Cheese Cake

Brand: Typo

Pieces: 200
Size:  30cm x 30cm

Product Code: -

My birthday has always been around the Mother's Day weekend. Last year it was actually on the day (which was verrrryyy busy) but today it is the day after, so it won't be quite as full on. Because of this, I have decided to put up the only 'cake' puzzle I could find in my photo collection.

This puzzle was part of a set released from Typo (from the Cotton On brand) that featured a play on words for a few different things - including the above 'cheese cake'. The quality wasn't really the best, as expected from this brand - a lot of false fits - but the imagery was still cool and appealing so I couldn't help but buy and complete them. 

Luckily my birthday usually yields much better options when it comes to jigsaw puzzles - if my people buy me some, that is!

Hot Dog

Brand: Typo

Pieces: 200
Size:  30cm x 30cm

Product Code: -

Today is AFL Grand Final Day and it's a match between the Geelong Cats (my home team) and the Brisbane Lions. 

I was scouring my puzzle photos, trying to find something that would be relevant to the day but unfortunately couldn't find anything that would be a good representation. So instead, we're going with a lunch snack (sort of?) that might be associated with a footy game - a hot dog!

This puzzle was from a range that Typo put out which made a play on different food names. Generally I try to avoid buying puzzles from this brand - although they have some awesome designs, they are renowned for being poor quality. Their pieces are usually all cut the same, which means a lot of false fits and sometimes the print job can be blurry. I have done a couple but they have not been the best ones to do, and I've seen reviews on social media from a lot of people who absolutely refuse to purchase them. 

That said, this puzzle wasn't as bad as some of them and I do still like the image. It's just a matter of 'buy at your own risk' when purchasing from them. They might need to stick solely to what they're best at, which is quirky homewares and stationery...

La Buena Vida

Brand: Hardie Grant Books: A Piece Full Puzzle

Pieces: 1000
Size: 68.5cm x 48cm
Product Code: -

Today I felt like putting up a puzzle that was relaxing, and reminded me of summer days at the beach with good food and friends, so this was the obvious choice!

This illustration, by Ana Hard, ticks all the boxes for a wonderful scene. 

I don't have much time to write today, but just know that the quality was wonderful, the piece fit was perfect and the colours are vibrant. 

I've really enjoyed the puzzles I have done from this brand so far and will continue to do them as I find them!

Sweet Smiles

Brand: Road Crates

Pieces: 1000
Size: 50.8cm x 71cm
Product Code:  PZAR-0002

It looks like we're going through a phase of 'food' days! Last week I put up a picture of a burger puzzle to celebrate International Burger Day, and today I'm doing the same thing to commemorate National Doughnut Day (which was yesterday in Australia). 

I've put up puzzles of donuts in the past so this time I thought I'd put up one that I recently completed which features a donut centre stage, and some other sweet treats as well! 

This design is by Jerrod Maruyama, and is from the Road Crates brand. It was the first time I had completed a puzzle from this brand and I was quite impressed with the quality. There was no puzzle dust, and the pieces fit together perfectly. I have also bought two others by the same artist from this brand (which are equally as cute) and hope to get them done sometime soon. 

I love kawaii characters and this puzzle was a real treat to do. 

Flame Grilled Burger And Fries

 

Brand: Puzzlebug

Pieces: 500
Size: 46cm x 28cm
Product Code:  -

Yesterday (May 28) was International Burger Day, so I thought it would be fitting to put up a picture of a burger that I once completed.  This one was by Puzzlebug and the quality was typical for the brand but I thought the image was quite enticing. I must have been hungry when I bought it!

While I have preferences for the brands of puzzle I do (because they have better designs or are better quality), I also love to pick up other, cheaper puzzles just for the image. While the Puzzlebug puzzles are super cheap and often low quality, they have a lot of everyday images that are useful for posts like today. I don't think any of my ordinary puzzle brands would feature a burger puzzle like the one above!

Do you buy cheaper puzzles if it means a variety in design subjects?

Healthy Breakfast

Brand: Puzzlebug
Pieces: 500
Size: 46cm x 28cm
Product Code:  -

I couldn't resist putting this one up this morning- I haven't put many food-related puzzles up in the past and this one was simply too enticing. How yummy do all these fresh foods look?! 

Many cafes and restaurants are starting to open to sit-in customers now, although there are strict rules in force regarding how many people can be seated and how far away from each other they have to be. I can't wait till the day when we can once more go out to eat without having to worry about covid-19 restrictions!

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this puzzle, and hopefully you'll be able to enjoy something similar at your local cafe sometime soon.

Cute Cupcakes

Brand: Puzzlebug
Pieces: 100
Size: 22cm x 28cm
Product Code:  -

I feel like today is a cupcakes kind of day. 

Who doesn't love pretty-looking baked goods? 

The above image is just a cheap brand from Kmart but they always have interesting designs which are alright for the quality and price. 

This is one of my last few days off left before I head back to work full time following the Corona-virus pandemic so I'll be more than happy to sit and eat a few of these before heading back. I'm sure I'll be able to drop the weight from consuming so much extra food while I'm there and walking around all day! 

I'm actually quite surprised that my long stint of less work is almost over and yet I didn't get that much extra puzzling done during this time. I definitely had plenty of puzzles to work on- enough for a few lifetimes at least!- but I just never got around to doing much. 

Maybe cos I was focusing on other projects? Or on social media too much? Or cos I ran out of boards to do them on for a short while? Who knows?! I definitely have a few sitting around that I need to photograph though so I can get onto that when the light is good and then find somewhere to get them developed for my album. 

In the meantime, enjoy the cute cupcakes above (or a real alternative if you're able)

Variety Of Colorful Ice Cream

Brand: Colorluxe
Pieces: 1500
Size: 58cm x 84cm
Product Code:   -

As I have mentioned previously in my posts, I live in the state of Victoria in Australia.

Over the last few days, we have experienced extremely hot weather (moving from spring into summer) with about 3-4 days in a row of of temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. 
A few days ago, the Bureau of Meteorology issued an extreme weather warning for Melbourne and most of Victoria, saying that we were going to be hit with a storm that would deliver major floods and damage- the worst we've seen in over 20 years apparently! 
At time of writing, we are yet to see much evidence of it, but we've been told it's on its way, and if the scattered showers and radar images on the internet are to be believed, it's not too far off. 
Many events in the area have been cancelled already (Geelong's Carols by the Bay and the 2017 Food Truck Festival, sadly), so that's put a 'dampener' on the start of summer (see, what I did there? 'Dampener'? That's pun-tastic!)

Because I don't have any puzzles of storms or rainy scenes (wouldn't a lightning strike puzzle look incredible?), I have decided to post an image instead of a puzzle that was relevant a few days ago, when it was stinking hot. Who doesn't love a variety of ice cream flavours? The above puzzle celebrates all things ice cream, with many different flavours and colours in cups and cones. 
This puzzle took me longer to do than I expected. I thought it would be easy to work by colours for each ice cream flavour but there were actually a lot of similar colours, which made this task a bit more difficult. The backs of these puzzle pieces are coloured to make sorting easier, and I actually had to refer to this a few times to work out what went where! 
Besides that, the pieces fit well together and the image was quite pleasant to create. 

Apples And Spice And Everything Nice

Brand: Puzzlebug
Pieces: 500
Size: 46cm x 28cm
Product Code: -

This was a nice little food-inspired jigsaw puzzle to do. Relatively quick and easy, with plenty of bright colours to differentiate the sections, I was able to do this one over several nights, a few hours at a time. 

If you know someone who's a bit of a foodie, or likes their apples, then this is the one for them!