~*Altered Puzzle: Shaq/Miami Heat Puzzle*~

In November I was invited to join a lovely group called PuzzleMadness... at first I was very concerned and suspicious about the group because I thought that given my past in actually not receiving decos and altered art home like I should, I was worried that in this group as well I would be sending out puzzle pieces and such that I would never see again.... and perhaps get my hopes up. I decided that I would put together a Shaq/Miami Heat puzzle project in the group as a gift for my Husband Tim for Christmas, as one of his surprise gifts from me (hoping all of the pieces would arrive back to me safely, and in good time)

I received the finished piece the week of Christmas and had just enough time to put the puzzle together and frame it! Here is the puzzle from beginning to end.....

This is of course the frame I created after I sent all of my pieces (12 total) out to the lovely ladies who volunteered to be a part of this project. Shaq is called 'Superman' in the NBA and has even made a clothing line with this symbol... which explains why I have a superman emblem on the puzzle. I also included a quote by Shaq that I happened to find.

It reads : "Everything happens for a reason, Im used to it. I prepare for it. Like I say, at the end of the day, those in charge of their own destiny are going to do what's right for them and their family."


There are red & white stars going around the outside of the puzzle, in the scan you can see the white stars but the red are difficult to see against the black. I actually took orange basketball textured scrapbooking paper and covered the frame, then took black acrylic paint and painted it. It turned out nicely and helps the puzzle pieces stand out a bit more.....

The next part of this project was an actual piece that I kept for myself to alter. 11 other volunteered but before I sent the pieces I actually traced each piece onto cardstock so that I could have the pieces just incase I didnt receive a piece in time or one was lost in the mail and I could quickly create one in its place.
This piece I put aside to alter myself... I decided to do something a little simple and this
being my first altered piece it didnt turn out as well as I would have liked. I used black card stock to cover the piece and edged it with 3d red glitter paint. I then again used the superman emblem and some white stars... One giant glittered red star and I tried being creative and using the basketball textured paper again to create a basketball on fire but it didnt happen as well as I had planned because the 3d paint was wider tiped than I expected. *sighs*
Hopefully my next puzzle pieces will get better in due time.... I guess the suggestion 'practice makes perfect' fits this situation! *Smiles*

Unfortunately, I was unable to receive all 11 of the pieces I shipped out in time for Christmas, so luckily with my cardstock cut outs, I was able to make this final piece for the puzzle and have it ready and wrapped for Christmas day! For this piece I again used the textured basketball paper and black card stock. I used the 'tear' technique with the textured paper to gift the piece a more creative look and to help it blend better than have straight cuts with scissors. If that makes sense. On the black side of the puzzle there is red and silver circular sparkles but they arent very shiny on this scan. I simply took glue and black glitter and created the 32 on the textured side, which is Shaq's number on his team. Its hard to tell but above and below the number 32 is a line of red and silver glitter with 3 black dots, just for decoration.

Just days before Christmas this was the completed puzzle project. I was so thrilled with the outcome and what made it even more special was for the last part of November and the entire month of December I managed to keep this project a secret and Tim was genuinely surprised by it! He really enjoyed the puzzle and it was a very nice conversation piece for Christmas with family and friends when we unwrapped our gifts. Everyone was very interested in it... I am so thankful for the help from everyone and how well it turned out, but mostly for the appreciation my husband had for this gift.

And finally the finished piece to this lovely project (My first ever Altered puzzle project!) A picture of my husband on Christmas day with the puzzle that he adores!