Tag: 500 pieces

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Village Toy Shop

Village Toy Shop is a 500-piece puzzle from Sure-Lox, and it is part of their Touch of Frost series. I got this one for free from the friend who recently moved away, and I was very happy to find that it had all of the pieces.

Don’t let the picture fool you, it was quite a bit darker than it looks and very difficult. I knew it was going to be a hard one when the sky and snow were the easy parts, lol! The building pieces were extremely dark and it was slow-going putting them in, but I did eventually get it finished.

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Love in the Wild

Love in the Wild is a 500-piece puzzle from Mudpuppy, and the artist is Katy Tanis. I did this with my friend Suzanne recently. We both really loved how cute it was and were happy to be able to finish it in one sitting! I tried to pick a favorite square, but they are all so adorable that I really can’t.

I really appreciate having a friend who enjoys doing puzzles. We are hoping to get together again soon with one other friend so that we can all puzzle together. I would love to find local puzzle events or even more puzzle swaps. I have thought about starting something but I’m not sure I would know how to go about it.

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Japan Map Puzzle

Japan Map Puzzle is a 500-piece puzzle from Hardie Grant Travel. A new puzzle challenge started a few days ago in a Facebook group I belong to, and it has a new prompt each week. The first prompt was castle. On a quick glance through my stash, I couldn’t find a puzzle that had a castle, so I made a trip to Community Aid to see what was available.

I was so happy to find this adorable puzzle with a map of Japan that featured Osaka Castle. I had never heard of this company, but I was impressed with the quality of the puzzle. The pieces were on the thinner size, but they fit together well and there were very few completely solid pink pieces.

I enjoyed putting together the map portion, and I also loved all the little images of Japanese things. The “beckoning cat” is so cute, and the Harajuku crepes look yummy!

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Seaside Village

Seaside Village is a 500 piece puzzle from White Mountain, and the artist is Lois B. Sutton.

This was a charming puzzle with a lot of fun details. The pieces are pretty large and decent quality. There were two connected edge pieces that hadn’t been cut through all the way but no problems other than that. I enjoyed this one very much.

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Recent Puzzle Hauls

I have acquired several puzzles over the last few weeks that I am excited about doing. Most are new but a couple are used.

  • Balloons from Ravensburger, 300 pieces – part of their Moments line and it’s just so pretty
  • Diamond Dahlia from Buffalo Games, 500 pieces – looks like a lovely rainbow puzz!le
  • Wine Country Camper from Ceaco, 750 pieces – hard to find puzzle from the Happy Camper series, had to get off Poshmark
  • Amsterdam Weekend from Antelope, 1000 pieces – have wanted this one for a while and decided to take the plunge
  • Whimsical Village, Concord, 500 pieces – saw this and loved it, found on ebay
  • The Tree of Hope, Pintoo, 300 pieces – this brand is new to me and is famous for their plastic pieces
  • Coastal Harbour, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces – recently did one by this artist, Georgia Breeze, and really enjoyed it. This came from the UK but was sold on Amazon, so I didn’t have to mess with high shipping or customs fees
  • Simple Joys, 1canoe2, 1000 pieces – I have done one other by this brand and liked it a lot, this one just looks so relaxing

I am going to try buying fewer puzzles for the next month or so and try to focus on the ones I already have. That is a really difficult challenge for me, though, so we’ll have to see how I do!

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Pride & Prejudice Map

Pride & Prejudice Map is a 500-piece puzzle from Pippi Post, and the artist is Alexa Zurcher. This puzzle was so delightful! I am a big P&P fan and grabbed this one as soon as I could. (I also got the Little House on the Prairie Map.)

The image is totally enchanting, with the cute buildings and other fun details. If you look closely, you will see that the border is made up of quotes from the book.

I was also impressed with the quality. There was no puzzle dust and no false fits. I’m sure I will do this puzzle again and again!

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Gull’s Nest

I just love Charles Wysocki, and this image made for the perfect puzzling experience. The mix of buildings and horse-drawn carts with the landscape elements was ideal for puzzling without getting stuck on any one area.

This one is called Gull’s Nest, and it is a 500-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games.

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The Colours of Spring

The Colours of Spring is a 500-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games, and the artist is Terry Redlin. Redlin is a new-to-me artist, and I thought the image was kind of charming on the box, but I found it to be darker on the puzzle than it was on the box, which made it somewhat difficult.

This was another one I got for free from the friend who moved away. She had told me she couldn’t guarantee the puzzles were complete, but I was still quite surprised to have a total of eight missing pieces! There was also so much dog hair in the box – more than I’ve ever seen before in a used puzzle.

This one unfortunately had to go in the trash. I am not willing to pass it on to anyone with so many pieces missing.

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Mothers Day at the Park

Mothers Day at the Park is a sweet Americana image by Sharon Ascherl. This puzzle was 500 pieces and came from Sure-Lox, and I am pretty sure this is my first puzzle from both the brand and the artist.

I was impressed by the quality of this puzzle, especially given that they aren’t very expensive. I got this one for free from my friend who moved away recently and enjoyed it quite a bit.

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Puzzle Haul & Thomas Kinkade Puzzles

Check out my puzzle haul! A woman from my church is moving and gave me a bunch of puzzles she didn’t want to take with her. Of course, I said I’ll take them all! I’ll do the ones I like and them pass them all to other puzzlers.

The first ones I chose to do were the set of Thomas Kinkade puzzles. They were from Ceaco, and there were 3 of them. I have never done any of his artwork and thought I would give these a try even though they are not my normal style.

I had a pleasant time doing them. The largest one was a bit tricky because there was a lot more sky and also the border has a lot of false fits. I had to mess around with the border a few times to get it right.

Collector’s Cottage – 100 pieces
Stillwater Bridge – 300 pieces
Evening in the Forest – 500 pieces