Popsicle Stick Puzzles ~ DIY

Today I have another simple craft project. :o) This idea has been around for a long time, and has also been in the corner of the crafting part of my brain for just as long. It finally made its way out through my hands a couple of weeks ago, and I photographed the process for a simple tutorial. Here we go...

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I found these colored popsicle sticks at my local craft store and I thought they were perfect for this project. I used nine sticks for each puzzle, and ran a couple of pieces of masking tape across the back to hold them in place until the photo was glued to the front. Like this:

 

Flip them over and you have a blank slate to glue the photo of your choice to. The tape on the back is just temporary, and it gets removed after the photo is glued to the front.


Print your photos and trim them down to size.




Next you need to adhere the photo to the popsicle sticks, and for this project I used a spray adhesive. I'm sure you can use other glues, but I wanted to be sure that it didn't seep down between the sticks. The spray adhesive worked great - you just have to work fast.




Once the glue has dried, flip your puzzle photo-side-down and cut it apart using the backs of the sticks as your guide.

Once all the pieces were separated, I put each puzzle into its own plastic bag and gave them away as little surprise gifts.

Carrie got the surfer photo, Lucky's smiling face went to my niece Presley, and my nephew Stone got the one with Rexy the turtle. Oh, and the sunflower puzzle was sent to my sweet grandma. :o)

I hear that the puzzles were all a big hit!

They were super fun to make.

And now there's room in that empty corner of the crafting part of my brain...

♥