And now we’ve come to the close of our trip down cottage lane, and wasn’t it fun? I hope you readers have enjoyed it as much as I have. I think each little piece of artwork deserves to be appreciated, and have had a great time showing them all!

For those of you wondering, the quality of these puzzles is pretty good. The pieces are on the thinner side, but they’re sturdy and have a very nice variety of shapes. They fit together well, if perhaps slightly loosely, and as you can see the image reproduction is lovely with bright colors, crisp lines, and no fuzziness or blurry areas. The added colored backing seems to make it so that the die doesn’t cut all the way through on every piece, and each little puzzle had several pieces still attached. It wasn’t too terrible though, and just a little tug was all that was needed to separate them.

I’m calling this one Heart House, because there are hearts everywhere! From the weather vane at the top of the house to paving stones in the walkway – hearts, hearts, and more hearts! Some of them are easy to miss, did you see the heart on the trim boards at the top of the house? So sweet! How about the X’s and O’s hanging off the porch roof? Hugs and kisses for everyone. This is in my top 3 of the entire set, love it! 😍

Here’s another one with an autumn look to it, the Butternut Bakery. I love the little seating area near the top of the building, and the birdhouse too. Did you notice the weather vane? It’s a rolling pin! The small details like that are adorable; I really do love the work of this artist – it makes me smile. 🙂

And lastly is the Sea Breeze Inn, doesn’t this look like a wonderful place for a weekend at the beach? I’m not a fan of sand, so I don’t think I’d be doing much at the beach, but it looks like a lovely place to sit on the porch and relax. All they need is a table there so I could work on a puzzle or two – then it would be perfect! 🧩

Did you notice? This is the only cottage without a cat!

Back to the sweet cottages, I’m having a really good time showing each of the puzzles in the set; I’m sure there was much effort involved in painting every one of these, and it’s so nice that we’re able to appreciate each of them separately.

This series would be great if you have young children in your house, or grandchildren who visit. Each puzzle is small enough that they wouldn’t lose interest too quickly, and even sorting is fun with all the different colored backings. The bright colors and interesting images are kid friendly as well, and also great for those of us who are just kids at heart. 🤩

I may have to dig through my stash and see which of the puzzle sets from this series I still have; reassembling this set has been so entertaining that it makes me want to reassemble the rest of them and show each small puzzle like I’ve been doing with the cottages. I’ve given several of them away to my “grandson”, but I still have a few of them here. Anyone out there interested in Small Shaped Puzzles, Part Deux? 😉

When I first saw the name of this little bakery it didn’t make any sense; then I said it out loud. Thistle Do = This’ll Do. What a great name! I love the autumn look of this cottage, with the corn stalks, apples, pumpkins, and gourds – and the wreath on the chimney is perfect!

I’m not a cat person, so I’m not sure if the cat is trying to get at the tomatoes or the herbs on the table. Do cats eat tomatoes? Or perhaps it’s just trying to cause some mischief, I know for sure that they love that! This little cottage reminds me of home; we used to live in a town with many a summer cottage on the lake shore, and quite a few have this sort of feel. Love it!

And lastly is my favorite of today’s three – a bright, fun looking cottage with a little pond/moat out front. I love the wrought iron gate on the side, and how the bright purple flowers stand out against the yellow of the house. I would love to spend a summer here – but perhaps not with a cat – my Buddy wouldn’t like it. 🐶

Day two of adorable cottages by Kim Leo. I really do love these small shaped puzzles! Reassembling the cottages makes me want to go back and reassemble all the ones I still have. I’ve kept quite a few of them, and given some away to my “grandson” who loves puzzles as much as I do.

Each of the puzzles has a colored backing so that you can sort them easily, or if you prefer more of a challenge you can ignore the colored backing and make it a true 500 piece puzzle. I prefer to use the colored backing and sort them into twelve piles. I don’t always assemble the entire box all at once, so it’s nice to be able to sit down and grab a pile of pieces and put together one or more of these shaped beauties.

Lilacs -n- Lace Bed & Breakfast – gotta tell you I love the bright color of this one. I would LOVE to have a bright purple house with a green porch, but I don’t know that the neighbors would be too pleased. The lilac bushes on the side of the house make me a little homesick for Michigan. The don’t grow here in Florida, and I miss their beautiful scent and seeing the brightly colored lilac bushes everywhere.

We’ve got two black cats in this one, and it looks as if they’d like to take that bike for a spin while the dog doesn’t seem to want to get involved. He looks as if he wants to say “Mom wouldn’t like it if you messed up her bike.” I love the look of a yellow house, it always seems cheery to me. Although I’m not so sure about the neon pink door. Ah well, at least it matches the bike!

What a sweet little cafe, with lots of flowers everywhere. Doesn’t this look like a relaxing place to have a nice meal, with lots of small talk? This one definitely reminds me my home state, it must be because the artist lives there. She seems to perfectly capture the quaint feeling of small town homes and businesses.

These puzzles make me so happy! 💖

I am completely in love with these 500 piece puzzles from Cra-Z-Art. They are a series of shaped puzzles of various animals/houses/objects/food and they are so much fun! Each of the boxes is a total of around 500 pieces and includes between 12-16 smaller shaped puzzles. I think I’ve done all of them, but there may be one or two that I have yet to find. They’re all adorable and unbelievably entertaining, and great for when you don’t have a ton of time to sit and puzzle – or even if you prefer to sit down and put them all together at once.

I’ve assembled these 12 before, but I received another copy as a gift for Christmas from my puzzle pal Penny, and putting them together again isn’t a burden at all; I absolutely love these small shaped puzzles, and doing any of them again is a joy! 💝

This time around I’m showing each of the puzzles. This box of 12 cottages will be spread out over 4 posts: 1) to show each of the 12 puzzles close up and appreciate the artwork, and 2) to give myself a little breathing room as far as posts in the queue ready to go – I’m finding it hard to puzzle lately, sitting at the table is too painful for me for any length of time. So get ready for 4 days of tiny cottage puzzles, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

The flowers climbing up this house are so lovely; my thumb is NOT green, so I don’t know what kind of flowers grow on a climbing vine, but it sure would be pretty to have. They definitely wouldn’t survive a hurricane down here in Florida, but it’s nice to think about them adorning the front of my house. 🙂

I love the color of this little flower shop, and more pretty climbing flowers! Also, keep an eye out for cats, you’ll find at least one in every puzzle. I thought at first the artist must definitely be a cat person, but after a bit of research I’ve learned that she and her husband live in Michigan and only have a dog. I wonder why there’s a black cat in each puzzle. Perhaps as a tribute to Heronim (Harry Wysocki, brother of Charles), another prominent Americana artist from Michigan?

This seems like a perfect puzzle for fall; apples and pumpkins for sale, and a black cat resting on a bale of hay. Of the three cottages shown today, this one is my favorite – fall is my favorite season. Unlike some of the other cottages, this one looks as though it’s been “cut” out of a larger painting. You can see in the border that there was more going on in the background. I’d love to see the rest of the image!