This month our library had a book sale that included some puzzles, so I headed over to see what I could find. There were probably about 40-50 puzzles available, and I found 2 that I liked. They were only $2 each, which was great!
I have done one of them so far – Board Games from Springbok. It was 500 pieces. It was so fun to put together; I really enjoyed doing it! I have fond memories of most of the games pictured in the image.
A couple of days later, I did another puzzle that I had found at the local puzzle box. It was called Early Spring, and it was a 500-piece puzzle from the Americana Collection at Mega Puzzles. The artist’s name was Steve Klein.
This was a nice little puzzle to do. The colors were very bright and the image is pleasant. I had to search a bit for some of the pieces, but it wasn’t super hard.
The Lion is Awake is a 1000-piece puzzle from Genuine Fred, and the artist’s name is Souther Salazar. I picked it up at my local puzzle box because there weren’t many puzzles I really liked and this one just seemed so interesting and unique.
This was also the first puzzle I had done from the brand Genuine Fred. It turned out to be a really good puzzling experience. The quality was very good, and the image was perfectly suited for a puzzle, with lots of distinct colors and textures to work on .
I actually did this puzzle on Mother’s Day. Michael was with his dad, so I went to church and had lunch and then started working on this puzzle. He came home later in the afternoon and brought me a card, flowers, and chocolate. So sweet!
The day before I did this puzzle, I went to a puzzle competition that was being held nearby in Hershey, PA. I did not participate as it was my first time going to something like this and I wanted to scope it out first to see what it was like. The competition involved teams of 4 doing a 500-piece puzzle. This was a fundraiser for metastatic breast cancer research and was held at the antique automobile museum, and the puzzle had antique cars and trucks on it.
There were about two dozen teams participating in the event, which was great. The first three teams got done in 33 minutes, 45 minutes, and 54 minutes. I stayed for a little while after that, but left before the entire event was over. I was by myself because the friend that was planning to go with me had a family thing come up and couldn’t go.
Here are a couple of pics from the day:
If I get another opportunity to go to a puzzle competition like this, I think I would like to find a team and join in.
Hot Dog Truck is another entry from the Food Trucks line by Ceaco. It is a 500-piece puzzle, and the artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. I really enjoy doing puzzles from this series. They are cute and have a lot of fun, colorful elements, including different types of words, which I love putting together.
It’s a Tie! is a 500-piece puzzle from Springbok, that I had first done in July 2021. It was only the third puzzle I had done at that point. My friend Renee had helped me with it that time, but this time I did it by myself. It is a great puzzle! I love all the different patterns of the ties; it is so satisfying to bring the all together.
The day after my friend visited, I did two puzzles from the puzzle box.
The first one was Sewing Circle from E&L Corporation, which was a 500-piece puzzle. It appeared to be an older puzzle from the way the box looked. It was of average difficulty, but not too bad. There were definitely some false fits, and at the end of the puzzle, I had a piece that would not fit in the open spot, so I had to closely examine the puzzle to find the piece that was in the wrong place!
The other puzzle I did that day was a Charles Wysocki called Confection Street. It was a 300-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games. I really liked the image with the colorful houses and other interesting elements. It was quite easy to put together.
Bon Appetit! is an adorable 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Tracy Flickinger. I got it from the local puzzle box and put it together with my friend Renee when she came for a visit at the beginning of May. She said that she really liked that piece count because it is easier for her to focus for the length of time it takes to do it and she likes the quick reward of seeing it completed.
I enjoyed it as well. It was a very easy puzzle with large pieces and a simple, colorful image.
Flowers is a 500-piece round puzzle from Ravensburger’s Circle of Colors line. The artist is Sherry Lee. It was a super-easy and satisfying puzzle to do. I have been a big fan of rainbow puzzles since I started this hobby, and this one was so pretty!
Mother Earth is a 1000-piece puzzle from eeBoo, and the artist is Maya Hanish. This is my third puzzle in a row from them, and they have all been great. I fell in love with this image the first time I saw it.
This puzzle was a bit more difficult than the last two I had done. There were a few decent size areas that I could put together, but a lot of it was done one piece at a time.
Music in Montreal is a 1000-piece puzzle from eeBoo, and the artist is Caroline Bonne Muller. It is a great image that was a lot of fun to put together. There were a lot of distinct colors and textures, and the quality was just as good as eeBoo normally is.
Alchemist’s Cabinet is a 1000-piece puzzle from eeBoo, and the artist is Vasilisa Romanenko. It features the curio cabinet from one of the rooms in The Alchemist’s House puzzle, which I have done previously. The image is a fascinating collections of books and various objects the person must have collected over the years.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. I like the quality of eeBoo puzzles. The pieces are very smooth and a nice size. It is hard to move sections because the fit isn’t very tight, but I found I could use the poster to slide under a section and move it where I wanted it to be.
There are two more puzzles in this series – Alchemist’s Library and Alchemist’s Kitchen. I have already purchased both of them and plan to do them later this year. Love this series!
Cat Balloon Race is a 750-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games, and the artist is Jeff Haynie. I am participating in a Spring Hopscotch challenge in the Casual Puzzler’s Facebook group and needed a puzzle for the Air Travel space. As I was scrolling Amazon under that topic, this one really caught my eye.
This was a very enjoyable puzzling experience. The image was too busy to easily sort pieces, so I just pulled out the edges and flipped the rest of the pieces over and put them in sorting trays. I missed a few pieces on the initial edge sort, but they turned up eventually and didn’t cause any problems.
Towards the end I did do a bit more sorting as there were a number of pastel pieces which were a bit harder to place. Overall, this puzzle provided a nice level of difficulty. The only real drawback was a ton of puzzle dust – more than I think I have seen before!
So many fun details in this puzzle! And I loved the image even though I would never go up in a hot air balloon myself. I’m too afraid of heights!
In So Many Words 