“Poppies in Vase” by Olena Art

 

I picked up this 500 pc puzzle at a Tuesday Morning while on vacation in Nashville.  I thought its beautiful pastels would be easy to place.  I was completely wrong!  The nature of this watercolor image made it very difficult, even at a lower piece count.  I started this one day on vacation.  Managing to get the border and small pieces of the background done, I split them into sections that I laid into the box for transport home.  I then finished this at work with the help of colleagues there as a group project, spread over some time.  It was fun to live with the image for a while, coming back to it only once a week or so.  Each time I approached with fresh eyes a few more pieces made sense.  Still, it would have taken me even longer to complete this on my own.  It was fun to have the help working on it together!

 The brand is one I'd never heard before:  Americanflat.  Despite the brand name, the box was labeled Made in China.  It was reasonably priced at $6-8. 

Though the pieces were not thick or sturdy, they were tight enough to hold together during completion.  I used another piece of cardboard to flip the puzzle over and glued it for framing as artwork to hang in my office at work, a drab blank wall in need of some colorful but cheap art that I won't be too attached to when the job ends in just a few months. 

Liberty Classic Puzzle "Up On the House Top"

 

I've started a new tradition this year, ordering a wooden holiday puzzle from Liberty Puzzles. It'll be a fun event to look forward to, opening up my puzzle at the beginning of December and enjoying a quiet night of Christmas movies, cheese ball and triscuits with eggnog or hot chocolate. 

This one, titled "Up on the House Top," has a simple color scheme depicting the moment Santa lands on the roof.  I love the circular uncommon shape.  At 269 pieces it was easy enough to finish in one couple hour sitting, but not too low of a piece count that it felt simplistic.  The pieces are thick and the edges of the wood burnished by the cut.  The shapes are irregular, with some in "whimsy cuts" of familiar holiday items like the candlestick, snowflake, or wreath. The finished puzzle measures only 12.25 inches by 13.75 inches, so it was easy to work on a board on my lap.

Liberty Puzzles are so in demand right now that in order to purchase directly from the manufacturer I had to go to their website and enter my email address into a "queue" to wait in line for my turn to purchase. It took about a month for my turn to come up.  And purchasers are limited to one single item.  When I've looked on Ebay for this brand secondhand, the puzzles often go for more than the new price from the manufacturer.  I'm sure I can keep this puzzle as an heirloom collector item for many Christmases to come.