Freak Shakes – Cra-Z-Art – Approx. 125/500 pieces

Alas, today is the end of the freak shakes. While the images are so bizarre to me, the puzzles themselves were a joy to put together. Little puzzles I can do quickly have become some of my favorites. While I have completed (very) large piece count puzzles, as I age the smaller ones seem to bring me more pleasure. These sets full of a dozen or more small puzzles to assemble bring a smile to my face, and give me a sense of accomplishment with each completed image. I’m in love with them!

Cra-Z-Art is about to get a little more of my money, while trolling for puzzles a few days ago I found four sets that I do not own. The purchase will have to wait several days though, as my birthday is very soon and according to family tradition I am not allowed to buy myself things so as not to inadvertently get something that has already been purchased as a gift. But the day after, those babies are gonna be mine! 😉

This one makes a little more sense to me, an ice cream cone on top of a shake – that’s not too over the top. The colors of the shake itself are beautiful.

He’s a tall boy, and holiday themed. Mr. Gingerbread has a scarf on to keep himself warm, and the red and green candies make it seem like this one is for the holidays. I’m not sure what’s at his feet though, if you ask me it looks as though it’s already been eaten. 🤢

Love the sprinkles around the edge of the donut, or whatever that is on the top of the glass. Strawberry isn’t my favorite flavor, but this one doesn’t look too bad.

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It may seem odd to some that taking a picture and chopping it into little pieces – only to put it back together again – makes us puzzle people so happy. That’s ok, people can think we’re odd. No doubt odd is probably a pretty tame word for describing me. I make no apologies for my love of puzzles, how many puzzles I own, how much I spend on them, or anything else. It makes me happy; looking at puzzles makes me happy, buying them, assembling them, talking about them, sharing pictures of them, blogging about them – all of it makes this little old lady happy.

When I spend “too much” money on a big batch of wooden puzzles, or cardboard puzzles, or small piece count puzzles in tubes – there is that moment of guilt. Even though the click of my mouse to finish the purchase makes me almost giddy, in my head I’m feeling guilty for a little while. My life has been spent taking care of everyone else; married at 19 to my high school sweetheart, got pregnant five months later, had three children by the age of 23. When there was extra money it was spent on something for the kids, or the house, or my husband – almost never for myself.

Still married to my high school sweetheart (still in love too!), kids are grown, and I’ve finally found something that makes me happy. Jigsaw puzzles. Wooden ones, cardboard ones, little ones, big ones – love them all. And I’ve finally learned to spend money on myself just because. I still have those moments of feeling guilty for spending money on non-necessities, but I stomp those stupid thoughts down – I crush them underfoot. I’m worth it, my mental health is worth it, so guilt can go pound sand. Or take a hike. Or bleep all the way off.

PUZZLES ROCK!

Freak Shakes – Cra-Z-Art – Approx. 125/500 pieces

Well, here we are for the third installment of ridiculous shakes that would be near impossible to actually consume. They were lots of fun to put together though, and that’s what matters most.

Have these puzzles inspired any of you to give one of these Cra-Z-Art sets a try? They really are fun to put together, don’t listen to the ornery old lady complaining about these crazy new-fangled shakes the youngsters are having. She’s in a mood. Just smile and nod.

And if you’re thinking you might want to give these small shaped puzzles a try – go for it! There is much fun to be had by all. (Plus, I found four new sets that I haven’t purchased yet. Oh my!)😊

As a child of the 70s and 80s, I must confess that little dehydrated marshmallows (like the ones in Lucky Charms cereal) are very tasty indeed. While the shake itself doesn’t interest me at all, those marshmallows look yummy – and squeaky too!

By the way, what kind of ice cream is that purple color? I’m not adventurous with ice cream flavors, mostly chocolate for me – or homemade flavors with fruit. I’ve never even seen blackberry or blueberry ice cream that color, and those are the fruits that turn the most purple.

A muffin, what looks like a mini waffle, chocolate cereal, crackers, a cookie, some other stuff I cannot identify, and lots of caramel popcorn. That is truly a freak of a shake!

Think this is my favorite of them all – just because of the colors. It’s bright and sort of exciting to look at, and it was really fun to put together as well.

Freak Shakes – Cra-Z-Art – Approx. 125/500 pieces

Although these are shakes that would NEVER find their way to my table at a restaurant, they’re lovely to look at – and assemble! In fact, these most likely are designed as images only. I’ve never seen anything like these out in the world. Have you?

I love these puzzle sets, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda. You’ve heard it all before. Cra-Z-Art is not a “premium quality” puzzle company, but they have these fantastic sets of small shaped puzzles that bring me much joy. I don’t need them to be the world’s most fantastic quality – just need them to have good enough quality to be enjoyable, and available for me to play with. 😎

This doesn’t even look appetizing to me. How would you pick up the glass to drink it? There are sprinkles and candies everywhere on the outside of the glass. Am I overthinking this? Probably. It was fun to put together regardless of whether or not I would actually drink it.

The colors of this one are beautiful, even better in person than my picture shows. The rainbow strip of candy (it’s name escapes me at the moment) adds a nice touch – especially the part all scrunched up on a stick. Very cute!

This looks like a shake for Valentine’s Day. Pink and red with hearts and love everywhere. Blech. Cranky old lady is back. It looks like a Pepto Bismol shake. Plus, look at all the crap on the outside of this glass! Yuk.

Sorry, back to this puzzle. Despite it sickly sweet appearance, it was a little more challenging to assemble than I bargained for, but it was enjoyable even with it’s difficulty.