My grandma loves doing puzzles so this year for her birthday I thought I would make her a puzzle with a Happy Birthday message on it. Since her birthday is just after Frank and I get back from Italy I made this before we headed off on our trip and mailed it to her with strict notices on the outside of the box not to open until her birthday.
To make my puzzle I started by buying a kid's puzzle for a dollar from the Target One Spot. I liked this puzzle because the wide rectangle shape would work well with adding my message to it.
When I got home from Target I covered a board with butcher paper and then put together the puzzle. I then took it outside and using light coats of matte spray paint I painted the puzzle white. Because of the colorful design it took five coats before it was completely white.
I let the puzzle dry over night and then started adding my design with pink and teal markers. To add the word "Grandma" I used pencil transfer. I printed the word out on a piece of paper and then lightly penciled over the areas of the letters on the back side of the paper. I then put the paper right side up in the position I wanted and traced the outline of the letter which caused a light graphite transfer onto the puzzle. From there I went over my pencil guidelines with dark pink marker and then filled in the letters with light pink. I used a teal marker to write "Happy Birthday" and "Love Lisa" and then used the pink and teal markers to make a border to finish it off.
I think the puzzle turned out cute and it was fun to make. At only a hundred pieces this is a much smaller puzzle than Grandma usually works but hopefully it is still fun for her. Happy Birthday, Grandma!
