Peacocks

Peacocks – MicroPuzzles (Puzzle Packs) – 80 pieces

So MicroPuzzles has come out with a new line, they’re smaller in piece count but the pieces themselves are larger and easier to handle – and they have some beautiful, adorable, cute as a button images to choose from. This is in the beautiful category (just my opinion) and while it’s a stunning image it was more than a little challenging to put together, even for only having 80 pieces.

These little beauties are even better quality than the MicroPuzzles that come in the test tubes; the pieces are thicker and sturdier, the fit is exceptional, the image reproduction is clear and crisp, and the finish is more matte. Overall, I’d say these were excellent quality mini puzzles. The finished puzzle is 5″x7″ (approx. 13 x 18 cm), and is a perfect size for puzzling when you are out and about or have only a small space to work with.

They come in a little plastic pouch that is easy to throw into a bag or suitcase so that you can puzzle anywhere, and the seal is very tight – you won’t have to worry about it coming open and spilling pieces everywhere.

Here you can see the difference in piece size between the newer puzzle pack pieces and the regular MicroPuzzles that come in the tubes. The test tube piece is on the far left next to the much larger piece from the new Puzzle Packs in the middle. They’re both relatively small, but the larger pieces are easier to work with and see the image on; I enjoyed working with them very much.

My youngest picked out this puzzle for me to assemble, and I told him that it was quite the challenge for me. Still, I enjoyed trying out these new puzzle packs and am looking forward to going through the rest of my recent purchases from MicroPuzzles. Oh, and speaking of a puzzle with a great fit…

You guessed it! My signature standing on the edge picture, which fellow puzzle blogger and my puzzle bestie Penny has named The Stacey Stance! This little guy stood up so well that it barely needed to curve around at the bottom. As I’m typing and looking at this picture I can’t seem to keep a smile off of my face, these pictures are so good for my mental health.

Enjoy mini puzzles? You might want to give these new Puzzle Packs from MicroPuzzles a try, this one was lovely! 🦚

Untitled In Progress…

Untitled – Unknown – 150 pieces

I was waiting on a Puzzle Fairy delivery yesterday, so I didn’t want to start any larger piece count puzzles. A micro puzzle is always good for a good time, so this untitled puzzle from an unknown manufacturer seemed like an excellent choice – an adorable puppy face is almost always sure to make me smile, and there are several adorable puppy faces in this one. (Plus, there’s that sweet Boston Terrier in the corner, how in the world can I be expected to pass that up?) 🐾🧡

This way I was still able to put some puzzle pieces together yesterday to center and relax me, but whatever puzzle will be my next inspiration won’t have to wait long at all for me to finish this little guy and have the board ready for more pieces.

Wish I knew where these mini puzzles came from, but honestly there are no clues whatsoever in this aging brain of mine.

*The puzzles arrived, but it was later in the afternoon and I wasn’t even able to open them until this morning. So many puzzles and so much inspiration – thank you Puzzle Fairy! 💚🧚‍♀️

Hummingbird’s Treasure

Hummingbird’s Treasure – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This little beauty was more difficult than it looks, but so much fun! After seeing just how many MicroPuzzles were here that still needed to be assembled, when I was looking for a smaller piece count puzzle I decided to look through my mini puzzles to find an image that spoke to me. This gorgeous hummingbird carrying a puzzle piece caught my eye and I’m so glad it did. It’s just beautiful. 😍

The image made for an interesting assembly. There were several times that I placed pieces that I was sure were correct, but they were not. If I had picked up the pieces and checked the back I would have seen that it wasn’t the correct placement, but I don’t always do that. Many people these days seem to be calling these “false fits” online, I do not. I call it putting a piece where it doesn’t belong. If a piece can fit into a spot that doesn’t mean it belongs there, many pieces can be made to fit in many places. A true false fit is when there are multiple pieces that are exactly the same shape and can fit perfectly in more than one spot. Placing a piece incorrectly is just that, not necessarily a false fit; you have to look at both the image and how the pieces fit together. False fit seems to be the new buzzword for puzzlers lately, and my hormonal menopausal brain finds this very annoying.

Thus endeth today’s rant.

I placed several pieces incorrectly in this puzzle; the darkness of the image in some places along with the shiny coating made it difficult for these old eyes to know for sure if the placement was true. Of course it became obvious when I tried to place adjoining pieces that I was wrong, but I found the challenge to be entertaining. This build was very enjoyable for me.

Of course when the fit is right we always try to get a picture of the puzzle on it’s edge, which hilariously (to me, anyway) has been named the “Stacey Stance” by fellow puzzle blogger Puzzle Momma, who is also my puzzle bestie Penny. I’m flattered! Getting this picture is more of a challenge when the image is oriented in portrait style like this one, but I got it done.

I absolutely adore this image, it’s so dang pretty!😍

Hummingbird’s Treasure In Progress…

Hummingbird’s Treasure – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

I haven’t gotten as far I would have liked on this one yet, usually these puzzles are finished in one sitting. They’re what I call “one coffee puzzles” – they can usually be completed in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. Having a bad time lately with being able to sit in a chair for any length of time though, so this one will hopefully be completed later on today.

There’s something about working on these little puzzles with little pieces; I can’t really explain why they make me so happy, but then again I don’t really need to understand it. I can just enjoy them, right? Of course right!

This image is beautiful, and obviously I love that the hummingbird’s treasure is a puzzle piece. This isn’t an easy one, and working with the somewhat shiny pieces under artificial lighting is proving difficult at times. I had to turn off the light over the puzzle board and just work with the room lighting. The blue color around the border is a bit darker than the image shows, but it’s gonna be stunning when it’s done and difficult or not I’m still enjoying it. 😊

Gingerbread Glen* (Advent – Day 11)

Gingerbread Glen* – Aldi – 80 pieces

This adorable little puzzle was quite fun to put together. Pretty much all of them have been very entertaining, good quality puzzles. I’m so glad hubby got this for me, what a sweet guy I have!

Hope you like the title, Gingerbread Glen, I’m actually pretty proud of that one. 😎

There’s only one more day to go and I’m excited to see if we make it through all twelve puzzles with no problems at all, wouldn’t that be something?

Stay tuned!