August Updates

How is it already mid-August and if it’s already this late, can we please have fall weather to go along with it? I apologize for not having an interview for you in this newsletter. I was focusing on Puzzle Parley and then the minute that was over, we opened the membership for Puzzle Jam.

If you missed Puzzle Parley, you can watch Tammy McCloud’s recap here or Emilee Frost’s recap here. Or to flip through photos, you can look at the shared photos on google. Nervous System won the Puzzler’s Choice Award for their Eclipse puzzle and I won best in show for an updated version of Down the Rabbit Hole. Updates included hinges and more layers and different thicknesses of pieces. I also had to create a fully functioning right hand cabinet door and the items in the cabinet in Photoshop. I had already removed Alice from the original image and filled in the space behind her. Here’s the winning puzzle and the original image. I love using old children's book illustrations, but the print quality is often lacking, so I use Illustrator to help clean it up.

I have several puzzles available and ready to ship. I will list them here before listing them on the website. They are first come, first serve, just send me a message at [email protected]. I rarely include this much straight sales in my newsletters, as I seldom have this many puzzles ready to ship at once. Note that there’s a little more news at the bottom of the newsletter.

New Skills

I have wanted to learn origami, but hadn’t bothered until I met Katheryn at Parley and forced politely asked her to help me. I can now fold a crane without looking at the directions and have a Pinterest board full of things to try. But let me just add that being able to fold a crane DOES NOT mean you should assume you can fold anything if you just take your time. Let’s just say my elephant did not look like an elephant, or even a creature with legs, for that matter.

Branching Out

First, I’m in the final stages of planning a puzzle and treat subscription box. Details in the next newsletter. I know I will limit it to 5 boxes. As with the ready to ship puzzles, I will let newsletter readers have a chance to sign up first. This would likely not be a recurring subscription, but a 3 months of puzzles and treats purchase that would arrive each month.

The bigger news is that we (ShengHan, my youngest son whom some of you met at Puzzle Jam) and I will soon be selling handmade Indian paper. Our first shipment has arrived and the papers are even more wonderful that I expected. We have to make a few changes to the website and list all 94 papers before they will be available for purchase. This newsletter is already too long, so I’ll save the story about our connection with this company until the next one. We have separate Instagram (and Facebook) accounts for Chestnut and Hemlock Paper. Please follow us there and share with your paper loving friends.

Plant Corner

The good news: my neighbor (former landscaper and garden center owner) does sick plant house calls. Even though I really thought I was watering my ficus right, I was overwatering it. Now that I’ve cut back to watering it once in a blue moon, the leaves have stopped turning yellow and dropping.

The bad news: I got cocky and decided to try and keep up with the Jones’. Literally. My mom’s family are Jones’ and all 3 sisters now have orchids. So when I saw them at Trader Joes for a great price, I was convinced it couldn’t be that hard and I’d just follow what the sisters said to do. Wrong! All three will probably be dead by the next newsletter, but for now, they claim ‘they’re not dead yet!’