest puzzle my husband and I ever did together was a skyline of Seattle, with I think I remember 1000 pieces and most of them skyblue .. we never finished it. I think it's still in my in-laws house as we left it... under a bed or so. Another puzzle that we loved had the same motif on the front and back, only rotated in a 90 degrees angle. We loved it and finished it like the wind!
Jule

Tracy said...

Great idea -- I may need to do this for my son's puzzles. Thanks for sharing! :)
Tracy

BKWilliams said...

This is an awesome idea. Thanks for sharing.

Karen said...

Awesome idea Janet! Saves so much space!! My kids used to love to do puzzles. Wish I knew this back then! Hope your having a great Sunday!!

Connie Babe said...

my husband is a puzzle freak. as in: he bought me a big new kitchen table so he could have the old kitchen table exclusively for puzzles. i need to get caught up on his blog, but here is documentation on his hobby: http://dougnhispuzzles.blogspot.com/

biggest he's done is 2000, i think. it took up the entire table when it was finished.

farmhouse-story said...

i wish you were around when my kids were younger--this is a great idea, janet!

Janet said...

To Connie: That's great that you got a new table out of it! :) I can't even imagine putting together a 2000 piece puzzle, we barely got the 500 piece puzzles together! :)

KC Coake said...

Great idea. Does it take a long time to write the number on all the pieces? I need to use this idea when I reorganize this summer because we have lots of puzzle and I could really use that space for games and such.
Thanks!

Melissa said...

Thank you for sharing this fabulous idea. My kids love doing puzzles and they take up so much room! I am definitely trying this one! :)

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