Tag: 500 Piece

Catching Up!

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Hopefully this will be my last “late” post! Lots of puzzles to show!

2019-09-23 16.03.00
“Eeveelutions” 2000 piece by Buffalo

My husband and I are really big Pokemon fans, especially eevee and all it’s evolutions- and when we saw Pokemon puzzles for sale at Walmart, on my husband’s birthday no less, we both scored big! He picked three for me to assemble and glue for him to decorate over his desk, and of course the first I did HAD to be the eeveelutions!

This was a blast to assemble, and looks fantastic when it’s finished! Now if only they didn’t have to shove a Pikachu into every piece of Pokemon merchandise, regardless of what the main theme is…

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“Detective Pikachu” 500 piece Buffalo

Another of the puzzle’s hubby picked for his birthday…. And the one I least looked forward to assembling! I tried to impress upon him how ‘not fun’ this one would be, what with all the solid black, without telling him no outright, but he would not be detered! Ah well, it was only 500 pieces, and I only had to sort the last 50 pieces or so by shape and try each one until they fit… @_@;;; It’s nice looking finished off though!

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“Still Life with Watermelon” 500 piece Cardinal

A quick finish on my desk puzzling space, just a little dollar store beauty. Glued and hung in the kitchen!

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“The Astronomer” 750 piece by Master Pieces

This one is far more lovely in person, because it is holographic and nearly impossible to get a good photo of! I can’t say I’m a fan of the holographic pieces from an assembly point of view, as it adds an extra layer of challenge that I don’t find enjoyable. But it does look pretty cool when it’s finished!

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A snap of some of ‘The Astronomer’s pieces, which better shows their vibrant colors!

And last but not least, a Cobble Hill thrift store find! One hundred percent complete, and now going in my collection! I adore Cobble Hill!

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‘Fishing Lures’ 500 piece by Cobble Hill

More Late Puzzle Posts!

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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!

More Completes!

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I’ve been slow to puzzle recently, and even slower to update! I’ve always got puzzles going, but have been too busy to sit down and get my blog posts written up. Whoops!

2019-07-07 15.05.09
“Balloons Over Cottage Cove” 2000 Piece MB Puzzle

I finished this one up back on the 7th of July; my first ‘real’ 2000 piece, and it was a total blast. Really fun to assemble, and the perfect balance between challenge, and making solid progress at every sitting.

The artist is Nicky Boehme; her art makes such bright and colorful puzzles. I’m always keen to snatch one up when I see it in the store.

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My husband was slightly horrified when he came in and discovered me reboxing it. He said for how long it took me to do (and it was on my board for about two months, I really worked it at a leisurely pace!) that he was certain I would glue it! Nope! This one’s going in the trade pile!

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‘Mickey and Minnie in Paris’ by Thomas Kinkade, 500 piece Ceaco
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“Fresh Fruit and Veggie Basket” 500 Piece PuzzleBug

Two more small completes, a Disney image from Thomas Kinkade- I just love the rainy scene. One of my desk puzzles, and I poked at it off and on for a few days. It’s been a while since I’d done a Ceaco; now I realize why people complain about them… I don’t think they’re bad, but I do with they had a thicker, hardier cardboard. Especially since they’re the same price (or nearly so) of the much nicer Buffalo brand!

The fruits and veggies was one I did and glued to hang in my kitchen- it’s glued, though not yet hung… I only did it because I had a number of other small puzzles to glue, and those are now happily in their place over the fish tanks, finally!

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And now for my latest complete, what filled my board after the veggies and the 200 piece:

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“Earth Angel” 1000 piece Buffalo, art by Josephine Wall

Hard to resist a Josephine Wall- such beautiful colors and stunning artwork!

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I chose to start with the wing, and honestly, I feel like it was the most challenging part. Very difficult to orient the pieces to each other when they’re just varying degrees of dark blue and black with small dots! Once that was done it was relatively smooth sailing!

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I’m always tempted to glue her puzzles, because I’d love to have the art on the walls… but they’re also really fun, so I’v decided to keep them in my collection instead. So back into the box it went this afternoon, and on to more puzzles for me!

Thrifty Completes

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2019-06-23 14.38.38-1
‘Vegetarian Delights’  500 piece by Golden Guild

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One of the thrift shop finds I was most excited about, so I’m extra happy that it’s 100% complete! Not dated, sadly. Maybe 80’s or early 90’s?

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‘Murten Street Scene’ 500 piece Encore by Random House

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I love it when these thrift shop puzzles are complete, especially when they’re older ones. Makes me happy they were well cared for before they ended up with me, and now I can do the same.

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And here’s a little update on the 2000 piece I’ve been working at when I have the chance. Last week was SGDQ- a week long video games speed running marathon for charity, so I didn’t get much work into it during that time as I was watching! Really trying to push it now, but life is getting in the way. Ah well, puzzles are always there waitin’ on ya!

Family Trees and Thrift Store Sprees!

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2019-05-09 14.28.39

After working on this beauty for nearly a month, I couldn’t be happier with the result! This puzzle is simply stunning, and Cobble Hill is definitely a new favorite puzzle brand! The finish is wonderful, I couldn’t stop running my hand over it to admire the ppieces. Everything fit together perfectly, the printing was great…. Ahhh, I just couldn’t be happier with it. Really looking forward to the two dragon puzzles I have by Cobble Hill awaiting me on my shelf!

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“Colorful Sea Treasures” 500 piece Puzzlebug

Another quick dollar store puzzle completion, and another to be glued and hung over the fish tanks! This one’s so bright and pretty, I love it!

So I’ve been having a blast thrifting for puzzles both last weekend, and this morning, and have had absolutely splendid luck! My first run netted me 14 single puzzles, with two multi-packs of 4 and 8 puzzles respectively! Just look at that little Cobble Hill!

I’ve since started the “Austria” puzzle by Re-marks that’s pictured in the photos and I’m… less than impressed. It’s getting close to completion, so I’ll fill you all in on why when I finish it up!

I was so excited with my finds from last weekend, that I took advantage of today’s wonderfully cold weather (It was around 35 degrees this morning, in MAY, whaaaat?) to go again, hitting a different assortment of shops. I love living in city, that’s sort of consumed several other nearby towns and areas, because there are loads of thrift shops all over!

I couldn’t believe my luck today though, a ton of the beautiful vintage landscape photo puzzles I’ve discovered I like so well, that gorgeous vintage food puzzle, and THREE Springboks! Omg!

Hopefully all these wondrous beauties will keep me occupied through much of the hot summer months, when it will be so miserable outside I won’t want to go anywhere for thrifting fun…

Puzzling Updates!

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2019-04-14 22.15.55

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!

Swarm of Puzzlebugs!

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2019-04-08 18.21.20

If you’ve seen my blog before, you probably know I love dollar store puzzles! They’re quick and fun, and usually have great little images on them you can’t find elsewhere. Sure, the quality of the pieces isn’t stellar, but they are more than workable for the price! And I can get a ton of them for the same price as a single puzzle of the fancier brands. It can be a win win if you want a little bitty puzzle snack!

And I’ve been snacking up a storm…

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‘Colorful Garden Boot Planters’ 500 piece by Puzzlebug
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‘Colorful Boats, Nepal’ 500 piece by Puzzlebug
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‘Traditional Boats in the Mediterranean Fishing Village of  Marsaxlokk, Malta’ 500 piece by Puzzlebug
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‘Colorful Beach Huts, Bahamas’ 500 piece by Puzzlebug
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‘Glade Creek Grist Mill, Babcock State Park, West Virginia’ 500 piece by Puzzlebug

These were all a blast to do, and quite quick too- a pleasant thing when you just wanna get something done! I’ve been spending my mornings relaxing with iced coffee and a puzzle. They’re such cute pops of color!

I think maybe I’ll work on a larger puzzle now though, and try a new brand out! I recently took advantage of Puzzle Warehouse’s sale on Cobble Hill, buy two and get one free!

I’ve been after these two dragon puzzles for months and months now, and those owls… well, I kind of fell in love with them! In fact, I intend to do them next! Hopefully I’ll have good things to report about Cobble Hill. I’ve heard nothing but good things from others, so I’b quite excited to finally have the opportunity to assemble one myself! I’ve peeked inside the box already, and was impressed by the look of the pieces, and the fact it seems to include a poster of the image to work with as well, which is always welcome!

Thanks for puzzling with me today!

Thatched Eaves Cottage

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2019-04-04 13.30.48
“Thatched Eaves Roof”  a 500 piece by MB Puzzle Croxley

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Finished one of my thrift store finds today, a little 500 piece I’ve been doing on the end of my desk. It’s been the perfect break from  computing; just spin around in my chair, flip on the lamp, and a-puzzling I will go!

I wish I’d taken progress shots, as this one was essentially completed in bands going down. The strip of sky, strip of roof, strip of white walls, strip of grass…. Right down to the flowers! So happy this one was also 100% complete and in very good condition! It’ll be a fun one to do again at some point.

 

Near Berchtesgaden…

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2019-03-19 15.21.38
‘Near Berchtesgaden, West Germany” 500 piece MB Croxley, 1991

Another older MB Croxley puzzle, this time from 1991. Absolutely lovely, and a 100% complete thrift store find!

Simply loving these oldies. Really nice quality, with wonderfully thick pieces. I did repair a few where some of the image was pulling off with the dab of a glue stick. Glad I can give them a loving home!