Tag: 500 pieces

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Winter Break

This year, I took off the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I like having off at this time of year because work is usually slow, and it’s nice to have a few days to just putter around.

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year. I went to the family-friendly morning service and the evening candlelight service. I really enjoyed the evening service, although the wax from the candle did drip onto my hands a couple of times! After church, I redid the puzzle Michael Storrings New York City Subway.

Christmas day was pretty quiet. I watched a few episodes of Silo and did some reading. My mom had sent money for Christmas, and I had bought a few books that had been on my wish list for a while because it didn’t seem like the library was ever going to get them. I have read the first two already and loved them!

Michael came home around 6:30. He had forgotten my presents at his dad’s house, so I gave him mine and opened the couple I had gotten myself, lol. We had dinner together, and then later on, his dad brought over the presents Michael had gotten me. Of course, he got me two puzzles – one for Christmas and one for my birthday!

Wednesday and Thursday Michael had work from 10-2. On Wednesday, Kim came over, and we ate lunch and watched a movie. After I picked Michael up, we went to Target to get a drive up order. I have decided to use Target instead of Amazon when I can due to a package being stolen last week.

On Thursday, I had therapy, which went well. I also went to Barnes and Noble to check out their puzzle selection. They had a good number, but I didn’t see anything I had to have. After I picked Michael up, we went to the Colonial Park Mall to pick up a package from the Amazon locker. That’s what I have decided to do for things I have to get from Amazon.

On Friday, I went to get an oil change. In the afternoon, we attempted to build two dining room chairs. We had built the first two when Bill & Jenn were coming over, but we had more people coming over that evening, so we needed them. One of them was fine, but the other one had an issue with one of the screws not going in properly. I also made artichoke dip and monster cookies. Along with that, I served veggies and dip plus meat, cheese, and crackers.

Friday evening was a lot of fun. Renee and her boys, Evan and Hans, came over along with our friend Chris. They enjoyed the food, and we played part of a game of Star Munchkin. Chris cleaned up my kitchen for me and superglued the chair piece that was causing a problem. It was a wonderful evening!

On Saturday, Kim came over for our weekly lunch and movie. I took a nap that afternoon because I had stayed up way too late the night before. I also went to bed early and woke up Sunday just in time for the online pre-recorded service my church did for what they call Sabbath Sunday. They are closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s to give the staff a rest.

Sunday afternoon, I started a 1000 piece puzzle that I had won in a contest a little over a year ago. I will share that in a separate post. I did stay up until 2 am on New Year’s Day to finish it.

Monday was New Year’s Day and the last day of my break. I slept in, and then Michael and I drove to Target to pick up a vacuum I had ordered. I got him Chick-fil-A since we were near there (I had already eaten lunch). When we got home, I did a 100-piece puzzle as part of the Winter Bingo for The Casual Puzzler’s Facebook group. I also did a 500-piece puzzle, also for the Winter Bingo. I’ll post both of those later this week.

All in all, this was a fun and relaxing break for me. I really like having some time off around the holidays.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that my friend Kim gave me a 500-piece puzzle when she came over on Wednesday, and I put it together that night.

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Snowman with Presents

Snowman with Presents is my first Christmas puzzle of the season. It’s a 500-piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is William Vanderdasson. I chose this one because of the cute image. I love snowmen, and the colorful presents and the hat/scarf looked like they would be fun to do.

The puzzle was enjoyable to put together. I have only done a couple from this brand before, so I had to get used to the odd piece shapes again. Once I did that, it came together fairly easily. There were a lot of white and gray pieces, but they did have varying shades on different parts of the puzzle, so they weren’t too bad to figure out.

Not a bad way to start off my holiday season!

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Cats In Quarantine/Thanksgiving

Today was Thanksgiving Day, and it was a good one. I got up early to start the turkey. It was my first time cooking a turkey. We were given a full Thanksgiving dinner from Michael’s caseworker, so I decided to give it a try.

My friend Ren̩e was already planning to come celebrate with me and Michael, and she was bringing the asparagus and dessert Рchocolate cheesecake for us and chocolate chip cookies for Michael. She ran a bit late, so I just let the turkey rest until she got here. Then I made the rest of the food.

While the turkey was cooking, I got out a 500-piece puzzle called Cats In Quarantine from Exploding Kittens. The artist is David Kantrowitz. It was super fun. I loved the image and the quality. The pieces fit together well, and you could easily move small sections around. The only weird thing was that some of the colors on the included poster didn’t really match the puzzle.

Cats In Quarantine

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Circle of Colors: Ocean

After getting my last puzzle framed and off the dining room table, I decided to do an easier puzzle. I had a few 500-piece puzzles on my to-do shelf, so I picked one of those.

The puzzle I chose was Ocean from the Ravensburger Circle of Colors line. As you might guess from the title, it is a round puzzle. The artist is Asia Orlando.

This was a very fun, relaxing puzzle. It features an array of ocean creatures arranged in rainbow order. I sorted the pieces by color, then started with the edge. After that, I just went color by color around the puzzle. It went quickly; I never got stuck or frustrated.

Here’s a picture of the finished puzzle:

I highly recommend this puzzle!

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Michael Storrings New York City Subway

I did another Christmas puzzle this week. This one was the Michael Storrings New York City Subway from Galison. It was 500 pieces. I actually received this puzzle for free from Galison, after I contacted them regarding the defects I found in a previous puzzle of theirs.

This was a super fun puzzle to do! I really enjoyed the image with all of the different buildings and vehicles. The pieces were good quality, with no false fits or bent/broken pieces. The feel of the puzzle was much better too. I would rate the difficulty level as easy, especially because there were no solid color areas or difficult textures.

Here is a picture of the completed puzzle:

I’m not sure if I’ll get another puzzle done before Christmas. I have a busy schedule this weekend, and then Christmas is next Sunday. I am off work between Christmas and New Years’, though, so I’m hoping to do some puzzling then.

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A Very Happy Merry

Just before Thanksgiving, I completed my first Christmas puzzle of the season. I had taken the whole week off from work and had been very productive, taking care of various administrative duties and running a bunch of errands, so I decided to take a break and do some puzzling. After this, I put up our Christmas tree and decorated the house a little with the help of my son Michael.

This was such a fun puzzle to do! I enjoyed the image very much, and the puzzle quality was very good as well. The puzzle is a 500 piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is Susan Rios. I’m sure I will enjoy doing this puzzle for years to come.

Here’s the finished puzzle:

So cute!

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Stamp Spices

Last weekend I did the puzzle Stamp Spices from Bits and Pieces. This was a 500 piece puzzle with a collage of stamps with different spices on them. I had ordered this along with a Christmas-themed puzzle to try out the brand. The artist is Barbara Behr.

I did enjoy the subject matter of this puzzle, and I definitely like the collage style. However, I found the puzzle to be very dark, which made it harder to see what you were doing. I also didn’t find the pieces to lay very flat or feel very nice when I ran my hands over the puzzle. One piece was bent, and one piece was missing, although like before I can’t guarantee I didn’t lose it.

I will do the Christmas puzzle because I like the image a lot, but I doubt I will buy any more from this brand.

Here’s the finished puzzle:

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Cats with Careers

For this puzzle, I didn’t end up doing any of the ones I already owned. Instead, I purchased the puzzle Cats with Careers, which is similar to the Dogs with Jobs puzzle I did last. This is a 500-piece puzzle from Galison, and the artist is Eloise Narrigan.

It was super cute, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the dogs puzzle. The background was a bit darker, and the finish was a bit uneven and felt rough in places. At one point, I was having trouble fitting two pieces together, and one of the knobs actually popped off one of them!

With that said, I did enjoy seeing the different cats and what their professions were. Here is a picture of the finished puzzle:

And here are some closeups of a few of the cats:

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Dogs with Jobs

As promised, my next puzzle is a fun one. Dogs with Jobs is a 500 piece square puzzle from Galison, and the artist is Eloise Narrigan. It is super adorable with all of the different dogs and the jobs that they have. Here are a few closeups:

The pieces were all 2 in and 2 out, like my last puzzle, but it was a very different puzzling experience because they fit together much better and weren’t all the same shape even though they were the same style. I was also able to move sections around without any problems. All the text made it a lot of fun and the dogs were all pretty easy to distinguish from each other.

Here is the completed puzzle:

I’m not sure what my next puzzle will be. I have two that I got from my Secret Santa last Christmas and another one I picked up on vacation this year. All three are 1000 pieces. I have several puzzles on my wish list, mostly 500 pieces. Oh, and I have two that were gifted to me, but I was informed that they are both missing a piece, so I’m not sure if I want to do those. I guess I’ll see what my mood is when I’m ready to start the next one!

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A Trio of Puzzles

I was so happy with the way my last puzzle turned out that I decided to do some of the puzzles I had been loaned from my ex-husband’s girlfriend. This weekend I actually completed three of them.

The first one was Peddlin’ Posies by Cardinal, which is a 500 piece puzzle. The artist is Mary Irwin. It’s a charming scene of a flower cart in front of a window. There were a few sections that were a bit challenging, but overall it wasn’t too bad.

The second one was Moonlight Serenity from Bits and Pieces. This one is a 300 piece puzzle, which was a first for me. The artist is Larry Jones. The low piece count and really large pieces made it super easy, so even though it wasn’t a design I would have normally picked out, I enjoyed putting it together.

The third puzzle I did was Afternoon Tea, also by Bits and Pieces. This one was a 500 piece puzzle, and the artist was Tracy Hall. I felt like the pieces were still pretty big and the puzzle was fairly easy to put together. I did it all in one sitting, which did make my back hurt a bit, but I really wanted to get it done before the weekend was over.

I haven’t decided which puzzle to do next. I still have two more loaner puzzles, but I’m not sure if I want to do them or not. I may do one of the puzzles from my Christmas/birthday haul. I have four puzzles waiting to be done, and they are all 1000 pieces, so will be a bit more challenging than these were.