Tag: jigsaw puzzles

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Brick Fest Live 2024

Last Friday, there was a knock at my door and my son answered it to find my friend Jessyca, who I have not seen in several months. I was overjoyed to see her and we had a nice chat to catch up on each other’s lives. She also brought me a Christmas gift, which was a custom puzzle that she had made for me. There was no picture of what the image would be, so it was a surprise as I put it together.

This puzzle is from a company called puzzleYOU and is one of their Smart Sorted puzzles. When you open the box, you see 40 individual little boxes, each with 25 pieces in them. This allows you to choose what level of difficulty you want for your puzzling experience. You can do one box at a time or mix as many as you want together. The box did not show the puzzle, but did have a hint for what the image would be.

I chose to do one box at a time since I didn’t know what the image was. It was so fun to do each little section and then put them together. I had a few times where it seemed like I was missing a piece, but eventually I thought to check the little boxes and found that some of them had a piece at the bottom that hadn’t come out when I emptied the box the first time. So in the end, I was not missing any pieces.

Here are some pictures of my progress at various points:

This was such a fun puzzle to do, and the quality was excellent. The pieces were a nice size and thick enough to pick up easily, and it was fairly easy to move sections around. I especially enjoyed it because it had been made especially for me by a dear friend and was a reminder of the great time we had going to the Brick Fest Live event earlier this year.

I would highly recommend this company if you are interested in making a custom puzzle, and the Smart Sorted option is great for someone who might not have a lot of puzzling experience (but I also loved it even though I have done a lot of puzzles)!

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Love for Holiday Baking

Love for Holiday Baking is a 1000-piece heart-shaped, Christmas-themed puzzle from Callie Danielle. I got it at Target several months ago and have been holding onto it until now when it would fit the season.

My friend Suzanne came over one evening last week and this is the puzzle she chose to help with. She worked on the border, which is her favorite part, and I worked on some of the larger items pictured in the puzzle. Once I was on my own, I spent several evenings working on this puzzle.

Pros:

  • Adorable image
  • Fun heart shape
  • Unique take on a holiday puzzle by focusing on baking related items

Cons:

  • Very small, random-cut pieces
  • Thin pieces were hard for me to pick up
  • Extremely loose fit, came apart if bumped even slightly

I went on a journey with this one. Starting out, I felt hopeful that it would be pretty easy, but that quickly shifted into feeling overwhelmed. Once I got all of the larger items in the image put together, I sorted by shape and started working piece by piece. After a while, I started to make some progress on the big open spaces and felt better about the experience. As always, once it was finished, I felt a sense of accomplishment and appreciated how adorable this puzzle was.

I will admit that having done a few harder puzzles recently prompted me to go through my wish list and remove some that I thought might be on the harder side.

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Vintage Main Street

Vintage Main Street is a 1000-piece puzzle from Cobble Hill, and the artist is Diane Dempsey. This was my second Dempsey puzzle; I find her art style very appealing.

I have done a lot of puzzles with buildings this year, and this one provides a fresh take on the concept with the vintage store fronts. The classic cars and fun holiday theme are also a lot of fun.

I did end up with one missing piece, which I was very bummed about. This could very well be my fault, as I did drop a couple of pieces on the floor. I thought I found them all but might not have. I’m still hoping it will show up sometime.

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City Sidewalks

City Sidewalks is a 1000-piece puzzle from 1canoe2. This is a new brand for me. It was a bit pricey, so I treated myself to it as an early Christmas present, along with the mini and micro puzzle I did recently.

I really enjoyed this puzzle. I had to get used to the pieces, which felt almost like plastic, but once I did, everything went very smoothly. There were a few darker areas that took a while; thankfully, there weren’t any false fits so it just took a bit of patience. This was a great choice for the holiday season!

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A Mini and a Micro

I recently treated myself to an early Christmas present and ordered several puzzles from Puzzledly. This included a mini puzzle and a micro puzzle, which I did right away.

Mushroom Patch is a 100-piece mini puzzle from WerkShoppe, and the artist is Emma Jayne. It came in an adorable zip-lock bag. The pieces were a nice size and the puzzle came together quickly. I did it without looking at the image to make it more fun. I think it would be a good candidate for puzzle chess.

Llama Bama Ding Dong is a 150-piece micro puzzle from MicroPuzzles. I have always wanted to try this brand, and I thought this image was so cute! The pieces were even tinier than I thought they would be, but I could still manipulate them with my hands and didn’t need tweezers or anything. The quality wasn’t great, as the pieces would seem to fit almost anywhere and I had to really pay attention to whether they fit exactly right.

Here is a picture of them side by side so you can see how much smaller the micro puzzle is than the mini puzzle. Quite a difference!

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After the Snow Has Fallen

After the Snow Has Fallen is a 500-piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is Joseph Holodook. I have done a couple of his puzzles and like his artwork a lot. This image held a lot of appeal, with Victorian houses and a bustling festive scene.

Even though this is a random cut puzzle, like the Playful Gnomes set, it was much easier to solve because there was a lot of information on each piece to help figure out where it went. Very fun puzzle for the Christmas season!

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Christmas Camper

Christmas Camper is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. This was an adorable, quick puzzle that I have been saving for the Christmas season. I knew it would be pretty easy, so I did it without looking at the image to make the puzzling last a bit longer. I love all of the festive details!

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Playful Gnomes – Fall & Winter

Earlier this year, I purchased a 4 in 1 set from Bits and Pieces called Playful Gnomes. It includes images of three gnomes in each of the four seasons. It is available in several different piece counts, and I chose the 500 piece set.

The fall puzzle, Fall Gnomes in the Woods, was harder than I thought it would be, probably because of the random piece count. It is an adorable image though!

The winter puzzle, Three Gnomes, was an absolute bear to complete. Not only do you have the random cut pieces, but the background is basically just shades of white. I seriously considered giving up, but I sorted by shape as best as I could and just pushed through and finally finished it.

I’m not sure when I will try the other two. They look like they will be kind of hard too. Maybe by the time spring comes around I will be ready to tackle them!

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Colorful Harvest

Colorful Harvest is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Tracy Flickinger. I have done several of her puzzles and really enjoy her style. The quality of this one was good, which was nice because Ceaco can be hit or miss.

I took this puzzle with me to Thanksgiving at Renee’s house. I thought the image was appropriate to the holiday and also though the smaller piece count would be good for the time we had available. Renee and I were about 75% done when our friend Mike showed up, and he joined us to finish the puzzle.

I liked this puzzle a lot and will definitely redo it sometime by myself to enjoy it even more.

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Valladolid

Valladolid is a 1000-piece puzzle from Ravensburger, and the artist is Marie Boiseau. This puzzle was designed especially for the 2024 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in Valladolid, Spain, and I was very happy to be able to get a copy of it for myself.

This puzzle was harder than I thought it would be, and now that I have finished it, I am even more impressed by how fast the puzzlers at the competition were able to complete it. I have noticed when puzzle with friends that I am faster than they are due to the amount of time I have spent puzzling, but I am nowhere near a speed puzzler!