Hobby Time

One of my hobbies, and major stress reliever, is doing jigsaw puzzles. I used to do them all the time, however since having children I have not done any. Small pieces and small children do not go hand in hand. How are you supposed to know if any small children lose/eat/throw away any pieces until the puzzle is finished and there are missing pieces? Yeah, that would really make me angry and therefore add to any stress I would be trying to rid myself of, so I have just not done any. Until now.


I decided our dining room table was a good place since we hardly ever use it and I could bock off the area with pieces of our Superyard. I had a couple of puzzles in the closet that I have been meaning to do (I purchased them before Mason was born...almost 7 years ago). So I grabbed one that Matt, Mason and I had a discussion about a while back, fractal images. I couldn't tell you what a fractal image is, but they are super neat and the pictures are beautiful. Click on the link above or here to learn more about fractal images.

The puzzle was a 500 piece puzzle and the picture on the box was only about 1" square. I expected it to take me a few weeks but I was done within one week. I was very excited to complete it so fast and I remembered the anticipation feeling of getting so close to the end. I was pretty relaxed this week and whenever I needed a moment, I just had to step into the dining room.

The big kids tried to help me a few times, but the pieces are smaller than what they are used to and the colors were very similar to the other pieces. Maggie tried to watch me a few times too, but said it was "boring" because all I did was sit there and look at the table. :)

The babies do get a little upset with me while I'm at the table because they can't get in. They can still come over to the gate and see me though, it's not like I'm closed off in another room completely.

So the project is all finished now. (I wish I would have taken a before picture but I didn't think of it. I won't forget next time.) Mason really likes the completed puzzle. I am going to glue the puzzle and have it framed for him to hang in his room.





Here are pictures of the other puzzles I have glued and framed in the past. I glued them using Mod Podge, and then had them matted and framed at Michaels.

The dragon took me a very long time to do - a couple of months if I remember correctly, and cost me a lot to have framed because of the size. Both these puzzles are shaped puzzles.











The money and the cards are fun because they are so realistic.











I do like doing puzzles that are shaped, or not square, because there is more of a challenge to them. After Maggie saw the completed fractal puzzle and heard Mason claim it, she said she wanted one too. She wants a flower puzzle so the search is on. I'll let her pick it out, but I may need to steer her a little.