Joyful Nook Gallery Puzzles

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I graduated with a BA from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. received my masters at the University of New Mexico and got my creativity from growing up with limited art supplies and almost no books.

Although, the box of crayons, package of markers, Big Chief notebook, and Encyclopedia Britannica provided hours of imagination and entertainment.

I was an educator for 17 years and a development officer (fancy shmancy way of saying I raised money and developed programs to raise money) for a local healthcare system also for 17 years.

Both careers enabled me to exhibit my creative side in many, many delightful ways. Teaching was a platform where I could indulge in books and stories and arts, crafts and awesomeness. Development work took me to a corporate level, but my job specifically was not only about being a major gifts and grants officer, but writing for the hospital's newsletter, creating the foundation website, and getting an education in marketing and graphic design. I was able to create many of our collateral materials for campaigns, events and mailings.

My lifelong passion has been working on children’s books, picture or coffee table books, creating everything and anything, inventing, crafting, journaling and rethinking journaling, creating projects out of crazy ideas of all kinds, photography and watercolor in my “spare” time.

Thanks to a dear friend, she brought the fun of puzzles back into my life with a deeper appreciation of the craftsmanship of what a beautiful puzzle can be while adding more fun to it with "wildly imaginative playful" pieces in each box.

Enjoy and please stick around to see the Joyful Nook Gallery grow and develop.

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1. How did the company arrive at the name Joyful Nook Puzzles?

(A) The 'Nook' part came about to give a comfy, cozy, family-friendly feeling that brings puzzlers together to work on the beloved past time of puzzles.

The Gallery part came about because we license original artwork and local artists while creating these beautiful puzzle designs as pieces that are art in their own right. I wanted the puzzle store to represent something beautiful, sophisticated and gallery worthy. Joyful is how our business venture made us feel, and it had my name in it too. 'Joy'ful Nook Gallery.

2. For our Readers, where is your company located?

(A) 546 East College Drive Durango CO 81301

3. How do you go about locating your images for your puzzles?

(A) I am a long time resident of Durango. I have also worked at Mercy Hospital for 21 years. I was on the team that raised the money to build the new hospital, the Breast Care Centre and the Hospice Residence at Mercy. My team at the time was working with the philosophy that art and sculpture is healing, soothing and transformational. I am an artist, and for art and sculpture and beautiful gardens to be incorporated into health care was close to my heart. I had the privilege to meet and work along side some of the finest artists not only in the area, but in their field universally. Many of these artists had become friends and invited me into their community. When we came up with the idea to use original art for our puzzles, I knew exactly who I wanted to engage. Because the wooden puzzle concept is expensive, on top of using original art, I have started to use some stock images where we put our own artistic spin on them, and we use our own art from me and my designers to have price points that appeal to everyone's pocket book.

4. Are your puzzles produced in the USA?

(A) Yes, all of our supplies such as boxes, wood, etc are made in the USA, and then I work closely with our in house graphic designers who create a unique scene to tell a story of the image and they design the puzzle pieces. Once the design, or what we call template, is complete, our team does it all. We create the labels, the displays, we cut, we process each puzzle by hand, we box, we do it all in house.

5. Do you, or will you ship outside of the USA?

(A) We have shipped outside the USA quite a few times.
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6. It appears you have more than a few products in your beautiful store. Can you tell us your big sellers?

(A) Our biggest sellers are our puzzles. When JNG started, we had a huge location on main street. Our focus was puzzles, but we also carried a large inventory of high end papers, stationeries, writing products, inspirational books to make sure we could generate the revenue we needed to manufacture the puzzles. When our puzzles started to become popular, we had to make the decision to concentrate more on puzzle making by purchasing more equipment, increasing production, concentrate more online because that is the majority of our business right now, and downsizing the retail portion. Because I have a love of reading, writing and paper products, I have not given that up entirely.

We have a great selection of cards, calligraphy items and more. We now even carry puzzle cards where people can write a simple message on the back of the puzzle card, but puzzles are our main event.

7. Do you have anything new and exciting coming in the future?

(A) Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I have come up with two ideas that will elevate our puzzles, but it is all in product development right now, so I don't want to say too much too soon. One of our newest ideas are Poetry Puzzles that we have introduced in time for Valentine's Day. We have chosen some fun simple images, and placed popular poems and quotes on them. They are really special, and that goes back to my love of the written word.

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8. Is there an 'inside scoop' you can share with us that no one knows about?

(A) I am not sure this is an inside scoop, but I will say this. I have had two pretty big careers in my life, and I went into this because the idea was so over the top creative and the possibilities endless. I thought it would allow me to do everything I love, which it has, and that is to create and be creative.

I cannot keep up with myself sometimes with the ideas. How it has turned out is this is one of the most challenging projects I have taken on yet. I laugh today because I used to be quite guarded about our puzzle process. I even had my team sign NDA's. I limited who was allowed in the studio where the entire puzzle process took place.

Over the course of this journey, we have made so many mistakes. Our first puzzles were just okay because truthfully, we taught ourselves how to design and cut puzzles. No one showed us. We did not have a clue. Our first puzzles didn't even connect (even though some of those non connecting puzzles are collectibles), even the cleaning method we had to figure out the hard way.

It has taken me five years, and I am finally getting it all dialed in. Now my philosophy is that if someone is up for the task and brave enough, go for it. I've even been contacted by people who want to start their own business and asked for me to consult, and I happily share.

9. Do you have any advice for other women in a similar situation like yours?

(A) My advice to other women is if you have the passion then follow your heart, but have a solid plan. Seek out resources who are great in their field like financial advisors, and consult with them often. They ask the questions from a different and outside perspective I don't sometimes even consider.

Also, what I have learned in my life is to always surround yourself with an excellent support system and people smarter than yourself. My friends and family inspire and lift me at times when it is so hard, and I am in tears and feel ready to give up - and I do "go there" sometimes.

My JNG team has always been amazing as well and helps figure out logistics and the technicalities of what we do when it would take me three times as long to figure something out.

I lost a lot of great people when I had no choice but to downsize, but I will always be eternally grateful for what they brought to this little business and how hard they fought for it. I have always told them that when we go big, they go big. Haha, I would love to honour that someday.

10. How long have you been selling puzzles in your puzzle business?

(A) Five years.

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11. I see Budzzles looks like a new line for your business and they look very interesting. Can you tell us how the sales are going?

(A) Budzzles has a very fun story that goes along with it, but perhaps we can save for another time. We started out very strong with Budzzles because we were amongst the first to create them. I even have them trademarked. Of course, it did not take long for others to follow with similar products. I kept Budzzles as its own business for a while, but I just recently decided to combine it within JNG. As I said, Budzzles kind of has its own story and series of adventures. Check out the video on the website. It is pretty cute.

Puff Puff Puzzle - It’s a bud... It’s a puzzle... Its a BUDZZLE!
These are organic, non-GMO, vegan, gluten free, low cal, zero carbs, non pesticide, all natural, local, Colorado made weed, wood puzzles! Each puzzle is made locally in Durango, Colorado and is a great way to take home a piece of Colorado legally. Take your pick between three different templates (the shape of the puzzle pieces) and six images. Also take a look at our image specific templates Rocky Mountain High and Maui Wowie.

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There's More To Jigsaw Puzzles Than Pieces Book by Linda Richard. A compilation of 50+ jigsaw puzzle related topics, tips and tricks written in conversational format for easy, light reading.There's More To Jigsaw Puzzles Than Pieces Book by Linda Richard. A compilation of 50+ jigsaw puzzle related topics, tips and tricks written in conversational format for easy, light reading. Click Here
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We have collected a massive list of jigsaw puzzles in numerous categories on our Amazon Store link. It's a quick way to browse most current puzzles and/or specific seasons, accessories and themes. Makes for a terrific one-stop jigsaw puzzle gift giving shopping centre. CLICK HERE

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