Flower Delivery and a Beachy Retreat

Thomas Kinkade 500 Pieces

It's been a rough week. Last Wednesday, December 5th, my grandmother passed away. It had been a long time coming unfortunately. The night she passed, I and a few other family members had gathered at my grandfather's house, and I had brought along a pack of four 500 piece Thomas Kinkade puzzles to pass the time. I had just finished sorting out the edges of this lovely beachy scene, and was starting to assemble them when she left us.

I'd packed the puzzle back away, but went ahead and decided to finish it. I'd been so looking forward to doing this one ever since I bought the pack months ago, and I know my grandmother wouldn't have wanted me put off of it. I also had packed it up in one of my grandfather's tupperware dishes, and he'll probably want that back as well!

It's been a difficult week since then, filled with grief. I've spent a good deal of my time working on this 1000 piece MB Puzzle/ Cardinal Games 'Flower Delivery' to keep myself occupied. My grandmother would have adored all the flowers in it, she just loved flowers. Not as big a fan of dogs.... Too slobbery for her!

There may also have been wine involved...

The flowers were the easy part, simple to pick out of the box of assorted ambiguous greens and blues! They went together in a pinch!

Even with all the trouble the greens were giving me, I was still having a blast, a little ray of fun to distract me from the sad.

My cats are also a great distraction. Here's Taco, siting in the chair across from me, taking a bath! Little goofball!

And finished! All around, I was really impressed with the quality of this one. The Cardinal Games puzzles I got from the Dollar Tree are about what one would expect for only a dollar, very thin cardboard, if otherwise good. But these, made in conjunction with MB using the 'Premium Quality Blue Board' are spectacular!

The cardboard is a good thickness, and very, very rigid with very little bend, so none of the pieces I encountered were bent or damaged in any way. The cutting was crisp and precise, and the printing and finish on the front was lovely. It also came with an extra resealable bag to keep the pieces in when finished, if that's your thing, and a little fold out 'box easel', which you can fit the box lid into and will hold it up for you to look at while you work. I didn't use it but I'll definitely keep it around for the future in case I ever need something like it. What a clever idea! I'm really happy to have purchased several more puzzles by this company.

All around, it's been a long, difficult week. I'm so glad I have such a nice, calming hobby to help get me through it!

1000 piece Ceaco, “Coleman’s Paradise”, by James Coleman. Very much enjoyed this one- Ceaco's pieces fit together well, and always look stunning! Haven't had a disappointing puzzle from them yet! I'd highly recommend the brand!

I can’t wait to get this framed and hung, it’s the sweetest image!

Progress continues!

Picked these two up yesterday from Walmart while I was there picking up frames for the puzzles yesterday. A'Titania’ a 1000 piece from Buffalo Games with art by Josephine Wall, and ‘The Astronomer’ a 750 piece by Master Pieces with art by Miles Pinkney. I was super excited to find another Josephine Wall puzzle, and the wizard was great because it’s an image I had on a calendar from when I was a kid! I couldn’t wait to get started on it once I got the 'Call of the Sea’ off of my board–but I didn’t get very far…

The first thing I noticed was a LOT of pieces still stuck together, which I don’t mind, except they were slightly uncut at the corners, so pulling them apart frayed the edges. And then there were the ones I found in the picture; just not fully cut at all. You couldn’t pull this apart if you tried!

On top of that, these pieces are crazy shaped. Like, practically impossible to distinguish edges from innards. More than half the pieces at least have edges that are nearly flat, but not quite, making it super frustrating to even get started! I guess Master Pieces is known for their bizarre puzzle piece shapes, but it definitely wasn’t appealing.

While I wasn’t really excited for the holographic finish on the pieces, I thought it’d make for an interesting puzzling experience, and I was right in a way… It definitely made it harder! I already struggle with glare from my lighting, and the holographic finish wasn’t helping at all. I ended up bundling up 'The Astronomer’ after a meager attempt to sort and assemble the edges–I plan to contact Master Pieces and express my disappointment in the quality as well!

 

I decided instead to start this gorgeous Ceaco 1000 Piecer, which I believe is called 'Coleman’ s Paradise’ by James Coleman. Just opening it up and getting the pieces out of rhe bag inside the box, I was blown away by the quality. The pieces just feel nice, and every single one was cut through nice and crisply with hardly any remaining together, and those that were seperate with no trouble.

I felt like I made good progress too!