Category: Blog Menu

Spring Has Finally Sprung and There Are New Faces in the Shop!

Spring has sprung here in Vermont and it feels great. We’ve got robins pulling worms from the wet ground, daffodils are poking their heads up and I even heard the peepers singing last night!! Singing peepers are right up there at the top of my favorites list, along with the smell of fresh-cut grass, lasagna with garlic bread and donuts!
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Love Makes The World Go ‘Round

An English teacher once told me I work well under pressure. What a mistake that was! This newsletter was part of our latest mailer and on the day we printed that beauty, there I sat, typing away with a 5:30 pm deadline. I guess it’s a good thing I know a bit about the subject of this mailing’s letter: love.
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New Faces Around the Stave Shop

I’m sure you’re familiar with the African proverb that begins, “It takes a village…” Well, the same applies here at Stave Puzzles. We aren’t raising children, but it still takes each and every one of us to create the magic. From Susan, who procures the amazing artwork we use, to Channa out in Shipping and everyone in-between, we work as a team and rely heavily on each other. We recently welcomed some new faces to the shop and we would love it if you would take a few minutes to get to know them. I think you’ll really like them. We sure do!
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The Benefits of Doing Puzzles – The Jigsaw & The Brain

Did you know puzzling improves our use of the trial and error method, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and visual/spatial reasoning skills? Particularly challenging puzzles can even change the patterns of brain activity. Most brain activity follows certain specific pathways, including when you’re puzzling. However, if you begin a jigsaw, crossword, or Sudoku that’s above your usual skill level, you will probably have to activate some new parts of your brain in order to solve it.
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The Pressure is ON

 

It really is. Seriously, you gotta do it now. No procrastinating. No waiting for a quiet afternoon. No twiddling your thumbs and no dilly-dallying. If you want to make someone’s holiday really, really special, then you must choose their puzzles now. Not on December 1st, not the day after Thanksgiving and maybe not even on Halloween. If you wait until then, you may not have their puzzles in hand to place under the tree. You may have to wait for delivery in January. Yikes!

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A Little Puzzling Etiquette

Have you ever wished you could have a complete ‘do-over’? Well, that’s how I feel right now. I want to go back to last weekend when we hosted our annual puzzling weekend at The Point, in Saranac, NY. We spent the entire weekend surrounded by the beautiful Adirondack mountains and shimmering waters of Upper Saranac Lake while enjoying the gracious hospitality, fabulous food and wine, and amazing views of one of the most memorable places you could ever visit.

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That Old Puzzle Magic

Whenever I meet new people and they ask what I do for work I always get the “You do WHAT?” reaction. I get it. Have you ever heard a kid say they want to be a puzzle cutter when they grow up? Me either. I didn’t even know I wanted to be a puzzle cutter until that first time I sat at the saw. It’s so cool!

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Feel The Magic

As puzzle crafters, there are times when we feel a special connection to the puzzles we are cutting. We may be drawn to the subject matter, the colors in the image, or maybe it’s the custom silhouettes you’ve asked to have cut into it. No matter the reason, there are some we really feel a connection to. It’s as if there’s some sort of magic that slips from our fingertips, is absorbed into the puzzle, and then comes back to us.
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