Thoughts of an introverted bookworm and avid jigsaw puzzler
I have long been a fan of the food truck puzzles by Stephanie Peterson Jones. I find her artwork very appealing, and the puzzles are a nice, easy build. I recently got a four pack of them and have done two of them in the last week – BBQ Roadhouse and Crepes. They are each 500 pieces and are done by Ceaco.
Of the two, Crepes is my favorite. I like the art exhibit and the cool cat with the jaunty beret. I also really enjoy text in puzzles, so both of these are great for that.
Rainbow Buttons is a 750-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Lars Stewart. I always love a good rainbow puzzle, and this one did not disappoint! I did this over two nights, starting with the red, pink, and orange the first night. Then I finished up the rest of the colors going left to right the second night. So fun!
Times Square Dogs is a 1000-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Amanda Haley. This was such a fun puzzle to put together! It was like having two puzzles in one because I could do all the colorful billboards in sections and then use the pick and place method for all of the dogs on the square.
There was a lot of puzzle dust and I left the top border for last because it was all one color and it was difficult to know if I had the pieces in the right spots. I didn’t have any issues with the rest of the puzzle, though.
I recently redid these two puzzles because I needed puzzles with specific items for a Facebook challenge. Both are from Ceaco and were illustrated by Stephanie Peterson Jones. Taco Truck is 500 pieces, and Canyon Camper is 300 pieces.
Ceaco’s quality has never been the best, and the Taco Truck did not hold up well for a second solve. The top border especially was hard to do because of false fits and the pieces not staying in a straight line. Canyon Camper held up much better, thankfully.
I am still going to hold onto them because I love both series and like having easy puzzles around for challenges and times I don’t want a hard puzzle.
Rainbow Stationery is a 750-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Martha Roberts. This is part of their ColorStory line. It was a very satisfying rainbow puzzle. The fit was pretty loose, but I really enjoyed the process of working through each color. There is something pleasing about seeing the items all lined up like that!
Fondue Truck is a 500-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. If you have been following me for any length of time, you may recognize her distinctive style. I have done a lot of her food trucks as well as her happy campers.
This was such fun to put together. It has so many things I love – bright colors, fun patterns, words, buildings, and the adorable truck itself! I especially like the cow standing so politely next to the truck.
When my friend Renee came over recently, we played two rounds of Puzzle Chess. Both puzzles were 100 pieces from Ceaco, and they were so adorable! The first one we did was Jungle Menagerie. This one was very easy, and I won by quite a bit. The second one was Space Friends, which was a more difficult puzzle. Renee beat me by a few seconds on that one!
For anyone who isn’t familiar with puzzle chess, here’s how it works. You pick a small puzzle (we used 100 pieces) and you build the border together and lay out all the other pieces. Then you start a chess clock, which you can get on your phone, and take turns putting one piece into the puzzle. Once you have placed your piece, you tap your clock to end your turn and start the other person’s time. Whoever has the most time left when the puzzle is done is the winner.
All Day Long Food Truck is a 1000-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. Most of the food truck puzzles I have done of hers have been 500 pieces, so it was exciting to see one in a larger piece count.
I loved the bright colors in this one. My favorite part to put together was the words on the signs and menus; I find them really fun to do. I also really liked the piece shapes in this one; they are different from what I usually see from Ceaco. It did have the largest reference poster I have ever seen, which was really annoying to use but necessary to see the entire image.
Recently, one of my cousins asked me to post pictures of the process I usually follow when doing a puzzle, so I took pictures of each step as I was putting this one together and posted them on Facebook for her.
I recently did two more of the Happy Camper series from Ceaco, illustrated by Stephanie Peterson Jones. Both were 300 pieces.
Costa Rica Camper is my favorite Happy Camper puzzle so far! It is so bright and colorful, and there were lots of large sections with unique patterns that I could pull out and do. I barely even needed to look at the box!
Beach Camper is another fun one. I love the turquoise on the camper and the pink of the flamingo and the flowers. This one was secondhand so the pieces were a bit worn, but it was still okay quality.
Pumpkins & Gourds is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco that I got at a puzzle swap a few weeks ago. Thankfully it was still in good condition and had all the pieces.
This was an enjoyable build that didn’t take too long. I did it the same evening that I did the two MicroPuzzles. It would be a great puzzle for fall, but I didn’t want to hold onto it for that long, so I went ahead and did it now. This will be going back into my swap pile.
In So Many Words 