Welcome to Jigsawcreations.  Although we didn't begin selling wood name and photo puzzles online until the Spring of 2004, this home-based small business started in 1998 when I began making wooden puzzles for my children.  I couldn't find a wooden alphabet puzzle for my daughter so my husband borrowed a scrollsaw and told me to make one!  I had not even heard of a scrollsaw and had never done any woodworking.  I thought he was crazy.  I gave it a try, however, using a winnie the pooh coloring page glued to a piece of cheap plywood.  By the time I had cut out pooh I was hooked.  I made that first alphabet puzzle and gave it to our daughter (the little girl below who's on the tractor) for her 3rd birthday.  The delight on her face took me back to that old saw for more name and photo puzzles.

A couple of years and lots of trial puzzles later my sister gave me a picture of her daughter and asked me to put it on wood and cut it into a jigsaw puzzle.  I didn't have the slightest idea how to accomplish this.  It took me about three months and lots of trial-and-error to find a durable wood, figure out how to glue it down, figure out how to protect the photo puzzle surface, what kind of blade to use, and then how to cut it into a decent inter-locking puzzle.

Over the years, much has changed with my name and photo puzzles.  I now use the best wood on the market.  It doesn't break and chip!  I can also add figural or whimsy pieces to the puzzles I cut! Figurals are simply little cut-out pieces that have very distinct shapes. I also use 225 degrees and a special commercial press to melt a special adhesive to apply the photo to the board.  I use the same technology to apply a special matte laminate to the puzzle.  The blade that I now use is only .007 inches wide!  It's about the size of a horse hair.  It ensures the puzzle pieces fit well and you don't lose any of the picture when I cut it into a jigsaw photo puzzle.  Each puzzle is individually hand-cut, one piece at a time, to ensure a unique one-of-a-kind treasure.

The little guy in the puzzle to the right is our son Joshua.  He was born with metopic craniosynostosis. 

Check out our craniosynostosis page to learn more about his surgery.  We offer a 50% discount for personalized jigsaw puzzles for other "cranio helmet kids".  Please e-mail us for this discount.