Shrinky Dink Magnets

When I was younger, my aunt gave me a Shrinky Dink kit for Christmas. Back then, just watching how the plastic shrinks in the oven was pretty awesome. My inspiration to revisit my childhood activity of making Shrinky Dinks occurred when I was browsing around Urban Outfitters and found these little mustache magnets that sold a pack of 8 for $8. Deciding that they were too expensive, I realized I could make them using my old leftover supply of Shrinky Dink and magnet strips. 

After making the mustaches, I decided to make Scrabble tiles. I love playing Scrabble and have all of the Scrabble, Words with Friends, and Scramble with Friends apps on my phone. They are definitely games of a true procrastinator. I've always wanted to make something out of those Scrabble tiles, but buying the tiles or the game was too expensive.   

To this day, I still enjoy watching the plastic curl and shrink before my eyes.

Materials
Shrinky Dinks plastic paper
Template
Sharpies
Colored pencils
Magnet strips
Scissors
Super glue, optional

Directions
1. Print out your template of the design. The Shrinky Dink paper will shrink to roughly 40% of its original size after baking, so resize accordingly. Tape the Shrinky Dink paper to your template. Make sure the rough side is facing up. 

2. Following your template, color in your design. Cut out each piece using scissors. Don't worry about cutting out the pieces perfectly; the shrinking process hides any errors pretty well.



3. Preheat your oven to 325 °F. Lay the pieces on a flat surface such as a baking sheet or ceramic plate. Bake for about 5-7 minutes. The pieces will curl, shrink, and then flatten out again. Wait until the pieces flatten out completely before taking them out. Let the pieces cool.
                   
4. Place the sticky side of the magnet strip on each piece and trim the edges. I found that over time, the pieces can fall off the magnet easily, so to be on the safe side, you can use super glue to keep them together.