Storytime

Storytime by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

Loved it. Well of course I did, it’s a collage! And to assemble so many of the books that I read as a child or that I read to my own children, it was just a sweet little walk down memory lane as I was puzzling.

I had this exact book, with this exact cover when I was little. I loved Pippi and wanted to be just like her; a kick-ass girl who didn’t care what others thought, didn’t much like authority, was fiercely independent, not mention very strong – and we both had freckles so of course I thought I was gonna be exactly like her. 😂

My kids were very much into the Madeline books at one point. We watched the animated tv show together, read the books together, and of course we made special trips to the library to get more Madeline books together!

Curious George was another book series I loved as a child, all the trouble he got himself into made for some interesting little books. My children were never too taken with this series, but I remember them fondly from my own childhood.

Overall I really enjoyed this puzzle, but unless there was a problem with the quality I knew it would be great fun to assemble. The colors and different types of artwork made for an interesting build that was definitely never boring. It brought back memories of my childhood as well as the time when my kids were small. I’m so glad we’re all readers in this family!

Fruits and Veggies In Progress…

Fruits and Veggies by Helen Dardik – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Such an interesting collage of fruits and vegetables couldn’t possibly be left on the shelf when I was the one doing the shopping, I mean look how colorful and fun it is! There’s just something about an image that is out of the norm that makes me happy, no matter what it is. As long as it’s not bunnies, landscapes, fine art, kitties, or a Coca-Cola Santa I will definitely check it out and most of the time I’m likely to buy it.

That is the the case with this puzzle, when I went shopping (specifically looking for smaller piece counts) this gorgeous thing was hiding out at the back of the shelf, and I’m so glad I was persistent and stubborn enough to look through every puzzle to find it.

Even though not much of it is complete I can already tell you that the quality is fabulous and it is most definitely going to be standing on it’s edge when finished; the fit is exceptional!

Pepsi

Pepsi – Rose Art – 300 pieces

My favorite drink combined with my favorite pastime, what could be better? I love the bright colors and the fun images shown with the Pepsi, it was just an all round entertaining and challenging puzzle that still makes me smile.

The quality was surprisingly quite good, much better than I expected really. The pieces were very thick, the fit was quite good, and the image reproduction was stellar. The finish on the puzzle was shiny, but not enough to bother me too much. I’m lucky enough to have a light over the puzzle board AND a room light, so when there’s a shiny puzzle I just have to turn off the one directly above the board and things are much easier.

My youngest one got into the game when I took a nap after posting my in progress update on this puzzle. I’d been up for hours so I stopped working on it, typed up the post, then immediately went for a nap even though it was a little before 8 am. While I was resting he came in the room and did a little bit of assembly, which always makes me happy. The only thing that would have been better is if he’d come and help when I’m in the room.💕

The fit was so nice on this puzzle that I knew immediately when I started assembling the border that it would stand up when it was complete; and I took the picture this way before the regular image with it laying flat. I was confident it wouldn’t fall because the fit was amazing!

If you like the look of this one I can recommend it, it was great fun but much more challenging than your usual 300 piece puzzle – but if you ask me the challenge is what makes it fun.

Fantasy

Fantasy – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

This isn’t my best picture taking lately, but please be kind – it’s been a rough week. Still, thank goodness that somewhere in all the disaster of the week I had there was time to sit and relax and think about nothing other than which piece goes where. Isn’t puzzling just the best hobby ever?

I know a lot of people think puzzles are just for when you get old, but they’re so good for your mental health, your physical health, mental acuity, etc. Now why in the world would you want to wait until you get older to enjoy all those benefits? Plus, it’s a bargain; where else can you spend just a few dollars and get hours and hours of meditation, relaxation, and enjoyment? If you’re not already sold, I don’t know if I can help you. Puzzles are awesome, for the very young, the very old, and every age in between.

Back to this particular puzzle. I usually let you know how many of these books I’ve read, and it’s a sad number folks – apparently fantasy isn’t my usual genre because out of fifty books I’ve read only three! Oh my. So for this post I’ll be showing closeups of books I haven’t read, but I LOVED assembling the covers. It also shows the amazingly gorgeous image reproduction. When you see them up close you realize how beautiful this puzzle would be in person.

This one is a stunner, and was easy to find almost every piece the first time I went thru all the pieces. A little bit of a challenge to assemble, but that’s part of the fun.

I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but I do know the song from Stranger Things. 😂 This gorgeous lion with the purple background was fun to find and assemble. Can’t ask for much more.

Gorgeous green color made this one easy to pick out but not quite so simple to put together. I’ve never even heard of this book, but I love the cover.

As usual I enjoyed myself immensely as I worked on this puzzle. Every piece put in was an accomplishment, and it was great fun from the border to that very last click into place. If you haven’t figured it out by now I love puzzles, and this one made me very happy indeed. 💚

Flight of Creativity

Flight of Creativity by Jena Dellagrottaglia – MasterPieces – 300 pieces

Gorgeous, colorful, bright, beautiful, quality – so many words to describe this stunner of a puzzle. Loved every piece from beginning to end.

This is one time where I think it was the perfect piece count. Many times I’ve wished for a puzzle that was great fun to be available in a larger size so that I could work on it longer and enjoy the process even more; and sometimes I’ve wished that a puzzle had fewer pieces because it was so challenging or frustrating. This one though, 300 seems like the exact right amount of pieces. I think in a higher count it would have been more difficult, perhaps so much so that it would have become frustrating and taken away from the joy of the assembly.

Assembling larger puzzles is difficult for me at times, especially when I’m having trouble with my chronic pain or depression. It’s so nice to have a choice of smaller piece counts here so that I can continue to puzzle even when puzzling is challenging for me.