Jim Shore Twelve Days of Christmas Puzzle

I was looking for a Christmas jigsaw puzzle when I found this Springbok one by Jim Shore called The Twelve Days of Christmas. Since then, I have been sneaking time out to work on it. Christmas is such a fun theme for puzzling.

This puzzle features the artwork of artist Jim Shore in an image that is called The 12 Days of Christmas. It has 1000 pieces and was produced in 2007. Now discontinued, you will now have to look to secondary markets like eBay to find it. 

Find your Jim Shore's The 12 Days of Christmas puzzle here on eBay. 

Happy Puzzling!

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

MORE PUZZLES:

Christmas puzzles in my eBay store!

Springbok's Christmastown panoramic puzzle.

Springbok Nutcracker puzzles.

The Canadian Tulip Festival

SPRING BLOSSOMS EVERY YEAR AT THE CANADIAN TULIP FESTIVAL

The Canadian Tulip Festival, which is also know as the Ottawa Tulip Festival, has become the world's largest tulip festival and takes place in May each year with more than three million tulips in bloom. It runs for three weeks and in 2009, Ottawa expected more than 500,000 people to enjoy the flowers and the festival activities.

The tulip has become a symbol of the friendship between Holland and Canada. This friendship began more than fifty years ago when the Dutch people gave Ottawa a gift of tulips as a thank you for providing a safe haven to members of the Dutch Royal Family during the Second World War and for the part that Canadian soldiers played in helping to liberate Holland from the Nazis.

The gift of tulip bulbs has become a beloved tradition and today, the celebration is bigger and better than ever.

Click here to order this children's book

about the Ottawa Tulip Festival in from Amazon.

VIDEO

Though dated, this 2008 video will give you a general idea of what you might expect at the Canadian Tulip Festival:

THEMES

1994 A Tribute to the Origin Country of the Tulip - Turkey
1995 The Friendship That Flowered, the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Holland
1996 Floral Tribute to Nice
1997 Floral Artistry of Japan
1998 A Celebration of Canada's Provinces and Territories
1999 Between Friends
2000 Tulips 2000: A Capital Celebration!
2001 Tulips Forever! A Salute to Britain
2002 Tulipmania! 50th Anniversary
2003 G'day Australia - Tulips Down Under
2004 Canada's Tulip Experience
2005 A Celebration of Peace and Friendship
2006 Tulips 2006 - World Flower Rendezvous!
2007 Celebridée Celebration of Ideas inaugural year
2008 Where Ideas Bloom
2009 The Tulip Route
2010 "Liberation" - The 65th anniversary of the liberation of Europe.
2011 "Kaleidoscope" - A celebration of Spring awakening through colour, culture and community

PHOTOGRAPHS

World famous photographer Malak Karsh is widely know for his photographs of the tulips and was instrumental in the establishment of the Canadian tulip festival.

CONCERTS

The festival helped create some of the artists who have appeared. Concerts have included Liberace who performed an opening concert in 1972, Alanis Morissette who made her first appearance when she was just 12 year sold in 1987, The Trews who opened for Big Sugar in 2003 and General Rudie who performed early in their musical careers in 2000. These 'free' concerts were both entertaining and career building for budding new artists. They proved to be great exposure. However, the concerts have been difficult because of the unpredictability of springtime weather in Ottawa.

WOODEN TULIPS

The Canadian Tulip Festival presented a very unique gift in the form of a 5 foot tall wooden tulip to President Obama on the occasion of his historic first visit to Canada on February 19, 2009. Large wooden tulips are a beautiful tradition of the festival. This one will represent President's Obama's messages of Hope, Change, and Yes We Can. It will also have his face in profile and other national U.S. symbols on it. This particular tulip is the work of Canadian artist Jill Alexander.

Have you ever seen the tulips at the Canadian Tulip Festival? 

See you

in the Tulips!

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

OFFICIAL INFORMATION

Canadian Tulip Festival

The largest tulip festival in the world. Millions of tulips will bloom in Canada's scenic Capital Region (Ottawa) creating an exotic mosaic of colour and beauty.

Wikipedia
The Canadian Tulip Festival claims to be the world's largest tulip festival, with attendance of over 500,000 visitors annually. This major cultural event is held annually in Ottawa and Gatineau, Canada, over the course of 18 days in May...

360 Degrees of Tulips
Explore high resolution panoramic photography of the 'Canadian Tulip Festival' on 360 Cities. This will put you in a bed of tulips, literally. I have never seen anything quite like this...and the tulips are magnificent! 

MORE OTTAWA READING

A Bloom Of Friendship Book Review
This beautiful children's book does a great job of sharing information about the tulip festival.

The Great Glebe Garage Sale

Ottawa's famous neighborhood yard sale. 

The Historic Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building
Discover this amazing historical building.

New York New York Wrebbit 3D Jigsaw Puzzle

Here's a super-challenging, three-dimensional Wrebbit jigsaw puzzle that has a whopping 3,141 pieces. It is a popular puzzle that is retired and somewhat hard to find. Marked item number P3D-SP2, it depicts New York city as we remember it before 911 and is considered one of the most challenging 3D puzzles ever made. This customer review sums it up nicely:

"I got this puzzle for my boyfriend last Christmas and when we got back from college we started it. It took us one month in total to finish the puzzle. It is VERY CHALLENGING. We worked every night from 6pm-1am most nights. After hours of looking at teeny tiny windows and searching for that ONE PIECE amongst 3,000+, one might lost one's mind and get frustrated very quickly, BUT DO NOT GIVE UP. This puzzle is a amazing because when it's done, it's gorgeous and it paying a fitting tribute to the twin towers and NYC!" - K. Barone

Find this New York, New York three dimensional puzzle for yourself here on eBay.

Happy Puzzling!

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

Quick Links:

Lots of puzzles in my eBay store! One or two 3D ones but lots of new, used and vintage ones.

Vintage Walt Disney Movie Posters. They're by Golden and feature a number of Disney's animated movies.

The Titanic Sinks Jigsaw Puzzle. For Titanic fans (like myself), there is nothing like working a Titanic-themed puzzle.

Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles. I have one that features Earnscliffe, the iconic Ottawa, Ontario home of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Learn more about these quality puzzles here.

Vanquish Wrap Rage with the OpenX Dual Blade Universal Package Opener

Never heard of the OpenX Dual Blade Universal Package Opener?  Struggled with opening nasty and obnoxious clam shell packages?  Think the inventor of the clamshell should have to spend 18 hours opening clamshells without an OpenX? (Susan52's idea of an appropriate punishment!)

Struggle no more. This handy dandy tool, available at Amazon for under $10, will save you from wrap rage. It is kind of humorous that this nifty tool is sold in a clamshell. Find your OpenX Dual Blade Universal package opener here, on Amazon.

See you

next time!

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

Fisher-Price Discovery Cottage Review

In the 1990s, when our children were young, they had a few very memorable toys and a few of them were by Fisher-Price. I remember a few in particular and one of the first ones was this Fisher-Price Discovery Cottage. 

This cottage was recommended for children aged 12 to 36 months and featured a house with a number of manually activated elements, two chunky Jumbo Little People figures, a person and a dog, and a tricycle. The figures were perfectly sized, bigger than other Little People, which allowed the youngest child to easily grasp them without the risk of choking. 

The house featured these interactive elements:

• A blue front door that opened with a clicking sound and has a hole to put a figure into.
• A rubber doorbell that rang when you pushed the red button. This button was the one part of the house that did not necessarily stand the test of time on a much loved house. Ours was broken from being depressed so many times.
• The opposite side had a garage door that flipped down to allow access for the tricycle to the parking area.
• Beside the garage door, was a butterfly that pushed up and down and made a clicking sound.
• One side of the roof lifted to reveal a bed and another hole, either of which that could hold a figure.
• The other, fixed side of the roof featured a chimney slide for your figure to slide through.
• The final side of the house had a roller that spun and displayed different images.
• Finally, the house had a handle so that your child could carry it around.

Our little ones played with this toy extensively, initially in a very basic way. I can picture my son putting the figure down the chimney over and over and over again. Eventually they played with it in a more imaginative way using the house as a home for the people.

Apparently, there were a few different versions of this house as is evidenced by a commercial that I viewed recently that shared how this toy had evolved in response to the play style of children. That video featured Fisher-Price's slogan that somehow seems very familiar to me, "Fisher-Price. Children taught us all we know."

Beyond the imaginative play, the Discovery Cottage helped my children learn about shapes and  develop hand-eye coordination. If the toy company still made it, I would buy one for baby gifts. Meanwhile, if you want one you will likely have to settle for a used one, which can be found here on eBay. Make sure to buy extra figures because this house could definitely hold more Jumbo Little People!

See you
at the toy store!
Brenda
Treasures By Brenda

Quick Link:

Check out the new, used and vintage Fisher-Price toys in my eBay store.