Main Street by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – 500 pieces
Just barely started on this set of shaped mini puzzles, it’s the last set that I have yet to assemble – which is a little depressing. I’ve enjoyed all of the different and amazing sets they have available and it’s a bit sad that there aren’t any more for me to do.
Still, at least this one’s here to enjoy, right?
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 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 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.
Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces
You know what I’m going to say here about these images. So I won’t say it. Regardless, I still enjoyed putting them together. There’s something about a small puzzle, completing it in just a few minutes – it’s very satisfying and gives me quite a sense of accomplishment. Some days you just need to feel as though you got something done; these little puzzles are perfect for that.
Just because the average Christmas puzzle isn’t my particular pile of pieces, it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the artwork, because I absolutely do. Each scene here is very detailed and would make a great holiday puzzle in it’s own right. These are the first puzzles with images by Joseph Holodook that I’ve done, and I was very impressed with his attention to detail, and the sense of nostalgia in his art. Just lovely.
These Cra-Z-Art sets are great for working with younger children too; you could use the colored backing to separate each little puzzle, and help them to assemble a puzzle with a more “adult” theme. It could help build confidence in their puzzling and problem solving skills; plus, you end up with a beautiful little completed puzzle!
This is perfect little scene on the homefront. Look at those snowmen. I know whenever I tried to make a snowman when I was younger, the snow always had so much grass and dirt in it – they never looked that perfect for me.
This is my favorite of these three puzzles, and I love the quote. “Childhood is the country we had to leave behind, but at the holidays we can go back and speak our very first language.” I couldn’t find the quote anywhere else, so my assumption is that it is by the artist himself; whoever said it, it rings very true.
The blue of this building is beautiful, and made putting together part of this puzzle pretty easy. It’s a lovely scene, isn’t it?
My Jigsaw Journal 