Toot Toot Tuesday-Puzzle Blocks Tutorial

Hi! It's Tuesday, which means Tutorial Time! :)

Puzzle Blocks-these are so fun!

I have seen these a couple places with photos on them, which would make great grandparents gifts, but my Christopher wanted to make puzzles for his brother and sister for Christmas, and I thought it would be a little more fun with some kiddy stuff.

(Just FYI-Christopher is 3 and has the attention span of a three year old, so he picked all the pictures, and helped me do the first set, and then he lost interest...but that's okay, he helped, and he is really excited about the final project and can't wait to give them to his siblings, which is what is really important, but this is a project that kids really can help or do most of by themselves once you get the prep done. )

The supplies:I went to the dollar store and grabbed a couple of books that had some cute pictures. You could do these with any theme-Christopher just wanted to do Christmas blocks.

I think it would be fun to do some Disney ones, or something else the recipient really likes. These turned out dang cute, and I am really excited that the kids are getting and giving such fun gifts this year and really had a part in the labor.

Then you will need Mod Podge, a trimmer, scissors, and a 2x2 (which is actually 1 1/2 by 1 1/2) cut down to 1 1/2" blocks, and then sanded.

The process:

First you need to get 6 pictures out of your book and cut them down to 4 1/2 by 4 1/2.

Then take each picture and cut it into three 1 1/2 inch columns...Then cut those down into 1 1/2 inch squares. You should have 6 squares.After you have your squares cut, you will then mod podge them onto the blocks.

***Tip: cut off any hangover paper, it's okay if it cuts off a little of the picture, they will look much nicer than paper folded over the edges, it just won't lay smooth for you. Trust me!
Then do that for all the pictures on all 6 sides of the blocks. You can see that my blocks are a little uneven, but the picture still works.

I took pictures of all the different puzzles and shrunk them down to 1 1/2 inch squares inPhoto Shop, (I'll show you why in a minute).

Here they are.

Finishing up:

Here comes the best part! You have your puzzle blocks, but now how do you keep them all together?

I found these boxes at Wal-Mart in the craft section and they measure 4 3/4 x 4 3/4.

How cute and perfect is that?

So I Mod Podged the boxes with some scrapbook paper, printed out my little squares of the finished puzzles and mod podged those on top. Now the kids will be able to see how to put them together if they get stuck! (I know Chad and I got stuck on a couple when trying to put them together to take pictures of them!)Then we put the blocks in the boxes with a picture facing up and look how nicely they fit!

Here is the Santa ones for Porter...

And the Nutcracker ones for Bekah...

Wrap some ribbon or string around your box, and you have yourself quite an impressive little gift!

What kid wouldn't love this?