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!

2019-08-14 13.07.32

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.

2019-08-14 14.25.38

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.

2019-08-08 21.46.29

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!

2019-08-14 22.51.06

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!

2019-08-14 23.05.46

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!

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.

2019-07-07 15.32.55

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!

2019-07-17 12.55.05
‘Mickey and Minnie in Paris’ by Thomas Kinkade, 500 piece Ceaco
2019-07-09 10.28.35
“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!

2019-07-09 23.25.52

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

2019-08-01 15.32.03
“Earth Angel” 1000 piece Buffalo, art by Josephine Wall

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

2019-07-28 18.56.28

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!

2019-07-31 13.27.072019-08-01 03.29.42

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!

Flower Delivery and a Beachy Retreat

Thomas Kinkade 500 Pieces
It’s been a rough week. Last Wednesday, December 5th, my grandmother passed away. It had been a long time coming unfortunately. The night she passed, I and a few other family members had gathered at my grandfather’s house, and I had brought along a pack of four 500 piece Thomas Kinkade puzzles to pass the time. I had just finished sorting out the edges of this lovely beachy scene, and was starting to assemble them when she left us.
I’d packed the puzzle back away, but went ahead and decided to finish it. I’d been so looking forward to doing this one ever since I bought the pack months ago, and I know my grandmother wouldn’t have wanted me put off of it. I also had packed it up in one of my grandfather’s tupperware dishes, and he’ll probably want that back as well!
It’s been a difficult week since then, filled with grief. I’ve spent a good deal of my time working on this 1000 piece MB Puzzle/ Cardinal Games ‘Flower Delivery’ to keep myself occupied. My grandmother would have adored all the flowers in it, she just loved flowers. Not as big a fan of dogs…. Too slobbery for her!
There may also have been wine involved…
The flowers were the easy part, simple to pick out of the box of assorted ambiguous greens and blues! They went together in a pinch!
Even with all the trouble the greens were giving me, I was still having a blast, a little ray of fun to distract me from the sad.
My cats are also a great distraction. Here’s Taco, siting in the chair across from me, taking a bath! Little goofball!
And finished! All around, I was really impressed with the quality of this one. The Cardinal Games puzzles I got from the Dollar Tree are about what one would expect for only a dollar, very thin cardboard, if otherwise good. But these, made in conjunction with MB using the ‘Premium Quality Blue Board’ are spectacular!
The cardboard is a good thickness, and very, very rigid with very little bend, so none of the pieces I encountered were bent or damaged in any way. The cutting was crisp and precise, and the printing and finish on the front was lovely. It also came with an extra resealable bag to keep the pieces in when finished, if that’s your thing, and a little fold out ‘box easel’, which you can fit the box lid into and will hold it up for you to look at while you work. I didn’t use it but I’ll definitely keep it around for the future in case I ever need something like it. What a clever idea! I’m really happy to have purchased several more puzzles by this company.
All around, it’s been a long, difficult week. I’m so glad I have such a nice, calming hobby to help get me through it!