Farm Cottage Puzzle from Cardinal

We usually find ourselves making 1000 piece (or more puzzles). But that doesn’t mean we don’t love smaller puzzles just as much! We found this Farm Cottage Puzzle from Cardinal (now Spin Master) in my parent’s storage room. It’d been there for a bit. Who doesn’t have puzzles stored away somewhere? So we grabbed it and brought it home to enjoy ourselves.

Pretty Scene. Pretty Challenging.

This Farm Cottage Puzzle from Cardinal was sorta deceiving. Usually a 500-piece puzzle doesn’t take us that long to finish. This one took a bit longer. It had its challenging spots. That’s good. I’d say we got our money’s worth but we got it for free!

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The Last Piece

This puzzle contains 500 pieces. The final puzzle is about 24″ wide and 18″ high. There was no poster included but we did it get used, so perhaps the original came with one. The pieces are fit fairly well. The image is well-done and fun to look at.

Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Colorful Umbrellas in Bali Puzzle from Big Ben

This Colorful Umbrellas in Bali puzzle from Big Ben (once part of Milton Bradley and now Hasbro) was very tough for us to finish. It took us about as long as any 1000 piece puzzle has ever taken. It’s no longer made as far as I can tell but you can find it on eBay. At several points throughout the process I said “Good, no one else will have to go through this!”. But we made it. And we enjoyed the final result more, I think, if nothing else because of the challenging times we had.

Nice ‘Ellas

Yes, it was the bright colors that drew us to this Colorful Umbrellas in Bali puzzle from Big Ben. We found it at a garage sale. I’m pretty sure it had never been assembled before. I can see why, too. This puzzle could easily scare off even the most-seasoned puzzle veteran. Once you get past the umbrellas and what little identifiable beach sand there is, it’s tough. Way tough.

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The Last Piece

This is a 1000 piece puzzle. It did not include a poster. The picture on the box did not show the entire puzzle. The assembled puzzle is about 20″ wide and 27″ high, although you can assemble it either in portrait or landscape orientation. The pieces are thick, fit well. The image quality on the pieces is not so good. This puzzle was difficult to assemble but still fun to sit back and enjoy.

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Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Treasures Puzzle from We Care

We picked up this Treasures Puzzle from We Care in an antique mall in Kokomo, Indiana. It’s an older puzzle but it had never been opened. The artwork was appealing. From the box we could tell it was originally sold to support a local charity, We Care. The artwork was done by Mike Sears, a prolific artist that started in Kokomo and later ended up in Silver Dollar City. He has done a number of charity pieces, like this one. His story is fascinating and worth the read.

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A Challenging Joy

This Treasures Puzzle from We Care was definitely not without its challenges. To begin with, the pieces are thick and fit pretty tightly. That’s not a bad thing, but when you get one wrong, you’re going to work for it. It takes a bit of finagling to get that piece back out. The trees and parts of the grassy areas were definitely more difficult. But, boy, was it great to put in that last piece and enjoy the final result!

One Kind of Piece

Once you’re past the edges, there’s actually only one shape of piece in this puzzle from LEGO. Each piece has two tabs on the ends, and two sockets (blanks or holes, whatever you like to call them!) in the middle. They are either placed vertically or horizontally. But don’t think that makes it easier. Get that thought out of your head right now. Some of the colors are very similar. It’s a challenge!

The Last Piece

This 1000 piece puzzle did not include a poster, however this puzzle is quite old so it’s not surprising. The assembled puzzle is about 25″ wide and 20″ high. The pieces are thick. And they’re even more stubborn to take apart if you have a piece wrong.

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Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Birch Point Cove Puzzle from Buffalo Games

We had just completed a really, really challenging puzzle. It took us days and days to complete. That’s ok, we’re not in a hurry. But boy did we need a little bit of an ‘easy break’. So we grabbed this Birch Point Cove Puzzle from Buffalo Games off of our to-do pile and got to it.

This is another of Charles Wysocki’s great works. We always find puzzles of his art to be rather relaxing. Challenging in spots too, but they are always an enjoyable experience.

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Such A Pleasant Scene

You can almost hear the birds in the tree while you’re working on this puzzle. As with all of Wysocki’s work (or at least the puzzles of his art that we’ve done so far), the scene is very soothing. The Birch Point Cove puzzle from Buffalo Games was a great experience. We sure enjoyed it.

The Last Piece

This 1000 piece puzzle included a poster. The assembled puzzle is about 27″ wide and 20″ high. The pieces fit fairly well and the colors were great. The original artwork is a painting, so the imagery on the pieces isn’t as crisp as you’d find on a puzzle drawn on a computer.

Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Beach Fun Puzzle from White Mountain

This Beach Fun puzzle from White Mountain was a bit different for us. Usually, the puzzles we buy and assemble have very sharp, defined colors and edges. Many, we suspect, are designed on computers. Some come from paintings, but border on being almost mechanical in their detail and accuracy and sharpness. Not this one. This is more like a painting. The edges are a bit softer. Mellower.

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Busy Beach Time

The image in this Beach Fun puzzle from White Mountain is busy. There’s lots of ‘stuff’ to be found. And challenging spots all over. The softer images make it even more challenging, a little harder to tell which pieces go where. The beach and sand were tough. As was the water and sky. The objects found all over were a bit easier. This was a fun puzzle to do.

The Last Piece

This 1500 piece puzzle included a very colorful, nice poster. The assembled puzzle is about 32″ wide and 24″ high. The pieces are nice and large and fit together very well. There is a small poster included.

Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Flowers and Flyers Puzzle from Buffalo Games

We traded with a couple in our neighborhood for this Flowers and Flyers puzzle from Buffalo Games. It instantly caught our attention. How could it not? The amazing colors jumped right off of the box. Although we knew it would be a challenging puzzle, we could not resist. So we grabbed it and ran. Well, walked.

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A Slow Start

Right out of the gates progress was a little slow on this Flowers and Flyers puzzle from Buffalo games. As the official ‘Edge Guy’ I found myself making several mistakes along the sides, putting pieces in the wrong places. They fit, but they were wrong. And it was challenging to find the wrong ones, too. But perseverance paid off.

Tackling the flowers was too overwhelming at first. So we concentrated on the butterflies and the vertical lines separating the ‘columns’ of plants. Those lines proved challenging too, but at least the colors were easy to identify.

In the end we had an amazingly colorful puzzle that we could step back and enjoy. If we glued and framed puzzles, this would be the first one we would do. It’s like art.

The Last Piece

This puzzle contains 1000 pieces. The final puzzle is about 20″ high and 27″ wide. The pieces fit really well. The image is crisp and bright and the colors are fantastic. There is a poster included that is clear and easy to work from. This is a great challenging puzzle!

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Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Beachcomber’s Bounty Puzzle from Buffalo Games

This was easily the hardest puzzle we’ve done. Or would it be hardly the easiest? There were so many challenging spots in this Beachcomber’s Bounty puzzle from Buffalo Games. Designed by one of our favorite artists, Aimee Stewart, it contains a myriad of beach finds. Of every size and color imaginable, too. The only thing easy about this puzzle was when (after almost two weeks!) we got the last piece! At least we knew where it belonged!

Challenges Abound

I wish I could say there was a particularly easy area in this puzzle. Some place to point to where the pieces dropped into place almost by themselves. But nope. Once we got past the edges it was challenge after challenge. And boy did we ever enjoy the final results. Beachcomber’s Bounty puzzle from Buffalo Games is another wonderfully colorful Aimee Stewart work. It’s one we can look at for hours.

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The Trademark Fox

Like most of Ms. Stewart’s puzzles, this one does include the image of a fox. I won’t tell you where it is so as to not ruin the surprise but it’s there! Happy hunting!

The Last Piece

This puzzle contains 2000 pieces, though it is available in other sizes. The final puzzle is about 39″ wide and 27″ high. The pieces fit fairly well. The image is crisp and bright and the colors are fantastic. There is a poster included that is clear and easy to work from. This is a very large (for us) and challenging puzzle that provides hours of great puzzling fun.

Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Summer Breeze Puzzle from White Mountain

I am pretty sure we both heard the ocean waves while making this Summer Breeze puzzle from White Mountain. And we could hear the gulls and the warm summer breeze blowing across the porch. This was a great puzzle that was fun and relaxing to do.

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Relax When You’re Done

Oh sure, we’d all like to be sitting in the image from this Summer Breeze puzzle from White Mountain. But before we can dream of that we have to put it all together. And that’s not as easy as it might seem. There are a few challenging spots to be found. The chairs, rug and the cream-colored wood posts and ceiling for example. The sky and ocean, often a tough spot in many puzzles, were actually pretty easy to do.

The Last Piece

This puzzle contains 1000 pieces and includes a poster. The final puzzle is about 24″ high and 30″ wide. The pieces are big, thick and fit really well. The image is crisp and bright and detailed. This is a great, quality puzzle!

Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Budzen’s Puzzle from Buffalo Games

This Budzen’s puzzle from Buffalo Games was our first puzzle with artwork by Charles Wysocki. We’d heard his name many times in various puzzle circles but honestly, we didn’t really know anything about him. So like anyone else, we looked him up on Wikipedia. Wysocki was an artist that painted mostly primitive works that depicted an early American life. We both enjoyed the artwork and the challenge of this puzzle. It was definitely tricky in spots, with lots of similar colors and textures making it easy to confuse the pieces. That’s good. A good challenge is a good thing.

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Quality In Every Way

Puzzle quality comes in several ways. Of course you want quality, well-cut thick pieces that fit well. And you want amazing art. A poster is a plus, for us. And a bit of a challenge is a good thing. This Budzen’s puzzle from Buffalo Games was quality all-around. This won’t be our last Charles Wysocki puzzle. In fact, we already find ourselves seeking them out now when we go puzzle hunting.

The Last Piece

This puzzle includes a poster. There are 1000 pieces. The assembled puzzle is about 27″ wide and 20″ high. The pieces fit very well and the image quality on the pieces is fantastic. The colors were great and the pieces are cut perfectly. This is a quality puzzle that brings hours of enjoyment.

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Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!

Family Campsite Puzzle from Buffalo Games

This Family Campsite puzzle from Buffalo Games was our first puzzle with hidden images. Honestly, I didn’t even notice it on the box. I just saw that the artist was Aimee Stewart. That’s all I needed to know that it would be a great puzzle. The hidden image thing ended up being a bonus.

Fun Things. Everywhere.

This is not our first Aimee Stewart puzzle that was absolutely full of objects. Everywhere. If you ever went camping back in the 70s or 80s, chances are a lot of the items you packed for the trip can be found in this puzzle. There’s definitely no shortage of things, colorful and fun, in this Family Campsite puzzle from Buffalo Games.

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After you’re done, there’s a list of 10 images you’ll need to find inside the puzzle. They’re not too hard to find. And it’s fun to find them.

You could also do like we did and kinda keep an eye out for the hidden images as you put the puzzle together!

The Last Piece

This puzzle includes a poster which is a good thing because there were graphics on the box that hid parts of the puzzle. There are 500 pieces in this puzzle. The assembled puzzle is about 21″ wide and 15″ high. The pieces fit very well and the image quality on the pieces is fantastic. The colors were great and the pieces are cut perfectly. This is a quality puzzle that brings hours of enjoyment.

Got questions about puzzling? Are you new to this great hobby? Check out our FAQ and guide to puzzling!