We've Moved!

It has been way too many months of transitioning from Blogger to Wordpress. but we would like to finally let you know that you can keep up with us now at our new Piece By Piece blog located at www.makjigsawpuzzles.com!

We're still setting up house there too but feel free to stop by!

Help a Sick Child Have Fun

Why on earth have we been so quiet for so long? There's no excuse! Well, you're right about that.

We've been working on moving our blog and it has been accomplished, but we are not yet ready to move into our new home so we're hanging out here for now until we can. The thing is we have been super busy for our fantastic customers and today I felt a need to share that with you all. Some of the upcoming things you'll see or to know about:

1 - We know some of you love our Christmas cards and so do we. Well, Village Works is all about jigsaw puzzles and even though we create these cards in conjunction with Smalls Design Studio, we decided it was best to continue working with Smalls Design to create the cards, but she will be the main distributor. Have no fear! We'll still tell you when they are ready and how to get them. In time, you just won't see them on our site anymore. Think you want to get 'em while they are still available? Go here - http://www.vwepuzzles.com/greetingcards.

2 - We have been working with a new client who has an awesome fundraiser going on right now in support of Camp Firefly. Heard of it? It's very cool - http://www.campfirefly.com/. They are looking to raise funds to help this camp in their mission to give sick children and their families a place to relax and just connect. Think you want to help out? Well they are selling custom jigsaw puzzles! (Surprise, surprise) You can check it out here - www.vwepuzzles.com/campfirefly. The fundraiser ends on Nov. 15th so orders can get out in time for the holidays. It's a fantastic cause so help a child today.

3 - We're working on a new family tree puzzle. You can add up to 3 generations of family members and enjoy the puzzle with your child. Interested? Let us know so we can let you know when it's ready.

4 - Oh and remember Smalls Design Studio? Well she has calendars she designed and they are cool! Check it out! Niiiiice. Interested? You can visit her Etsy shop at any time!


5 - We're also working on a super cool art puzzle that I can't give any details on right now. But it's going to be great! More on that later.

6 - Don't forget our sale going on right now. Greeting card jigsaw puzzles are nearly 50% off until Friday and the numbers are dwindling so you want to get yours as soon as you can! Sale ends Friday, Oct 15th - http://www.vwepuzzles.com/page/397807816

7 - There are new sellers in our midst and we're always looking for more, so if you need to make extra money and think you can sell greeting card jigsaw puzzles because they are just plain fabulous, then you need to contact us! Check out the flyer:


That's it gang. We'll be talking about these thing on Twitter and on our Facebook page as well. You can always connect with us there to see new things, request special puzzles, whatever you need. And while we have also been working really hard on getting help in certain areas of our business because it's growing and we need to take people on, we will do way better about keeping you in the loop while the growing is going on. Now if you are already signed up to get our newsletters, then you'll know these things anyway, but if you aren't head on over to Facebook and click on the Get our Free e-Newsletter tab.

See you there!

Calling All Camps!

Are you running a camp? Need an end-of-camp gift or even a fundraiser? Got lots of camp photos of your child?

Have we got an offer for you.

Give us at least 1 photo to make at least 50 puzzles, and we'll do them for $25 a piece

• INCLUDING packaging
• WITH your single-color logo on the bag
• AND we'll add wording and your logo to the image as well.

Seriously, that's a lot for $25 per puzzle.

You can even give us 50 photos to make 50 puzzles. We are flexible!

11x17 puzzles are regularly priced $26.95 each. No fun pouch. That's right. You are getting A LOT more for just a little less.

Checkout the sample pouch over there. Cool, huh? Comes in 5 colors - blue, green, red, white and black.

Need more? Yeah, we offer even more discounted pricing. Contact us!

Offer lasts through Aug. 31st!

Hurry before camp - and summer - ends!

What's Going On?

A few things, my friends.

1 - Did you see the post about our Puzzler Program? It's our way of saying thank you just for being a part of our Village.

2 - Did you know there is a giveaway going on right now? You can find all sorts of freebies from some of my great business associates. Check it out while you can because the page is going down after July 9th.

3 - The blog is moving. I'm not sure when precisely, but the work is under way and we'll keep you in the loop!

In the meanwhile, go get your cool, free stuff! We'll talk soon!

A Letter to Friends, Followers, Fans and Guests

Dear Friend, Follower, Fan or Guest -

I can't tell you how much we are enjoying meeting you and talking to you on Twitter and Facebook, and via our blog too. We are honored that you chose to follow or fan or friend us. Maybe you're a guest who quietly peeps out what's going on and says not a word, just because you want to be in the loop. That's fine too! So many of you have openly supported us and bought from us and told others about us. And when we meet you, it's a thrill to learn that while many of you are mum online, you are quite vocal in person! It makes us feel good, like we aren't just speaking into a black hole.

So why the letter?

Well, if you don't already subscribe to our newsletter, then you may not have heard yet. (That's one of the perks of subscribing. You hear first!) We just wanted to let you know that we value your very presence. And to prove it, we want to give this greeting card jigsaw puzzle to the first 10 people to comment on this post telling us they want it. It says, "Best Wishes on Your Special Day!" You can write your own message on the back and it come with an envelope.
This way you get to test the product for yourself and IF YOU WANT, you can pop back online and review it for all the world to see. (Maybe you'll even subscribe to the newsletter to keep up with us? It's right over there to the right.)

*Honesty in your review is appreciated, but you know. Let's respect each other too, if you don't mind. ;-)

A Few Changes

As part of our continued effort to show you we appreciate you, we have been making a few changes. Well, maybe not changes, but it's all an extension of our growth. Many of you have been with us too long not to get perks for that. We had to think long and hard about how to do this because we want to make sure EVERYONE knows they are valued here. We also want to make sure you understand the different levels of value that we appreciate and want to give back to you for that. So just because you have taken the first step to follow us/subscribe to our newsletter and simply lend us your ear, you now graduate to a new level of relationship with us!

Congratulations, Bronze Puzzlers!

Our Twitter followers, Facebook fans, blog readers and newsletter subscribers are now instantly part of our Bronze Puzzler group. What does that mean to you? Just because you give us the time of day, we will give you something too. See? You don't have to do a thing more than you are already doing! But to find out what it is, you have to click here.

Congratulations, Silver Puzzlers!

Now some of you do more than follow us. Some of you have bought from us! We LOVE that because this is how you get the nitty gritty of what we do and when you buy, the wow factor really comes into play. You have something concrete that makes you wanna do more with it! Honest. We've had plenty of people tell us this. If you want to see some of them, just look here.

In dating terms, if following us is giving us the time of day, buying is like giving us your phone number - your REAL one - :-D - and for that we again say thanks. So what do we have for you?

Well, you too have to check it out!

Congratulations, VIP Gold Puzzlers!

Now last, but nowhere near least, are our VIPs - Very Important Puzzlers! You are a
really elite group because you decided dating us wasn't enough. You wanted a commitment, almost from the start! Wow! So you bought, and bought, and bought A LOT and/or often. You tell people about us. You support us and we KNOW it. We can FEEL it. For you? Well, I can't even say all of what we have for you because that's part of being a VIP - only YOU will find out all that you get! We can say that some of the stuff is so much fun and as we came across these items, we had to decide do we share this with the group or the elite? In some cases we decided to do smaller versions for the group. In some cases, it's part of being the elite, baby! Go see what it is!

And why are we doing this?

BECAUSE THESE PUZZLES ARE JUST TOO DARN COOL! Ramona and I love them. We have fun with every new creation we get to make for someone. Every time we find a new way to do something, we get so excited and the recent discovery of some new stuff led us to doing what we are doing right now - making sure you all know YOU ARE APPRECIATED.

So if you want that free Special Day puzzle from above, you gotta leave your comment here saying so and make sure you give me a way to contact you. Doesn't have to be email. It can be your Twitter name so I can DM you, or your Facebook profile or to REALLY make it easy, if you haven't already, subscribe to the newsletter so the mailing info can go there and then just let me know you did that. The sign-up box is near the top of the blog in the righthand rail.

Thanks for hanging out with us. Without you, we'd fall to pieces!

What You May Not Know About VWE

It's not your fault. We are a small business run by 2 busy moms and even with the fantastic help of friends and family and soon a virtual assistant, we are still a small business run by 2 busy moms. So we don't always get everything out there the way we want to. Now when we are vending and we have the chance to talk to people face to face, the info really comes out and people start to imagine all the things they can do with a jigsaw puzzle. Really, there are just so many ways to use them and, amazingly, people never tire of them.

But I digress.

Recently I've been thinking about what I know about us that YOU all may not know or realize or even remember. So I thought I'd take a moment to let you get to know us as a business and get to know our motivations.

Some simple things you probably didn't know until we posted a few of these recently on our Facebook fan page:

1 - Our puzzles were first made in Canada as we looked for ways to get quality puzzles at a great price. That was a blessing because we made a friend there who we still count as a friend today. But now, we are proud to say that our puzzles are 100% MADE IN THE USA. That means the artists are here, the dies are created here and the puzzles are cut here. And oh yeah, VWE is here too. We intend to stay homegrown.

2 - We offer free shipping for purchases over $75 (that does not include shipping and tax). No, it's not on the site yet. But it will be.

3 - We currently have over 35 different stock puzzle designs as well as over 20 frame designs for your photo puzzles. We also offer 8 different puzzle sizes in 14 different piece counts and 2 different medium - traditional and magnetic. We will be adding 2 new sizes, 3 more piece counts and a new medium soon. Now, why can't you see all these on the site? Because some sizes we can't offer in small quantity. That's why if you don't immediately see what you want, you should contact us. We can do more than we are able to say. That new medium on the horizon is something I can't share yet, but our newsletter subscribers got a hint as to what it is.

FYI, Do YOU subscribe to our newsletter? Subscribers learn everything first. I'm telling you. Jigsaw puzzles are a fun, affordable product. You will want to know what we're doing first so get on the newsletter mailing list. Back to the current list!

4 -If you are a small business owner or event planner, we have separate pricing for you. You should contact us at shop@vwepuzzles.com to get the link to it.

5 - Our very first designer was my brother who did 4 greeting card puzzle designs for us and a 5th one he did in conjunction with a friend. All those designd remain popular today.

6 - We work with 7 artists and graphic designers and you'll meet some of them in time.

7 - Our name, Village Works Enterprises, is based on the African proverb that it takes a village to not only raise a child, but to help others achieve what they want to achieve. We seek to help smaller artists get their work out via our puzzles. We aspire to have a nonprofit one day that enables us to help others looking to accomplish some great, maybe even personal artist feat like publishing a book. We also want to help people get the educations they need t make their dreams come true, in whatever form that education comes.

8 - We are 100% woman owned and Christian. That means we do not produce or reproduce anything our children cannot see. After all, children are the heart of what we do. And speaking of children...

Our Mission

Maybe you know the story. Maybe you don't. But the long and the short of it is this:

In 1999, Ramona and I went looking for jigsaw puzzles to buy for the summer literacy program that was being held at our church and for which we volunteered (we were single and childless at the time). We saw lots of puzzles with animals and Disney characters and such, but none that actually built caracter the way we wanted for the kids in our program; nothing that spoke to their culture and heritage.

Ramona went down one aisle, I went down the other and yelled over to each other that we weren't finding anything. We got to the end of the aisle and said practically simultaneously - to this day we don't know who uttered the first syllable first - "We should make them!" Our idea was born.

We were excited by the notion of creating something the program could use. We realized that we had loved puzzles as children but darn if we knew what went into making them? So we called around and looked for local manufacturers. We discovered this would not be quick and easy, nor would it be cheap to order in the quantities they wanted.

Ramona attended a business workshop to begin to learn the ins and outs of running a business. It was during our time talking about her homework that I thought we should literally start small. That was when we created our first 5 greeting card jigsaw puzzles with the help of my graphic designing brother, such as the one at the right here.

One marriage and 3 childeren later, I too took the workshop as our concept grew and we perfected our manufacturing moving from the Canadian company that first manufactured our puzzles to the American company that still manufactures them today along with a few other American companies. In 2005 Village Works Enterprises becaame a Village Works Enterprises LLC and we've been growing ever since.

We love what we do. We love doing it for individuals, school, businesses, nonprofits...any group who want too do something in a unique way. Jigsaw puzzles are a great way to preserve memories. They connect people to each other just by merely luring them to come and put the pieces together. We haven't had a customer yet who has not loved them and gotten raves from the people who received them. So if you've been thinking about them, what's stopping you from trying them out? Read what one of our recent customers had to say about the photo puzzle he had us create for his fiancee:

When I first saw the puzzle, I said, "Wow, what's that?" "How did you do that? Can I have one?... It was around Mother's Day and I thought, "what a nice gift for my daughter to give her mother." When I saw the puzzle, my daughter and I had to give it to her right away. She really loved it! Then I was in my office, staring at our first date picture and I asked Ramona if she can make a puzzle out of that picture. She took the picture, scanned it and came back to me right away with extras, showing me frames and stuff. I ordered another puzzle of that picture. When I received it, I was so excited that I had to give that puzzle to her right away too. I went to her job. When I gave it to her, she had the biggest smile. One of her co-workers was very interested, asked for the information and said that she is going to order one too. The process is quick (less than 2 weeks), service was great and the puzzle is good quality. Now I'm thinking about doing another one."

- Bryant J., Bridgeport, CT

This could be you. Contact us today and let us get started creating for you.

Now That's Dedication

Want to know what really commitement looks like? Take a look at this article I found on a news site called One India. The picture came from a different, but less interesting, article written by Richard Smith of Mirror.com.uk. Take a read:

London, May 19 (ANI): A pensioner, who found that the 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle he had been working on for 7-years could not be completed because of one missing, was elated when the maker decided to provide the part.

Jack Harris, 86, was able to fit the final piece into the huge puzzle after its manufacturer Falcon Games LTD, the puzzle's manufacturer, decided to come to his rescue by having a replacement piece sent to his home.

The puzzle is no longer made but the firm agreed to find the original design and make the one missing piece.

"I was delighted to be able to finish the puzzle at last after all. It was such a disappointment that there was one piece missing," the Telegraph quoted Harris as saying after the piece was delivered to his home in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, by courier.

"The manufacturer has been very kind in supplying the final piece and it was a joyous moment for all of us," he said.

Eve, who is married to Jack's son Trevor, said it was a "joyous" moment for the family to finally see the monster jigsaw completed.

"Jack is very proud of the finished jigsaw. He is now either going to have it framed or we'll varnish it for him and put it on the side of the house," she said.

Gray Richmond, managing director at Jumbo Games, which manufactures the Falcon range, said they had also sent Jack some new jigsaws.

"It is a real challenge to complete a 5,000 piece puzzle. It requires a great deal of dedication and is a fantastic achievement that Mr Harris has finished the jigsaw after seven years," he said.

"When we heard that one piece was missing we wanted to do all we could to help put in place the final piece of the puzzle.

"As this jigsaw is no longer produced, we had the piece individually made by our expert puzzle designers.

"We are also sending Mr Harris a load of new puzzles from the range - although at 1,000 pieces some of these are slightly smaller," he added

I love how the company was as committed to making their customer happy as he was to completing the puzzle.

And so are we. We are continuing to grow in the variety of sizes we offer. We're faster than ever before and once you get a puzzle, you'll wonder how many more ways you can use them and for whom. So check us out! www.vwepuzzles.com