Fishing, Sailing and Catching Frogs by Bonnie White – MasterPieces – 500 pieces
I really enjoy an Americana image now and then, and this was no different. I’ve done several puzzles with Bonnie White’s artwork, and I find them to be charming, detailed, and completely entertaining.
The pieces looked pretty much all green as I got started, and it looked as though it was going to be difficult. But as I went along and got more used to the image and what went where, the pieces made more sense. I could see that this green went with the apple tree, and that green went with the fields, etc.
I truly enjoyed this image, and it was quicker to go together than I thought it would be. Even with the hundreds, perhaps thousands of puzzles I’ve put together – I am still wrong a LOT of the time about whether or not I will enjoy a certain image and how difficult it will be. 🤷♀️
Fishing….
I thought I’d show you what the title means. Fishing in the stream….
Sailing….
The boys are sailing their boats in the creek…
Catching frogs!
And catching frogs. I love this little guy! I was quite a tomboy when I was younger and I don’t want to brag, but I caught quite a few frogs in my day. 🐸
Cinnamon Toast Crunch – White Mountain – 100 pieces
These little cereal box puzzles are the best! They’re the perfect palate cleanser after a big puzzle and before you start another one. Great quality and fun images. Yum!
*I’m not feeling very cheerful or talkative today. Sorry about the shortness of the post. Hope all are doing well and staying safe.
Gesundheit! How am I going to disinfect this puzzle now?
These are interesting times we’re living in, that’s for sure. Many of us are in our homes most of the time now; and when we’re not disinfecting doorknobs and drawer handles we have plenty of extra time for puzzling. It’s the “newest” thing, have you heard?
Those of us who aren’t new to this fabulous indoor activity and have large stashes of puzzles to do are very lucky indeed; the demand has increased mightily as housebound families look for activities to keep themselves occupied. On my last trip out to stock up on puzzles, the bookstore where I normally feed my puzzle addiction had really been picked over; there were still puzzles on the shelves, but not nearly as many as there usually were.
Our beloved jigsaw puzzles are becoming hard to come by, as many online retailers have stopped taking orders, some have hiked up prices, and many retail stores that carry puzzles are not considered “essential businesses” and are now closed in places with stricter quarantine rules. There are still some online retailers with reasonable prices taking orders, and a few places you can sneak a puzzle into your cart if you are shopping for groceries, but those are becoming fewer by the day as everyone is getting in on the latest puzzle craze.
So I hope you’re well stocked and ready for plenty of puzzle time; perhaps your family might be interested in helping you with your next puzzle. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing for you or not, as many people prefer to puzzle in solitude. I’m good either way, puzzling with my loved ones makes me happy, as does quiet alone time with my puzzle pieces – and luckily I have a stockpile that should last me roughly 3 to 4 years. Or more.
I think it’s wonderful that more people are coming to appreciate the hobby that we PADS sufferers and puzzle addicts know and love. It’s a wonderful way to pass the time, and helps keep our minds occupied with shapes and colors rather than the latest bad news.
They’re good for our overall health too, which is some good news that we dyed-in-the-wool dissectologists and puzzle newbies all need to remember. Each little success that working on a jigsaw puzzle brings – completing a section, or just finding that piece we’ve been searching for – encourages the production of dopamine in our brains. Dopamine regulates your mood, and studies have shown that a positive mood can enhance your immune system; I think all of our immune systems could use a boost these days, don’t you? So turn off the tv, put down your phones, and puzzle on my friends – it’s good for you! 🧩
Happy puzzling!
*The picture above is from the back of the box of the current puzzle I’m working on, a 1500 piece Jan van Haasteren shaped puzzle called “Hotel”. It isn’t part of the image; it’s just a cute little drawing by JVH on the back of the box, and it seemed oddly appropriate for today’s post. 🙂
Cake Shed was quite a challenge, but I got it done! It’s a beautiful, bright image and I truly enjoyed every part of the assembly. 2000 piece puzzles always seem a bit daunting when I’m sorting them; but once the assembling starts I wind up having a really good time. And when it’s finished I always end up quite proud of my accomplishment.
This was a great quality thrift store puzzle; although it does show the chances one takes when purchasing puzzles secondhand. It was missing one piece and had an extra piece from a completely different puzzle in the box. Even so, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the assembly and I still consider it money well spent. $1.99 for a 2000 piece puzzle that gave me hours and hours of quiet, meditative, and entertaining fun. Where else can you get that much bang for your buck?
Buffalo puzzles have excellent quality, and I’ve been doing more of them lately. Mom bought quite a few of their puzzles at the thrift stores, and I’m working through them as quickly as I can. The pieces are a good thickness with a nice variety of shapes, they fit together well and have beautiful image reproduction. I’ve assembled their puzzles in sizes from 300 to 2000 pieces, and in my opinion they have excellent quality throughout every size.
This cake looks delicious!
This was the first thing I assembled, a delicious looking fruit-covered cake. Yum! The bright red ribbon and the fruit were easy to find, and I almost collected every piece for this small section on the first try. That in itself is amazing!
A birthday cake for a cat? We love our Buddy, and even though we give up room on our bed and lots of belly rubs and back scratches, we wouldn’t pay someone to make him a cake for his birthday. We just wouldn’t – although if you do something like that for your pets I am not denigrating that in any way. Buddy may get an extra treat on his special day (if I can remember what day that is), but that’s about it.
I love this little big guy, he looks like he makes a mean cake! The artwork by Steve Read was both adorable and beautiful, and it makes me want to find more puzzles with his images. The colors were lovely, and the image as a whole made for a great puzzle.
If you can find this one out there, it is definitely recommended. I loved every moment of it – even assembling the floor and walls. It’s a great image for puzzling, and is excellent quality. I give it two servings way up! 🍴🍰🍴🍰
Skate Night by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 300 pieces
Man, this puzzle was so much fun! It was truly over too quickly, even though I put the box away to make it last a little longer. I would love to have this in a much larger piece count, either 1000 or 2000 pieces. It would be heavenly to assemble this again with more pieces. 💗
It’s no secret that Aimee Stewart is my favorite jigsaw puzzle artist, and this puzzle is a perfect example of why that is. The use of colors is brilliant, and the overall feeling of this image just makes you smile. I adore it, and I’m so pleased to have been able to assemble it.
Remember these?
Ah, the memories of the roller rink when I was in middle school and junior high. I always hated it when they called for a “backwards” or “reverse” skate, because I was never good enough on roller skates to figure out how to skate backwards without broken limbs or a cracked skull – or causing mass casualties within the people skating around me. We lived on a dirt road, with a dirt driveway, there was no place for me to practice; and to be fair, I also was a major klutz as a child.
Mom would be upset with me if I didn’t share this rollerskating story from my youth; she loved to tell this story about raising a wild child like me, so here goes. I broke my foot in 5th grade and spent several months in a cast. My class had a field trip planned for the local roller rink, of course while I was still in a cast. Even though I was on crutches (no walking cast for me), I decided that shouldn’t keep me from having a good time, so I got one skate and used my broken foot to Fred Flintstone myself around the rink – I used my cast to push myself forward. Sheesh. With that kind of ridiculous decision making it’s a miracle that I survived my youth. Honestly.
Can you do this with your puzzles?
The quality of this Buffalo puzzle was exceptional – from the thick chipboard to the fit and image reproduction. When the fit is exceptional I always like to stand them up, for some reason I can’t explain it makes me very, very happy.
In general, this puzzle made me very, very happy on every level. My only complaint was that it is only available in a 300 piece puzzle and no larger piece counts. Please Buffalo, hear our plea; give us this puzzle in 1000 or 2000 pieces – we will absolutely buy it. In fact it will be a bestseller. I guarantee it.
My Jigsaw Journal 