Pieces Fell in Place for La Habra Puzzle Maker

Pam K. Overstreet has always wanted to be different, which may account for her interest in mathematics as a shy youngster and later as a shy college student.

“Not that many women were math majors, so I was in a unique niche,” said the La Habra woman, who graduated from Eastern New Mexico University with a degree in math and computer science.

“I wanted to be a math teacher,” said Overstreet, a mother of three who is continuing graduate work in math at Cal State Fullerton.

However, a chance meeting with a friend who had attended a jigsaw puzzle workshop changed Overstreet’s career direction.

That day, she went home to see if she could make a jigsaw puzzle. Buoyed by her initial success, she created Pam’s Puzzles within months, making mostly one-of-a-kind jigsaw puzzles for a living.

She set up her puzzle-making shop in the garage of her home.

Many of the puzzles are originals made with family photographs. Unlike regular jigsaw puzzles, which have interlocking pieces, hers do not. She carves them from Masonite using scroll and table saws.

One of her best sellers is her 54-piece hamburger puzzle. “It’s very hard to put together,” Overstreet said.

Her puzzles sell for up to $10.

She tested her newfound skill at a boutique at her daughter’s school to see if they would sell.

“I sold some, not a whole lot, but eventually I started getting sales from word of mouth,” said Overstreet, who often donates her homemade puzzles to needy children.

“I remember as a child we would put jigsaw puzzles together as a family unit,” notes Overstreet, 42, who said she overcame her shyness after seeing her children inheriting the same trait. “I didn’t want them to be the same way.”

She said the puzzles, usually country scenes, were set up on a table in the family’s Texico, N.M., home, “and every time we walked by we would try to put in a piece. Putting together jigsaws is additive.”

But families of today aren’t as fascinated by jigsaw puzzles as they once were, she believes.

“They don’t seem to have the time,” she said.

In addition to her home-based business, Overstreet is a substitute teacher in the La Habra and Fullerton school districts and is PTA president of Rancho-Starbuck Intermediate School in Whittier.

“I love to teach kindergarten,” she said. “Those kids love you and are so very honest.” She also teaches church worship to children at La Habra Christian Church.

In addition to those activities, Overstreet created a cottage industry called Easy Street Software aimed at teaching mathematics to elementary school children through the use of computers. She also works as a computer consultant.

Aside from her early aims of being a teacher, “I wanted to be a unique person, which is why I will continue to make my own puzzles no matter how successful the business becomes.”

She feels it’s important to keep her hand in the business.

“I want to be the one cutting the puzzles,” she said. “I don’t want it to become so big I don’t have control over it.”