Nerdy Secret Storage

Do you need a secret hiding place, where noone (except maybe your best friends) would look?
Or do you just want a cool way to bring your game markers with you?
I got you covered

I had this Idea for a while now because my local game shop has a stand with free 'worthless' cards to help beginners or people playing a game with only the packs they just bought, round out their deck with enough basic lands.

I am in love with the end product and hope you will like it too.

• trading cards (of any type you like)
• magnets (3mm by 5mm diameter)
• white glue
• super glue
• X-acto knife
• hole punch
• old brush
• something heavy and flat (like a book)
• something with a 90degree corner, I used a wooden box.

How big you want the box is up to you.
Will you carry it with you in your back pocket or always leave it at home? What do you want to store in it?

I want to put my dice in mine and used about a 100 cards

Of all the cards you will glue together, only 5 will show, so first go trough your cards and pick 5.

• One for the bottom (i use the back of a card for this)
• Two of the same kind for the inside bottom and the inside top
• And one for each side of the lid

Put those out of the way so there is no chance of accidentally cutting them while making the box.

Uncut cards
The lid needs to be the same thickness as your chosen magnets, + the 2 cards you already put aside
I used 5 cards for the bottom. (including the 2 you put aside)

My first attempt I thought to be very efficient by gluing all cards together before sawing a hole, but as you can see on the last picture, there was a clear difference between the glued pile and the loose cards.
And we want them to look pretty identical.

So we have to cut all of them individually.

First I checked where the holes I would punch for my 4 magnets would end up. Turns out on the top they fall above the printed line, but at the bottom I need a line just as far from the edge.

So I took a card and cut the top line as well as a decent bit down, this is now my template.
Put it on 90 of your cards and draw a line, to know where to cut.

Using a X-acto knife and a ruler, cut the center out of all cards that you just drew a line on.

Also cut the one of the identical cards you put to the side and put it back with your 5 chosen cards.

If they are not 100% identical, remember this is the inside of the box, you decide how important that is to you. I had some slight variation and am ok with that.

IMPORTANT: Use a brush, we want thin glue.

Uncut cards

Glue one stack as tall as your magnets (in my case 5) the look of these cards doesn't matter

Glue one stack of 5 of which both sides will actually show as the bottom of the box on the outside and inside, so use your nice cards for those

Cut cards
You also want a stack as tall as your magnets from the cards we just cut in the last step.

Make sure they are very well glued where the magnets will be, but try to not spread the glue all the way to the edge so your cards stay 'natural' on the sides.

Try and get them as best aligned as possible and put them under something flat and heavy like a book.

EXTRA
When looking at the colorful swamp card I picked for the bottom, I realized I really did not like that the skull ended directly on the cut line. A problem I did not have with the older cards.
So I decided to make all visible prints older cards for better skull placement.

My hole punch had a little raised circle around the cutter which I used as a guide.
Like I said I made a test at the start and already know where my holes will be.

Put the 2 parts you glued, that will hold the magnets, on top of one another to align the holes perfectly, even if you punch them not quite where you planned them at least the magnets will be in the same place.

Now glue a card on one side of each of the stacks you added holes to, for the lid this is a visible card you put to the side at the start.

Now your holes are closed off on one side, and you can put in your magnets in them.

Make sure per stack the magnets have the same polarization facing up on all holes.
Also keep in mind the side of your lid you want to show and adjust magnets accordingly.

Use super glue. Leave it to dry.

after the super glue has dried add the last of your nice cards to the other side, making the magnets invisible.

So I will glue all the cut cards from the inside out, to try and keep the outside as natural as possible.

Stack them perfect in a straight corner.

I keep the cards in place without pressing them down and add glue using a brush. Try to get a bit in between the cards. First I tack-glued them, only gluing one line down each of the sides, because if you get a lot of glue between the cards and they would shift it is quite hard to push them back in place.

Add a weight on top that holds the entire pile down equally. For me this is a little tin can about the same size as the cards, filled with nuts and bolts

After this has dried, add a coat of glue on the entire inside. (twice)

When dry use a craft knife to remove any excess glue pooling up in the corners.

Now glue the magnetic top to the top and the bottom to the bottom and let dry.

Your secret storage is finished, go forth and enjoy your new privacy.