December 3,2011
This is such an exciting time of the year! For us here at Platinum Puzzles this year it is extra magical.
Two years ago I laid out a design to show Steve and it just knocked his socks off! But it had a few quirks I could not figure out how to get around, well I have done the figuring and we are so pleased to bring to you “The Butterfly Kingdom”.
This puzzles belongs to a group of puzzles we are calling “Gear –it – ables”, Can you guess why? Oh ya, it has gears, lots of them!! This puzzle is also the toughest puzzle we have ever created and it is by definition a most Dee – spicable trick puzzle, but you will get no sympathy from us!!
In a new segment on our front webpage we have created a video to show this amazing puzzle, it falls under “The Dee-tails” (that’s new too)
This puzzle comes in a hand crafted wooden box made just for this puzzle. So as the story goes……. I long, long ago, in a place far, far away there was a kingdom, a butterfly kingdom. Butterflies were born there and they lived and grew in peace and harmony. The king and the queen were happy. However one day a pesky dragon started to chase the butterflies, creating such a flutter. This upset the butterflies, the king and queen and the entire kingdom. So the wise king devised a plan, to protect the prized monarch and to capture the dragon, but he needs your help to succeed…..
Can you cocoon in the Monarch and trap the pesky dragon? Perhaps with a little help, this puzzle is great family fun.
Have a great holiday and we will see you back here in January.
November 1, 2011
Ok, Mother Nature we know who is in charge!! Here in New England we got snow.
The good news is we feel all Holidayeee and are ready to show you some new Holiday puzzles.
I am particularly proud of “Hot Cocoa Stand” It reminds me of when I was but a young girl and everyone on our road would get together to skate on the ice, I would have been the one to open a cocoa stand as I was entrepreneurial even back then.
This puzzle has some of the best artwork I have done so far, and I will use these charters again and again in other puzzles. If you’re looking for a family puzzle this is the one.
We are also offering a new nutcracker for your collection and an ice skating penguin who knows how to stay warm.
This year we paid special attention to the small gifts we like to give. The mailman, paperboy, and the guy who always remembers just how you like your groceries bagged. Or these puzzles can be used in place of Christmas Cards. I’m sure you will find a dozen uses for them.
They are called our “Little Treats” Puzzles and If you are signed up for e-specials you could get them for under $20.00 each!! Seriously under $20.00 each!! Go to our front page and sign up now.
We have hit a snag with our Trick of a treat puzzle ( it’s not a Halloween puzzle) we were just hoping to have it ready for Halloween, we are still waiting on the wooden boxes.
The Odyssey puzzles is 95% ready and I will be giving it some time in the next few weeks .
Stay warm.
September 6, 2011
As summer dwindles down and the kids are sent back to school we know you will have a little more time to sit, relax, and enjoy a Platinum Puzzle, and if you have signed up for e-specials you can take advantage of a great .75cent per piece sale. If you have not signed up for e-specials yet, go do that now!
I have been working diligently on our new limited edition puzzle “The Odyssey” and for the last few weeks I have been struggling with a six headed Dee-spicable trick sea monster that does not want to keep its balance as it pops up from the water. Augh! I will figure it out. We are very excited that we will be working with two of our favorite customers who will be hand making the guide book that will help you get through the puzzle. Their work is magnificent!! We are now looking at the first of October as our “ready for production” date.
If you have not heard all ready, a date has been set for the 11th puzzle parley in Salem Ma. It is the weekend of July 20th 2012. We will bring update as we get them and you can go to: www.oldjigsawpuzzles.com that’s Bob Armstrong’s website. These Parlays are so much fun, puzzle makers, puzzle collectors, puzzle restorers and puzzle doers from all over the country and beyond all get together and talk everything puzzle!!
August 3, 2011
We hope everyone has been enjoying the summer and if you’re stuck inside on those hot days, we hope your enjoying a Platinum Puzzle.
I would like to share with you and only you the process of the creative mind, (or at least my mind anyways). When we’re working on a really big project like The Odyssey puzzle, so many fragments of thought has to come together for me to get a 3-D visual image of the working puzzle in my mind. Some days they over flow and other days the thoughts are playing hide and seek! Steve came home the other day from his other job, and knowing we have a ton of orders for the Odyssey all ready, asked me “what did you do today?” I told him “a lot of thinking!” He gave me the,” are you crazy?”look, but he knows a well thought out puzzle will delight customers for years to come. So even though it has taken us a little longer (he were hoping for the end of July) to present to you “The Odyssey”. When you see it in a few more weeks, you will know: it was so worth the wait!
July 1,2011
Wow, is it July already? Time flies when you have your nose buried in a pile of drawings that will soon become your masterpiece puzzle. The Odyssey is shaping up quite nicely; we will have working prototypes and pictures to show in a few weeks. I was stuck for the longest time trying to figure out how to create the toughest of the Dee-spicible trick puzzles in this set of puzzles, where I had to figure out how to make Poseidon raise up out of the water. HE HE HE , well I am pleased to inform you I have worked that little problem out, and I’m sure you will be sending me M&Ms for clues on that one!
If you are thinking about ordering The Odyssey puzzle, you should do it soon; the price is going to jump a lot faster than the OZ puzzle did. Once we start showing pictures of The Odyssey you will only have four weeks to lock into the $1,800.00 price.
Our phones have been on the fritz lately, so I apologize if you have been trying to call, they should be up and working soon. If you need to reach us right away, e-mail. Otherwise they should be good to go today.
Our e-special this month:
Christmas in July
If you have not signed up for e-specials yet, you may want to do it now.
June 4,2011
Some one e-mailed and ask me to give them some information on The Odyessey Puzzle, I thought I would share it with you:
Hi Ted,
I will put you on the e-special list.
Info on The Odyssey puzzle: The Odyssey is our second hand painted limited edition puzzle, we are still working on the sketches, but the ideas for each section are firm. The Odyssey works like a game where you are Odysseus and you are trying to make it home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. You have a guide book and you put together one puzzle at a time as you follow the path back home. There are both dee-lightful and dee-spicible trick puzzles that you must solve before you move on, along with riddles and pranks we throw at you to make your voyage last as long as Odysseus'. Each of the 14 or 15 puzzles will come in their own separate tins and when you have finished putting them together you will have created the map of the Odysseus' travels, but only after you have arrived back to Ithaca and reclaimed what is rightfully yours, can you claim victory over this puzzle! And we don't make it easy for you!
These are our most exquisite puzzles, this puzzle should be over 2,000 pieces, all hand painted, crafted on cherry wood and ready to provide hours upon hours of intrigue.
We are introducing this puzzle at $1,800.00 for a very short time, and we are taking names and putting them on a list.
The biggest disadvantage is the wait time as we are hand painting each puzzle it takes a lot of time.
We figure it will take at least a month to craft each one.
We plan for The Odyssey to be ready to go to market in late June, July.
Would you like me to put you on the list?
Thanks.
Dee
PS. you know this letter explains this puzzle so well, I think I will use it in our promotions.
June 2,2011
Here in the northeast we are in the crazy weather time, one day it is 89o and muggy and the next it is 61 and windy, that was the last couple days! When ever we can get outside with out the black flies feasting on us, it's a good day!We were busy all the month of May finishing up on orders, and we still didn't finish, so June we will also be working hard to finish up everything month.
Enjoy the sun, June specials: 30% off any puzzle for dad.
May 1, 2011
Well it seems that winter has past and spring is making its debut! We have veggies and flowers growing in the green house and we finally have finished cleaning all the branches that fell during that ice storm last month. May is out clean it up month; we plan to clean up all the orders that have back logged. So you see May will be a very busy month for us here at Platinum Puzzles.
But that will free us up for two very exciting puzzles coming in June just in time for father’s day. The first is Homers, The Odyssey, our next hand painted limited edition. Right now ( it may change as we work out the details) it’s 14 puzzles that come together to create a map of Odysseus’s travels back from Troy. Filled with Dee-lightful and Dee-spicable tricks it may well take you twenty years to return Odysseus back to Ithaca. We will introduce this puzzle at the same price we did on OZ, $1800.00 and we have been taking orders for it the last few weeks. So if you’re up to the challenge of a really tough puzzle or mad about Greek mythology give us a call and we will put you on the list.
The second puzzle we have been working on is a total surprise, but it will knock your socks off as you have never seen another puzzle like it, and it is so Dee-spicable! We will share more next month.
May e- specials: 30% off any puzzle for mom.
April 1, 2011
Spring is struggling to be noticed hear in New England, not that it hasn’t been trying, but old man winter keeps beating it back! But we at Platinum Puzzles are thinking spring like thoughts. In A couple of weeks we will have some new spring designs. We have also been working on the board game puzzle and that will be ready to go soon.
We have started the design on our new limited edition it is going to be Homers, The Odyssey. It looks like it will be 12 puzzles that come together to form one large puzzle with two puzzles on the side. We have some brand new Dee-spicable tricks for this puzzle. We have already started taking names on the list of people who want to buy one. #1 and #2 are already sold. It will start with the intro price of $1,800.00 like OZ. If you want to be put on the list let me know. The release date looks like June, maybe May.
Congratulations to Terry S. for winning the March rebus game!
April is the mad month for e-specials!!!
February 1, 2011
It’s all ready February, we have tons and tons of snow, and we have had some pretty cold nights! After all this is New England and this is what is to be expected. When dinner is over and all is cleaned up the dining room table becomes a puzzle table at our house, so we put a few logs on the fire, put on some soft swing music, open a bottle of wine and cozy up to a wooden jigsaw puzzle. Steve and I like doing prints together, it keeps us sharp, we get to enjoy each other’s company, and we make jokes as we critique each other’s work. (I go easy on Steve; he has only been cutting for a year now). So we feel everyone should have a puzzle night at least once a week, and to make that more feasible we have some great e-special offers this month (if you haven’t sign up, do it now!)
We are also offering a new type of puzzle on our website “Puzzles On The Go”. You can take these puzzles where ever you go, check them out.
Valentines is quickly approaching, nothing says” I love you” more than a killer hard puzzle, I mean a sweet puzzle from Platinum Puzzles. Congratulations to Mary Ann from Georgia, she is our January winner in the rebus game!
January 12, 2011
As I look out my window and see the Blizzard whirling I find comfort that we have plenty of food a crackling fire and plenty of wooden jigsaw puzzles to keep us busy. This is, after all New England and we are used to snow storms, as we prepare for the weather we also prepare for upcoming projects.
With the rush of the holidays behind us, I have had the opportunity to sit at my desk and start creating some new designs. We will start showing them in February.
We have chosen our print for the new 3Dee puzzle; it will be “Surprised! Storm in the Forest” by Henri Rousseau. This print has so many bright colors and the look on the tigers face is priceless! This puzzle will be fun, fun, fun!
We are also working on the next rebus game for February, we are so glad so many of you are enjoying it. I thought it was a tough one, but you die hard puzzlers have proven me wrong. OOOH I’ll get you next time!
E- Specials will be going out in early February, lots of famous artist birthdays in February.
December 22, 2010
We all slept in this morning. The last of the Holiday orders went out yesterday. I’m so glad we started in October! We are already taking orders for January delivery.
We will be revamping our whole website starting in January; we will be adding a “buy it now” shop with Pal Pal. We will also be adding a children’s section. If you have any ideas on what you would like to see or not see e-mail us, dee@platinumpuzzles.com .
We are working on some pretty big projects this up coming year; plans are on the table for the next limited edition, were all so excited, and were planning for a June- July release, but it may be as early as April – May. (Hint: If you be a dragon, prepare for battle!)
We will have a new 3Dee puzzle this year (one we will not show the solution to) on our website. We also have a line of slide/tray puzzles coming out, we know these look easy, but they are some of the toughest puzzles we have seen in quite awhile. We try to add a new birthday puzzle each year, and we have several tease and tricky puzzles slated for release soon.
The e-news letter will be sent out early January, so if you have not signed up yet, you should do it now.
We wish all of you the happiest of the Holidays and thank you for being our customers.
December 13, 2010
We have a winner in our snowman contest, T and J from Florida sent us a couple of very creative snow people. Congratulations to you both, and we loved the story that went with it.
We are busy, busy, busy getting holiday orders out, looks like it will come right down to the wire. We all have our Santa hats on and have Christmas carols ringing from the radio and our spirits are high. The trace of snow we had was washed away yesterday with the rain.
12 days to Christmas, we hope all your shopping is done and you get time to spend with your loved ones, and we hope you’re doing a wooden jigsaw puzzle Christmas morning!
November 27, 2010
Hey! It’s snowing!! Send us pictures of your snowmen to win a Platinum Puzzle.
November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!!! Well the bird is a cooking and the smell of pumpkin pie fills the air. We hope all of you will be with family and friends today.
Still no snow here in the North East, but the snowman contest has entries flowing in everyday, and wow, they are creative! You have until December tenth to enter to win the puzzle.
We are so very thankful for you, our customers.
November 22, 2010
Hi everyone,
Almost Thanksgiving, can’t wait. We are busy, busy, busy cutting holiday orders, but are still taking time out to have a little fun with our snowman contest. Come join the fun and send us a picture of your creative snowman.
November 2, 2010
Hello everyone, did you go vote today?
Halloween has come and gone, we have had flurries of snow and as the weather cools down things are getting hot at Platinum Puzzles. We got a ton of orders for the October e- specials we sent out and we were even taking orders on October 31 at 8:30 pm, last minute shoppers, we love them!! For everyone else you can still order in time for the holidays, you just don’t get that great October deal.
We would like to offer everyone reading this little blog a super deal. From now until November 30, 2010 you can order “Winter Wonder Land” our brand new slide tray puzzle for $50.00, when you order just say “super deal” It’s a great way to try one of our puzzles or a great gift to give!! The puzzle normally sells for $117.50
Has everyone read the great article written on John Stokes, go to “Custom puzzle Craft” and look in his journal. We love John he is truly a fantastic puzzle cutter, we can wait to see what he will be doing next year!
We have one more E-special going out before the holidays, then in January we will have a few surprises to show you.
October 12, 2010
We finally got out the October e-specials letter to all who signed up for e-specials. Less than two minutes after we hit send, the orders start coming in. I love our customers; they know a great deal when they see one.
Thank you to all who e-mailed us congratulations on making the cover of AGPC Quarterly, we were tickled, as we had no advanced knowledge of it, and with all the great puzzle companies out there we are honored.
Steve has been working overtime making built-ins in the work shop, he is such a talent! I’ll post some pictures when he is finished.
Now that the holiday designs are done its nose to the grindstone on the OZ puzzles.
October 2, 2010
We have been cutting all weekend, and we are so excited to show you our new puzzle designs. This is the week they will be going out to all our e-special sign up- ers with great deals. So if you have not signed up for e-specials, now’s the time.
September 25, 2010
I have had a “bug” the last few days, so I’ve been on light duty. Spent the day yesterday sprucing up the website, Buzz said it looked to sloppy and I should go in and line things up. Today I will do some painting on some new designs. Steve is busy working in the shop, not cutting; he is building me more shelves. A girl can never have too much storage! We have a new tricky design I almost had ready for the Parlay, but it was not quite perfect at the point, it will be making its premiere in a couple of weeks. It’s one of those tricks that make you say “no way, how did they do that!”
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
You can really feel the autumn approaching here in New England. The leaves are starting to turn and the temperature is starting to drop. I love this time of the year to do photography and play in the leaves but a little sad to say goodbye to summer.
I cut two Christmas prints today; we are getting ready to offer the holiday specials for those who have signed up for e-specials, we have some new designs and will be putting out some irresistible offers the first week of October.
Every day I’m working on OZ orders, were about to wrap up two and start the next two. Our plan is to get every order we have now out by Christmas (well that’s the plan anyways). I remember when we were getting ready to launch OZ; I had three people who were going to help paint, so it would free me up to cut, that’s when I estimated it would take a month to finish an Oz. Well I’m doing all the painting and all the cutting and thank God our customers are patient, some people have been waiting for ten month or more. I know however that when they all receive their OZ they will know it was so worth the wait. It is such a fantastic puzzle!
Friday, September 17,2010
Hello Everyone, and welcome to Dee's Days a place where you can hear me ramble on about puzzles, puzzle projects and everything going on at Platinum Puzzles. Feel free to e-mail me questions, suggestions, or funny stories of you puzzleing adventures.
First let me introduce every one here at Platinum Puzzles
Steve, He is the owner, and he also cuts, finishes, packs, and ships and is everyone’s over all compass.
Buzz, He is our master web guy, who fixes all of my mistakes, photographer, videographer, packer, shipper, cutter and a fun guy to belly up to the bar with.
Nickie, She is our story writer, in charge of international sales and will be our "on the road gal" in charge of sales.
Randy, he is a master artist who can turn a drawing into a country.
Christy, is our pinch painter
Kenny, is also a pinch painter who has secret stitching in his pocket.
Dee, I cut, design and answer phones.
We have a link on our home page that will take you to the article Bob Armstrong (Old Jigsaw Puzzles) wrote on the 10th Puzzle Parlay, excellent article, we have added the pictures Buzz took. You should check it out.