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I have always thought I had done shaped puzzles by doing the occasional round or square offerings, different from the ’normal’ rectangles. Then I unboxed the 1000 piece ‘Special Shape’ Forest Owls by SunsOut. Now I am hooked! I had to devise an entirely new strategy to conquer this one! My go-to method is to separate all the straight edge pieces out, get the frame together and then begin on inner sections. Well, what is a straight edge here?! A slight curve on the edge of one part of a piece might be a part of the frame or a complete curve on an entire side of a piece might be an edge or NOT! CONTINUE READING

Hello out there in Puzzle Land!  April may have brought showers, but it also brought me a kitchen renovation with the added bonus of new floors. Don’t worry, my house was not destroyed by a PNW springtime deluge (although we did have one week where it hailed everyday, and one day it hailed so much there were leftovers the next day!), it was something we planned and wanted for a very long time. CONTINUE READING

The opening number for the musical “Oliver!” is “Food, Glorious Food.” Workhouse children sing of the food they want to eat, but all they ever get is watery oatmeal. I am haunted by the image of Oliver slowly walking between the tables as he carries his bowl to Mr. Bumble, supervisor of the workhouse, and says, “Please sir, I want some more.” Mr. Bumble is so enraged by this impertinence that he sells Oliver to an undertaker. CONTINUE READING

If you are anything like me, you probably have a collection of puzzles. My puzzle collection leans a tad towards the hoarding level, but I’m OK with this designation. If you remember, in one of my past posts, I wrote about how my puzzle tastes definitely lie in the fantasy genre. However, I also love a good collage puzzle. There’s just something about a collection of things that gives me all the good neurotransmitters. CONTINUE READING

Founded in 2020, as a way to brighten up the Instagram feed in a dark time, while also opening a safe space for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. It started off with a goal of completing all of the Cobble Hill/Shelley Davies Rainbow Project within the month of June, aka Pride Month, and allow for people all over the world to puzzle together while being so isolated. CONTINUE READING

As I write this blog, I’m on my back porch taking in the scent of jasmine and admiring the bougainvillea that is flowering along my back yard fence. Thankfully, as a Floridian, I get to enjoy the fact that Mother Nature just takes over year-round, as my gardening skills are sorely lacking - I have a brown thumb! The only way I can contribute is to buy flowers, which I often treat myself to, and to make flowers bloom on my puzzle board.  CONTINUE READING

Who loves holidays as much as I do? From good food, cozy family time, and extra days off of work (hopefully), does it get much better? Add in the fun decorations, and maybe some wacky family traditions, and I tend to love each and every holiday! CONTINUE READING

This month I interviewed Anie Maltais, the owner and founder of JaCaRou Puzzles in Quebec, Canada!  Join us for Part 1 of our interview as we talk about starting a puzzle company, creating puzzle art, and quitting your job right before a global pandemic. Note:  This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. CONTINUE READING

Busy puzzles.  With many puzzlers, they either evoke terror and are avoided at all costs or they are a challenge accepted with gusto.  I fall into the latter category.  One of the first 1000 piece puzzles I ever did was the extended cast of the TV show “The Simpsons”.  It was almost completely yellow.  I realized very quickly it was very difficult to sort and it taught me to look at small details to work out where pieces needed to be placed.  I loved every second of it and to this day still remains one of my favourite puzzles. CONTINUE READING