APRIL

World War II Posters from White Mountain.  I had a really good time with this one, I love collage puzzles!  The pieces fit together very well and the finished puzzle is interesting, informative, and just plain cool looking!

Mom and I went a little nuts in April with the collage puzzles.  We bought a bunch of them Forgive the wonky picture, photography is obviously not my strong suit! This puzzle really was enjoyable to put together.  It was nice be able to pull out 20 or so pieces and assemble a small little section without having to look at the box. I like doing White Mountain puzzles every so often, the larger piece size makes a 1000 piece puzzle seem like even more of an accomplishment.

This is an amazing puzzle company that I’d never heard of before.  The puzzle came in a large round tube, there was a poster inside, and the pieces were unbelievably thick!  They were cardboard, but so thick and dense it almost felt like wood.  I believe this was purchased at Barnes and Noble in the clearance section, and how I wish there had been more of this brand!  The image is interesting, wasn’t overly difficult to assemble, and the feel of the pieces made for a wonderfully fun tactile experience.

This is the last Bits and Pieces puzzle that I completed this year.  I ordered this puzzle at the same time as the witch above, so I still wanted to assemble it.  The image is full of detail and adorably cute.  The cut of this puzzle was quite good, pieces connected instead of just hanging out together, but the piece cut is very visible in the final image.  A fun puzzle to put together.

This was another thrift store find, and was an enjoyable assembly.  Although it looks somewhat dark, I found the pieces to be much lighter and clearer than Taking Pumpkins to Market.

I enjoy the artwork of Jane Wooster Scott, it reminds of Charles Wysocki.  This was a fun puzzle, not too difficult, and the quality was tolerable.

MAY

This was the most difficult puzzle I have ever done!  I was unbelievably proud when I finished it, and am trying to find the right frame to display it in.  While cleaning the office in my parent’s house, we came across a couple of puzzles in ziploc bags.  This puzzle had a very small picture cut from the box for “reference” – it was about 1 1/2 or 2 inches square.  Not big enough to help at all, but just to show what the puzzle looks like completed.  It’s hard to tell in this picture, but each of the squares is actually four squares of different fabric/designs. With no picture for reference, this 500 piece puzzle took me 5 days to complete (for comparison a 1000 piece puzzle I can usually finish in 2 days)!

Another collage!  This puzzle was a gift from my mother, and I had a great time putting it together.  Love to have lots of words to assemble, and the books reminded me of my childhood; reading Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, and watching the tv shows on the weekends.  Although the puzzle seems dark, it wasn’t overly difficult, and Cobble Hill pieces feel so great with the linen finish.  If you like collage puzzles or Nancy Drew, this puzzle is for you.

The pieces of this puzzle fit together so tightly that I stood it up to take a picture!  It was a fun collage, although the artwork seemed a little fuzzy.  Still, an enjoyable assembly and with the larger White Mountain pieces made for an impressive finished puzzle.

Although it looks difficult, the puzzle above was quite fun to assemble.  The different textures of each of the candies were easy to distinguish, and I found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I would.  Fun puzzle, with just enough difficulty to be a challenge.

Super fun puzzle to assemble, Aimee Stewart is such a great digital artist, I love her work. My daughter bought this puzzle and wanted me to assemble it after she was done with it, it’s a Ceaco puzzle – not my favorite brand – but the quality wasn’t too bad.

The look of this puzzle drew me in, and although it is shown on the “challenging” page at the White Mountain website I didn’t find it to be too difficult.  The border was rough, all pieces looking about the same, but the entire puzzle was fun to assemble and looks amazing when finished.

JUNE

This was another super fun collage puzzle to assemble.  I love being able to go through the pieces, pick out enough to do 2 or 3 little sections, and then putting them together.  We got this puzzle for mom, and she even owns more than one of the cookbooks shown!

I don’t know why, but I didn’t find this puzzle as enjoyable as other collages.  The quality was fine, and there were plenty of little sections you could do without having to reference the box lid, but it wasn’t as much fun to assemble as I had hoped.  Oh well.  Can’t fall in love with every single puzzle.

This one was an excellent puzzle.  Ravensburger quality, fun image, and lots of interesting things to see – Route 66 signs, maps in the background, plenty of postcards and even a couple of cars.  So nice to work such a quality puzzle!

This is my kinda puzzle, except for the missing 2 pieces!  Thrift store purchase of course.  I don’t know how people so often lose pieces to a puzzle; and if you do lose pieces, don’t donate it, no one wants to work a puzzle that isn’t all there!

I enjoyed this puzzle very much, it was another thrift store find but thankfully all the pieces were there.  The quality was good, but I don’t recall the manufacturer.  I know we still have the puzzle, but it’s not at my house. It was about medium difficulty with all the blue at the bottom and the stripes on the flag.  Still an enjoyable assembly experience.

This poor puzzle was attempted by a family member twice (they hated it), but I thought it was great!  I always love having words to put together, and it was easy to pick out the different types of lettering and the colors of the fruit.  Not a simple puzzle, but not terribly challenging either.  Looks great assembled.

Why oh why do people keep giving me Ceaco puzzles to do??  Just kidding,  I’m not ungrateful I swear!  If it looks like a fun puzzle I will give it a go even if it’s a lesser quality that I’m used to.  Sometimes you pick up the box and look at the pieces as just say NOPE, even if you like the image.  And then sometimes when someone gives you a puzzle you feel you should do it no matter what.  The quality of this particular Ceaco was fair, there was some image lift and the pieces were thin but I liked the picture and wanted to give it a shot.  It wasn’t bad.