Personalized Puzzle

Saw this idea on one of my fav craft blogs and decided to try to make one for Dixie for Christmas. She loves puzzles. Even though right now this one would be a little advanced for her, I had to try to make it. It turned out really cute, but I ran into one little problem with the picture sticking. If you try it, hopefully you can avoid my mistake.

To make:

Take one existing (not too many crazy edges or curves) puzzle and spray paint it. Use a flat spray paint. I used a gloss finish and my picture doesn't want to stay stuck to it very well. I will have to go back and glue down the picture with super glue around the edges of each piece. You will also need several coats of spray paint to cover the existing picture.

This puzzle is from Target and came in a pack for pretty cheap. It had a slick top, which may have also led to my picture not sticking as well. If you can find an old school wooden puzzle without a slick top and you use a flat spray paint, I bet you won't run into this problem.

Order the picture you want in an 8x10 size with a matte finish. Mod Podge the picture to the puzzle underneath the picture and then mod podge over the picture to seal it. You will have to do several coats over the top to give it a nice seal. Make sure to wait at least 15- 20 minutes in between coats or it gets thick and crumbly.

Once dried, use an xacto knife to re-cut along the outer rectangle edge of the puzzle. You will have to use some elbow grease on this part. Pop out the middle pieces, which will be in one big clump. Turn the puzzle over and using the xacto knife follow the lines of each piece until all of your pieces are cut out. You may have to file down some of the edges where the glue is real thick or your pieces will be very hard to get back into the puzzle.

Hopefully your picture stuck better than mine and now you have a personalized puzzled! How fun and easy.