I'm Crafty: Made A Puzzle Holder

We're attempting to sort through the stuff in our house and get rid of a lot of things that we don't need, use, want, or have the space for.  We definitely need to cull our possessions down, we have too much stuff.  But it is so hard to get rid of things that you think you'll want later.  Like I love cookbooks even though I mainly use online recipe resources.  A few months ago I went through all of my cookbooks and got rid of the ones I didn't want, but there are still quite a few in the "keep" pile and I feel like I can't remove any more.  Maybe that's one of my few indulgences since I love food so much and I'll just keep all of the ones I've got right now.  

But anyway, on to this awesome idea and how it connects with getting rid of stuff.  Sonny D has some big wooden puzzles that have thick pieces, which makes them difficult to stack on top of each other because they end up in a tippy pile.  I pulled out all the pieces and put them in a bag separate from the puzzle bases, but it seems like he doesn't use them at all then since he has to locate and dig out all the pieces from the bag.  So I was looking for a solution to deal with this little problem.  I've asked Husband Jeff to make a custom puzzle rack, but he has so many other projects and this wasn't at the top of his list. 

So after cleaning out our office a bit and getting rid of a bunch of old magazines, we had a few extra cardboard magazine files with no purpose.  I saw an idea on Pinterest of taping together shipping boxes to make a puzzle holder (I typically search on Pinterest to see if I can find solutions to my random problems), so I followed suit.  

Inspiration: Priority Mail boxes taped together.

I pulled out the clear packing tape and strapped all of the magazine files together. I didn't do a pretty job, but I don't really care since I just want something to hold the puzzles together and didn't care what it looked like. 

My Version: 5 magazine files, taped together

After wrapping all three of the closed sides with tape, I pulled out the puzzles and put them in the slots.  Perfect!  Now I need to track down all of the puzzle pieces and put them together and then we've got a complete, organized puzzle holder! 

With puzzles added.

If I eventually feel like jazzing it up, I can add some sticky shelf paper (Contact paper) to cover the layers of tape. I picked up a small roll of shelf paper at the dollar store with the intention of using it to make cute labels for my Tupperware storage in the cupboards and pantry, but I like my masking tape labels for right now.