I often get asked as a veterinarian if I have a favorite patient. Now, I try to treat all of my patients as if they were a favored and loveable little ball of perfection. Sometimes it’s easy: puppies and kittens, no matter how sassy and intolerant they are of me, are always adorable and get many hugs and kisses! But sometimes it’s darn near impossible, when yet another land shark is trying to nibble off a finger or two, or a spicy tamale of a cat is plotting my demise. CONTINUE READING
Picture it, July 7, 2017, St. Louis, MO: I arrive at Puzzle Warehouse for the very first time. (Very excited and rocking very short hair!) I was beyond excited to browse the store and find new puzzles to try. One that immediately intrigued me was Wasgij. The description on the box said, "Don't puzzle what you see…" I was honestly intimidated but I loved the illustrations so I needed to purchase at least one. CONTINUE READING
Anie Maltais is the owner and founder of JaCaRou Puzzles in Quebec, Canada. We continue Part 2 of our interview and talk about die cuts, the raging debate between glossy vs. matte finish, and peculiar puzzle habits. CONTINUE READING
June, a month that is the height of “kitten season” when large litters of kittens are born, is National Adopt-A-Cat Month. When I heard this, I knew I had to – like a cat – pounce on featuring cat-themed puzzles. As I look back over my past blogs, I’ve realized an underlying theme…apparently I love to do jigsaw puzzles that allow me to experience things I cannot do or have. I.e. I wrote a blog on puzzles featuring quilts because I love quilts, but am the least “crafty” person I know. I created a blog on flower-themed puzzles, as I adore colorful blooms, yet I have a “brown thumb.” CONTINUE READING
It seems fitting that a puzzle featuring butterflies is also a transforming puzzle. If you’re wondering what I mean by that, MasterPieces Metamorphosis is a vibrant rainbow gradient of butterflies, until you turn off the light and it transforms into a mysterious glow in the dark field of winged creatures. CONTINUE READING
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
