Tag: 500 pieces

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Festive Fun Car

It’s that time of year when I start doing my holiday puzzles! I collect them throughout the year and save them up to do in December, and this is my first one for the season.

Festive Fun Car is a 500-piece puzzle from WerkShoppe, and the artist is Helen Black. I have only done two or three puzzles from WerkShoppe, but they are definitely one of my favorite brands. The packaging is gorgeous, with a slide out box with a ribbon pull tab, a resealable plastic bag for the pieces, and a nice reference poster. The pieces are medium thick with a smooth finish that feels so good, and they fit together beautifully.

I also love, love the image on this one. It truly is festive and fun, and I really enjoyed all of the great details. The shaped balloons and hearts made of candy canes are my favorite parts, if I have to choose.

This was a great start to my holiday! And I do mean start because, even though we did bring the Christmas decorations out of storage, we haven’t put them up yet.

Have you decorated for Christmas yet?

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Rainbow Sunrise

Rainbow Sunrise is a 500-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games, and the artist is Josie Lewis. This was such a relaxing puzzle to put together, and the rainbow gradient is so beautiful.

I have actually started collecting Josie Lewis puzzles because of how much I love them. I have five so far, three of which I still have left to do. I also started following her on TikTok, where she shares her current art as well as spotlights other artists who are doing interesting work.

Buffalo Games puzzles are very good quality. The pieces have a nice smooth finish to them that is very pleasant to the touch. I wish I liked more of their images, but unfortunately a lot of them are not my preferred style.

Here are the three Lewis puzzles I have on my to do shelf right now:

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Harvest Feast

Harvest Feast is a 500-piece puzzle from Galison, and the artist is Kathryn Selbert. I fell in love with this image when I saw it on Instagram a few weeks ago and starting tracking it on ebay until I found one that had a price I was happy with.

I am so glad I got it. It is such a charming image with all of the adorable woodland creatures sharing a feast together. I especially like the little mouse standing on a ladder so he can reach the table.

The only downside was that the pieces had a weird feel to them. It is hard to describe, but it was almost kind of oily. It was unusual for this brand to be unpleasant, so I’m not sure what happened. I still enjoyed the puzzle, but it was odd.

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Marie’s Pumpkin Patch

Marie’s Pumpkin Patch is a 500-piece puzzle from Spin Master Games, and the artist is Fiona Lee. I wasn’t familiar with Fiona Lee, so I looked her up and found some really charming illustrations. This one definitely fits the fall theme.

The quality of this brand is not as good as a lot of the others I have done. The main problem I have with it is the feel of the pieces – they have a flat feel I didn’t like. For lack of a better work, they feel icky. I will probably avoid this brand in the future.

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Potting Shed

Potting Shed is a 500-piece puzzle from Mulic, and the artist is Chris Bigelow. I took a chance on a random Amazon brand because I liked the image and have been trying to purchase more smaller piece count puzzles.

I usually find the puzzles I am drawn to are 1000 pieces, but with those, I am always too tempted to stay up way past my bedtime trying to finish the puzzle. If I do a 300-piece or 500-piece puzzle, I can easily finish it in an evening and then get to bed at a more reasonable hour.

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Seasons

Seasons is a 500-piece puzzle from Pippi Post, and the artist is Alexa Zurcher, who is the owner/founder of the brand. I have done several of their puzzles and really enjoy them. The illustrations are so appealing and the quality is very good.

This was a fun, easy puzzle that includes a lot of things I like: buildings, seasons, and grid images. I will definitely do more from this brand.

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Monster Mansion

Monster Mansion is a 500-piece puzzle from Mudpuppy, and the artist is Stephanie Birdsong. This is the same artist that did the Welcome to Spookytown puzzle I did last October. I love her quirky style and her fun take on a Halloween-style house crosssection.

It was fun to do an easy Halloween puzzle after the last two that were both 1000 pieces and on the difficult end of the range. I think this will be my last one for this year.

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Festive Food Truck (Repeat)

Festive Food Truck is a 500-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. This was a redo for me. I needed a puzzle with a sweet treat for a puzzle challenge in a Facebook group, and this one fit the bill.

I enjoy Ceaco puzzles. They are middle of the road when it comes to quality, but they have interesting piece shapes and are usually pretty easy to complete. This artist is a favorite of mine as well.

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Brunch & Craft

At the end of September, my church held an event called Brunch & Craft. It was open to anyone who wanted to come, and we were encouraged to bring a craft to do and, if possible, a dish to share. This is the second one of these we have had, and it was a lot of fun the first time.

My friend Suzanne and I decided to do puzzles during the crafting time. We did two puzzles, and our friend Brianne joined us for the first one before settling down to color. My friend Renee, who lives about 45 minutes away, came with me as well and she was doing some crochet.

I really enjoyed the event. I brought a sausage hashbrown casserole to share and had some other delicious treats that other people had brought as well. I brought four puzzles and let Suzanne and Brianne choose which ones we would do. For the first one, they immediately chose Cats in Quarantine, which is a 500-piece puzzle from Exploding Kittens. I have done it a couple of times already and love it.

The picture above shows it in progress, and here is the finished puzzle:

For the second puzzle, Suzanne chose Waterfall Camper, a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco. The artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. I have a bunch of her puzzles and really like her artwork.

This was such a fun event. Usually I get drained being around a lot of people, but I was so focused on our little group and the activity of puzzling that I actually still had a lot of energy after it was done. Renee and I went out for a late lunch/early dinner and then ice cream and hung out for a bit at my place before she went home.

I hope we do it again!