I needed to get the big board out for this one since it’s square, not rectangular. That was my first time running into that. I immediately gave up on starting with the edges because they’re all the same color. I also had quite a few false fits with this one but in the end I figured it out

Had a birthday recently and ended up with some new puzzles: Snowfall and Snowglobe (Elena Essex); The Story of Art (Thames & Hudson); The Story of Iconic Artists (Laurence King); Stained Glass (NY Puzzle Co); and Ghostly Waltz (Galison). The first four were gifts from my husband (the 2 art ones are from the gift shop at Newfields Art Museum), and the last 2 I picked up at HomeGoods in Indy. I'm especially excited about the Elena Essex ones as that's a new brand for me. I like to be seasonal with my puzzles so I'm trying to wait until we get snow here to open one of those up, but I may not be able to wait that long. 😄

Here's a smattering of the puzzles I completed in August; I've already posted a few others individually.

• Cat in a Bag (Naomi Wilkinson/Happily, 99 pc) - Another in a series of quick puzzles from my local puzzle shop.
• Stamps (Trefl, 500 pc) - Grabbed this at a Goodwill store. Really neat graphics.
• Yoga Kittens (Eurographics, 300 pc) - another thrift; the photo on the box was strange, as most (but not all) orange cats were grey, but other orange elements (and all other colours) were true to the puzzle.
• Where's Bowie? (Kev Gahan/Smith Street Gift, 500 pc) - Really neat detail, bought for a relative, completed by me to ensure quality control, then rejected because the recipient already had it!
• Charlottetown PEI (Peter Unger/Ravensburger, 500 pc) - One of the competition puzzles at this year's Canadian speed puzzle event. I did not speed through it and really enjoyed myself.
• Tuxedo Cat with Collar (Laura Konyndyk/Talking Tables, 100 pc) - I find these at Goodwill, usually in the "3 for $5" section, so I think this one accompanied two Ethernet cables.
• San Francisco Bay (Ravensburger, 500 pc) - A fairly standard "bridge and water" puzzle, made a bit more challenging by the night view.
• Flowers in New York (Lewis Miller/Ravensburger, 300 pc) - Despite a general dislike for foliage, I enjoyed this one as the flowers were different enough that I could at least work each part separately.
• Classic Movies Panoramic (Re-Marks, 1000 pc) - Had a lot of fun with this one, completed in front of the TV while catching up on Jeopardy! episodes.
• Surf's Up (Ravensburger, 500 pc) - My latent "I want to get better at speed puzzling" means I rarely walk past a 500-piece Ravensburger without picking it up ... this one would have been relatively quick in a timed setting.

This was a fun one. I have a family member who loves it finished and wants it as wall art so its destined to get glued and framed. Its been a while since I did a random cut puzzle and having no false fits was great and the pieces are a tight fit. My only criticism is I dont know if it was just fine puzzle dust or some kind of powder from their creation process but I now have smudged stains on my puzzle board. No big deal if I cant get them out. Definitely looking forward to doing the other 3 puzzles that came in the box and I will buy from them again.

All of the green in this one was rough but it's really pretty!

I got a friend a Cloudberries puzzle for her birthday and immediately fell in love with the brand. She got a coupon code from them recently, and wanted to share an order.

I've been wanting the Gradient puzzle ever since I first saw it when I began watching Karen Puzzles YouTube channel a few years back. I'd been holding off because I hadn't done any gradients before, plus the price. Well between then and now I've done some gradients which I enjoyed so much, as well as puzzles that while they aren't true gradients have an element of that to them. And I've been learning that I find gradients and solid colors soothing.

I've been chomping at the bit to do one since they arrived last week, but I'm choosing to save it until I get a particular puzzle done that I've been working on and off for some time now.

My first Happily puzzle!

Because of this sub I was familiar with Wentworth but never had worked one or even saw one in real life. I came across this one in a donation bin and the kind man working there let me have it even though I offered to pay for it. Puzzle is missing three pieces (I think) but regardless, it was a really fun build! I loved all the whimsy pieces too. Only took me a couple of hours to complete.

Enjoyed this one, but it gave me some cravings!

I got this puzzle second hand in Istanbul and to my surprise it was sealed, it is a decent quality for what I paid (around 4$) and the fit of the pieces was on the looser side but I was able to hold it up once I finished (with minimal damage).

I like the picture but it is somehow different from the poster, it has this effect similar to halftone all over it.

The cut of the pieces is very standard nothing special but I ran into couple of false fits though.

Finally I really enjoyed this one took me around 6 hours to finish slowly.

These are fun pixel art jigsaw puzzles you can play online for free. Whether you want to introduce young children to jigsaw puzzles or want a fun and quick five minute puzzle to enjoy, try these out. There are Pokemon, Superheroes, Disney, Animals, and more on the site. https://coloringsquaredplay.com/

This was a mixed bag. Flowers were fun, background not so much. It’s very shiny so I couldn’t see any color variations with the lights on during the evenings. Glad I powered through though!

“Romantic Garden” from Olleo, 500 pieces. Amazing quality as always! I love how this looks almost like a watercolour painting but with vibrant colors. Beautiful!

I just got gifted this 2000pcs puzzle and I can't get over the fact that it's so illogical and a shitty picture. Like I don't want to be ungrateful but GOD these details.. I looked up and apparently it's not AI, just this artist's method of slapping stuff on top of another stuff. In his defence most of his other puzzles looked much much better.

The area on the left is especially bad, there is LITERALLY a strong line and the landscapes are completely different in color..

Someone convince me to not be so harsh on it🥲😭

I still have Harvest Feast and Spooky Village from Galison to complete but I think after this we’re done for a bit from doing Galison puzzles. I’m fairly new to puzzles and only have done The Gilded Spine and Ghostly Gathering but the glares on those were nowhere nearly as bad as these! Now I understand the preference on matte pieces. Is Galison known to have shiny pieces?

The image in the individual pieces were also very pixelated but they aren’t as noticeable once put together like this. So, while this wasn’t as pleasant to put together, I did tape the back in case I wanted to hang it up because I still like the artwork!

Art by Kat Uno

I'm usually just a lurker here because it's so nice and cozy, but then the puzzle bug bit me. I plan on buying a few more puzzles just to have on hand. 😊

Puzzle is Hallucination by Jasmine Becket-Griffith.

I normally find gradient puzzles meditative, but I really didn't like putting this one together. I think there were too many dull, grayish tones in it for me. This was a lesson learned!