Magnetic Build-a-Owl Activity (with tutorial)

I am finally getting a chance to share my Magnetic Build-a-Owl activity that I made for the Papertrey release. I have had this idea in my head for a while and was waiting for the perfect set to make it with. Alli's Wise Owl and Wise Owl Bellies sets is perfect for this type of thing! I absolutely love this set! It is so much fun! I'm going to share some photos of the tin and then, I have a short tutorial at the end showing how I made everything.

This is the tin open. I used one of Papertrey's small 2.5 ounce clear top round tin. It's the perfect size to hold all the pieces and does double duty (this will make sense in a minute).

Here are all the magnetic pieces. My 4 year old loves playing with this set. There are lots of options for bodies, bellies, and eyes to create many different owls.

This is what I mean by the tin doing double duty. All the pieces can be dumped out and then, you create your owl using the bottom of the tin to hold the pieces together.

Here are a couple more examples of different owls you can create (using a second tin as well).

Magnetic Build-a-Owl Tutorial

Supplies
Stamps: Wise Owl, Wise Owl Bellies (Papertrey Ink)
Inks: Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: vintage cream, white stamper's select (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: (hand stamped)
Accessories: 2.5 oz clear top round tin (Papertrey Ink), dimensional glaze, copic markers, magnetic tape, magnetic sheets, scissors, nestability circle dies (Spellbinders)

These are the magnetic sheets and the magnetic tape. The thin sheets I bought around Christmas time at a dollar store. They are meant to put photos or something on them to use on a fridge. You can get rolls of magnetic tape at Walmart or a hardware store.

First, stamp the owl parts on white and vintage cream cardstock using dark chocolate ink. Stamp the beaks and feet on your owls because they would be too small to cut out. You may need to heat set if you get any smearing when coloring. I did not heat set mine. Color all the pieces. I used copic markers when coloring my pieces.

Now, cut all the pieces out. The eyes coordinate with a 1/2" circle punch. (I did not have a punch that size so I just used scissors. It would be much quicker with a punch.) Here you can see all the pieces.

Cut some rectangles out of the magnetic sheets that are large enough to cover the backs of the owls. Peel off the backing and stick the owl bodies to the pieces and trim around the edge with scissors. (I tried sticking the owls down before cutting them out and cutting all at once and it was more difficult to cut through the layers. The edges are cleaner if you do this in two steps.)

Cut small pieces of the magnetic tape to put on the back of the bellies and eyes. I used the magnetic tape for the eyes because the magnet is stronger than the sheets. The magnets have to go through the thick cardstock of the owl bodies so you need something stronger.

Here you can see the magnets on the backs of some of the pieces.

Now, it's time to decorate the tin. I wanted to use one of the sentiments to make a patterned paper to go around the tin. I chose "have a hoot of a day." To make things easier to line up when stamping, I put both of my stamps (my sentiment and the dot) on my block and stamped them at the same time.

I stamped my sentiment repeatedly along the bottom of a piece of vintage cream cardstock. Then, I cut the strip out and adhered it to the bottom of my tin.

To decorate the top of my tin, I chose one of the small owls in the set. I cut out a vintage cream circle using a nestability circle die and cut a chocolate mat using the next size circle die. I left my vintage cream circle in the die after it was cut to make centering my image easier. Then, I stamped my owl in the center of the circle. I colored the owl using copic markers and added the mat. Then, I added my image to the top of my circle tin.

To make the inside look more finished (and so you can't see the adhesive), I cut another chocolate circle the same size as my mat on the top and added it to the inside of the tin.

The last step is to add dimensional glaze to the owl's eyes and the dots in between the sentiments on the strip going around the bottom of the tin. I used CTMH's liquid glass because that is what I have, but any brand would work. Just let it dry and you have a cute little activity for your little one. If you make one, I would love to see it so please share a link it in the comments!

Have a great day!!