Today Tammy put together this years custom Christmas Puzzle that we made for her and it came out really well. It was definitely the hardest puzzle we have created yet. We titled it “Land of Things”.

Illustrated map titled Land of Things showing colorful island towns connected by waterways with a sea dragon, octopus, whale, and tiny figures

And here it is put together in 18x24" 500 piece jigsaw puzzle.

Completed 500-piece jigsaw puzzle titled Land of Things showing a colorful illustrated map of fantasy islands with small buildings, on a wooden table.

We took a unique approach this year. Tyler and I have been having fun with Townscaper so I asked Tyler to create the overall base of the puzzle using Townscaper. He used the iPad and spent a while creating various islands and buildings. We thematically tied each location to houses and neighborhoods we have lived in. We also included our cabin as an island that you had to get to by boat.

After we had the scene in Townscaper I loaded the city on the desktop version of Townscaper in Steam because it could render it larger and export a higher quality image. Using a screenshot on the iPad wasn’t high enough resolution.

I took that image and then we loaded it into Procreate and Mazie went to work drawing on top of it. We added grass, various scenes, decorated some things, a big sea dragon, etc. The details were really great.

Completed 500-piece jigsaw puzzle showing a colorful illustrated island town with orange-roofed buildings, stick-figure characters, and a cartoon whale in a teal sky.
Notice the GEM Tomatoes stand that was so awesome in our old neighborhood.

Completed 500-piece jigsaw puzzle showing a cartoon island town with red-roofed buildings, green parks, stick-figure people, and surrounding blue water.
Our old neighborhood in Minnetonka with the Rock’s next door having rocks in their yard.

Partially assembled jigsaw puzzle showing a colorful cartoon village with orange-roofed buildings on islands surrounded by water, with small illustrated figures throughout.
Lucky is hanging out in the back yard playing with a tennis ball.

Completed 500-piece jigsaw puzzle showing a colorful illustrated coastal village with a lighthouse, sailing ship, red-roofed buildings, and a purple octopus.
I love the lighthouse with people hanging out on it, and the ice cream shop with people waiting in line.

We could have spent so much more time adding special details but we had to finish, we took well over our deadline as it is. It is incredible how much time a good jigsaw puzzle takes to design!

We are already thinking about 2022’s Christmas Puzzle! 🧩