To all my family, friends, puzzle pals and members of the PADS Posse I wish you a healthy, safe, joyous and prosperous year filled with laughter, love, and hopefully some fantastic puzzles!
Most importantly, may you have plenty of opportunities to spend time with those you love and care for. 💖
Happy 2020!
This is technically two days worth of work but most of the day yesterday was spent away from home, and therefore away from my puzzle board. I did slip away to the board last night (insomnia, yay) and worked on it for a little while; it’s a bit of a challenge, and I find I’m enjoying the slow coming together of the image.
The pieces and I are getting to know each other, and every time I go through my trays looking for something specific we get more and more acquainted. Once I start seeing them over and over, and seeing the assembled bits and what might attach to them I get more familiar with the pieces and the overall image. What looked like a bunch of pieces that were very much alike are now becoming old friends, and when I get ready to assemble that curtain or a specific book I know which pieces I’m looking for and what tiny little blob of color on a certain piece will fit perfectly.
Sometimes I like a quick fix, a little puzzle with few pieces that goes together quickly, especially after working a larger or difficult puzzle. But sometimes I truly enjoy the challenge of a puzzle that takes a bit more brain power and goes together more slowly. This is one of those puzzles.
Aimee Stewart’s images are my happy place, and I’ve assembled many of them. The colors she uses and the way she blends them together makes for not only a beautiful image, but for puzzles that are pleasing to look at and even more pleasing to build. This one is going together more slowly than usual for a 1000 piece puzzle, but I’m enjoying the placement of every piece. 😍
Just thought I’d do a little bragging, I got a bunch of puzzles this year for Christmas! My beautiful daughter went a little overboard, but I understand the reason and love her even more for it. 💝
She wanted to make sure I had enough smaller piece count puzzles to choose from; I have MANY, MANY 1000 piece puzzles or larger here at the house. When we go puzzle shopping together I’m usually looking for puzzles under 1000 pieces to fill in the gaps, so she stocked me up for a month or so. 😉
There are three puzzles at 550 pieces, three that are 500 pieces, and two 300 pieces – what a great selection! I’m certainly glad the Jan van Haasteren puzzle is only 550 pieces, it’s so busy and it’s been years since I assembled one of his images. The Aimee Stewart Skate Night puzzle is GORGEOUS and it just might be saved until last, and there are three adorable dog puzzles that are so sweet!
She did a beautiful job selecting puzzles, and I can’t wait to get going on them. I’m starting today with Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the image makes me very happy and I think it’s going to be a great assembly. All those colors in the background should be a lot of fun. 😎
I also got these beauties from my dear friend Penny at Puzzlemomma.com. The cottages are for when I can’t sit at my puzzle table and am resting in bed, the Elf puzzle is because we were just talking about funny movies (and it’s adorable), and the 2000 piece Pixar puzzle is because she’s always cheering me on to overcome my anxiety and do some larger puzzles again (and because it’s a collage and she knows how much I love them).
She did an excellent job of selecting puzzles as well, and I’ve got a great new pile of puzzles in my stash to choose from. I’m almost looking forward to having to be in bed so I can get to assembling those cottages! 😉
Both my puzzle benefactors this year picked out some wonderful puzzles for me and as I’m putting them together I will be reminded of the thoughtfulness and kindness of these two fantastic women. Every piece of every puzzle is thoroughly appreciated, and I’m looking forward to each assembly and to sharing these puzzles with my readers.
My PADS is flaring up today and I find that my mood this morning is a puzzle induced euphoria – so many sensational new puzzles to choose from! 😍
Yes, puzzle friends, your eyes are not deceiving you, another puzzle with a missing piece. I am very disappointed and have contacted Ceaco.
I’m not one of those people who thinks a puzzle with a missing piece is the end of the world, and contacts the company to demand a replacement for every puzzle with a missing piece. In fact, the few times I have contacted companies I have refused replacements, my purpose was only to let them know about a manufacturing issue that they needed to address.
For me, once I’ve assembled the puzzle I have no need of a replacement. Even when there are missing pieces I still got enjoyment putting the puzzle together; and I feel that asking for a free puzzle because of a missing piece is ridiculous. There is no way to guarantee that a missing piece is a manufacturing problem or if it’s the result of “user error”. People swear up and down that they have looked “everywhere” and it must be the company’s fault. Sometimes it is, to be sure; but I believe most of the time it is not. (These are my just opinions, and in no way am I passing judgement on anyone else.)
My purpose in contacting Ceaco was to let them know that there does seem to be a manufacturing problem with these puzzles. I have had 2 puzzles with missing pieces out of only 4 that I have assembled, and Penny has had an extra piece in one of her puzzles from the same set. These puzzles were assembled in one sitting, the pieces were dumped out onto a tray, and I am certain the missing ones just weren’t in the bag. It’s been my experience that Ceaco usually does a good job with their special editions, like this one; unfortunately, this advent calendar seems to have issues.
I did not ask for a replacement, because frankly I don’t wish to do these holiday puzzles again after the holidays. They should be made aware of problems though, and I wanted to express my disappointment. I made a special trip to the store for these puzzles, and that’s a big deal for someone with my physical problems. The advent calendar of puzzles made this PADS sufferer very happy and I was so excited to get it and start assembling a puzzle each day. Having missing pieces in 50% of the puzzles I’ve put together so far is quite frustrating, and I felt Ceaco needed to hear about it.
Anyway, that’s about 400 words written about a kids puzzle with a missing piece. Yikes. Sorry for the rant guys, but thanks for listening.
The snowmen were cute.
The winner of a copy of Browsing & Butterflies on 5th Avenue autographed by Charles Fazzino is…………….
Entry #2 – rleedee – Congratulations!
I’ve sent you an email, hopefully we can get your copy out to you very soon. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 🙂
Thanks to everyone who entered. I enjoyed holding this giveaway, and perhaps there will be more of them in the future!
