Unicorns – Part 1

Unicorns 1-2
Unicorns by Rose Catherine Khan- Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces

This is puzzle 100 for the year! I’m so glad that it was one that I enjoyed so very much. I can’t even express how much I loved these unicorns! They’re all so beautiful and colorful and I had the best time with them. 💗

These new sets that I bought are from Cra-Z-Art only, none of them say Lafayette Puzzle Factory like the previous sets. In addition, the colored backing has changed slightly so that it’s less slippery/shiny and made it easier for me to get good pictures without each one sliding off my board. Otherwise the quality seems the same; the pieces are on the thinner side, but they are sturdy and fit together well but slightly loosely.

The unicorns are all designed by Rose Catherine Khan, a new artist to me. I love the detail, the colors, and the fantasy of it all. Although fantasy images are not my usual choice, I certainly hope to see more puzzles with her artwork, I had such a great time with this one!

Unicorns 1-3

Purple and pink always make such a great combination! Is that because I grew up in the 80’s? Perhaps. Whatever. 😉 The colors of each of them are so beautiful! I’ve decided to name them all, because these unicorns with the long, flowing manes, gorgeous colors, and wonderful extras make me want to be silly and fun. The saddle on this one almost looks like a caterpillar on it’s body, and the longer hair at the hooves makes me think this is a female – so I have named her Cecilia, the Countess of Chrysalis. Cecilia was the runt of her litter, but she loves her shorter stature and thinks unicorns of every shape and size are beautiful no matter what. She likes to paraphrase Horton (he heard the Whos); “A unicorn’s a unicorn, no matter how small.”

Unicorns 1-4

This one makes me think of My Little Pony, only much more grown up and much more striking. This unicorn seems quite strong and manly to me so I have named him Angus the Able-Bodied. He is fierce, but fabulous – with iridescent wings that keep him aloft so that he can survey and protect his home. He likes moonlit walks on the beach, underwater basket-weaving, working out 3 days a week, and taking a spa day every two weeks to keep his mane in check and get himself a much needed pedicure.

Unicorns 1-5

This is my favorite of the three in this group, although I have to say that I think they’re all differing levels of fabulous. This unicorn also seems more masculine to me, and the long, fantastic mane has led me to name him Sampson the Stouthearted. The extra long hair/mane with what looks like strings of pearls is just amazingly gorgeous, and unfortunately also causes Sampson to be a little bit of a narcissist. He enjoys looking in the mirror, reading stories about himself in the newspaper, and spending time with his best friend Oliver the Owl. He’s a bit of a self-involved idiot, but he’s also brave and the first to stand up for those who are downtrodden. Mostly though, he’s lovely to look at.

I loved the artwork, I loved putting them together, I made myself laugh out loud at the silly stories I made up about them, and I adored each and every one of these shaped puzzles. Amazingly entertaining!

Birds in Progress

Birds IP
Birds – Lafayette Puzzle Factory (Cra-Z-Art) – 500 pieces

Another 500 piece puzzle with separate shaped mini puzzles, this one is Birds. I didn’t want to do too many of these small shaped puzzles in a row, but needs must – sitting in my chair in front of my table just isn’t something I’m able to do at the moment; these puzzles are easy to do on trays or my white board while I’m in bed.

I also wanted to show you the colored backings; you can separate them by color so that you can put each group together or you can disregard the backing and just assemble them as a regular 500 piece puzzle using only colors and shapes.

The feedback on the previous sets (Cottages and Shoes) has been great, and I hope you don’t get too sick of them. I bought myself 6 new sets, and one of them has already been assembled, and….. Oh. My. Goodness. They’re so beautiful! They’re fun and interesting too; and more importantly they’re easy to do when sitting is too difficult for me.

This puzzle is different than most of the others in that instead of 12 mini puzzles there are 15 of them. Instead of four days of posts showing three puzzles each day there will be five days of posts. I hope everyone enjoys the pretty birds! 🦜🐦

Retail Therapy

It’s been a rough few weeks for me, but I finally figured out something to brighten my days a little – puzzle shopping! 🧩🛒

When I came to the end of my posts of the shaped mini shoe puzzles I wondered if there were any new sets, or sets that I’d missed. A few clicks of the mouse later I had my answer – turns out there were six of them. It seems my PADS kicked in at that very moment and I may or may not have purchased every one of them I could find.

Oh wait, I actually did buy them! They’ve already been delivered, and one set has already been assembled. 😁

Stay tuned.

Shoes – Part 4

Shoes 4.1
Shoes – Lafayette Puzzle Factory (Cra-Z-Art) – 125/500 pieces

And so today we’ve come to the last of the shoe puzzles. Just as I was a bit sad when I came to the end of these puzzles, I’m a little sad we’ve come to the end of the posts. 😕

Luckily there is another set of puzzles here that I could put together and make multiple posts from – it’s a set of birds. There is one small difference though, there are 15 mini puzzles in that set instead of 12; it would make for five posts instead of four. That’s pretty good, because I’ve been in such a funk lately that I’ve whittled my queue down to almost nothing. Time for Stacey to get herself back in the game!

Shoes 4.2

Love the sparkly bow/pin and the very cool crystal-like heel. Purple isn’t my go-to color, but put purple and pink together and you’ve got a hit as far as I’m concerned.

Shoes 4.3

This is my least favorite of all twelve shoes, I think it’s the orangey-yellow color. It may partly be because it’s floral as well, floral really isn’t my thing either. Still, overall, it’s a little wild and out there – which is absolutely my thing!

Shoes 4.4

How great is this shoe? It may sound a little odd to some, but it reminds me of my wedding dress. You couldn’t see it on the puzzles of my wedding pictures, but on the back of my dress were many draped strings of beads across my back, and the chains on this shoe remind me of them. I love the chains on the back! Add to that diamond studs, and shiny black and gold – to me this is a gorgeous shoe!

I hope this series of small, shaped puzzles was one you enjoyed seeing, and also hope that if you haven’t assembled a shaped puzzle before that it may have given you a push to perhaps try them for yourself. If a large shaped puzzle seems too foreign to you, I highly recommend giving one of these sets a try if you can find them. They’re great fun, and a nice change from only assembling rectangular puzzles. 🧩💗

Shoes – Part 3

Shoes 3.1
Shoes – Lafayette Puzzle Factory (Cra-Z-Art) – 125/500 pieces

I love this set of shoes, they’re big and flamboyant and fun – like me. 😁

The entire set of twelve different shoes is fun to assemble and pretty to look at; but this set of three makes me smile a little bit bigger than the others do. There’s just something about this set that I love a teeny bit more than the other three. I’m not sure I can put my finger on exactly why, the group is just a little more “me” than the others.

Shoes 3.4

I just got done saying how much I like this set more than the others, but now I’m going to tell you that flowery isn’t really my style. Nevertheless, it’s bright, hot pink – and we’ve learned that this child of the 80’s is ALL ABOUT hot pink; so even with all the flowers I love this shoe. The 80’s was about bright, crazy, in-your-face colors and this color takes me back to that a little. Perhaps it’s the gray-haired little old lady that I am now reliving my glory days; back when how you looked seemed more important than comfort. Man I was stupid when I was young. LOL

Shoes 3.3

Super sparkly with pearls, and who doesn’t love a little sparkle? These shoes certainly make an impression, don’t they? If it were just gold and sparkly it would be a little boring, but when you add the ribbons and pearls and diamond stud it kicks it up a notch. Now they’re a little “out there”. I do so love to be a little “out there”.

Shoes 3.2

Black and red, my favorite combination – just slightly above pink and black. Black and red has always been my favorite, since middle school I would say. Red is my favorite color, and when you put it with black it just dresses it up and makes it a bit more sophisticated. Sophistication isn’t always what I’m going for, because black and red can also be a little wild. Black and red was my “go to” back in the day.

I wish I could wear these shoes, I’d look awesome on the way to the hospital! 🤕