LEGO® polybags are some of my favorite treats. I collect them all year long, eagerly searching my local stores for new designs. This one has been waiting for winter in my to-do pile since last Spring! The name of this kit is LEGO® Friends 30402 Snowboard Tricks with Stephanie.
I’m starting to get the hang of videos.
Instructions 1Instructions 2
Disability Note: I did this on a mild day, so it is easily assembled by kids 6 and up or an adult with good to decent hand motility.
Where to buy: At the time of this post, LEGO® Friends 30402 Snowboard Tricks with Stephanie is listed as Retired on the LEGO® website. However, I have seen it listed for sale on ToyWiz or BrickLink.
LEGO®is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site.
Disclosure: I bought this item for my own use. The opinions are my own, and do not in any way reflect the thoughts and views of the Lego Group of companies.
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Hi guys! It’s Day 3 and a Monday, which is typically SC’s designated day off. Mondays are when I get house stuff done. However, I’m not feeling so hot (winter weather making my body ache), so today is about one of my favorite low-key activities.
I found Sunlife Drawing Company through a Facebook ad, of all things. It’s a small coloring book publisher who focuses on a particular type of coloring. All of us have done color by number at some point in our lives, and most adult colorists tend to ignore this style.
What could this be??
The Christmas Animal Quest and Animal Quest books are definitely NOT child’s play! The full-page single sided book has images made of thousands of tiny numbered hexagons on the coloring side, while the back is a white text on black background list of the colors needed for the opposite page. I have to admit, I loved this book!
Birds? Maybe??
I enjoyed the level of focus needed to match colors to numbers, and the freedom that not having to decide which color went where gave me. Also, each new color unveiled more of the image, keeping me guessing as to the subject matter for quite a while!
It’s a set of turtledoves and an angel! Super cute!
The reveal at the end was well worth it! Now, this is not a coloring project that goes quickly; and I did find out about halfway through that my progress would have went faster if I had chosen my colors ahead of time. Still, a perfect low impact activity for listening to Christmas carols on the radio and having a hot cup of tea.
Disability Notes: Due to the small size of the hexagons that make up the images, I can’t in good conscience recommend this coloring book for people with vision impairments or fine motor control issues. However! Sunlife Drawing does have a few books in their Mosaic series that have larger coloring areas!
Where to buy:Christmas Animal Quest Color by Number is available on Amazon for $8.99 USD.
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Yes, today’s post is at a different time than usual. There’s a reason. You see, a few years ago, before my disease got really bad, I worked at Colonial Williamsburg. I loved CW, and when I found out that Eric Dowdle had painted a quilt representation that had been made into a puzzle, I jumped on it!
As for the lateness of the hour? Well, today is Grand Illumination at Colonial Williamsburg. It’s the start of the Christmas season, with bands, parades, and at 9pm EST, there will be fireworks. Everyone has decorated the doors with homemade wreaths and the air is full of the scent of fresh-baked gingerbread and spiced cider. Grand Illumination is second only to the 4th of July! And since most of my readers aren’t local, I figured I’d share this little slice of my Christmas tradition. Go grab a mug of hot cocoa or hot apple cider and follow me!
All Dowdle puzzles come in a resealable box with a paper sleeve, and include a mini-poster of the design and a resealable plastic bag. I love this company’s dedication to minimal waste and reusable design.
So many little pieces!!! So many colors!!
This puzzle has, much like it’s namesake city, weathered much. I started this puzzle in September, right before Hurricane Florence caused mass evacuations. I had to leave the puzzle behind and when I got home, it was weeks before I had the house settled back down to focus on it again. By the time I did, and finished assembling it, I found I was missing a piece! Horrors! The thing was…I could clearly remember finding the loose piece right before the evac…and putting it somewhere safe. But for the life of me, I couldn’t remember where!!
Poor SC had to deal with the fact that I had an ALMOST completed puzzle taking up room in the computer lab and was tearing the house apart looking for that missing piece for WEEKS!
It took forever, but I finally found my missing piece. It was right where I’d tucked it, on a shelf near SC’s video games.
Finished at last!
About the Company: Dowdle Puzzles is a part of Dowdle Folk Arts. The artist and owner is Eric Dowdle, who has over 200 folk art paintings, mostly focusing on American cities and national parks. As well as selling paints, prints, and puzzles, Dowdle is now branching out into coloring books!
PUZZLE SPECS
Company: Dowdle Puzzles
Title: Williamsburg Quilt
Artist: Eric Dowdle
Year released: Unknown
Pieces: 1000
Cut-Style: Random
Finished size: 19¼ by 26½ inches
Bonus poster: Yes
Made in USA
QUALITY:
Box: Sturdy and compact, 7.5″ by 7.5″ by 3″, with paper sleeve
Board: Medium weight chipboard, sturdy pieces
Cut: Steel-cut Die
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Semi-gloss, with great color saturation
Puzzle Dust: Minimal
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Very Good. Some of the irregular pieces make it so that pieces can only be moved in small groups.
Disability Notes: The smaller size pieces of the 1000 piece puzzle are harder on the hands and eyes. Honestly, I want to try this brands 300 and 100 piece counts for this winter when my hands threaten to swell into claws. I can recommend this for people with mild arthritis or good to excellent hand/eye coordination.
Where to buy: Williamsburg Quilt is available on the Dowdle Puzzles website for $19.99 usd.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.
Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page.To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!
It’s been a crazy month. SC and I had a lot of emotional ups and downs, but hopefully, going into December everything will go back to normal. I know that my posts haven’t been as regular as I’d wish, so I have a few changes in the works to correct that as well as giving my Patreon the love it desperately needs.
So! Today is about more wonderful things from UnCommon Goods. When I chose my items, I made sure to think of SC as well as myself. SC’s job has him out in all weather, and his favorite pair of alpaca wool socks fell apart last winter. so I chose these lovely striped ones as a replacement! Shhh….It’s a secret, don’t tell him!
Nice Warm Socks!I love this paper, so pretty!
Anyways, today’s project was really ambitious for me. I’ve been branching out (pun totes intended), from my usual puzzles and brick kits. When I saw the Moving Flower kit, I knew I had to try it!
UnCommon Goods carries a few of the mechanical wooden building kits by UGears. The Moving Flower is made with Baltic Birch plywood that has been laser cut into the needed shapes.
This is the entire kit! Three sheets of pre-cut plywood, and instruction manual, some toothpicks and a square of sandpaper.
Overall, this was certainly a challenge for my skills! The kit recommends you use a candle to “wax” the moving parts so that they move better, which I did. While someone with at little more technical know-how might have an easier time, I had fun. The hardest part was connecting the flower part to the base without dislodging the internal gears. I ended up having to use a mini clamp from SC’s workbench to manage it.
This took several hours, but I can definitely see it as a fun engineering project for parents to do with their kids!
The Ballerina insert will hold your rings!This is the Tree of Life insert that will hold your bracelets!
My quick video of the moving parts!
Disability Notes: This was a tricky project! I can’t really recommend it for anyone with hand issues, as it is really hand intensive. However, if you love a challenge and don’t have hand issues, go for it! The instructions are 99% pictorial, and for the most part, easy to follow.
Where to buy: You can buy the Moving Flower kit for $35 USD at the Uncommon Goods Website, listed below. Unfortunately, the socks I got for SC are no longer in stock; but they do have other cute and warm alpaca wool socks for sale! If you are like me, and can’t get out much to physically do your Holiday shopping, I recommend checking out their Christmas collection found here.
Disclosure: I received these products for free in exchange for a review. The opinions are my own. All links are direct, I do not make money from them.
Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!
Hang onto your hats, Ladies and Gents, this post is gonna be controversial!
Marijuana AKA Cannabis AKA over 1200 other nicknames including dank, weed, pot, chronic and MaryJane. With Michigan joining in with 9 other states and D.C to legalize recreational use and another 23 states that have legalized medical use; Marijuana has been growing in popularity. Some of my friends and readers have found relief from their various illnesses due to this herb. For myself, I’m hoping Virginia expands our current status of medical use for Epilepsy only, to something more universal.
When I found out about a new puzzling brand was just starting out, I contacted them. Their puzzles aren’t on the market just yet, but they’ll be doing a Kickstarter campaign soon.
Check out this box!
Buzzed Puzzles, founded by Josh and Stephanie Sola; is a brainchild brought about by the repetitive themes in most puzzle images. They aren’t wrong, to find anything remotely sexy for an image I have to buy overseas! Buzzed Puzzles is about pushing boundaries, art and bringing puzzling back to the Xennial and Millennial Generations. And this puzzle, Leafy Greens, is exactly what D.A.R.E was warning you about!
That bag? It’s a resealable, reusable zip-bag!
The box is a thin and sturdy cardboard with a tucked edge top and the puzzle came in a reuseable, resealable plastic bag. There was NO puzzle dust when I poured out all 504 pieces! The colors are remarkably vibrant, and the piece cuts unusual.
I had a hard time keeping the cats off this puzzle, they were treating my desk lamp like their own personal sun lamp! Considering the subject matter, SC found this hilarious!
I feel slightly guilty loving this image. I enjoyed putting it together, as 504 pieces is a perfect mix of ease and difficulty; and because before this, I hadn’t realized just how many colors Cannabis leaves came in! I’ll be giving this puzzle to SC for gluing and mounting!
I’ll be watching Buzzed Puzzles closely, as I desperately want 2 of their other designs, Mermaid and A Thousand Lives.
PUZZLE SPECS
Company: Buzzed Puzzles
Title: Leafy Greens
Artist: Not Listed
Year released: 2018
Pieces: 504
Cut-Style: Random
Finished size: 16″ by 20″ inches
Bonus poster: No
QUALITY:
Box: Small, compact and sturdy cardboard, 9¾” by 7″ by 1½” inches
Board: Thin but sturdy pieces, really good click
Cut: Steel-cut Die
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Satin,
Puzzle Dust: None!!
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Very Good. You cannot pick up sections easily, but once set into the whole, it snaps in tight!
Disability Notes: YMMVI can definitely recommend this for a person whose hands have good and bad days. I did this on good hand days, but the piece size is acceptable for a bad hand day. It took me 3 days of good concentration to complete this, but I was fighting exhaustion and brain fog!
Where to buy: Leafy Greens is not listed on Buzzed Puzzles Kickstarter list at this time, but many of their other puzzles will be available for funding soon!
Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own. All links are direct, I do not make money from them.
Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!
I’m home from Convention again, and in need of a low-key kind of day. I can’t be the only person whose mind has turned to the upcoming holidays and the dreaded shopping. Right? Thankfully, I have a friend who introduced me to Uncommon Goods.
Uncommon Goods is an online company who does still send out paper catalogues(on recycled paper!), and is dedicated to providing gifts for the hard-to-shop-for and enviromentally friendly. While I don’t consider myself a particularity hard person to get gifts for; I do appreciate nifty, one-of-a-kind things.
I love candles, but tend to get bored with the same scent day after day. So I jumped at a chance to try out the Mini Library of literary candles.
You get ten .5oz tealight candles, each with a different scent based upon bookish inspirations! The candles are made with 100% soy wax with natural fragrances and essential oils. The label can be used as a nicely scented bookmark. So far, I’ve tried Walden Woods, which smells of greenery(cedar, fir and pine) and Burning Books, which has a cinnamon/citrus scent(cinnamon,orange,fir). Both candle’s scents are mild, not overwhelming and I cannot wait to try the other eight!
I love trying new types of crafting, and SC recommended I look at 3D models that were not brick-based. Uncommon Goods has several of these, and I liked the look of this little dragon.
In keeping with Uncommon Goods’ goals, this is an environmentally conscious craft!
No paper waste here! The directions are inside the flaps of the box!
I found this to be a simple, but challenging project. It can be done in 15-20 minutes, but I took my time and enjoyed the process.
The pieces are individually marked, and the glue was fast-drying and not messy at all! The hardest part was placing the smallest pieces at the very end. I could have used tweezers, but instead just used the edge of a fingernail to nudge them into place.
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It came out super cute and little! I’ll definitely try another cardboard 3D model in the future!
Where to buy: You can buy the Mini Library tealight candles for $15 USD and the Mini Dragon 3D Model for $10 USD at the Uncommon Goods Website, listed below. If you are like me, and can’t get out much to physically do your Holiday shopping, I recommend checking out their Christmas collection found here.
Disclosure: I received these products for free in exchange for a review. The opinions are my own. All links are direct, I do not make money from them.
Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!
It’s definitely getting closer to Halloween! The store shelves are groaning under the weight of candy, SC is looking at scary makeup tutorials and I’m weighing the eternal adult question… Do I just buy my candy, or do I take a cut from the minions? It will most likely be a mix of the two, I’m hunting my favorite but hard to find candy, Trolli Watermelon Gummy Sharks and when I find them, I’ll buy tons! I’m also taking the minions (my godsons) out trick or treating, and will get a cut of the spoils.
Much like the childhood institution of trick or treating, I have fond memories of Buffalo Games’s puzzles. I grew up in a small town in Central New York, and Buffalo Games was one of 3 New York puzzle companies. Because of proximity, I put together a LOT of Buffalo puzzles. I learned to love the soft click of a piece snapping into place.
This is Charles Wysocki’s Trick or Treat Hotel. I’ll admit that it confused me to equate this puzzle with the usual hometown or cat paintings the artist is known for! How could someone who is called the Master Painter of Americana create such a creepy picture?
This 500 piece puzzle came with a fold out poster to help in assembly.
Zoomie, our very own PuzzlePaws, helped make sure the edge pieces didn’t disappear!
The edges went together just as I remembered, with that Perfect Snap™ that is a Buffalo puzzle signature.
Other than chasing off the cats, this puzzle came together rather quickly until I hit the sky. With the tree branches, cobwebs and odd scattered creatures, that section was quite the challenge!
As I assembled this puzzle, I kept finding all sorts of cute details that were mixed into the weird ones.
I love the black cat on this pumpkin witch’s head!
I’m not sure if that’s a stuffed demon or a ventriloquist’s dummy.
I think this is the best piggyback ride I’ve ever seen!
PUZZLE SPECS
Company: Buffalo Games
Title: Trick or Treat Hotel
Artist: Charles Wysocki
Year released: Unknown
Pieces: 500
Cut-Style: Random
Finished size: 21¼ in by 15 in
Bonus poster: Yes
Made in USA
QUALITY:
Box: Light and compact, 7.75″ by 7.75″ by 1.5″
Board: Medium weight chipboard, sturdy pieces
Cut: Steel-cut Die
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Semi-gloss
Puzzle Dust: Minimal
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Excellent. Some of the irregular pieces make it so that pieces can only be moved in small groups, but once assembled the whole puzzle is nearly solid!
Disability Notes: The slightly larger size pieces of the 500 piece puzzle are kinder to the hands while still being complex enough to challenge lovers of larger piece count puzzles. Honestly, I will be trying this brand’s 300, 750 and 1000 piece counts for later posts. I can recommend this for people with mild to moderate arthritis or hand/eye coordination.
Where to buy: Trick or Treat Hotel is available on the Buffalo games website for $10.95 usd.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.
Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page.To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!
I meet a bunch of talented and artistic people at DragonCon every year, and this year was no exception! I got to talk with local artist Annie Stegg Gerard about the blog and my goals for it. She completely understood, having had her own trials with the boredom that is bed rest. She gifted me one of her coloring books, The Moonlit Vale.
Teedle refused to move and so became my easel!
Annie also included this beautiful pencil-case, which I’ve been using for holding the spare markers that don’t fit in my coloring case.
I’ll admit that I’ve been dithering over this coloring book. It’s a LOT more complex than my usual fare, and I’ve been afraid that my coloring skills wouldn’t be able to do it justice. Today I sat down and simply TRIED. It was harder than it sounds.
Look at this beautiful art!
The book is small, only 8″by 8″ inches, and has 78 perforated pages. Now, I can’t say that they are single-sided pages, as on the back of each one is a little illustration that you can also color, which is great for people who prefer colored pencils.
Isn’t he sweet??
For the marker and gel pen colorists, Annie includes a thick vellum sheet to place behind your artwork to prevent bleed through.
I absolutely surprised myself! Can’t believe that I managed to make something that pretty…it must be because of Annie’s amazing art. Yup.
I love this, as the last piece in the book, it warms my heart!
Now that I’ve done one piece, I can’t wait to color another! Not only has Annie made Moonlit Vale, which features mythical animals and ladies; but she has also drawn a coloring book called The WildWood Soiree, which features animals in outfits that remind me of both Beatrix Potter illustrations and Brian Jacques’s Redwall series.
Where to buy: You can buy The Moonlit Vale and pencil-case at Annie Stegg Gerard’s website for $30 USD. You can also buy her other lovely coloring book, The WildWood Soiree there for $20 USD
Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!
I love Fall. I was born in October, and the season has always been a favorite. There are days that it feels like summer is still in its height, and some where it cools just enough to need a hoodie. Ok, not so much for me….I live in Virginia now. But I grew up in Upstate NY right on the shores of Lake Ontario. Summers were short, “Winter Was Coming” and Fall meant apples, pumpkins, hayrides and giant leafpiles. I went shopping the other day with SC, and the stores are full of Halloween. I had wanted to wait until the First, but this puzzle really captures the memories and mood of Fall for me. What the heck, the Vernal Equinox is later this week, that’s close enough!
I really like Dowdle’s boxing. There is a heavy paper sleeve encasing a pretty little box.
The box is really well constructed, folding around itself and sealing with a Velcro button so that the box is reusable.
Better yet! All Dowdle puzzle come with a mini-poster of the image and a resealable plastic bag.
Now to assemble!
For a 500 piece puzzle, this was really tricky in places. the amazing amount of detail that artist Eric Dowdle puts into his art and the random piece shapes kept me busy all evening! SC even put a few pieces together, commenting that it was harder than it looked.
Harry Potter Pumpkin!!
Gotta love Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head
Candy Corn Pumpkins!
So many memories! My parents took a bunch of photos like this when I was growing up with my siblings!
SC had to take my finished picture, as I was having a horrible time getting my pictures to come out right. After finishing this puzzle, I have two thoughts. First, now I feel properly ready to Fall, and secondly…I need a pumpkin spice latte, stat!
SC is a photography genius.
Pandemonium approves! Puzzles are cat-baths, don’tcha know?
About the Company: Dowdle Puzzles is a part of Dowdle Folk Arts. The artist and owner is Eric Dowdle, who has over 200 folk art paintings, mostly focusing on American cities and national parks. As well as selling paints, prints, and puzzles, Dowdle is now branching out into coloring books! (I’ll be wishlisting those!)
PUZZLE SPECS
Company: Dowdle Puzzles
Title: Harvest Festival
Artist: Eric Dowdle
Year released: Unknown
Pieces: 500
Cut-Style: Random
Finished size: 16″ by 20″
Bonus poster: Yes
Made in USA
QUALITY:
Box: Sturdy and compact, 7.5″ by 7.5″ by 3″, with paper sleeve
Board: Medium weight chipboard, sturdy pieces
Cut: Steel-cut Die
Image Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
Finish: Semi-gloss, with great color saturation
Puzzle Dust: Minimal
Piece shapes: A good mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
Piece Fit: Very Good. Some of the irregular pieces make it so that pieces can only be moved in small groups.
Disability Notes: The slightly larger size pieces of the 500 piece puzzle are kinder to the hands while still being complex enough to challenge lovers of larger piece count puzzles. Honestly, I want to try this brands 300 and 100 piece counts for this winter when my hands threaten to swell into claws. I can recommend this for people with mild to moderate arthritis or hand/eye coordination.
Where to buy: Harvest Festival is available on the Dowdle Puzzles website for $19.99 usd. At the time of this post, it is sold out.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.
Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page.To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!
I’m home again, after a few days away due to the Hurricane Florence Evacuation. I’m glad to be home. I’m thrilled to say that our home is untouched and the cats are back to their usual shenanigans. Unfortunately, Florence is making my life minorly miserable due to barometric pressure. The fatigue and brain fog are strong, which is why today’s post is running so late.
Aside from that, while I was at DragonCon, I got to meet Matt Hughes. He’s a really talented artist that does illustrations in the Art Nouveau style. He’s funded most of his projects through Kickstarters, which is really awesome. Right now, Ethereal Visions Publishing, the company Matt’s wife Hope founded and runs; has pre-orders up for an illuminated edition of the works of Edgar Allen Poe and Matt is currently working on illuminating pages for a project based on Mozart’s Requiem.
The tarot is a pack of playing cards, used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play games. Many of these tarot card games are still played today. In the late 18th century, it began to be used in parallel for divination in the form of cartomancy and specialist packs were developed for this occult purpose. The Major Arcana that this coloring book focuses on is definitely influenced by one of the original occult decks, the Rider-Waite deck. I find the art to be beautiful and to have a hidden complexity.
This coloring book is amazing! It’s rather large, measuring 12″ by 9″. The paper is heavyweight, but really smooth. I was shocked how good my markers and colored pencils looked when coloring. While I usually use a piece of cardstock under my works-in-progress, I found I really didn’t need it.
The only issue I found was that due to my book lover’s habit of not wanting to break the spine of any book, I needed to use a craft knife to cut my pages free. Once I reread the lovely note that Matt wrote as a preface, it was much easier. Coloring books are meant to be USED. In fact, this one is meant to be used as a meditation exercise.
I’m not sure my coloring stacks up to this amazing art, but I’m having fun doing it. While I know Matt is up to his eyeballs in work, I really hope he’ll do another coloring book! I recommend following the FaceBook page because Matt posts all sort of beautiful works-in-progress.
Thanks for reading, and please click the Follow Button under my profile on the right side of the page. To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!
The colors are remarkably vibrant, and the piece cuts unusual.
PuzzlePaws 