More Late Puzzle Posts!

I have come to conclusion I am not a very good blogger! I must work harder to make sure I update. I guess perhaps I’m too busy puzzling? Hah, I wish! Alas, mostly just housework, working on art, and trying hard not to spend funds! Life’s got a way of coming at you, doesn’t it?

This adorable 1000 piece Ceaco was my next project after my last post, one that’s been sitting on my to do shelf since last year! It’s part of a three puzzle set by the artist Lonely Dog, but this is the only one I’ve acquired. I wasn’t expecting the slightly depressing story on the back though!

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Normally I puzzle alone, as my husband doesn’t enjoy it at all. This doesn’t bother me, being a bit of a loner by heart- I throw on some podcasts and have a great time! I did however, get to spend a day chatting with my friend while we worked on putting this one together, finishing up all of the sky, and a getting a good start on the car. It was great fun! I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but it was definitely interesting working together.

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It finished up very cutely, though while working the colors are quite bland. It was a fun one to assemble, and the pieces fit well enough, but it isn’t one I’ll be keeping long term and is now in my trade pile.

One of my cats, Taco, decided to invade my desk puzzling space while working on this 500 piece Ceaco brand ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ puzzle. Naughty girl! This puzzle is one of the Disney Thomas Kinkade’s that Ceaco puts out in multipacks. The pieces are quite thin compared to their single puzzles, and they’re generally pretty low quality compared to other brands, but for the price it’s workable.

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It was fun to put together, though I really should have waited until the morning and snapped a better photo… It’s currently sitting on my coffee table, waiting to be glued!

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This one was a quickie I put together after finished the little Carnival Dogs. I wanted something that was bright and colorful after the rather drab colors of the last, and this Animal Crossing Summer puzzle by USAopoly really fit the bill. It was only 300, so it went together super fast, only a few hours. Bright, fun colors, nice crisp printing, and very thick pieces- it was a very nice one!

I have another of these, Winter. I’d put it together and glued it last winter. On New Years Day actually, while watching the yearly Twilight Zone marathon! There’s actually one for every season, Spring and Fall have eluded me, as they’re apparently fairly rare, and were produced for and sold by Gamestop exclusively. After finishing Summer though, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to glue it or not!

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I settled for reboxing it, carefully split apart into large chunks instead. I have plenty of time to decide it’s fate!

And that’s it for tonight’s update! There’s still more, because it’s been so long, but this has been plenty enough I think! Thanks for visiting my blog!

Prehistoria!

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“Prehistoria’ 300 oversized pieces by Ceaco

I love dinosaur puzzles! I wish I could find images like these in higher piece counts.

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I have a second puzzle in this three puzzle collection waiting for me to do, but I need to track down the third. I really think Dinosaurs are probably my favorite theme. They’re just so much fun! Such a shame there aren’t more adult puzzles of them kicking around!

Wonderful Wonderland

‘Wonderland’ 300 piece by Great American Puzzle Factory, art by Bill Bell

Been waiting for the perfect day to assemble this one, and today felt right!

I do wish it were a bit more challenging since I assembled it in less than two hours (and I’m not overly fond of the massive sized pieces), but it’s a special one to me! It’s from 1996, and we had it when I was a little girl. My mom framed the box art for me, and it hung in my bedroom for years, and now hangs in a bathroom in my own house! I’d tried to find the puzzle for years as ours was sold in a garage sale at some point, and finally got the info I needed to track it down, and got it on eBay a few months ago.

Worth the wait, and staying in my collection!

Woodland Near Annapolis, MD

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‘Woodland Near Annapolis, MD’ 304 piece Whitman Guild

I know this is quite old, but sadly it’s not dated. My best guess is maybe 1960’s? I found some online supposedly from the 1950’s with a price marked on the front of 39¢, and this one is priced at 49¢! Nice to find such an old one complete in a really solid box!

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Very much enjoying these vintage puzzles. Little slices of history.

Puzzling Updates!

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I’ve been hard at work on this beautiful Cobble Hill puzzle- it’s my first time working this brand, and I’m very, very pleased with the quality! Nice board, lovely clear and crisp printing, and the cut is perfect and clean. Very little dust too!

It’s a toughie though! All the ‘easy’ parts (which was really only the owls) are done, and now all that’s left is the slow work of assembling all the foliage. It’s been fun, but slow and challenging. I’ve worked on it a lot in the mornings, with a cup of iced coffee, and my two cats meandering around me and the table.

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“Loire Valley Castle, France” 300 piece Puzzlebug
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“Colorful Catamarans” 300 piece Puzzlebug
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“Brightly Colored Tropical Fish” 500 Piece Puzzlebug

Of course, that’s not all I’ve been doing! We had to cancel our cable plan this last week, so I’d spent some time puzzling a few PuzzleBugs in the livingroom, and watching through the last of my DVR’ed shows before they disappeared. Such fun! The fish will be glued and hung above my aquariums.

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 “Tobacco Barn, San Luis Obispo, CA” 500 piece MB Croxley, 1997

I also finished up my current ‘desk puzzle’, a very nice vintage Croxley. I like the image, and had a lot of fun assembling it, but this was the first one I was actually disappointed in the quality. The pieces fit VERY loosely, and the whole thing had an unpleasant shimmy and shake because of it. Almost as if the cutting blade was much wide than it should have been maybe? It’s the only one of the four Croxley’s I’ve done so far that has had be craftsmanship though, so hopefully it will only be an occasional one-off problem! It was bought second had too, so who knows how many times it’s been assembled in the last 20+ years! That could have something to do with it.

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Hopefully this week I’ll make some more progress on this bad boy though! I can’t wait to see it done! I think I may frame this one!

Winter Wonderland!

We’re getting quite the little snowstorm today! Mostly freezing rain, sadly, but we did get a brief period of the biggest, fluffiest snowflakes I’ve seen in a long long while!

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One of our cats, Gidget, has likely never seen snow this big ever. She was quite amazed! But this isn’t the sort of wonderland I’m here to talk about!

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This picture hung in my bedroom as a girl since I was 8 years old, and now it hangs in my own house as well. It’s the framed box art of a jigsaw puzzle I received back in 1996 for Christmas most likely; I used to get them every year! I know we put the puzzle together, though I don’t remember actually doing it.

I’ve wanted for years to have the puzzle again, though it’d gotten sold in a garage sale I think, when I was still a little girl. I’ve googled high and low trying to find it, but never could. Then one day I was admiring the art again and happened the notice an artists name: Bill Bell! And that was all I needed to find it finally!

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This arrived in the mail today! I’d happened upon it on Ebay, now that I knew what to look for finally. “Wonderland” a 300 piece Great American Puzzle Factory, by Bill Bell, all the way from 1996. The artist has done a TON of puzzles actually, and his arts fantastic- I’ll have to look for others at some point!

I’m so excited to have this one in my possession again; I’ve waited a long time to get a hold of a copy! I can’t wait to assemble it, after waiting all these years!