Brown’s General Store by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 500 pieces
You never can really tell until you actually assemble the puzzle – this was way more fun than it looked to me at first! I LOVED IT
The amount of fantastic detail is amazing, and there were so many words I was in heaven! Of course, I should have known, Aimee Stewart puzzles are so entertaining to assemble; I’ve never been disappointed by any of them, and have sometimes been surprised at just how much I enjoyed putting them together. 💗
The Old Candy Shop by Steve Crisp – White Mountain – 300 pieces
This puzzle is a great example of why you need to see the puzzle box close up and the puzzle assembled. I’ve seen this image many times before and thought only “Eh, it’s okay I guess” , but it was much more detailed and fun to assemble than I’d imagined. What an excellent puzzle!
This is one of the lot of puzzles I got from my Facebook Marketplace purchase and I wasn’t overly excited about assembling it – and boy was I wrong. It’s so interesting to me how I still cannot tell what puzzles I’ll enjoy and what puzzles I won’t. I’ve assembled a LOT of puzzles, I work on them every single day if I’m able, but still they constantly surprise me!
The quality was very good, this was the first 300 piece White Mountain that I’ve done. You can see in the above picture that the piece shape isn’t obvious and it almost looks like a picture. The fit was wonderful and the large pieces were very easy to work with. They had the typical WM shapes and thickness. The image reproduction is absolutely gorgeous….
The detail is amazing, and look how wonderfully grandma’s face is captured; it’s a gorgeous image, and was thoroughly entertaining to assemble! I haven’t done many Steve Read puzzles, but I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more of his work. I absolutely adored this one!
Goldfinch Garden by Cressida Bell – Wentworth – 40 pieces
I think this would be a fun puzzle in most any piece count, the artwork is beautiful! In a very large count the flowers and goldfinches would present quite a challenge – it would still be lovely though.
It’s so nice to still have many wooden micro puzzles here, if I’m feeling the need to puzzle when I’m not feeling well I can always assemble one of these beauties on a small tray no matter where I am. The quality is exceptional and the puzzling itself helps relieve stress and tension. We have the best hobby there is!
All the whimsies match the image this time, no guessing required! They also make for some very interestingly shaped pieces that fit around them, which always helps when the puzzle is somewhat difficult. Being only 40 pieces the difficulty level wasn’t too high, but it’s always nice to have a little assistance with the shapes. 🙂
Dapper Dandies by Amy Lynn – Mega Puzzles – 300 pieces
Dapper Dandies was the first of my Facebook Marketplace purchases that I assembled, and what fun! I love the artwork by Amy Lynn, and it made for an excellent and entertaining assembly. 🙂
I find Mega Puzzles to be hit or miss, sometimes the quality is much better than expected and sometimes not so much. The fit was fine on this one but the chipboard was on the thin side and it definitely didn’t lay flat.
Still, if we’re discussing the puzzling itself I enjoyed this one very much. It gave me a bit more challenge than I would have thought, but I find the challenging ones are pretty darn fun too! Looking at the finished image I’m surprised that it was as difficult for me as it was, but I can’t only blame the puzzle. I was recovering from a long trip and on pain medication; that sometimes slows down my brain function, which slows down the assembly. 😉
Harry Potter Book 7 by Mary GrandPre – NY Puzzle Co. – 100 pieces
This is the last of the Harry Potter book puzzles from the collector’s set I received for Christmas from my daughter. I absolutely loved assembling every single one of them – even Book 5 which was quite difficult! They’re excellent quality with fun subject matter, and perfect little *One Coffee Puzzles* you can finish in one sitting (perhaps with a cup of coffee or an adult beverage 😉 ).
I haven’t assembled many NY Puzzle Co. puzzles, but I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve done, and this set has raised my opinion of them even more. They have pieces that are a good thickness and fit together extremely well. The image reproduction is lovely with great detail and beautiful colors, and they were so enjoyable that I’d love to assemble every one of them again! All the pieces were the standard 2 prong/2 hole shape (what I call a ballerina), but there was plenty of variety of size and shape within them; accidentally placing a piece wrong was never a problem. With a puzzle of this size the lack of variety in shapes wasn’t an issue for me at all.
Many puzzlers never bother with small piece count puzzles, and I think they’re missing out. I used to think that anything less than 1000 pieces wasn’t worth my time, but I’ve come to the realization that puzzling is fun no matter the piece count. Puzzles of all sizes, shapes, and subjects make me happy! (In fact, we just bought a box of 10 kids puzzles from the thrift store – they’re only 24 pieces each, but they were so adorable and looked like they’d be pretty entertaining; at $1.99 for all 10 we couldn’t resist 🙂 )
Being an adult doesn’t mean I can only do puzzles with “adult” pieces counts; and I love that NY Puzzle Co. has many smaller puzzles in their catalog. Most of us puzzlers love that sense of pride and happiness you get when your puzzle is complete, and I think it’s just as rewarding to have that feeling when you complete a puzzle you can assemble in the time it takes to have a cup of coffee.
I adore these puzzles, and had the best time with each and every one. They’re wonderful quality and highly recommended. Alohomora! Open the box and unleash the magic. 🧙♂️