I ordered two jigsaw puzzles for this winter. I’ve been eyeing the puzzles offered by John Derian. Since I can’t get to his shop in NYC, I ordered them online. I was going to order them from his site but the shipping was really pricey, so I caved and ordered through Amazon Prime.
Aren’t they gorgeous? Butterflies and a nineteenth century map of New York City. Derian’s work and aesthetic are exquisite. He’s on IG and I’ve spent hours looking at photos of his NYC apartment and his home on Long Island. I absolutely love the way he decorates. I’d like to be him when I grow up!
I digress. Winter is here, which means more time inside and I need something to do besides reading and working on dollhouses. So…puzzles are back. I’m not sure when I’m going to start one, but soon.
A reader of this blog – Janet – contacted me and asked whether I wanted a piece or two of the Petite Princess furniture she had when she was a child. I already had a couple of them, but I didn’t have the chaise. She generously sent it to me, along with a little birdcage and a plant.
Petite Princess furniture is 3/4 or 1:16 size, so it doesn’t fit in my 1:12 dollhouses, but it does fit in the folk art dollhouse. I’m thinking it will look neat on the upper floor.
Check out this mini snake plant! I just published photos of my parents’ snake plant in bloom and, as always, I got lots of responses from people saying they had no idea that snake plants bloomed. They do. And evidently the maker of this plant knew that because the white flowers are very much like the blooms on my plant. I love it.
Thank you, Janet! I’m honored that you shared these beauties with me.
Yesterday was about washing sheets, vacuuming, dusting, etc. I also cleaned and dusted Don’t mini studio. Because it’s so close to the window it collects a lot of dust. Now that we have new mini-blinds, I’m going to make sure that it isn’t in direct sunlight for too long. I already see a repair I have to do on the floor because the glue has lifted.
That’s about it. I’m still waiting for Don’s other present. Sigh. If it doesn’t come today, I’m going to reorder. (It shipped out of Los Angeles on December 11th and there have been zero updates since then.) His present for me that was also missing arrived on Saturday. He’s holding it until the other present arrives and then we’ll exchange gifts.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
Great designs on your jigsaws, Claudia but the New York one looks especially difficult😀 I’m in the middle of doing a 1000 piece that I bought from a charity shop in February but decided to save as it has a Christmas theme. It’s illustrations of cracker boxes from the 1920s/30s. All bright young things in tuxedos and flapper dresses.
By crackers, in case you’ve not come across them, I don’t mean the edible kind but in Britain they’re a table novelty mainly for Christmas. Two people pull either end of a paper cylinder, it makes a snapping sound and inside there’s a small gift, a joke and usually a paper hat to wear whilst you eat.
My brother also bought me a jigsaw, it’s a map of the world circa 1900 and like your New York one, not many colours!
Happy Monday
I am familiar with crackers, Dee Dee. They always look like so much fun!
Stay safe!
The jigsaw puzzles are really fun. I mailed some packages weeks ago and no movement. My friend sent me a package 12/12 no movement. We are hoping this week finds things finally moving along. Love that chaise. So cute. Enjoy this quiet week. Hugs.
Fingers crossed! I check about twice a day…so far, nothing!
Stay safe, Linda.
Bonjour Claudia,
Your puzzles look beautiful and difficult to do. it’s going to take a lot of patience to make them. I am not interested in puzzles. I don’t have the patience to do them. I have patience for other things not puzzles !
We have a storm over France and it snows a lot in the central regions. it’s winter after all!
Prenez toujours soin de vous deux.
I like doing puzzles and I have a lot of patience for the process. I like crossword puzzles, too, for the same reason.
Stay safe!
You have lots of projects to keep you busy. Stay safe and warm!
Thank you, Ellen!
Stay safe.
How frustrating on the missing gifts. Today on FB, two people (who don’t know each other) posted their tracking notifications of gifts that had been missing for at least a couple of weeks, maybe more. I like the idea of saving Don’s to you till his arrives. Maybe by New Year’s Eve!
The chaise is lovely and looks so nice in that room. And that plant is quite remarkable. Love the puzzles. I feel I should order a new one, though a friend sent one for Christmas. I know this sounds terribly ungrateful and I don’t mean it to be, because it was such a kind thought that is more than appreciated, but I don’t think I can see myself doing this particular puzzle for however long it will take. And it will take a long while because it is solid pink roses. All the same tone. If I loved roses more, or pink more, maybe it would work for me but I’m not sure I can see it taking up the real estate that long. We’ll see. It may be a fine gift for someone else!
Now those you ordered? Dazzling!
I quickly learned that you have to like the image on the puzzle – a lot – or it just doesn’t go very well!
P.S. I finally heard from Jerry.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
I don’t do puzzles, but those two you ordered are beautiful.
I had to look up about snake plants blooming, since I was curious. I had never heard of one blooming until you showed us yours. Found out it’s rare for them to do so, but happens when the plant is mildly stressed, usually root bound. Won’t hurt the plant though. In fact, it says to enjoy blooms as they most likely won’t happen again!
I think the mail and deliveries were really wonky this year. I still haven’t received a package I ordered a couple of weeks ago (just says it’s running late) and Tim never received his birthday card from my mother (his bday was Dec 19), but received the Christmas card from her.
That’s not true. Mine was repotted last year and it’s not stressed or root bound. It’s bloomed every year since I got it and that would be over 5 years ago when my Dad died. The only year it didn’t bloom was the year I repotted it and I read that it most likely wouldn’t. My sister, who repots hers (same age) and frequently divides it, has blooms every year. I researched it when it first bloomed and there are varying schools of thought including that they bloom, not because they’re stressed, but just because the bloom. Whoever said that sure doesn’t know about our plants, both of which are over 45 years old. They bloom every year around Christmas – like clockwork.
Stay safe, Melanie.
That’s interesting – the top two garden sites that popped up in my Google search both said the same thing! Go figure.
I find a fair amount of misinformation on garden sites!
I do wonder, however, if it has to do with the age of our plants. They’re quite old! But I’ve also had comments from other snake plant owners who have seen blooms and their plants weren’t necessarily old.
I found much better information on snakeplantcare. com. Basically, there’s not a lot of rhyme or reason (age sometimes is a factor)…so consider yourself lucky that you got blooms! I think yours are sent by your mom. :-)
Love that, Melanie. xo
The pink chaise looks perfect with that wallpaper. Petite Princess furniture can look a little fussy sometimes. I knew you would be able to style it right. Glad you like it. I had no idea about the snake plant until after you said something about the flowers. I must of sent it to you subconsciously. LOL
We are doing a puzzle that looks easy from the box but it is NOT! My cats keeps sealing the pieces too.
Happy New Year
Cats and puzzles do not always go together! Thanks again, Janet! I love these new additions to my collection.
Stay safe!
The puzzles are amaaazing; love them.
I discovered John Derian with Target about a dozen years ago; he does certain home-decor runs with them as do many types of designers of course (scaling down for us poor folks; an affordable price range for the masses). But, back in the day, I researched his Victorian ephemera apart from Target (wow, has he expanded his line of goods since then) and became so intrigued (although I did buy some of his stuff offered in conjunction with Target because I used to be a Target kind of girl; I remember something with dragonflies, packed away with all my STUFF somewhere); his depictions of wildlife in detail, like the bugs and butterflies, are so other-century-marvelous to me; wonderful things to just gaze upon. I’m glad you mentioned your purchases because I’d forgotten him, and I enjoyed looking at his site just now; some really pretty (pricey) holiday ornaments and I like his glass paperweights. But I probably like the decoupage the most.
Hey, we have RAIN in SoCalif; it’s glorious, since 10pm last night; so far about an inch and a half we think; still drippy at 4pm PST. It’s actually a fairly huge deal as we haven’t seen rain for so long here; we were thirsty and in the ever-lov’in drought again. We SHOULD be getting rain now after all the dry wind, though; this is more of the typical season for us, and I hope we get some good rain in Jan/Feb/March as per our previous (pre-climate change) norms. But what I’m REALLY looking forward to, perhaps tomorrow when clouds clear, is if we got snow on our local mountain range, which is always a breathtaking view.
BTW, love the mini snake plant!
So glad you got rain! What a blessing.
Derian has a glass paperweight with the words Paris, France that I love. Hopefully, I’ll get it someday.
Stay safe, Vicki.
His paperweights look substantial; heavy. Good stuff!
xo
so glad you got some rain, vicki! hopefully more is on the way.
we’re to get up to ten inches of snow today along with some ice (ugh). staying home to stay safe.
hope you have an easy day.
kathy in iowa
staying home is the thing!
Oh, those puzzles are beautiful. I envy your patience, knowing that I could never do it. After about 9 minutes it would all be dumped back in the box. I know many people who love doing them, and wish I was one of them. I have tried several times over the years and I must not have the puzzle gene.
We have a Winter Storm Warning for tomorrow aft thru mid-day on Wed which is calling for 8-10 inches. ugh. We received about 3 inches last night. I truly am over it. Luckily, of course, no one has anywhere to go. And after the holiday, we surely have enough food to get us through anything!! Take care, kiddo.
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear about the winter storm. I don’t think we’re going to get it, but we did just have 14 inches on the ground. Fingers crossed that it won’t be as bad as predicted, Chris.
Stay safe.
Waiting for a gift and an important envelope
Taking weeks
The gift is for me
I always order and finish all shopping by Black Friday in case
Received 1000 tiny pieces puzzle
Just could not do it
I work them from October to March but not 1000
Enjoy
Prayers
The key is to take it slowly and just add a few pieces a day – then 1000 will not seem any different than 500!
Stay safe, Brenda.
what perfect pieces for your folk art dollhouse … the chaise looks great with the wallpaper and that blooming snake plant is sure timely! nice choices, janet!
bet it feels good to have those chores done and some jigsaw puzzles to work on. both are beautiful … but also incredibly detailed. have fun!
hope the missing present arrives soon. sweet that you and don wait to open the late presents together when the last one arrives. waiting on a couple here, too.
we are to get up to ten inches of snow plus ice over 24 hours, starting by noon tomorrow. my two oldest greats (-niece and -nephew) are excited about that. the adults? not one bit (though i’ll be happy to stay home). grateful we’re all stocked up and staying in. the weather and some other people (around whom he’d work) having covid-19 put a stop to my brother’s work trip to nashville so he is home and i am glad and grateful about that. prayers get answered … i’m glad and grateful about that, too.
to chris k in wisconsin and donnamae and anyone else in the path of this storm (maybe ultimately you, claudia, and don?) … hope you are all well-supplied and don’t lose power, either!
hope you all have a nice night and stay safe and warm and well!
kathy in iowa
The chase will go in the Folk Art dollhouse where there is – at least now – no wallpaper. It’s too small in scale for this dollhouse.
So sorry about the oncoming storm, Kathy! Stay home and stay safe – I’m glad your brother’s trip was canceled. Somehow it all works out for the best. I don’t think we’re going to get the storm, thank goodness! We need a little break after 14+ inches a couple of weeks ago.
Stay safe!