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IRONTON -- Summers for Matt and Lisa Claflin are usually pretty busy at their store, Sonny's Ironton Market, along M-66 in Charlevoix County.
You can find fresh meat, pizza, deli items, liquor and puzzles????
Matt Claflin says, "We've been looking for another source of income for a long time."
They say the store does well, but Winters can be pretty slow.
Matt and Lisa AND now their two boys Jacob and Nathan are avid puzzlers as well as Petoskey Stone collectors.
So, on a slow Winter's day they wondered if there might be a Petoskey Stone puzzle out there to buy.
Lisa Claflin says, "We looked online for one. And we couldn't find we couldn't find one. I mean you can find Petoskey Stone everything, but there were no Petoskey Stone puzzles."
That's when they looked to their collection of stones to possibly come up with one of their own.
Matt Claflin says, "We gathered the stones, took a picture, had it professionally enhanced.
The result became what they call the Rising Sun Petoskey Stone Jigsaw Puzzle.
Matt Claflin says, "To our knowledge, it's never been done before."
And with the help of a friend who invented a board game, they were able to get into touch people here in the USA who could manufacture the puzzle for them.
Matt and Lisa formed their company, Puzzles That Rock, back in April and the Petoskey Stone puzzle went on sale in June.
Matt Claflin says, "It's been selling really well. We have about 100 locations that are selling the puzzle for us all over Northern Michigan."
But, the Claflins aren't taking it easy, they've already created another puzzle...by taking a picture of a collection of fishing lures.
Matt Claflin says, "It is not on the market yet. It's in manufacturing right now. It'll be about 4 to 6 weeks before that one's out."
And with three more puzzles in the works, Matt and Lisa might be a lot busier when Winter returns.
Lisa Claflin says, "We might have a puzzle empire. We would be okay with that."
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