This little 300-piece Ceaco puzzle was exactly what I needed recently. I had just quit on a Ravensburger Disney-Pixar Toystore puzzle that I was not liking at the time. Believe it or not, I thought it was too detailed, and I couldn’t find a big enough area to focus on which was driving me nuts. I put it away to try again later. As my puzzle friend Stacey says, “It was not the right puzzle at the right time.” I had never really run into that specific situation before, but I think she was absolutely right. I am sure I will pick it up again in the future and complete it with no issues. It really is an adorable image.
Okay, enough about the puzzle I did not do, and more about this adorable puzzle I did do and loved! Happy Camper is such a fun and colorful image, don’t you agree? The artist, Stephanie Peterson Jones, creates super cute images. In fact, unbeknowst to me until I happened to look at another small piece count puzzle I pulled out of the stash recently, it’s also by the same artist as this one. So apparently I am drawn to her artwork.
This puzzle was typical Ceaco quality which is to say thin pieces, but a flat finish and a somewhat loose fit. I think their quality has improved quite a bit since they merged with Buffalo Games a while back. I have always loved Ceaco’s images and have a boatload in my to do closet. Until the merger, I thought their quality was just so so. I think their pieces could still use a little thickening and tightening, but overall the quality is good and the image resolution has always been sharp which matters much more to me than the thickness and looseness of the pieces.
This image had a matte finish which was great. I love puzzles that have more of a matte finish than glossy. Glossy puzzles are really hard to work on during the evening as your light source often makes the glare much worse during that time of day.
I’m not sure why I was so in love with this image as I am not a “happy camper” by nature. I am not an outdoorsy type person, I don’t like camping, and I am not a water person either which for a lot of people is one of the main reasons they camp — to be near a lake or a river of some sort. Because I’m a very bad swimmer, I am also not a water-based activities kinda girl either. I will fully admit to being a spoiled yuppy. I want a nice comfy bed, a shower, and most of all a bug / snake / bear free environment surrounding me at all times. I know, you’re probably thinking, then why the hell do you live in FL Penny? Ha ha
I am passing this cutie on to a local friend who does small piece counts with larger size pieces with her elderly mother. I think they will both love this one just as much as I did.
