DIY Double-sided Popsicle Stick Puzzles

2014-08-16 12:21:09 X Romiter Woodworking Machine Blogs

I’m not sure when it happened… but Chuck went from being a
“sparkly-pink-bracelet” wearing boy to being a
“rough-and-tumble-loves-cars-and-trucks” kind of boy.

It happened so suddenly. *Sigh* (Strange, I’m humming “Sunrise, Sunset” right now…)

Anyway, with Chuck’s new love for cars with eyes and Bob the Builder, I
made him this set of popsicle stick puzzles. There are tons of tutorials
out there for these things, but I used the one from Repeat Crafter Me because she made double-sided puzzles. (Two puzzles for the price of one? Love it!)

Here’s a photo of one puzzle set. It’s got Bob the Builder on one side
and Scoop on the other. (Yup, I know the names of the machines. I
can’t remember what day it is sometimes, but I can name most of the
characters on that show by heart….weird.)

Let’s get crafting! Can we build it? Yes, we can! (Tee hee, I couldn’t help it.)

Materials:

Popsicle sticks
Images (two of each)
Sandwich bags
Packing tape
Clear tape or masking tape
Mod Podge*
Sponge brush
Cutting Mat
Exacto knife
Scissors
Optional: Markers / Crayons

*Note: Some people just use Elmers glue. I had a ton of Sparkle Mod
Podge, so I just used that. That’s why they came out rather….
sparkly…. Next time I’ll just use normal Mod Podge.

Directions:

1. Print and cut out two of each image. One copy will go on your
puzzle and another will go on your sandwich bag. (I don’t own a colored
printer, so I had to color my images in by hand. I don’t really
recommend that because it was pretty time intensive…)

2. Figure out how many Popsicle sticks your image will need. Then,
line up your sticks against something straight. Tape the sticks
together so that they’ll stay together for step 3.

3. Turn your sticks over so that the taped side is on the bottom. If
you’d like, label the sticks with numbers. Use Mod Podge to glue your
images onto the non-taped side of your Popsicle sticks.

4. Let your images dry. (I moved mine to parchment paper so that the Mod Podge wouldn’t stick to my work area.)

5. Once your Mod Podge dries, turn your puzzle over so the taped side
is facing up. Take off the tape and use an exacto knife to cut the
sticks apart. (Make sure to work on a cutting mat and cut from the
back/ non-image side.)

6. Optional: To make a double-sided puzzle, tape the sticks together
again, Mod Podge another image on the backs of your puzzle, and then cut
the sticks apart again.