Hot Chocolate

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Hot Chocolate by Linda Picken – FX Schmid – 500 pieces

Super cute image, but not an easy puzzle by any means. But the more difficult ones are the most fun when I can work on them with my mom. 🙂

FX Schmid puzzles have excellent quality, I’ve never had a bad one. The pieces are thick and feel good in your hand. They fit together very well, and the image reproduction is exceptional. This puzzle was no different and it was nice to have good quality pieces with such a difficult puzzle.

I know it doesn’t look too bad, but the chocolate lab, the boots, and the darker areas of the fire/fireplace made it a bit of a challenge. It was adorable though, and we enjoyed even the challenging parts. I looked up this puzzle to be sure I had all the information correct and according to some this is a rare puzzle that’s hard to find. Cool! (It’s still going to the senior center though, I’m sure they’ll have fun with it)

What TV Show Is That?

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What TV Show Is That? – Buffalo – 252 pieces

This puzzle was even more fun than What Word is That? that mom and I did earlier this year. We knew almost all of the answers about tv shows; oh dear, what does that say about our intelligence? 🙂

Not only did we know most of the tv show answers, the background of the puzzle itself was also a little bit easier to see and use for help in placing each question and answer. It works almost like the Talking Jigsaw puzzles in that you can put together each question and answer, and then use the background to place them in their correct position in the puzzle. Buffalo Games makes both series, which is nice because the quality for both is very good.

We really had a good time with this puzzle, I would still love to find the rest of them. There is What Movie is That? and Who Said That? and more. Here’s hoping they’re coming to a thrift store near us!

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Kukla, Fran, and Ollie?

I think the show on the tv set is Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, but it’s a bit before my time – mom wasn’t sure either. We also weren’t sure about the Gunsmoke answer, but apparently Burt Reynolds was in 50 episodes of the show! (He played Quint, for those of you old enough to have watched it)

Penny

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Penny – Bendon – 101 pieces

Pretty cool puzzle! 100 piece puzzles only takes a few minutes, but they’re still fun to assemble.

The pieces of this one were thin, but fit together well. Not the best quality for a kid’s puzzle, but not horrid either. Another thrift store find, and another new company – always interesting!

It’s a good thing we have so many kid’s puzzles to assemble. I’m having the hardest time sitting, even for a few minutes. I’m spending most of my days in bed and only able to concentrate long enough for a small piece count puzzle. I’m working on a 2000 piece puzzle at the moment but it is going at the pace of a sedated snail. 😐

For some reason I really like the look of this puzzle; it wasn’t the greatest quality but it was a quick fun assembly and will hopefully enjoy it’s new home at the school. 👍

Magical Jungle

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Magical Jungle by Johanna Basford – Buffalo Games – 500 pieces

I love this image, it’s bright and cartoony and makes for fun puzzling. I had a great time assembling this one, it was quick and easy and took my mind off of stressful things. I definitely needed that!

I like the work of Johanna Basford, and think it is excellent puzzle material; she is a Scottish illustrator who has published many adult coloring books. This image feels like a coloring book, perhaps that’s why I like it so much. Even though my brain isn’t working properly enough for me to articulate why it is that certain images are appealing to me, I still try. 🙂

This puzzle also comes with a black and white poster of the image for you to color. Don’t like the purple elephant? Why not make him bright pink? I haven’t finished coloring it, but I sit and work on it every now and then. I worry about my color choices sometimes, which makes absolutely no sense at all. It’s my picture, who am I trying to please other than myself? If I want to color a sloth bright green, so what?!

Just Married

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Just Married by Ronald West – Anatolian (Perre Group) – 1024 pieces

There’s something about this image I just can’t put my finger on, but I absolutely loved it and had to get it. It’s the people, it almost feels like they have character. I’m not explaining it properly, but that’s the best I can do. I love these people and this image, and it made for an excellent puzzle! 🙂

The pieces of this puzzle seemed to fit a little better than the previous Anatolian puzzle I did, and the piece shapes are not so obvious in the finished image. The quality was very good, and so far I’ve very much enjoyed the puzzles from this company. There was a good variety of piece shapes that fit together very well, and the image reproduction is quite nice too.

I’m looking forward to getting more puzzles by Ronald West, I absolutely adore his work! There are a couple in stock at Puzzle Warehouse that I’ve got my eye on. I hope to find more. His artwork makes me happy, turn it into a puzzle and I’m doubly happy! 😍