DIY Wooden Block Puzzles

My sister-in-law, Rebecca, is pretty crafty.  She is always wowing me with a cute craft or jewelry.  I was completely shocked when she and her husband MADE a solid wood bed complete with a head board and foot board!  It looked like something that you could buy at a furniture store.  She casually said, "It was our first time making a bed so we picked an easy design.  All you need is a drill, a circular saw, a jig saw and we got an oscillating and belt sander."  Oh, that's all.  So how long will it take me to make this bed if all I have is a hand saw, a glue gun and some emery boards?

For Christmas, she made my girls the cutest puzzle.  She bought a short picture book (she picked the story of Cinderella) and selected 6 pages to depict the story.  Then she cut the pictures into pieces that would fit on the 16 blocks (that she had sanded, probably with her belt sander) and used matte finish Modge Podge to secure them to the blocks.  Here's how it turned out!

 Puzzle 1: Cinderella doing all the cleaning

(She also numbered the puzzle pieces so that all pieces with the number 1 go together, all pieces with the number 2 go together, etc, etc.  She's a smart little cookie!)

 Puzzle 2: Cinderella meets her Fairy Godmother

  Puzzle 3: Cinderella meets Prince Charming

  Puzzle 4: The clock strikes 12; Cinderella looses her glass slipper

  Puzzle 5: Prince Charming tries the glass slipper on Cinderella's foot

  Puzzle 6: Everyone lives happily ever after

I found these wooden blocks on Kiwi Crate's website for $8.95:

My girls love the puzzles, especially Ava (5).  Sidney (3) generally uses the blocks to stack the up and make castles, but that has proven to be a lot of fun too!  Thanks Aunt Rebecca!