Father Frost by Rachel Arbuckle – Wentworth – 36 pieces
This gorgeous shaped micro puzzle is beautiful, and a little challenging too – the perfect combination! The interesting shapes made for a longer assembly time than I thought, but a wonderful one.
I had no idea when I assembled it that it was artwork by Rachel Arbuckle, I adore her artwork! I have the first 3 puzzles in her 12 days of Christmas series, and I’m looking forward to assembling them.
The curlicue pieces and shaped edges made for quite the entertaining puzzle! This one comes in a Christmas cracker box too; they’re a little more expensive than the regular micro puzzles, but I love them anyway.
Some of the colors on these yummy desserts were the brightest and most colorful of all the mini shaped puzzles I’ve done so far, and they were so much fun! This was the last set that we finished during our mini puzzle marathon that had us completing 1500 pieces (3 sets) in one day!
There are only two sets left – mini cottages, and a second set of birds. I’m a little sad that there aren’t any more to look forward to, but I’m so happy I found them and that they brought me so much puzzle happiness. (Lafayette Puzzle Factory – if you’re listening, PLEASE make some more of these fun mini puzzles. Please.)
I put together the chocolate mousse cake, mom did the rainbow cake, and my son assembled the shakes. He couldn’t understand why in the world anyone would put pretzels or cracker jacks on a shake! (Seems weird to me too, but then again salty and sweet is a fantastic combination)
The fact that these were all so many different shapes made them lots of fun, a little challenging, and did I mention they were lots of fun? I loved them!!
Obviously I adore these little puzzle sets, if my count is correct this is the 11th set that I’ve done! Perhaps I’m a teeny bit obsessed. 😎 Of course part of it may be that my son loves working on them too and comes out of his room/cave to sit on my bed, watch tv with me, and work on these puzzles with his old mom. Quality time together with the people that I love makes puzzling even better! 💗
These were so much more difficult than the rest of the individual puzzles we’ve assembled! They were still fun though – lots of fun. The aren’t as brightly colored as the rest of the small shaped puzzles we’ve put together, but they were so beautiful!
My oldest son helped out and was completely engrossed in this set of puzzles. He started out with the elephant and it was much more challenging than we thought it would be. He worked on it for a LONG time and wouldn’t accept any help, but he got it done!
Puzzle Posse Member
His puzzle complete!
I think we were all put to the test with this set of puzzles, they definitely didn’t go together as quickly as the others because they didn’t have the brighter colors and more similar shapes as the previous sets we’ve done. I loved looking at them though, and left them assembled on the board for several days and kept thinking they’d be great in a jungle-themed kid’s room – they’re so beautiful!
These puzzles were difficult, but so satisfying to work on. We all loved them!
Today is the start of National Game and Puzzle Week here in the US, which is perfect for taking some of the stress out of spending time with family over Thanksgiving. Is Aunt Matilda always making you wait hours and hours for your holiday meal? Set up a jigsaw puzzle to help pass the time, what a lovely way to spend time with your family and loved ones!
You’ll get no board game recommendations from me – it’s too easy to end up arguing (just my opinion, of course). I love board and card games, but hubby is unbelievably competitive, as are many other family members. A fun game of euchre with my parents ends up with the men getting frustrated with mom and I because we “don’t take it seriously”. Mom and I then purposely try to lose, which mean we almost always end up winning; and we giggle hysterically while it’s happening. It’s safe to say the husbands are unimpressed with our behavior. 😁 I’m a jigsaw puzzle gal all the way; everyone can help, you don’t need to explain the “rules”, and everyone wins. Viva le puzzle!
So onto today’s puzzle, I chose this one for today’s post because it’s a puzzle of playing cards which can be used for many games. This puzzle had me so enraptured that I almost couldn’t walk away. I kept coming back to it even though I wasn’t feeling well; I just had to get a few more pieces put in, and I had to know if all the pieces were there!
Another good quality non-traditional Ceaco. This one is called a Conversation Pieces Trompe L’oeil jigsaw puzzle. (trompe l’oeil is a visual illusion in art, it means to trick or deceive the eye to see the painting as a three-dimensional object) Ceaco has a few of these conversation pieces puzzles, but this is the first one we’ve found in the thrift stores.
I wasn’t planning to document this assembly, but mom was here at the beginning and helped me assemble most of the first part. She went home to get some things done, and I kept sending her updated pictures. So I’ve got pics of the assembly as I went along! We started with the face cards, they were harder to assemble than we bargained for!
Next I assembled the rest of the cards that were face up, and I tried to place them all approximately where they belong in the puzzle. It sure doesn’t look like much, does it?
The next morning I put together the edges; it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t as difficult as I’d thought either. I was so excited to get that done! All that’s left is to fill in. I can’t explain how engrossed I was in this puzzle and how happy it made me. So happy!
I was hoping to have a picture of it glued and mounted on foam board and hanging in my daughter’s game room. Unfortunately, it’s not on the wall yet. Bummer. Still, we had a great time with this puzzle, and it looks so cool!
Conversation Pieces – Ceaco – 500 pieces
If you’re not up close to see the piece shapes it looks like cards strewn across a table. I think it’s going to look amazing on the wall! Perhaps over the holiday I’ll get it hung up – my daughter and her husband are hosting Thanksgiving this year in their new home. I’m bringing the pies, and something to hang up this puzzle! You might just see a picture of it sometime soon. 😎
Pups in Cups by Keith Kimberlin – Lafayette Puzzle Factory – 500 pieces
How cute are these puppies? So darn cute! They were absolutely as much fun as I’d hoped. I was finally able to get the last 4 sets of these mini puzzles, and mom, my oldest son and I went a little “mini puzzle crazy” a couple of weeks ago and assembled 3 sets in one day! 1500 pieces in total all in one day. 🙂
It’s not hard to get that many pieces assembled when you’ve got a lot of help and you’re putting together a lot of very small puzzles. It was so much fun working together – we had the best time!
The quality of these mini puzzles is very good. The pieces are a good thickness and fit together well, and the image reproduction is excellent. My only problem is that the colored backing seems to make it difficult for the die to cut completely through, and there are pieces on each of the mini puzzles that aren’t completely separated. It’s a minor detail, but worth mentioning.
Pups in Cups was the set I most wanted to assemble, and they didn’t disappoint. It’s so much adorable cuteness in one puzzle! The brightly colored cups were easy and fun to assemble, and the pups were more of a challenge than I thought they’d be. It was a great combination.
Look at those sweet, sad eyes!
It was hard to choose a favorite, they’re all so sweet (and they didn’t have a Boston Terrier). But in my opinion all puppies are cute, no matter the breed.
Love the attitudes!
These mini shaped puzzles are so much fun, and such a blessing when I’m not able to get out of bed and sit at the puzzle table. If I’m feeling well enough I can sit up and work them on my white board, and if I’m not they’re small enough to assemble one by one on a cookie sheet. And they’re much less expensive than the wooden micro puzzles!
If you haven’t tried shaped puzzles before and you’re not sure about them, I would recommend giving these mini shaped puzzles a try. Each mini puzzle has a different colored backing so that you can sort them easily, or if you want to give yourself a challenge you can ignore the backing and treat it like a regular 500 piece puzzle. They’re completely entertaining to assemble and so adorable! 🐾🐶🐾
My Jigsaw Journal 