Popsicle stick puzzles!

Who doesn't love Pinterest? When I first heard of it I didn't understand what all the hype was about, and just didn't see the point of it all. Then one day I decided to join and give it a shot, and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made!!! Seriously, if you haven't joined yet, go do it once you're done reading this! :)

After hours and hours of scouring different pins and the internet and filling up my pin boards with basically everything under the sun...I'm starting to actually DO some of them now. Pinterest is actually where I got the idea to start crocheting (Thanks Pinterest!), which in turn lead to me opening my craft business, and eventually lead to me starting this blog!

Today I'm going to show you the popsicle stick puzzles I recently made. I originally got the idea for these from FlipChick Designs tutorial on the puzzles she made for her niece. After seeing her post on Pinterest I just kept brainstorming what puzzles I was going to make for my little guy. Photos of friends and family, holidays, cartoons, you name it, I've thought of it! In the process of getting more inspiration, I came across another tutorial from Impress Your Kids which used family photos which is one thing I wanted to do as well. She also had a great tip to use tape to tape the sticks together once they're all lined up to keep them where they need to be!

So I printed off some 4x6 photos of family, friends and some of Eli's favorite characters, gathered up the rest of my supplies, and got to work! Supplies: Mod Podge
Paint sponge
4x6 photos
Tape
Razor knife
Jumbo craft sticks I was visiting my mom for the day, so I also grabbed some old sales flyers to use as a work space so I wouldn't get glue all over her tables! Once I had my work space all set up I started by lining up enough sticks to fit the 4x6 photos on (I didn't cut the photos down so I used 9 sticks for each photo). I was having trouble getting them all to line up strait, and stay that way, so I taped two sticks together to use as a guide for the bottom, and used another stick to straiten the puzzle pieces against it. Once I was happy with their arrangement I used long pieces of tape on the top and bottom to hold the sticks together while the photo was applied.

Next I flipped the sticks over and got ready to apply the photo. I thought it was easier to apply the mod podge directly onto the back of the photo and then affix it to the craft sticks.

I added another layer of mod podge over and around the photo to get a good seal to make sure the photos don't peel up around the corners.

It goes on white, but dries clear! (I prefer the look of the matte mod podge when it's dry versus the glossy.)

I did the same for all of the puzzles I had picked out. Once they were all done I set them aside to dry.

Eli wanted to sit with me and draw while we were (im)patiently waiting!

Once they were dry I used a razor knife and an extra craft stick (as a guide to keep a strait line) to cut through the front of the photos. Then I placed each one in it's own snack size ziplock baggie.

Eli was SOOO excited when I showed him how to do the puzzles. He's a little young still to figure it out himself, so I need to help him out, but he'll get there. We had to do each puzzle at least twice, and anytime I get them out he gets really excited all over again. So these are a huge hit in our house and I can't wait to make more!

Thanks for stopping by!