The Wizard of Oz by W. W. Denslow – Pomegranate – 300 pieces
I’m starting this puzzle this morning, and depending upon how I feel, it may be finished by the end of the day. 🙂 My son has taken to spending a little bit more time with me in the puzzle room, and he enjoys picking out the “next one” that I assemble. Sometimes I flat out tell him no, but most of the time I take his suggestions because it makes him happy. He’s chosen this puzzle, and it should be on the board in a few minutes!
I have to tell you, as a woman who grew up watching the movie The Wizard of Oz, this image seems quite foreign to me. This is where I confess that I have not read the books by L. Frank Baum nor seen the illustrations by W. W. Denslow – I have only seen the movie. In fact, I have seen the movie A LOT.
When I was young, this movie was shown on television every single year; and every single year my sisters and I sat down in the living room with our parents and watched it. So when you say “The Wizard of Oz”, my memories are of a teenage girl in a blue gingham dress with sparkly heeled shoes, the scarecrow with straw sticking out of his sleeves, Glinda the good witch with her beautiful pink ball gown, etc. That is not what is shown in this illustration from the books, and so it looks very odd to me indeed.
Although this isn’t the image in my mind regarding The Wizard of Oz, I think it’s going to make for an entertaining assembly anyway.
Selfies by Howard Robinson – Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces
Sadly, we have come to the end of our series. These sets are so entertaining for me to assemble, and in addition there’s the fun of coming up with silly names and backstories for each one. I hope you all have enjoyed reading my nonsensical ramblings as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. 😎
These sets by Cra-Z-Art have truly been the most fun I’ve had this summer (where I live though, it’s basically summer all year round). They are the quickest 500 piece puzzles I’ve ever assembled, because I cannot stop working on them – they’re too much fun!
Thurston, meet my readers; readers, meet Thurston. He comes from one of the hoity toity areas of the ocean – near Palm Beach, Florida. Thurston has never worked a day in his life, and his only responsibility is deciding how to spend his inheritance. He has no ambition, no actual life skills, and no discernible intelligence. He thinks he’s pretty darn amazing though, of course he does. Wait until he finds out that male seahorses are the ones that get pregnant and have to carry the babies!
This almost completely black and white puzzle was a little challenging, and took pretty much all of my concentration. It’s the largest of all twelve puzzles, and although it was difficult, the finished result is completely worth it.
Tracy is an Orca -what some call a killer whale. Tracy doesn’t like the “killer whale” nametag though, she doesn’t consider herself a killer at all; unless you’re talking about her killer moves on the dance floor! She’s a postal carrier by day, and after work she loves to dance the night away at her favorite club – The Barrier Reef. Tracy and her fiance, Oswaldo, met on the dance floor. It was love at first cha-cha.
The expression on this shark is too funny, and it reminds me of an excited puppy. Therefore I have given him one of the most popular pet names – Max. He’s just a little guy in a great big ocean, and he doesn’t mind at all. Max is a toll booth attendant, and although some would find it an extremely boring job he loves it and enjoys meeting so many new creatures every day. In his spare time he enjoys needlepoint, making his own homemade pickles, and binge-watching 80’s tv shows on Tuna-Netflix.
I’ve got four more of these sets that I haven’t assembled yet, and I’m trying not to do them even though I REALLY want to. I need to get myself back in the habit of working on my puzzles more often, as July was the worst month of puzzling for me in a long time. I barely assembled any puzzles and spent most of the month in bed. Perhaps part of the reason is a vicious cycle that self-perpetuates. I’m depressed and hurting and don’t even have the energy to get out of bed, I stay there and don’t work on my puzzles which would help to elevate my mood. No puzzles, no boost to my mood. No boost to my mood, no puzzles. Lather, rinse, repeat.
So, I’m saving them as a reward for when I get myself out of bed and back to the puzzle board every day; it’ll be good to get back into my routine. And once I do, I can give myself the reward of putting together another one of these fantastic sets. 😎
Day three of these adorable, silly, ocean selfies – and honestly I think these may be three with the cutest expressions on their faces. I mean, they just make me smile. Even this morning when I was in a bad mood for no reason whatsoever, I opened up this post to finish writing and saw the faces and now I have a big, goofy smile on my face. Puzzles are so awesome!
Remember the two clownfish from day one – Bernard and Helen? This is their daughter, Lena. She is a soft-spoken, kind-hearted, sweet gal who is always determined to be happy. Lena works in the business office at Ebb Tide University, and is always thoughtful and supportive of all her students. In her spare time she enjoys working on home renovations with her husband Todd; right now they’re building a small playground in the backyard for their grandchildren. 🐠🐠
This was one of the most difficult puzzles in this set for me, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I always put the box away and put these puzzles together without the help of the image, so this one had me working a bit harder than I thought I would have to. It was worth it though, look at that smile!
This guy reminds me of the surfer dude turtle in the movie Finding Nemo, and so I have named him Keanu. He’s currently “in between jobs” and spends most of his time hanging out with his friends and having deep philosophical discussions – or perhaps I should say they have what they think are philosophical discussions. Keanu is a kind, well-meaning dude, but he doesn’t always make the best decisions. Just ask his former boss.
I went and did some research to find out what species this fish was, because I wanted to see if the artist took some license with those lips. He didn’t! Best I can tell, this is a Longhorn Cowfish, and this is definitely what they look like – kissy lips and all. When I first saw it, I laughed out loud at the “ducklips”. Well, the artist didn’t do that, Mother Nature did!
This is Cheryl, and she’s an Instagram model. She thinks she’s gorgeous, and every new follower she gets just reinforces that belief. She’s not fun to be around, as most of the time she’s mentally arranging her next post so that others will tell her how pretty she is – and she will definitely believe them. Cheryl is petty and self-involved, and every “hobby” she has revolves around making herself look good. Cheryl is an idiot.
Goodie’s by Janet Kruskamp – Ravensburger – 500 pieces
As of this moment the Storytime Kittens puzzle is still on my board. But once I get a shower I’ll be taking it apart and beginning to sort my next puzzle – Goodie’s. Adorable, isn’t it?
It feels like forever since I’ve gotten my hands into a box of pieces by Ravensburger, and I’m very much looking forward to it! And there’s something about the clean, symmetrical lines of this image that just draws me in. Looking back at the blog, it seems as though it’s been almost three years since I’ve done a puzzle with Janet Kruskamp’s artwork – wow! That seems much too long, and thank goodness I’ll be rectifying that today. 😎
Selfies by Howard Robinson – Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces
I mean, just look at this picture. You have to be an excellent artist to get the anatomy of a great white shark correct and still make it look friendly! Howard Robinson did an excellent job with each of these underwater animals, and the expressions on some of them are absolute perfection.
Full confession here, both hubby and my youngest son helped me name a few of these selfies. I was making myself laugh while I was getting these posts written up, and they came in to see what was funny. Once I explained that I was giving each little puzzle a name and a backstory they couldn’t help but blurt out name suggestions. I took the good ones. All the rest of the info came from me, but I need to give credit where credit is due. 🙂
This is Winifred, she’s a white shark -and she’s great! She loves travel and meeting new species – she is definitely NOT a homebody. Winifred knows she can be a bit terrifying when you meet her for the first time, so she’s gotten herself some contact lenses that add a bit of white to her normally jet black eyes. It makes a world of difference! She’s also taught herself to smile so that she only shows her bottom row of teeth which is much less frightening. She’s a sweet, gentle soul who wishes she wasn’t so scary to others, because she would love to have more friends.
I have no idea what species of fish this is, so again I’m going with what the face looks like to me. This is Lorenzo, and he’s angry. He can’t really decide what he’s angry about today, but he’ll figure something out. If you gave Lorenzo a million dollars he’d complain about the denomination of the bills. If you gifted him a year’s supply of his favorite food, he’d complain about not having a place to store it. He’s rarely happy, and not much fun to be around at all. He likes (enjoys might be going too far) woodworking, refurbishing old furniture, and lip syncing to Lady Gaga songs in the living room. He’s a complicated guy.
This little beauty is one of my favorites; the colors are lovely, but if I’m being honest – the four human-looking teeth are kinda creepy. And forgive me for saying so, but that smile makes him look like he’s not quite all there. That is why I have christened him Dweezil. Those of you who remember the 80s should get the joke. 😉
Dweezil enjoys pretty much everything. He has a full-time job as a dental floss tester, and in his spare time he builds sand castles. Unfortunately he lives near the North Atlantic Current, and his castles rarely stay up for more than a few seconds. Still, he has fun with it, and isn’t that what really matters? His older sister Moon Unit lives nearby and the whole family gets together for dinner at least once a week.
Intrigued yet? Checking puzzle sites to see if any of these puzzles are currently available? I certainly hope so! 🧩💗
My Jigsaw Journal 