Frenchie In Progress

Frenchie – de.bored puzzles – 500 pieces

My beautiful daughter found me this puzzle when she was out shopping and knew that I would love it. She texted me a picture and after I determined it wasn’t made by a brand on my “do not purchase” list I told her to pick it up for me. It’s going to be beautiful when it’s finished!

I tried to find this puzzle online, and while the company has many puzzles for sale they are not currently showing this one anywhere on their site. In fact the only images I could find were one from instagram with a partially completed puzzle, and another that was on sale on eBay; nowhere could I find an image of just the puzzle itself.

It’s a new company to me, and I’m moderately impressed by the quality so far. There are a very good variety of piece shapes, the image reproduction is very good with bright colors and sharp lines, and the fit is fair/good as well. They use the “sharp” white backing that I am not a fan of, but it can be overlooked if the rest of the quality is reasonable. It reminds me of the quality of a Mudpuppy puzzle, with the difference that it has a variety of piece shapes instead of only ballerinas.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do much work on it yesterday, I had to take my strongest pain meds and spend the day in bed. Today is driving around hubby to both physical therapy and an appointment with his surgeon. I doubt there will be much accomplished until tomorrow – but I’m looking forward to it!

Dog Selfies – Day 2

Dog Selfies by Howard Robinson – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

If you ask me Howard Robinson is a master at capturing animals, and to give them such silly and cute faces is probably not an easy task. I love all of his animal selfies, they really make me laugh – and smile.

Hubby loved seeing this set on the table as I was completing them (we share the “office” now as he works primarily from home), and I explained that normally when I post about puzzles like these they are given names and small backstories about who they are. He decided to name these three. I commented that one looks like an idiot, one looks sweet but a little stupid, and one looks like the most intelligent of the bunch. Hubby said that we should name them after family members, which made us both laugh out loud.

Now, I’m certainly not saying that our family members are less than intelligent, this just made us both laugh and I decided to go with it. So if you know my family please don’t rat me out! 😉

Steve. Poor Steve. He tries, he really does. Steve is “between jobs” at the moment, but wants to be a husband for rent, so to speak. He wants to basically be a handyman who helps out at the homes of single people who cannot do their own home repairs. If only he knew how to actually do repairs of any kind, then he’d be all set. Steve enjoys putt-putt golf, making his own jerky, and hanging out with his friends. He isn’t a complicated guy, but he means well.

Meet David everyone. David is serious, studious, and a meticulous planner. He can keep everyone in line and on schedule, even with the unruly bunch that he sometimes associates with. David works in quality control for a manufacturing plant and makes sure that everything is as it should be with every single part produced – which is the perfect job for his personality. In his free time he enjoys playing computer solitaire, watching tv with his wife and children, and deep-sea fishing.

Billy here is very sweet, but doesn’t really understand much. He’s on his fourth career and gets by well enough, but doesn’t really comprehend as much as he should. Billy would be happy to help you out with whatever he can, but he’s very busy chasing leaves and squirrels in the front yard much of the time. He enjoys getting his hair brushed, watching cars racing on tv, and many many naps.

Dog Selfies – Day 1

Dog Selfies by Howard Robinson – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

Here we go again – more adorable little mini puzzles! This time it’s silly puppy faces with Howard Robinson’s selfie images; there is much cuteness to be had. ❤🐶❤

These mini puzzle sets from Cra-Z-Art are exactly my pile of pieces. Being able to separate them by their colored backing and then assemble each small puzzle one at a time is great for when you may not have the time or inclination to work on a larger piece count. Or if you’re feeling like a challenge and want to assemble this as a straight up 500 piece puzzle, this set in particular would be more difficult than most as the colors aren’t as bright or varied as many of the other sets.

Every dog here has been given a name and small backstory straight from the warped and weird mind of yours truly. Because they’re all drawn with funny selfie faces they make me think of more “out of the box” or “different” names – I’m not sure why, but that is where my mind goes. Also, I’m not immediately familiar with every breed in this set so giving every one a name that starts with the same letter as the breed (as I did with the birds) wasn’t something I could do.

This is Gunther. He is an enforcer for a loan shark, and his reputation does all the work for him. He doesn’t have to do any actual harm to anyone, he just leaves a “gift” in the yard of any dog who is late with a payment and before you know it things are as they should be. Gunther enjoys short walks on the beach, taking the ladies out to the clubs, and binge-watching metal working shows on tv. He’s a complicated guy.

Irina here is a ballerina with the Houston Ballet. She has been working to become the prima ballerina of the company but to be honest I doubt she’ll get there (those short legs are a hindrance). Irina loves to choregraph for all types of dance, and I believe she’ll be an excellent choreographer when her dance career is over. She lives in a small apartment with her husband Jake, and they spend all their free time working on the fixer-upper house they’ve purchased.

Everyone, meet Cletus. Cletus means well, but is always getting things messed up. He is a security guard at night, only because sitting and watching monitors is about all he can reasonably be counted on to do. He tries, but usually does the opposite of whatever he should do. Cletus loves making his own homemade ice cream and watching cooking videos on YouTube. He’s a sweetheart and he means well, that makes up for a lot.

Queen of Hearts In Progress

Queen of Hearts (Villainous) – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

This beauty of a puzzle was sorted yesterday, and I did start on the border; unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well and spent the rest of the day in bed. Luckily (or unluckily) I don’t sleep much, so I was up and at it early this morning and got the border finished.

The border wasn’t quick or easy and I admit to hating it just a little bit. There were a few spots where the colors changed some and the lines get brighter or duller, but mostly it was more tedious than your average border.

My slight OCD dictates that unless the border is next to impossible I always start there. There have been a few puzzles where starting there would have caused more frustration than I was willing to endure, but for the most part it’s where I need to begin. Thank goodness these are Ravensburger puzzles, if they were made by a company with lesser quality the border might have been even worse. Oh well, it’s done.

Here’s hoping the rest of the assembly is more entertaining than the beginning was!

Rainbow Umbrellas

Rainbow Umbrellas by Lena – Buffalo – 300 pieces

This was an excellent quality puzzle, but it was definitely not as easy as it looked – which was a bonus if you ask me. All in all quite a fun image to assemble, and a little challenging for me as 300 piece puzzles go.

The image is the draw here for me, as we all know I adore bright colors. The reproduction was loud and bold and I loved it. As usual, the quality of this Buffalo puzzle was excellent on all counts with the only issue at all being a bit too much puzzle dust. I don’t consider that much of a problem though, it’s easily dealt with and doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the assembly in the slightest.

I absolutely LOVE the grilled pineapple raft! How cute is that?

The donut with a bite out of it is adorable, and love the rainbow float as well.

Beautiful puzzle image with great quality pieces and fit – what more could a puzzle geek ask for?