More pretty birds to look at, more fun puzzles to assemble. I tried really hard to make sure that I had enough variation in color in each of the sets; sometimes it’s more difficult than you think, at least it is for me. I always worry about dumb stuff like that.
You’ve all heard me tell you how much I love these puzzles, you certainly must be sick of the same things over and over. Sorry if things are being constantly repeated, I can be a bit of a broken record sometimes.
Indigo Bunting
The color of this bird – wow! It’s absolutely gorgeous, when you say a “bluebird” you don’t always see such a vibrant, beautiful color. I know speaking for myself that I basically call them all bluebirds, even though that’s not the correct name. This species is a name I hadn’t heard of before, it’s so striking though, isn’t it? I have named her Indira the Indigo Bunting.
Tufted Titmouse
This is Talayah’s twin sister, Tatianna. They are the Tufted Titmouse Twins. Little girls with BIG personalities. 🙂
I wish the colors were brighter and more fun, but I’m certain if they were that the birds themselves wouldn’t be very safe in their own environments. I’m guessing their slightly boring coloring helps them out in some way.
Baltimore Oriole
Bartholomew the Baltimore Oriole. He’s from Jersey. (His parents emigrated from Maryland)
This is part one of five – unlike most of the other sets, there are 15 small puzzles here instead of only 12. Another difference is that, unlike most of the other sets, these have quite a variation in sizes. You can see in the picture above that the middle bird is much smaller than the one on it’s right. In some ways that makes them a little more interesting to assemble, as you don’t get used to the usual shape and size when putting them together. Some seem bland in color and some are striking; but I enjoyed each assembly anyway, regardless of the color.
This is an older set, the ones with the more slippery backing, and also they’re branded as both Lafayette Puzzle Factory and Cra-Z-Art. The quality is good, with a nice variety of piece shapes and a good fit. I highly recommend giving one of these sets a try, I for one absolutely adore them. (As I’m sure you can tell because I’m having such a good time that I keep acquiring more sets and assembling them. Hope you guys aren’t sick of these puzzles yet, because there’s a lot more where they came from! 😉 )
Painted Bunting
I wish I knew more about birds, there isn’t much I can tell you about this species of bird without doing research (which I do not wish to do, sorry). The colors on the wings are lovely though! Making up bios about all of these birds isn’t something I”m going to do this time; they seem to have less personality than the unicorns did. I suppose if I were a “bird person” I might feel differently – but a bird person I am not.
But since the box tells me the names of each of the species, I feel as though I can at the very least name them. So……since this bird somehow seems masculine to me I’m naming him Pasquale the Painted Bunting. He’s French. 🗼
Tufted Titmouse
I admit to having a juvenile mind and grinning – a bit of a wicked smile – at finding out the name of this bird. Titmouse. Ha. Titmouse. *giggle*
This species is a bit muted in color, and seems small, but I’m going to (in my mind) give it a BIG personality. When you’re little and you blend in you’ve got to make yourself known. Therefore, I’m giving this little one a very big name. Talayah the Tufted Titmouse. She takes NO GUFF!
American Robin
This is Alan the American Robin. He’s a bit boring and he looks a little cranky, but he does have lovely coloring on his breast.
Sorry about the tardiness of this post, I have no excuse other than I was feeling lazy today and just couldn’t muster the energy to sit in front of the computer and type up this post. I’m way behind on adding the puzzles I’ve already done to my queue, and it starts to get overwhelming to think about. Just a bad day I guess. I’ll try to do better.
This was such a fun puzzle, with absolutely beautiful artwork by Steve Read. It’s been on my shelf for quite a long time, I’m not even sure how long. While looking for a puzzle with less than 1000 pieces I spotted this one way in the back; thank goodness!
Quality-wise, this puzzle was only good/fair. The fit was pretty loose, which is always a bit disappointing. But, as a whole it was still entertaining to put together, that is more than half the battle! The artwork by Steve Read is stunning, and I’m kicking myself for not getting a good closeup picture of the fairies’ faces – they are absolutely gorgeous!
There are 22 fairies in total for you to find, some of them took me quite a while to locate. If you’re not paying attention this fairy hidden in the toadstool is easy to pass over. Of course you’re seeing it right away – I’m showing you right where it is! 😉
This fairy wasn’t too difficult to find, but it did take me a little longer than I’d like to admit. My glasses needed to be cleaned. I’m not old. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I got a really great glow in the dark picture with this one, which surprised me. This puzzle has been on the shelf for at least 2 years, possibly more. I was pretty sure that the chemical that makes it glow would have petered out, but this puzzle produced an awesome picture.
I don’t usually get such good glow images, so this one really pleased me. I love a good glow in the dark picture!
Selfies by Howard Robinson – Cra-Z-Art – 500 pieces
I fretted over doing too many of these small shaped puzzles in a row. But then I remembered this blog is about the puzzles I assemble. I’m not in a mood for a bunch of 1000 piece puzzles right now, smaller and easier to do in little bits of time is where I’m at.
Plus, I just got myself a bunch of new sets, of course I want to do them!
Selfies is the one I chose to put together next, although because they’re all aquatic animals I think “Underwater Selfies” might have been a better title. Oh well, they’re so cute it doesn’t matter. 😍
Look at the smile on this one – how silly and adorable is that? I love it!
Unicorns by Rose Catherine Khan – Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces
Sadly we have come to the last day of the unicorn puzzles. I have had such a fun time being silly and giving these beautiful unicorns a backstory; giving them silly names, jobs, and hobbies, and in general just loving the ridiculousness of it all.
I certainly hope I have inspired a few of you to seek out and find some of these sets by Cra-Z-Art. They have almost 20 sets altogether, and I’ve enjoyed every single one that I’ve assembled. (I will say the animal set {elephant, tiger, etc.} was quite difficult though) They’re great when you don’t have a lot of time or space, you can grab a small group of pieces and put together one or two small shaped puzzles; and they’re a lot of fun!
This is Drucinda, the Duchess of Unicornia. Her mask looks quite chic, like she is going to a masquerade ball; and the mane – oh my – that long flowing mane! I do love a redhead! She is extremely vain about her mane and spends quite a bit of time getting it groomed to perfection, and is known to wear her mask to save herself having to apply makeup to allow extra time for mane maintenance. The Duchess enjoys taking her pack of Basenjis for long walks, attending gourmet cooking classes, tending her prize-winning rosebushes, and loves to unwind with a trough of Moscato and a few grilled cheese sandwiches.
This gorgeous color blue, with the sparkles – it’s so stunningly beautiful! And the little touch of pinkish-purple to accent it–I adore this one! May I introduce you to Mia the Magnificent; Mia is the unicorn equivalent of a supermodel, with those long legs and that long, beautiful neck – how could she not be? Despite her “high class looks” though, Mia is a tomboy through and through. She loves riding her dirt bike, camping out for weeks at a time, and making her own furniture. If you catch her at home you’ll find that beautiful mane and tail tied back in braids to keep it out of her way while she works on her projects. The best part is that she isn’t vain or full of herself at all, she’s just a regular unicorn.
I mean, come on! Look at this glorious unicorn! Curly pink hair, the legwarmers accented with feathers, the floral saddle – it’s just too cool for school! This is, without a doubt, the silliest, girliest, most fantastic unicorn! I’ve named her Her Royal Highness Hailey Hydrangea – she’s the queen! And she is my absolute favorite of all 12 unicorns. I love them all, of course, but she is by far the best in my book.
Queen Hailey Hydrangea is a bit of an eccentric, her outfits are on the outrageous side, and she loves to be silly – prancing across the sprawling lawns of her castle for all to see. Her favorite pastime is, of course, assembling jigsaw puzzles! She adores all shapes and sizes of puzzles, but refuses to buy “luxury” puzzles and spend ridiculous amounts of money for one puzzle when she could purchase many for the same price. She also enjoys needlework and pottery – but much, much less than puzzling.
I do hope you’ve enjoyed these unicorns, I certainly have! 💖🦄