Ruby Geranium - Puzzling

What a lovely image for a puzzle! I am very fond of hummingbirds and liked this picture very much. Although I purchased it last year, I only got round to doing it recently. It is called 'Ruby Geranium' and I found this one on Amazon. I could only locate one copy there, and none on the Cobble Hill website itself. Whether it is still available I couldn't tell.

It was an enjoyable build for sure even if the red got tricky at times. Being a Cobble Hill the quality was good, I love the linen finish of the pieces, the beautiful saturated colours and the random cut of the pieces. I did notice that the cut on this is different from the more recent Cobble Hills I've done, but I liked it just as much.

After building the outer edge I started on the inside areas by picking out the easy to find bits, and assembling that as far as possible.

I don't usually sort the pieces into trays to work from just because it is not practical to do in the space where I puzzle, however I do a 'general sorting' when there are large areas of similar colours that looks something like this -

Once I have separate piles I will take one colour pile at a time and assemble from there.
In this case I started with the green pile and at the bottom of the image working my way up, before starting on the reds, again working from the bottom up. It is always so nice to discover pieces for other areas, such as the birds, while assembling a leaf or flower!

And a couple of close-ups on those adorable feisty little birds.

These images also show the difference in the random cut, compared to the image of the American Goldfinch in the bottom image ( Sunflowers and Goldfinches - see the post HERE)

Definitely a keeper puzzle that will become one to do repeatedly over the years. I'm glad to add it to my stock of bird themed puzzles and it is a good addition to my  Cobble Hill Collection

Bird Watchers - Puzzling

I enjoy revisiting jigsaw puzzles I have done in the past. This beauty was a gift from a friend a few years ago. I recently did it again and was impressed, yet again, by how lovely this image is.
It is not the easiest of puzzles, but worth the extra bit of time and piece searching needed to complete it!  Bird Watchers by Cobble Hill

Some of the edge pieces were difficult to find, as is often the case with random cut puzzles. I simply get the ones I can find, make a start with the border and then dive straight into the picture itself.

A couple of the unexpected edge pieces...

And some delicious randomness in piece shapes!

Coming together nicely...

Beautiful puzzle from a top notch company. Great quality and a keeper for many years and many more 'builds' to come!

Jigsaw Puzzles - Birds, birds, birds

I can never get enough of birds! And when I saw this puzzle up for a trade, I had to give it a try! It was an easy and enjoyable 550 piece build.

I started with the birds, naturally!

Look at all the interesting colours left in the box. The pieces vary but it is not a true random cut.

And finally a couple details. I so love all the details!

Making this one may become one of those yearly summer routines!

And here is the box with all the details in case you would like to hunt one down for yourself! The quality is not very good, the card is thin and several pieces had started to lift so I kept glue at hand to stick bits back, ready for next time!

Happy puzzling!

Common Blackbird - Colouring

This one was a quick and fun colouring page. It is the Common Blackbird. Such a pretty bird with the bright beak, eye rings and legs that contrast so well with it's pitch black feathers. I added lighter areas of black to help define the bird better.

 It is from Millie Marotta's 'Beautiful Birds and Treetop Treasures'

Cobble Hill - Summer Goldfinches

Another lovely image from Cobble Hill -  called 'Sunflowers and Goldfinches'

At first I thought all that green may be a bit boring, but in the end I enjoyed every minute of making this one.

I did sort all the pieces with yellow in them out first and did the flowers and birds for a start. Then moved on to sorting the different greens and completing the puzzle.
I don't always go about my puzzling this way, but it sure speeds up the process!

I love all the little details...

Finally I decided to store the edge pieces separately from the rest. I've never done this before and thought I would give it a try. I recently traded a puzzle and it came separated out. It was convenient, but I do like the process of digging through all the puzzle deliciousness, getting familiar with all the shapes and colours of the puzzle while hunting for the edges. So I thought I'd give it a try. The verdict is still out on that...

I am very glad to add this one to my puzzle collection and already look forward to doing it again!

Tweet Wishes!

I cannot believe it's been 2 months since I last posted. Not that I have been idle...just have not gotten round to posting! Yikes!

But here goes...Tweet Wishes for a friend.
I'm entering my card for the Art Impressions Challenge 259 'Shaker Cards'

Edited to add: So happy to have won Top Spot with this card! Thank you AI!

Laying flat with the shaker bits all over... The shaker contains sequence as well as music note and bird punchies.

And standing up to show the view through the cut out window shaker to the inside of the card. 

I used an embossing folder to create the woodgrain texture which I then stained with Tea Dye Distress Ink to accentuate the raised areas. The stamped images are from the Art Impressions Floral Birdhouse Popcard .4946 set,which also contains the sentiment and butterfly stamps. It is adorable!

I added a few white die cut sprigs to complete the picture and sprinkled more colourful sequence all around.

And inside : I used a blue card base which I blended with Distress Inks (Broken China and Salty Ocean) and spritzed with water for a more interesting look.

I'm entering this card for the Art Impressions 'Shaker Cards' Challenge 259

I used Art Impressions Floral Birdhouse Popcard 4946 for my card

Come and join us...there's a few days left still!