Life is an Open Book – Paris

Life is an Open Book – Paris by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

What a stunningly beautiful image, I had the best time with this puzzle! Of course we know that Aimee Stewart is my favorite puzzle artist, her images make for the most interesting, challenging, wonderful assembly experiences. I absolutely adore them, and this was even more fabulous than expected.

The Life is an Open Book series of puzzles has been out in the world for many years now, but I just got my hands on one of them very recently. What on Earth I was thinking waiting so long to try these out I have no idea – I can’t have been thinking very much at all. I want every single city in this series. Immediately! The quality was excellent, the image was fantastic, and the assembly was so challenging and relaxing at the same time. My little old lady’s puzzling heart is going pitter patter at the thought of collecting the remaining three cities. 💓

When I first saw this tiny little section of the puzzle, it made me smile. Of course I remember the horrible Chat Noir puzzle that mom and I put together – it was not much fun at all; but seeing this tiny representation of it made me think of her, which is lovely. We HATED this puzzle, and after assembling it we vowed to be more discerning before jumping in feet first whenever there was an image we loved; because they don’t all make for fun puzzling. Still, I have the memory of this puzzle intertwined with memories of mom and I working on it together, cussing and laughing and cheering each other on – of course it brings a smile to my face.

Fine Art puzzles are not really images I enjoy putting together, so this is most likely the last time you’ll see Ms. Lisa here on the blog. Still, I can now honestly say that I assembled an image of the Mona Lisa. 🖼

All the books, posters, and knick-knacks made for such entertaining assembling; lots of words, beautiful colors, many small things to discover and place in the image.

This artwork shows off the best of Aimee Stewart in my very humble opinion. You’ve got her shelves, lots of books, posters, bright colors, a collection of many disparate objects that all seem to work together perfectly to make a stunning piece of art. And it all fits together on a beautiful puzzle that is a joy to assemble – I couldn’t ask for more.

Other than the remaining cities in this series, of course.😉

Carnival Costumes In Progress…

Carnival Costumes by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

This beauty has been slow going, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the puzzle, and everything to do with me. I’m not able to sit for long, and this has been going together one little costume, or partial costume, at a time. Still, the colors are amazing and I’m enjoying myself even if I’m not in front of the board for any extended periods of time.

The poster that came with this puzzle seems overly large, and in order to hold it and look at certain areas I either need both hands or it has to be folded up a bit. I find this less than easy to work with. Some puzzles (for me) require use of the box image or poster, and this is one of them – but this big poster isn’t the most user friendly, in my most humble Puzzle Goddess opinion.

I may not be able to finish this one today, but at the very least I’m shooting for getting it done by tomorrow. Can’t wait to see it completed, it’s gonna be gorgeous!

Tea for Two

Tea for Two by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 176 pieces

How amazing is this puzzle? It wasn’t an easy one, but I enjoyed the challenge of working on three separate shaped puzzles simultaneously – and it being a gorgeous and colorful Aimee Stewart image didn’t hurt either. 💖

There have been a few shaped Wentworth puzzles with artwork by Aimee that I’ve done, and they make for entertaining but somewhat difficult assemblies. But the combination of a shaped wooden puzzle and her beautiful artwork make me VERY happy.

Tea time whimsies and beautiful flowers, couldn’t ask for more. But unlike most puzzles with whimsy pieces these shapes didn’t assist much in the assembly until you got several pieces together. Usually with the odd shapes you can tell which pieces go around them, but with so many curvy and wavy whimsies you couldn’t really use the shape to find the right surrounding pieces, you had to use the image. It’s part of why the puzzle was so challenging, and why this one was so much fun.

Gorgeous I tell ya, even from the back! I’m a bit sad this one is over and wish there were more shaped Wentworth puzzles here. There’s a 250 piece rectangular Wentworth on the to do “pile”, and the image is great; but I enjoyed the shaped Aimee Stewart puzzles so much and wish there were more here.

There is a gorgeous image of hers that I just found on their site and you won’t believe it – it’s a Christmas puzzle and I LOVE IT! It’s called Gingerbread Manor, check it out. Ain’t it something? I think with that image I would want it in 500 or 1000 pieces. I don’t usually get Wentworths that big, so I may have to start dropping hints about it for my birthday in October. 😎


*For some reason, sometimes my board photographs as if the fabric is orange. It is not, but that’s how it appears in the picture at the top of the page. The remaining two pictures are closer to the actual color of the fabric, but they aren’t the same color either. It has something to do with the angle I hold my phone when taking the picture and the lighting above the board; but that’s as close as I can come to giving an actual explanation.

Tea…In Progress…

Tea For Two by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 176 pieces

As you can see I haven’t actually started the assembly, but I have taken out the whimsies for this one and I’m very much looking forward to beginning. This is a shaped puzzle from Wentworth, but it is three separate shaped puzzles – the teapot and two cups.

Because tomorrow is Fat Tuesday and the day after that is Valentine’s Day, there are specific puzzles that I wanted to post on those days – so you’re getting an “in progress” puzzle today instead of tomorrow.

Hope you’re all having a great Monday, and that you’re working on a fun puzzle!

Tiered Treats

Tiered Treats by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 210 pieces

A shaped wooden puzzle with an image by Aimee Stewart – yes please! This was much more difficult than I thought it would be, but that didn’t matter one bit because I enjoyed this puzzle from the first piece to the last. 💚🧩

Interestingly this puzzle was easiest at the top with the brightly colored macarons; the cupcakes, fruit and mille feuille in the middle tier were a little bit more challenging, but the bottom tier with the sandwiches was not easy at all. Still, it was fun to work from the top down – that isn’t something I usually do.

*Mille feuille are the beautiful layered treats on the right side of the middle layer – it means “thousand sheets” and is made from puff pastry and usually filled with a vanilla pastry cream and topped with vanilla and chocolate icing. I’ve never had one, but I’ve watched enough of The Great British Baking Show to know what they are. They sound amazing!

Aren’t these fabulous tea time whimsies? Bread, sandwiches, cakes, cookies, teapots, fruit – I love them!

This puzzle had excellent quality and stunning image reproduction, I absolutely adored this assembly. There’s another shaped Aimee Stewart from Wentworth on the to-do shelf, and I’m very much looking forward to it. 😍