This is such a cute image and was lots of fun to put together. As an added bonus, the wonderfully interesting piece shapes made it much more challenging than your average 100 piece puzzle.
Artifact Puzzles are so entertaining, and I love that they have so many different piece shapes to choose from. When you’re shopping you can see sample pieces of the puzzle you’re looking at so you can decide if it is going to be puzzle you’d be interested in assembling. Their quality is excellent, their prices are very good for wooden puzzles (in my opinion), and additionally they have free shipping within the United States.
Cute little whimsies too! Even though it was quite small, this puzzle was so much fun to put together. I’m looking forward to assembling it again on a rainy day when no other puzzle seems to be the right one. 💖
Quick assembly that was my first completed puzzle of 2024. My youngest son got it for me for Christmas, and bought it at our local library during their book sale. I love that he wanted to get me something he knew I would like and did so by recycling a puzzle. What someone spends on me doesn’t make the gift good or bad, it’s the intention behind the gift that matters – and his mom thinks he did a great job.💖
This is a new to me company that I hadn’t previously heard of. Dreamtivity. To be honest the quality really wasn’t that great. The fit was loose and a bit wonky, and although the variety of shapes was good the actual cut of the pieces wasn’t great. The chipboard itself was a bit on the thin side, but not too much so. The image reproduction was the best part of the puzzle, it’s a beautiful image and it was reproduced very nicely with sharp, bright colors.
This was my first mini panoramic puzzle (I think) at only 101 pieces, and it was pretty enjoyable to assemble even with the less than optimal quality.
Isn’t this one cute? My puzzle pal Penny sent me this one a few years ago, and it’s finally been assembled! I always love trying out new brands, and Paladone is a company I hadn’t heard of before. There’s a sticker on it from Kohl’s (department store), perhaps it was made exclusively for them.
The quality was excellent, it was a very nice surprise. The pieces were thick and sturdy, there were a very good variety of piece shapes, it had a nice matte finish, and both the fit and image reproduction were excellent. My only problem was with the border – so many of the pieces didn’t connect with each other around the edges. That’s a pet peeve of mine, and I find it extremely irritating. But other than the crappy border it was a great quality puzzle!
By the time I’d found all of the pieces that connected the edges together so that they wouldn’t move apart with an accidental touch the puzzle was about halfway completed! I made sure to stop and take a picture of it once the final connecting piece was found. Pretty darned annoying.
*Maybe I haven’t had enough coffee yet this morning. It was actually a lovely puzzle with great quality.*
Medicine Teepee by Joseph Henry Sharp – Artifact – 105 pieces
Oh man, was this ever a fun puzzle to assemble! Usually pieces that don’t connect really annoy me, but the way this puzzle was almost like playing with a tangram was extremely entertaining. I absolutely loved it!
There was really no need to take a separate picture of the whimsy pieces, as they’re all sitting on top of the puzzle – you can check them out for yourself. I actually really liked that, it made the rest of the puzzle a little more of a challenge. Whimsies and the pieces that fit around them make a puzzle easier to put together; with these on the top you couldn’t use them to assist in the assembly.
The image by Joseph Henry Sharp was interesting and made for slightly difficult but excellent puzzling. There were quite a few times where I placed pieces wrong (especially in the sky and the grass), you definitely had to pay close attention. Having to be completely focused on the image and the shapes made for an almost meditative experience and I can’t wait to assemble this one again!
What a fantastic puzzle! And a special thanks to Alice for letting me know about the half-price sale at Artifact they were having in June. I got this beauty for only $18.00! 💗
This adorable puzzle is a “Little Liberty”, made for kids. The pieces were much bigger than the usual ones from this company, and the image is an easy one for kids to work on. Although I am a “grown up” this puzzle was still completely entertaining for me – just a big kid at heart I guess.
The image is by one of my favorite artists that Liberty uses, Phil Lewis, he’s a local artist in Boulder, Colorado – where Liberty Puzzles are located. His artwork makes for gorgeous puzzles; he made the image on one of my favorite puzzles I’ve ever assembled, Sugar Magnolia. I love his illustration here of a dreaming doggy with the clouds above showing what he’s dreaming about; you can see a rabbit being chased and a tennis ball, so cute!
Almost 25 percent of the pieces were whimsies, Liberty has the highest percentage of whimsy pieces per puzzle that I’ve ever worked with (from a contemporary company). They’re all appropriate to the image and easy to recognize, which is also excellent in a puzzle designed for children.
After I pulled all the whimsies out I commented to my husband that they all made sense to me in relation to the image, except for one – the standing woman. (I was working on this one in bed, hubby was right next to me while we binged a favorite show) Neither one of us could figure it out, hubby said perhaps she was holding a treat in her left hand that she might be giving to one of the dogs. We decided to wait and see what it looked like from the back once it was completed; sometimes in Liberty puzzles there are tableaus using more than one whimsy in the finished image. Any guesses for what it turned out to be? Hubby and I were both wrong…
At the top near the middle you can see where the lady fits in – she’s walking her poodle! I love how the designer fit in a straight line between pieces as the leash (the only straight line in the whole puzzle). There are a few little scenes in this image, all things Merlin may be dreaming about; barking at a cat, chasing a rabbit, playing with kids, etc.
It went together quickly, but it was a fantastically made puzzle with beautiful artwork by Phil Lewis. I adored it. 💖
My Jigsaw Journal 