Sometimes getting back into the saddle afterwards a length of time can be hard. I had finally shaken the nasty cold that had plagued me simply in time to work NekoCon Oct 31-November tertiary. Unfortunately, even though I had gotten my influenza shot days before, afterward con I had a pocket-size relapse of the cold.

While I was well enough to blog last Fri, I'll admit to having a flake of a mental block. I wanted to write…but the very thought of tackling about a month'due south backlog of emails and empty infinite was daunting. It still is. But! SC and I did an awesome puzzle for Halloween in the short infinite when I felt well, and I miss having the schedule of posts to organize my weeks. So this week y'all get a bonus post or two. I have a small backlog of projects to write up before I can tackle new ones.

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My mom knows I love Dowdle puzzles and she got me a handful of different ones during a summertime sale.

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Included poster, forepart and dorsum sides.

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if you can't read the above photo, the Dowdle website has both the verse form and a scavenger hunt here.

I don't have my usual frame and pieces photos as I assembled this puzzle in a flake of a hurry with SC. I wanted to do SOMETHING for Halloween since I'd been too sick to decorate and had the terminal convention of the season coming up in a few days.

So I sorted the pieces according to location; sky/street/townhouses and we spent an enjoyable 3 or so hours trading pieces and exclaiming over all the little Easter Eggs that Eric Dowdle puts into his art.

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Considering information technology was Halloween, I did dress upwardly the cats in costume! Pandemonium every bit a BumbleBee and Hurricane Enlil as Sharknado!

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I have to admit, this 500 piece was a great mode to get back to my puzzling habit. It's brilliant, colorful, and busy; and the pieces are the perfect size for slightly arthritic hands.

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PUZZLE SPECS

  • Company: Dowdle Puzzles
  • Title: Trick or Treat
  • Artist: Eric Dowdle
  • Year released: Unknown
  • Pieces: 500
  • Cut-Way: Random
  • Finished size: 16″ past xx″
  • Bonus poster: Yes
  • Made in USA

QUALITY:

  • Box: Sturdy and compact, vii.5″ by 7.v″ past 3″, with paper sleeve
  • Board:  Medium weight chipboard, sturdy pieces
  • Cutting: Steel-cut Die
  • Epitome Quality: Excellent, great color saturation
  • End: Semi-gloss, with great color saturation
  • Puzzle Dust: Minimal
  • Piece shapes: A expert mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
  • Slice 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 easily while however 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 easily threaten to dandy into claws. I tin recommend this for people with balmy to moderate arthritis or hand/eye coordination.

Where to purchase: Flim-flam or Care for is available on the Dowdle Puzzles website for $19.99 USD.

Dowdle Puzzles : Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received this puzzle as a gift. 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 !

Okay, to explain my title for this post… Yesterday, May second, was Eric Dowdle's 51st birthday. I'm incredibly fond of Eric's artwork, which is the basis of Dowdle Puzzles. For his birthday, Dowdle puzzles is having a 51% off auction that ends today, May third. Code: ERICBIRTHDAY

What? you're all the same reading?!? Scroll to the bottom of my post, hit the link to the Dowdle website and get shopping! I'll expect…

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You're dorsum? Ok. So the other part of my championship has to do with the fact that SC has been out-of-town for a week at present, and I've been busting barrel and stressing more than than usual. So of course, my body decided I needed a few days of pain flares and unbelievable fatigue. No affair how much I wanted to exist active and practise a ton of chores, I just didn't have the spoons.  Thankfully, SC reminded me I'd received a wooden travel puzzle at Toy Fair.

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Dowdle'due south Travel Puzzles were not what I expected! Near travel puzzles are either magnetic or take also small a piece count to be a challenge. This is a wooden puzzle where the prototype is giclee-printed direct unto the wood before being laser cut. At 150 pieces, in that location is enough complexity to keep my fuzzy brain engaged.

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Such pretty pieces!

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Equally yous can see in the above picture, the pieces fit snugly in the frame, which works just every bit well on my lapdesk as it would in a car, railroad train, or hotel room! Similar the other wooden puzzles I've done, to connect the pieces, you have to slide i piece on top of another. Due to the precision of laser cutting, this makes for a really tight fit.  While I was assembling this puzzle, I watched a documentary on Roman Catacombs, just and then I'd take the full "travel feel".

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I really love the sheer number of animals that Eric has managed to fit into one image! In that location are the usual suspects: lion, elephants, giraffes and hippos. Simply there are some existent surprises every bit well. I found a fennec trick, African painted dogs, a rhinoceros beetle and even a tortoise!

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All Done!

The best part of this puzzle? It'southward so piece of cake to store! It is but a quarter-inch high, and a little bigger than a sheet of paper. If you lot travel a lot, space can exist at a premium. Or, if yous're like me, my puzzles war with the cats for space on the bookshelves. Collecting all of the travel puzzles currently bachelor would take the same infinite as a standard puzzle box from i of the other puzzle brands.

About the Visitor: Dowdle Puzzles is a part of Dowdle Folk Arts. The creative person and owner is Eric Dowdle, who has over 200 folk art paintings, mostly focusing on American cities and national parks.

PUZZLE SPECS

  • Company: Dowdle Puzzles
  • Title: Wild Africa
  • Artist: Eric Dowdle
  • Year released: Unknown
  • Pieces: 150
  • Cut-Style: Random
  • Finished size: 9 past 11 inches
  • Bonus poster: No
  • Fabricated in USA

QUALITY:

  • Box: N/A Plastic sleeve
  • Board:  Lightweight , sturdy wooden pieces
  • Cut: Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation Die
  • Image Quality: Splendid, great color saturation
  • Cease: Semi-gloss, with dandy color saturation
  • Puzzle Dust: None
  • Slice shapes: A practiced mix of traditionally cut and irregular pieces
  • Slice Fit: Very tight!  Some of the irregular pieces arrive so that pieces tin only be moved in modest groups.

Disability Notes: The smaller piece count and wooden pieces are wonderful for someone traveling or trapped in bed! I can recommend this for people with mild arthritis or adept to first-class hand/eye coordination.

Where to buy: The Wild Africa Travel Puzzle is not listed on the Dowdle website, making me think it is a Toy Fair/Vendor Exclusive. However, there are currently 5 dissimilar designs available on the Dowdle Puzzles website for $34.95 usd.

Dowdle Puzzles : Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a complimentary puzzle from the manufacturer in exchange for review. The opinions are my own.

Thanks for reading, and delight click the Follow Push under my profile on the correct side of the page.To support posts like this in the future, consider joining my Patreon!

Yep, today's post is at a different time than usual. In that location's a reason. You encounter, a few years ago, before my disease got actually 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 Thousand Illumination at Colonial Williamsburg. It'south the start of the Christmas season, with bands, parades, and at 9pm EST, in that location will be fireworks. Everyone has decorated the doors with bootleg wreaths and the air is full of the olfactory property 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. Become grab a mug of hot cocoa or hot apple cider and follow me!

All Dowdle puzzles come in a resealable box with a newspaper sleeve, and include a mini-poster of the design and a resealable plastic bag. I dearest this visitor'south dedication to minimal waste product and reusable design.

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So many little pieces!!! So many colors!!

This puzzle has, much like it'south namesake metropolis, 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 abode, information technology was weeks before I had the house settled dorsum down to focus on information technology again. By the fourth dimension I did, and finished assembling it, I constitute I was missing a piece! Horrors! The thing was…I could conspicuously call up finding the loose piece correct before the evac…and putting it somewhere safe. Merely 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 upwards room in the calculator lab and was vehement the house apart looking for that missing slice for WEEKS!

It took forever, but I finally constitute my missing piece. It was right where I'd tucked information technology, on a shelf almost SC'south video games.

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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, more often than not 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
  • Yr released: Unknown
  • Pieces: 1000
  • Cut-Fashion: Random
  • Finished size: nineteen¼ by 26½ inches
  • Bonus poster: Aye
  • Made in USA

QUALITY:

  • Box: Sturdy and compact, seven.5″ by vii.5″ by 3″, with paper sleeve
  • Lath:  Medium weight chipboard, sturdy pieces
  • Cut: Steel-cutting Die
  • Paradigm Quality: Splendid, bang-up color saturation
  • Cease: Semi-gloss, with cracking color saturation
  • Puzzle Dust: Minimal
  • Slice shapes: A good mix of traditionally cutting and irregular pieces
  • Piece Fit: Very Good. Some of the irregular pieces make it so that pieces can simply 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 desire 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 manus/centre coordination.

Where to purchase: Williamsburg Quilt is available on the Dowdle Puzzles website for $xix.99 usd.

Dowdle Puzzles : Website / FaceBook

Disclosure: I received a gratis puzzle from the manufacturer in commutation 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 hereafter, consider joining my Patreon!