Memory Game

I have fond memories of playing Memory as a child. Game after game after game we would play, working hard to win over the rest. My sister was really good and an older sibling never likes to lose to a younger sibling. But we had fun and I’m sure my mom liked the quiet activity. Our family set was used a lot. Just recently, we looked through our old set and recalled things about the images, especially the creepy close-up picture of some kind of bug. I never wanted to get that pair.

I thought it was high time Love Bug had a nice set she could play with. We have had a few sets of card Memory games but some of the cards got crinkled and a few were lost so they made their way to the trash. This led to the idea to make one myself.

I use various thicknesses of MDF for art pieces; its smooth surface makes for a nice canvas. As I was brainstorming, I zeroed in on the 1/4 inch size and decided that would be perfect.

Add pairs of doodles and a repeating pattern for the top side and we were playing games in no time.

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What you need:

• 1/4 inch MDF (medium density fiberboard) or any smooth, thin board – Our set is 30 pieces, or 15 pairs, so my MDF chunk was 6″ x 20″.
• paints
• clear coat, like Modge Podge
• saw
• sanding block

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To begin, I coated the MDF board with a thin coat of white paint. I do this to give the other colors I use a light, solid colored base. After that dried, I marked off the memory squares, 2″ x 2″.

For my top-side design, I used a heart punch to punch 30 hearts, one for each square. I painted a red block in the center of each square, a little larger than the heart. When the red paint dried, I lightly swiped each heart with a glue stick to temporarily stick it in the center of the red portion. I coated it all again with white paint and topped it all with aqua paint.

When the aqua dried, I peeled off the paper heart punches to reveal the red below (my favorite part!). Then I sealed it with Modge Podge

On the other side, I repeated the 2″ x 2″ grid (making sure it lined up with the front side), then doodled and painted. Two of each remember! Then finally, I sealed it all.

When both sides were dry and sealed, I used my electric hand saw to cut apart the squares and then softened the edges with a sanding block.

And then we played.

It’s a match!

Games upon games of fun to be had.

Take care.

-amy c

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**You don’t have to doodle your own images! You can use printed pictures for the memory pairs and decorative paper for the solid design on the top.

Choose your images (check out Google Images, clip art, stock photos or your own personal images/photos) and print in a 1 3/4″ x 1 3/4″ size.

The decorative paper should be cut down to 1 3/4″ x 1 3/4″ size, as well. Choose a small, repeating pattern.

Adhere images and decorative paper in the center of each square with glue and seal with Modge Podge.

Cut apart and sand edges.

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