Tag: Cra-Z-Art

Animal Selfies

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Animal Selfies by Howard Robinson – Cra-Z-Art – 500 pieces

Normally I would post these puzzles in groups of three or four over multiple days, but I just wasn’t feeling it this time. There’s nothing wrong with the puzzles or the images, it just wasn’t in the cards for me right now. Don’t worry though, there are plenty more sets to be assembled and many more silly names and backstories to be shared.

If you’ve been here for a while you know how much I adore these sets of mini puzzles from Cra-Z-Art. With the colored backing you can separate them first and make each one it’s own little puzzle from start to finish. Or if you want to challenge yourself you can keep them all mixed up and assemble it as a 500 piece puzzle – the choice is yours. They’re good quality puzzles and I enjoy working with them every time.

I started these the day after Christmas, and was just completely worn out by the holiday, which is probably why I decided to do these as one post. Then a few days before the New Year I developed a serious infection (not the plague) that I am still not fully recovered from yet; all I can think of is getting back into bed and sleeping for another whole day – or seven. 💤🛌💤

Love Coffee

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Love Coffee – Cra-Z-Art – 300 pieces

I was in the mood for a quick collage, and this beautiful 300 piece fit the bill just right! And as a coffee lover, of course the image spoke to me – gotta have my coffee in the mornings. ☕

The quality of this Cra-Z-Art puzzle had me pleasantly surprised. Excellent fit, beautiful image reproduction, good variety of shapes, and sturdy chipboard – all of these were better than I’d assumed they’d be. Don’t you love it when things are better than you thought? I do!

This was my favorite section, the hands cupping the mug make almost a heart. LOVE me some coffee! Black with two sugars please. 🖤

I love being able to do this with a puzzle. And I was so sure of this fit that I took this picture BEFORE I took any other pictures. I knew it wouldn’t fall apart, so there was no fear at all – I just picked it up and stood it on it’s bottom edge. That is not how things usually go, I always take my regular pictures before standing up a puzzle, just in case things go pear-shaped. The fit on this puzzle was exceptional!

Christmas Town – Day 4

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

These 500 piece puzzles by Cra-Z-Art are really some of my favorites to assemble. One of these times I should assemble them as a true 500 piece instead of separating them according to the colored backing. Maybe I’ll do that on one of the next ones. (Although I really do enjoy being able to just grab a pile of pieces and put a whole little image together in just a few minutes)

Some of these scenes seem a bit more modern than others, some have electric lights like this one, and more modern vehicles. You can see by the car and the clothes that this seems to be early 20th century. One of yesterday’s buildings had no lights and there were wagons being pulled by oxen and horses.

This looks like it could be the parsonage of a church. You can see a portion of a stained glass window from the building next door on the far left. I’m not crazy about the color palette for this one, but it’s incredibly detailed for such a small puzzle.

Rufus E. Dunclutter – now that’s a name! Too bad there aren’t any quilts that we can see, you know I love a puzzle with some quilts in it; unfortunately there is only a sign. Rufus seems to be a man who does whatever he can, he sells quilts, old books, antiques, and “what nots”. Go for it Rufus!

I love that there are two older men tipping their hats to each other in the foreground; it’s so old timey and polite. 🎩

The florist sells Christmas trees apparently, very cool! And there’s an enterprising young man with his shovel looking for driveways or sidewalks to clear – perhaps for some extra spending money for the holidays.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed our trip through Christmas Town, with all of it’s delightful buildings. I enjoyed putting every one together, they make for such fun little puzzles!

Christmas Town – Day 3

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

Sorry the picture above doesn’t seem to be in focus, I don’t know why it went unnoticed – usually I check to be certain there is a good picture before I take any puzzle apart.

I hope you’re enjoying these little puzzles, they truly were enjoyable to assemble. They’re so detailed too, there must have been quite a bit of work that went into each one.

This image reminds me of reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her chapters about sugaring off the maple sap and this image remind me of how much work went into turning tree sap into syrup or sugar. Not only did you have to collect the sap, you had to boil it off; no electric burners either, you had to cut down trees and split the wood to make the fires to boil it down. It was hard work. If I had to put that much work into it you can be sure I’d be using the sugar and syrup sparingly; there would be no cavalier dumping of large amounts of syrup onto my pancakes!

Does anyone know what I mean, or is that just my weird brain again?

What a cute little bridge! This scene reminds me that I’m not an ice skater. I did try it once. Once. My poor ankles were just not strong enough for balancing on a single blade, there was a LOT of falling down involved. My friend suggested ankle supports for the next time, but there was no next time. (At least I gave it a try though, right?)

The outdoors has never been my thing – give me a heated or air conditioned room with a book or a puzzle anyday.

Isn’t this a perfect little Christmas image? Pretty. Not my style, but pretty.

Christmas Town – Day 2

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

These little Christmas puzzles are perfect for sitting down with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and having some “me time” with a beautiful little holiday puzzle. Unfortunately we don’t have any snow down here in Florida, so it doesn’t feel much like the holidays for me; but at least these puzzles can give me a little bit of the feeling of the snowy Christmases of my youth.

I don’t think we’ll ever be used to having warm weather at Christmastime! I’m still a northerner in my heart. 💗

This image makes me wonder – what did an antique shop look like back in the late 19th century, or even the early 20th century? That’s something I would have loved to have been able to see. Imagine the inventory they must have had!

These images have me thinking about life back in the “olden days”. I’m imagining how much work must have gone into just going somewhere. We’re so used to the immediacy of our modern lives, if we want to go to the store we can just hop in our cars or whatever transportation we have available and off we go. Imagine having to hitch up the horse(s) to a wagon or sleigh before you can leave! And then having to travel out in the weather, no enclosed spaces with heat or air conditioning. Yikes. I think we forget how easy we have it sometimes – I know I sure do.

What a beautiful house this is. Imagine decorating all those windows and trees in the yard – I think I’d be in a bah humbug mood if I had to get all bundled up to go outside and put up all those holiday decorations!

I know I don’t do many of the Christmas images that most people enjoy so much; so I hope you’re enjoying these little ones as much as I enjoyed putting them together.