I love the idea of paper quilling and other paper crafts, and I actually was into making stamped cards for several years. So when I saw Paper Paradise at the bookstore, I had to get it.
This 500-piece Galison puzzle has a beautiful design with bold colors and intricate detail. I thoroughly enjoyed putting it together. The quality of the puzzle was excellent as well. The pieces had a nice feel and fit together well, and the image was clear and crisp. The artist is Yulia Brodskaya.
I highly recommend this puzzle! I would love to do more like it!
I got this puzzle a few weeks ago from my local puzzle box. It is by Galison, which is a brand I have done quite a bit and enjoyed. The subject matter is also right up my alley, as I am a great bookworm! It is 1000 pieces, and the artist is Jane Mount.
I really enjoyed putting together the book spines. It was very easy to sort and build each one. Unfortunately, I got totally stuck once those were done. After I had put in every piece that had even a tiny bit of color on it, I was left with 126 completely white pieces. I thought about at least doing the border but was running into enough false fits that I wouldn’t be sure it was right even if I had finished it.
So as much as I hate to do it, I had to call it quits on this puzzle. I can’t even imagine how long it would have taken me to complete it. I couldn’t even sort by shape as the pieces were all the same shape.
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 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.
Plant Life by Galison is a 1000-piece panoramic puzzle that I got from the local puzzle box. The artist is Julie Seabrook Ream. I chose it because it was a very pretty image, although I wasn’t sure how hard it would be. 
Well, it turned out to be very hard!! It was pretty slow going right from the beginning. The first day I did the border and parts of the yellow, orange, red, and pink sections. I wish I had kept track of my time, but I do know that I spent a lot of hours even though it was only four days of puzzling.
The second day I moved onto the light green and some of the purple. There were a lot of dark pieces that were hard to see, which was made worse by the glare on the pieces.
The third day I filled in more of the sections I had already worked on and started the green section. The green section was definitely the hardest – it was the largest section and had the most similar pieces.
On the fourth day, I think I worked for about ten hours and I finished the puzzle. At one point, with about 200 pieces left, I seriously considered quitting, but I persevered and got it done.
I am glad I kept going and finished the puzzle. It is such a beautiful image. I considered framing it, but frames this size on Amazon run about $80, and even on Ebay or Etsy, the best price I could find was $70. So I ended up taking it apart and it is going to go back to the puzzle box for someone else to tackle.
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!
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.
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.
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:
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!
In So Many Words 