Thoughts of an introverted bookworm and avid jigsaw puzzler
Paris Christmas is a 1000-piece puzzle from eeboo, and the artist is Jennifer Orkin Lewis. I love all of the great colors and details in this festive holiday image. My favorite part is the twinkle lights on the Eiffel Tower.
There were a few sections I was able to do in the beginning, but after that, it was mostly pick and place for the rest of the puzzle. It was still fun, though.
Holiday Drive In is a 1000-piece puzzle from Cobble Hill, and the artist is Diane Dempsey. I love the mid-century modern theme of this image, with the vintage cars and the fun signage. My favorite parts to put together were the movie screen and all of the signs – I love puzzling words!
I have done a couple other puzzles from this artist and really enjoy her style. Cobble Hill is a really good quality brand that does random-cut puzzles. I tend to do more ribbon or grid cut puzzles, but the random cut didn’t bother me with this one because it was such a great image.
Have you ever been to a drive in movie? I have fond memories of going with my family as a child and playing on the little playground beneath the screen before the movie started.
Crows Nest Harbor is a 1000-piece puzzle from MasterPieces, and the artist is Art Poulin, who was an American folk artist. This puzzle was actually the oldest on my to do shelf. I kept passing it over and finally decided it was time to pull it down and do it.
I really enjoy puzzles with buildings, and this one was especially fun with the distinct bright colors for each building. The amount of dock and sky was small enough that they weren’t very tricky, either.
It felt good to be puzzling after an almost two-week break. (No big reason for the break, I’ve just been reading a lot more.)
I was still in the mood for Americana the following day, so I did this 500-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games called Young Patriots. It is a Charles Wysocki and features more of my beloved buildings along with other charming details. It was a lot of fun.
Boho Camper is a 1000-piece puzzle from Magnolia, and the artist is Olivia Gibbs. I like this artist a lot and most of the puzzles I have with her artwork are smaller piece counts, so it was nice to find this one.
I started it with my friend Suzanne the other evening. She loves doing borders, so she worked on that while I started on the interior. We got a couple hundred pieces done by the time she had to leave, so it was a good start. After she left, I was working on it a little bit more when I did something I have never done before–I spilled soda on the puzzle! I mopped it up as best as I could and then just left it to dry overnight.
Once the puzzle was dry, I found that a few pieces had separated from the cardboard backing, unfortunately. I was able to finish the puzzle, and you can’t tell there is anything wrong from the photo, but I think I might try to glue the pieces back together.
Despite my mishap, it was a fun puzzle. I really like the Boho elements against the background of camping in nature. I have done a few Magnolias and been happy with the quality. It’s one of the few I have found where you can move whole sections around easily, which is nice when you have two people working together.
Fall Grid is a 1000-piece puzzle from 1canoe2. I love grid puzzles, and I love 1canoe2, so this was a home run for me. I have actually done another grid puzzle from this brand called Simple Joys, and I loved it as well. Full disclosure, they were having a $15 puzzle sale, so I actually just ordered a Halloween-themed grid puzzle from them to do next October.
This puzzle has such cozy fall vibes with the crackling fireplace, the mug of hot cocoa, the basket of apples, and the other images. I also love the beautiful colors. The quality of this brand is top notch, with great piece quality and a good fit. Such a great experience!
Fall Festival is a 1000-piece puzzle from Pieces & Peace, and the artist is Abby Jacobs. This is a French brand I tried for the first time earlier this year and loved, so I was happy to be able to get some more from them.
I originally had this on my shelf to do sometime this fall, but then someone else posted it on Instagram and I realized it actually had Halloween elements in it. So I pulled it out to do at the end of October. I finished it Halloween night, which I was happy about.
I love the fall vibes with the colorful trees and cozy market stalls. But my favorite part is the kids in their Halloween costumes all lined up for the costume contest.
The Language of Flowers is a 1000-piece puzzle from Reverie, and the artist is Winona Kieslich. This was my first puzzle from Reverie. It is an Australian brand and all of their puzzles have something to do with books.
They are a bit pricey and sometimes hard to get here in the US. I got this one several months ago when I had a free shipping code, which made the cost a bit more palatable. Now the US tariffs have driven the prices up even more, so I will not be buying them for the moment.
Now to the puzzle itself: I absolutely loved it! It was a fabulous experience and the image is just so charming! Everything from the packaging to the piece shapes to the level of detail in the image was perfect.
Bear Country is a 1000-piece puzzle from Final Piece Puzzles, which has just launched its debut collection of 10 puzzles. This one was sent to me to try out.
I was very pleased with this puzzle. It came in a sturdy box with a good size reference poster, and the pieces were a nice size and thickness for the piece count. A few pieces were still connected but only by one corner so they were easy to separate. There was also very little puzzle dust, which was nice.
I did the border first and then the inside. In both cases, I started with the lighter pieces and worked my way to the darker ones. The pieces fit together well and had a lot of interesting textures. The only drawback was when I got to the darkest teal pieces, as they were very dark and it was quite a task to get through them. Once I was done, though, the finished puzzle was beautiful.
I am very glad I got the chance to try out this brand and am looking forward to doing more of them. The pic below shows all three of the puzzles they sent me. I am looking forward to the top one, Santorini, but am nervous about the bottom one, Eiffel Glow, because of all the really dark areas.
Found Alphabet is a 1000-piece puzzle from Cobble Hill, and the artist is Shelley Davies.
This was such a fun puzzle! I had been putting it off because it is a random cut puzzle and those are not my favorite, but this one was such a joy to do that I hardly even noticed the piece cut.
There are so many interesting textures, and I love the fact that it’s a grid puzzle. Highly recommend!
Bread & Butter Farms is a 1000-piece puzzle from Buffalo Farms, and the artist is Charles Wysocki. This is such a classic fall image with the farm stand and all of the pumpkins.
It took me a few sessions to complete, so I would definitely put the difficulty a bit higher, but it was very enjoyable and definitely fits the mood of the season!
In So Many Words 