This was a quick little 200 piece puzzle that I assembled in bed one evening while watching tv with my husband. It went together even more quickly than I thought it would, and was extremely entertaining.
Re-marks puzzles can sometimes be hit or miss, but this one had very good quality. In particular, the image reproduction was excellent with crisp lines and beautiful colors. The piece shape is a bit obvious in the finished image, but otherwise I had no problems with the pieces or the fit.
Mom took me to the store a few weeks ago so I could stock up on some smaller piece count puzzles and this is one of the ones we found. More often these days for me it isn’t as much about the image as it is about the piece count; I haven’t been doing many 1000 piece puzzles lately even though the majority of the puzzles here at the house are 1000 piece or higher. I was running out of smaller puzzles, and luckily we found this gem among all the others. 🙂
Route 66 is a popular theme for jigsaw puzzles, and I’ve done several of them. This one was great fun, had excellent quality, and was one of the more entertaining versions in my opinion.
Ravensburger puzzles are always a great find at thrift stores, and this one was no exception. Even though it had obviously been assembled several times, the fit was still excellent. The box was pretty beat up, but thankfully there weren’t any missing pieces.
There was so much to see in this image; and with so many postcards and Route 66 road signs it was a bit of a challenge as well. But it was the best kind of challenge, the kind that sucks you in and focuses your attention. And as an added bonus I got to assemble this puzzle with my mom, which upped the entertainment factor. Puzzling with mom is the best!
Route 66 lends itself well to collage puzzles, and this is a bright, beautiful image. It’s no longer in production, but if you run across it at a thrift store I would highly recommend it – this Route 66 puzzle was definitely a place to “get our kicks”. 🚗
Things I Ate as a Kid by Charlie Girard – White Mountain Puzzles – 1000 pieces
I love collages, images by Charlie Girard, and bright, fun colors on a puzzle. This puzzle has all of those things, but for some reason I didn’t enjoy this puzzle as much as I’d hoped I would. I can’t put my finger on why that was, but you can’t fall in love with every puzzle I guess.
There was nothing wrong with the puzzle itself, even with it being a thrift store purchase it still had very good quality. There isn’t anything wrong with the image either, when I saw the box I was very excited to start assembling it. Doesn’t it look like fun to you?
It sure looked like fun to me, but for some reason I can’t quite put into words I didn’t have as much fun as I’d hoped.
Perhaps I just wasn’t in the right mood, or perhaps I just wasn’t feeling well. I think the problem was definitely with me, and not with the puzzle itself. We can’t love every puzzle, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give this one a try if you have the chance. It was good quality, and perhaps you’ll be in the exact right mood to enjoy this one to the fullest. 🙂
Women March! by Jennifer Orkin Lewis – Eeboo – 500 pieces
Super busy images aren’t usually my thing, but this puzzle was a lot of fun. A puzzle about the women’s march, with artwork by a woman, made by a woman-owned puzzle company – we ladies are pretty awesome!👸
This is only the second eeBoo puzzle that I’ve assembled, and I’ve been extremely impressed with the quality. The pieces are thick, with an excellent variety of shapes and the fit is wonderful. The image reproduction is bright and colorful with no fuzzy or blurry areas (unless it’s part of the artwork). My only problem is with the finish, it’s quite shiny and can cause lots of glare under artificial lights.
The edge pieces were very easy to pick out for assembly, but I ran into a problem. While putting it together I used the quote around the edge to help me find the correct pieces, and became convinced that I hadn’t pulled them all. After a quick search with no results I skipped the spot and continued around the edge. The problem wasn’t a missing piece, it was that one of the words is spelled incorrectly! I was looking for the next letters in the word, but they weren’t there. 😱
The word is missing two letters, and those were the ones I was looking for and couldn’t find. It’s easy to overlook a misspelling, especially when you come to the word and know what it’s trying to say – sometimes we skip right on past it without registering the error. That said, someone should have caught it somewhere along the line, shouldn’t they? (It caused me a bit of frustration trying to figure out if I’d lost a piece) Still, these things happen, and I’m sure someone else who’s assembled the puzzle has found it too. I emailed the company to let them know, although I don’t know that there’s much that they can do at this point.
These are my favorite signs, and there were so many of them to put together. I loved it! My regular readers know how much I enjoy having plenty of words to assemble. The only other “larger” image in the puzzle was the capital building, and once that was put together the assembly got a bit more difficult. The rest of the image is a sea of people and faces, and basically I had to examine each piece/face and figure out where it fit in. Time consuming, but still entertaining.
Although the women’s march was extremely political, that’s not why it’s here; this blog is strictly about puzzles. I bought this puzzle because I believe in the women’s movement – I believe in women and think we should all be treated as equally and humanely as anyone else – but most of all it looked like it would be great fun to put together. It was!
As far as political puzzles go, I’m bipartisan – I like both random AND grid cut! 😎
Bombs Away! by SunsOut is an adorable puzzle that was great fun to assemble, and an excellent way to unofficially kick off autumn. It’s still pretty warm and humid here, and it doesn’t feel much like fall; but it’s my favorite season so I wanted to get myself in the mood with a seasonal puzzle. This one was a great choice!
SunsOut puzzles are usually good quality, with thick pieces that have an excellent variety of shapes. Normally their puzzles are randomly cut, but this puzzle was more what I would call semi-random; the edges of each piece don’t line up exactly, but the pieces are cut in lines as opposed to completely randomly. The image reproduction is very good, with beautiful fall colors and a slightly shiny finish. The fit of SunsOut can sometimes be extremely tight, but this one was more a normal snugness. The fit itself seemed a bit “spongy” rather than snapping into place, but I didn’t find it distracting. All in all, the quality of this puzzle was very good. Click the link above to check out all their puzzles currently in stock at Puzzle Warehouse.
After assembling the edges, I started with the sign – words are some of the most entertaining things to assemble for me. The sky and grass were next, and they went together more quickly than I anticipated. The face of the jack-o-lantern was next and then it was on to the naughty cat atop the wheelbarrow. The dogs took a bit more concentration than I thought they would, but they were still lots of fun to put together. Interestingly I found the pumpkins less difficult than the wheelbarrow, although I’m not sure I could say why that was. Overall the assembly was challenging (the brush strokes added to the difficulty) but loads of fun and the finished puzzle is just too darned cute!
This was my first puzzle by Tom Wood, and I very much enjoyed the artwork. The brush strokes made for a little more of a challenge, but the finished image is beautiful and perfect for kick-starting the fall (even if it isn’t official until September 22). He’s known for his playful portraits of cats and dogs, and I think he captures their personalities extremely well…
Look at those faces! One is so sweet and non-confrontational, the other is naughty and looking to make trouble – typical dog and cat if you ask me. I’m looking forward to working more images by this artist, and his puzzles have plenty of cuteness to choose from. Click here to see all the puzzles available by Tom Wood at Puzzle Warehouse – and if you’re looking for other cute autumn/Halloween puzzles, check out Boo Cat – it’s so sweet!
Bombs Away! was an entertaining puzzle that I had a great time assembling. Unfortunately it’s discontinued and there are only a few left so if you’re wanting to put together this fall themed puzzle you should order very soon.
Details:
Title: Bombs Away!
Artist: Tom Wood
Brand: Sunsout
Piece count: 550 pieces
Size: Approx. 15 x 24 in. (38 x 61 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Good, slightly spongy
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Semi-random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Very good, recommended
I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
My Jigsaw Journal 