Snow Days Mean Puzzles

Last January (2014), on the first snow day of the year, I popped over to visit my elderly neighbours and found them working on a puzzle together. They invited me to join them and four hours later we were eating pizza and ice cream, and putting the final pieces in place. It was a great afternoon and, ever since, snow days have meant puzzles.

I remember enjoying puzzles as a kid. In particular, I had an awesome Garfield puzzle -- one of him entertaining at night on the fence -- that I put together countless times. Over the years, however, I got out of doing them. I'm sure more than a decade passed before I put another one together. Then, sometime around 2007, while doing my PhD in St. John's, NL, I discovered a local company that made custom puzzles. The prices were reasonable and if you lived in the area, you could pick them up instead of paying for shipping. Clearly, this was the perfect gift for the person who has everything and wants nothing, so I ordered one of our cat Tigger for my mother for Christmas. I remember hiding it at the back of the tree and making the gift card out to "The Cabin" (a play on a family joke about everything being for "the cabin" -- as in, "Don't eat that cheese. It's for the cabin."). When I was home and at the cabin (which I refer to as the cottage, since it is more of a summer home than a shack) the following summer, I put the puzzle of Tig together and once again enjoyed the challenge of fitting the pieces together. But, as the years passed, I again fell out of doing puzzles.

This January (2015), I remembered the custom puzzle I'd ordered for my mother and thought again that it might be the ideal gift, this time for a friend. I asked her for her favourite high rez photo of her Doxie and a few weeks later the puzzle arrived in my mailbox. Again, I was happy with my purchase. But I had a lot of time to think during January and February due to an illness that put me off work for a few weeks, and I started to wonder whether I could make a puzzle with my Silhouette Cameo. After all, it said that it could cut cardboard. In the design store, I found a few templates for puzzles, but I wasn't sure I liked the shapes or the sizes, so I just left it as something for another time.

Last night, though, as I awaited the start of the storm, I mentioned to a friend that I was in dire straits. I had run out of wooden spoons and so would not be able to burn designs into them (my new hobby) during the storm. Whatever would I do? He suggested that I make something with my die cutter instead, perhaps a puzzle. Perhaps a puzzle, indeed! Today at about noon I started researching how to make puzzles and cut box board once again. Armed with a few tips, such as taping the cardboard to the mat before cutting, I purchased a puzzle design and was off to the races! Er, I mean, craft room!

I decided I would make a test puzzle out of a candy box. After all, I have several of these lying around because I use them in bookbinding. I measured my cardboard very carefully and adjusted my puzzle design so that it cut the section I wanted. Then I taped it to the mat, loaded it into the machine, selected my cut settings, and sent it to cut. A few minutes later, I had my first puzzle.

I closed the software and turned off the machine, returning everything to its place. Then I carefully pulled the cardboard off the mat and was thrilled to see that the cuts were absolutely perfect. I pulled all the puzzle pieces apart and took them to my dining room to put the puzzle back together. Luckily, it was a small puzzle (just 36 pieces), because I couldn't really remember what the image had looked like. No worries, though! In no time at all, I had it together.

Earlier in the day, my friend asked about the thickness of cardboard required for a puzzle. I thought box board would work and she didn't. I decided the only way to know would be to test it. Now, there's no question that the cardboard from the candy box I used is too thin. It holds together well enough for a small puzzle like this one, but it would be horrible for anything larger. (I will note, however, that the puzzle in my Christmas cracker this year was made of cardboard that wasn't even as thick as the cardboard I used today, so it really depends on your purpose and preferences, I suppose.) The thicker box board found in a cereal box, on the other hand, works fairly well. (I say this based on a cutting experiment that must be kept secret for now.) I'm not certain yet, however, what the size limits of such a puzzle might be.

And so I have satisfied my curiosity in terms of cutting puzzles using my Cameo. It's pretty cool. I find myself hoping that some of my friends who eat cereal will save their boxes for me so that I can make a few more. Wouldn't a Cheerios or Cocoa Puffs or Lucky Charms puzzle be fun? (I'd use one of the larger templates of 100+ pieces.)

I also find myself dreaming of owning a colour printer. I have joked many times in the last year or so that my monochrome laser printer was limiting my creativity. Now I am certain it's true! With a colour printer, I could make custom puzzles using photographs or other fun images. And who knows what else?!?!?

There may be a trip to Staples in my future.