Feathers

Feathers is a 500-piece foil puzzle from Galison that my son gave me for Christmas/birthday last year. The artist is Margaret Berg. Although it had been on my wish list, I was a little nervous going into this one because of how many different colors and textures there were on all the feathers. It turned out to be super easy to complete. I enjoyed it from start to finish, especially with the gold foil accents!

There were so many interesting patterns and colors in this design. And there were no (or very few) pieces without something on them, which made the puzzle go together very quickly. Another win for this brand!

Winter Perch

Winter Perch is a charming 500-piece puzzle from Galison, and the artist is Cagla Zimmerman. It features a winter scene of several birdhouses with birds flying around them that provide pops of color against the more muted background of blue-green foliage.

This was an enjoyable puzzle to do. I chose it as part of the Winter Bingo challenge I have been doing with the Casual Puzzlers Facebook group. This puzzle was for the Winter Scene bingo square, which was actually the final square on the board for me.

Here is the finished puzzle as well as the finished bingo card:

With the completed bingo card, I actually earned six entries into the bingo giveaway drawing:

  • Four Corners
  • One straight or diagonal line
  • X Marks the Spot – both diagonal lines
  • Picture Frame – all border squares completed
  • Blackout – the full card is complete
  • Disney Bonus – bonus entry for using Pooh in my Disney puzzle

I had a lot of fun doing the bingo and picking puzzles that would fit the different squares. I will say that it feels a little strange now to just choose any puzzle I want to do without thinking about the bingo challenge. I got used to having that structure! I do have several puzzles on my to-do list, though, so I am looking forward to doing whatever I want now.

Peanuts Baseball

Peanuts Baseball is a fun 500-piece puzzle from Aquarius that I purchased to use for the Winter Bingo I am participating in this season. It depicts several different scenes showing the characters from the Peanuts cartoon playing baseball.

This is the first puzzle I have done from this brand, and I was very happy with it. The pieces were a nice thickness and fit together quite well. There were no false fits, and I was able to move sections around pretty easily. The only downside was that it was missing one piece at the end.

Such a fun, colorful puzzle! I would be open to doing more from this brand.

Songbirds

Songbirds is a super cute puzzle from Mudpuppy. It is 500 pieces, and the artist is Neiko Ng. I had originally received it from a Secret Santa exchange during Christmas 2022, but I donated the puzzle before doing it to a drive they were having at our church specifically asking for new games and puzzles. I did really like it, though, so I ended up purchasing it for myself recently.

It was a very easy puzzle to do. The birds all came together quite quickly. There were a large number of light blue pieces with musical notation on them that were harder to put in. Once I sorted by shape, however, they went in pretty quickly as well.

I was very happy with the quality of this puzzle. There was virtually no puzzle dust, and the pieces fit together very well. I was able to move sections around fairly easily, and there were no false fits.

I am so glad I got this puzzle again. There is one other Mudpuppy puzzle that I donated which I have put back on my wish list, called Hungry Plants.

Ice Cream Truck

Ice Cream Truck is the third food truck puzzle I have done from Ceaco. These 500-pieces puzzles are fun, colorful puzzles that I have really enjoyed doing. The artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones.

I do have to admit that this one was my least favorite of the three in terms of quality. There were a lot of pieces that were stuck together and had to be torn apart. They also didn’t lay flat as nicely as the other Ceaco puzzles I have done. And there was a lot of puzzle dust!

The image, however, was great. I loved all the signage and the bright, colorful details in the puzzle. Even with more sky than the other ones had, it was still pretty easy to put together.

As much as I have enjoyed these, I am not planning to get any more of them unless I run across them in the puzzle box or at a thrift store. I’m ready to tackle some other subject matter!

Needlework Station

I recently found a Facebook group for a puzzle box in my area. It is located on the side of the person’s home, and people can drop off puzzles they don’t want anymore and take puzzles that other people have dropped off. I visited it for the first time last weekend and brought home three puzzles to do.

The next day I chose the one I was the most excited about and put it together. It was a 500-piece puzzle from Ravensburger called Needlework Station. It was a large format puzzle, so the pieces were bigger than on a normal puzzle, which I kind of liked. The artist is Lars Stewart.

This puzzle was a real joy to do. The sorting was easy and the pieces were great quality. They fit together well and it was easy to move sections around. The colors and textures in the image were colorful and interesting.

Now I have to decide whether to take it back and exchange it for another puzzle or keep it around for a while to do again later!

Go Camping!

Go Camping! is an adorable 500-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Olivia Gibbs. I needed a summery scene for the bingo challenge I am doing, and it fit the bill nicely.

This puzzle was a lot of fun to put together. I like the piece shapes of the Ceaco puzzles I have done, and they fit together well. The image also has a lot of bright colors and distinct textures, which made it a pretty easy one to solve.

Festive Food Truck

I did another Ceaco Food Truck puzzle. This one is simply called Festive Food Truck, and it is 500 pieces, just like the Taco Truck I did earlier. The artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones.

This was a super cute puzzle. I loved all of the signs with words, of course. The image was a bit harder than the other one, but it was still a really easy puzzle.  Also, there wasn’t as much puzzle dust with this one.

Taco Truck

This puzzle is one of the gifts I bought myself to put under the Christmas tree from Santa. My other Santa gift was a recipe binder which isn’t very full yet, but hopefully will gradually fill up as I collect more recipes. I want to print out the ones I always go to on Pinterest because scrolling through food blog posts to get to the actual recipe is a pain!

Taco Truck is part of the Food Trucks line from Ceaco, and it is 500 pieces. The artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. I did this on New Year’s Day because I wanted a smaller, fun puzzle after tacking the cactus puzzle the night before. And it was the perfect choice. 

I loved the fun colors and all the distinct textures on the puzzle. My favorite parts were the areas with words, but really I enjoyed the whole thing. I liked it so much I ordered three more Ceaco puzzles – two more food trucks and one camping scene. 

Christmas Countdown

My friend Kim gave me this puzzle for Christmas. I was so excited when I got it because it was a perfect image for me. I put it together the same day she gave it to me, and it was just as good as I thought it would be.

Christmas Countdown is a 500 piece puzzle from the brand Galison, and the artist is Deva Evans. I have done several of their puzzles before and have always been happy with the quality. It’s so nice to do a puzzle without any false fits or other issues.

I started with the border, then did the areas with the white background. Next I did the areas with the dark green background and then the light green background. I finished with the center medallion. It was an enjoyable finish to my Christmas puzzles!