I acquired this brand-new jigsaw from marketplace, so was cheap but had never been done before. Obviously, someone was having a clear out and did not now want to complete it. I do love catching great bargains like this.
This looked tricky due to the colours and it was, although it made separating the pieces into some distinct colours reasonably easy too.
I knew it would have moments of challenge and I am glad that it did.
Oh the wonderful power of Temu shopping, the dark hole we all fall into and then surface from, minus a healthy balance on the credit card!
I don't think I know of one person who has ever not bought some crazy little thing from Temu, thinking it will be crap, happy to spend the small amount of cash for it just to see what it is like, only to then find it is the best thing they have ever bought and wonder how they survived life without it all this time! Ok, I do also know that there really is some total crap on there too!
When I shop there, which I do not make a habit of doing, I have found some good items on there at times, although jigsaws tend to show in the suggested section. I have often wondered about their 1000-piece jigsaws for only $7-9? Are they any good, are the pieces going to be paper thin and useless staying together. Are they going to even go together?
On my last order, I tempted fate and ordered a jigsaw, just to see what I got. I was prepared to sacrifice $9 for the cause.
I chose a design that I thought would be fun to complete, but also maybe a little on the semi easy side due to the main bold colours that would be easy to sort.
It came in my parcel a few days later, they are actually quite fast at getting deliveries to NZ, almost like it has actually come from NZ!
Now, immediately, when I removed it from the delivery bag it was obvious there was going to be an issue but there were also the odd positive to start with. It came in a nice solid plastic box, and it had a poster of the picture too. It also had the alphabet on the back in a grid fashion so that you could complete sections if you wish by collecting all of the pieces with the letter 'A' and complete that section.
The quality of the pieces was good, nice thick sturdy pieces not paper thin, and they joined together very well. The only one downside of it all.......
The size of the pieces, yes, the box was no bigger that an A5 sheet of paper and the pieces, well a Paracetamol capsule was bigger than the pieces!
Yes, I had hit the one main problem with this jigsaw, it had micro size pieces. Now I don't remember seeing anything on the page that suggested it was a small jigsaw when finished, measuring maybe only A4 paper size and if I was to look at getting another jigsaw from Temu, I will definitely be checking the page thoroughly for finished measurement size!
I will report back more when I actually complete the jigsaw but for now, I would say the size is probably the only thing I can find wrong with it, so giving it a 9/10 on the product for what I can see, feel and establish that it seems to be a reasonably good quality jigsaw, just a little small!
I have always wanted a fly screen door on the back door. I know, not your average wish but here in NZ I have noticed that the doors and windows are open a lot of the time. We do not have central heating, well, not that we don't have it in NZ just that most homes do not have it. I find that we need air movement in the house due to the fluctuating temps.
Back door can remain open but that leads to flies in the house and that aspect annoys me.
When I first started looking at screen doors then the roof we had over the back door prevented this from happening. I wrote about this back in March when the porch roof finally came down due to the pergola being acquired. That has led to me investigating doors and finally I found one. It has only taken a couple of many years to achieve this, but sometimes I can be patient.
Finally, I have a screen door at the back and I love it, just in time for the summer.
2nd Christmas jigsaw to be completed. One from a series of the shop in different seasons.
So distinct colours so not difficult to do, but still had some moments of frustration.
Definitely makes me dream of a winter white Christmas time
And sometimes, you just need that first moment and it all comes together.
I am now on holiday for 3 weeks due in part to:
I like Christmas.
I like the colours, the lights, the decorations, the excitement that people have. The caring side that seems to come out in people more.
Ok, I can't say I actually like the day itself, the stress of food, presents, what others are doing, who will be around etc.
But I definitely like the lights and the gentle lull of the evening with the lights going, glowing in the dark. Therefore, I love having the tree up in the house, having all the other lights on low and watching tv etc. with that warm glow of the multi coloured Christmas tree lights.
Sadly, here in New Zealand, the days are getting longer and lighter at this time of year, so to see any pretty lights around, you have to stay up till 9-10pm. This means that there is actually a lack of Christmas spirit around as there are no lights as you finish work, no carols blaring from speakers in shops, Christmas window displays lack that cuteness as they inevitably show displays of beaches and sunshine (due to it being almost summer and everyone breaking up for the summer holidays from school and work),
You can actually forget that it is Christmas here in December!
This year, I wanted the tree up early, but life got in the way, as it frequently does at the moment, so today I finally got there. It is the barest of decorations, enough to show the significant ones that are important to me, but the main aspect was of course the lights.
There, finally, the house glows in the evenings (and very early mornings too)
Whilst I am happy to do a Christmas jigsaw at any time of the year, they are always cute pictures, this one just had to be done at Christmas time.
Because I live in New Zealand, we sadly do not have ugly Christmas sweaters due to it being our summertime and the temperatures are too high for us to require a sweater.
But that doesn't mean we don't dream of a cold white Christmas time, we just wear ugly Christmas sweater t-shirts instead, or t-shirts with jokes about ugly sweaters!
I actually purchased this jigsaw myself. My cousin and her family love wearing ugly sweaters and always try to have a mid-winter Christmas weekend here so that they can have an opportunity to wear the sweaters. So, I purchased it, knowing that she would enjoy the jigsaw too
And now it was my turn to complete it.
It was fun to do. Definitely one to be sorted by colour.
It has since been loaned out to a friend who is also obsessed with ugly Christmas sweaters.
As you know, I am part of an amazing running/walking club.
Our Sunday activity this week was out at Raglan. It is on the West coast of New Zealand and has some amazing beaches and cliffs. Thereby making for a pleasant walk/run that can be up and down the hills or flat across the beach (at the correct tide times)
We call it the 'Reindeer Run' and then we go to coffee afterwards. The weather obliged fully and it was amazing being out there in the sunshine, alongside the beach and seeing some amazing views.
However, despite what it looks like with the bright blue sky and shining sun, that water was bone arse freezing cold, like ice. Obviously, we haven't had enough warm temperatures quite yet to make the sea water warmer.
I won first prize.
Everyone was totally taken with the tree, fascinated at what it was and the detail of it. So many people thought, from a distance, that it looked like velvet and then when they got up close, and realised it was actually tea bags, they were amazed. They didn't even realise, to begin with, who had created it as it sat on my colleagues' desk not mine. Then I got heaps of questions about its creation, the time involved, how I dyed the tea bags etc
So many positive comments and the judges thought so too.
Bring it on 2026. Last year we got 2nd place in the competition and this year 1st place. Got a reputation to maintain here, what will the competition be next year?
The tree is now finished and just needs to be moved to the office
I am so pleased with the tea pot I found to place on the top. I have the lights pouring out of the spout
One I got off of marketplace and was intrigued by the colours, design and intricate detail. In true form, I thought it would be easy but the colour was so intricate and fine that it took some real doing to get the right location.
But I loved all the titles of the books, the qwerky little animals and characters hidden around the bookcase, in between the books
Kudos to the artist on the intricate detail of the whole design
Yes, you read that title correctly, I am crafting something for work.
For a competition within our office. Last year there was a Christmas theme decoration of your desk area. We built a Gingerbread house! The post about it can be found here.
This year, it was a Christmas Tree competition. I immediately knew what I wanted to do and so in consultation with my desk/pod mates, I told what I wanted to do, and they were happy to let me run with it.
Quite a few years ago, a friend of mine had created a tree for a display that was quirky, creative, Christmas themed and latched into New Zealand style.
In other words, a New Zealand Tea Tree.
A Christmas tree that represented the native Tea Tree that we have in NZ (Leptospermum, commonly known as Manuka or New Zealand Tea Tree, is a versatile native shrub prized for its vibrant flowers, aromatic foliage, and ecological benefits)
A Tree that represents all of this, made entirely from tea bags, yes, tea bags.
I set about dying over 200 brand new tea bags, four different colours and then laced them onto a wire mesh frame.
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| Drying in the sunshine |
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| Almost there, just need to add the top and the lights |
This one I received for my birthday the other week. After finishing the previous one that took a little bit of thinking, then it was nice to do one that flowed nicely with some main colour areas. Again, I started with the flags and worked down.
A friend just had some surgery, and I wanted to let her know I was thinking about her, flowers are my way of doing that, and even flowers that will not wilt and die.
I have so much paper to use, but still struggle to decide what colour to create. Although this time, I asked the recipient what her favourite colour was the week before, which gave me at least some form of guidance.
I need to teach myself to make some different shaped flowers so that I can do a bouquet of different flowers and not ones that are all the same shape.
They were greatly received and I love that they will last longer than a fresh bouquet.
