Dad’s Shed by Michael Herring – Ravensburger – 500 pieces
I really enjoy Ravensburger’s large piece puzzles; the pieces feel thick and amazing and it seems like the puzzle goes so much faster with the larger pieces. This was another thrift store find, of course. 🙂
It’s a nice picture; but it’s very brown, and not a picture I would normally choose. Although it’s only 500 pieces it took me a little bit longer than normal – there was a LOT of browns. Still, it wasn’t too bad an assembly. I prefer more colors to work with, but that’s just me. Even though the image itself isn’t my cup of tea, the quality of the puzzle made all the difference.
Puzzling is a very tactile experience for me; I find myself rubbing my fingers over the pieces when I’m thinking and I always run my hands over the puzzle during and after the assembly. Working with a premium puzzle makes most images, even ones I wouldn’t normally do, more enjoyable for me. So when we’ve got a puzzle with excellent quality, but not my preferred kind of artwork I usually go for it. Most of the time I end up enjoying it in spite of myself. 🙂
Very nice quality puzzle from International Playthings. Unfortunately it was missing a piece; I was a little bummed out because the quality was really quite good and I was hoping to pass this one on. Those are the chances we take buying used. 🙂
I’d love to find more of these puzzles, they’re excellent quality children’s puzzles with very nice image reproduction. I’ll set my thrift store guru on the task, I’m sure she won’t disappoint! On your mark, get set………shop!! 🛒🛒
What’s For Breakfast? – White Mountain (Family Time Puzzle) – 400 pieces
What’s For Breakfast? was such a fun puzzle! This was my first Family Time Puzzle from White Mountain, and it was very entertaining. I love a collage puzzle anyway, but it added a little something to have pieces of 3 different sizes. Large pieces for the kids or seniors, medium pieces for those in between, and smaller pieces for adults. Each size had about 1/3 of the puzzle, I loved it. It was fun by myself, and would be even more fun with the family. 🙂
White Mountain puzzles have good quality. Their pieces are a bit bigger than average, which makes for a larger finished puzzle – it looks like a big accomplishment when you’re done! They have an excellent catalog, and I think the best collages in the business. Click here to see all the puzzles available from White Mountain at Puzzle Warehouse. There are so many great puzzles to choose from I can never decide on just one or two! (I ordered 5 last time 😮)
The finished puzzle is 18 x 24 inches ( 45 x 61 cm). The pieces of this puzzle seem different than older White Mountain puzzles I have assembled, the chipboard seems tighter, more compressed. I like it! There were a few pieces that weren’t cut all the way through and had to be separated, but 99% of them were just fine. There was little to no puzzle dust in the bag and no hanging bits of paper on the pieces; this again is an improvement over older WM puzzles I’ve assembled, looks like they’re improving their quality! There were a good variety of piece shapes and they fit together quite well. The image reproduction was excellent, with all the bright colors I remember from the cereals I ate as a child, and a matte finish to prevent glare. Excellent quality! The boxes are large and colorful and have the name of the puzzle, piece count, manufacturer and a partial image on all four sides, perfect for shelving either vertically or horizontally.
The assembly was speedy and fun and took me back to my youth. There are a couple cereals there I don’t remember, like Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy, but for the most part I remember them all. I can’t believe the difference in the Trix rabbit; look at the Trix box in the top row, he’s certainly very different there than he looks now!
It was easy to pick out all the large pieces and assemble that side of the puzzle, then transition to the medium and then the small. It made for an interesting assembly as someone working alone, but would be lots of fun for a family to assemble in an evening. Wouldn’t it be great to turn off the tv and put the phones down for a night and spend some time together working on a family puzzle?
Collage puzzles are my favorites to assemble, it’s like getting many little puzzles in one❣ White Mountain has an excellent catalog of collage puzzles to choose from, or click the link above to see all the collage puzzles currently available at Puzzle Warehouse.
What’s For Breakfast? is an excellent collage puzzle that the whole family can enjoy and assemble together, or that you could do on your own. The different piece sizes make it easy for all age groups to work together or for an interesting assembly for just one person. Definitely recommended. 👍👍
I received this product at no cost to facilitate this review, all thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
Safety First – Perfect Picture Puzzle – 375+ pieces
This is an extremely old puzzle, mom and I think it’s more than 70 years old – there’s an ad selling war bonds on the front of the box! You never know when you’re going to find something awesome at the thrift store. She’s so good at finding interesting puzzles, maybe because when dad gets on her nerves she goes shopping at all the goodwill stores. She gets annoyed often it seems! 😉
This was a cardboard puzzle, but so thick and sturdy that it feels almost like wood. The pieces don’t all actually connect, but where they do the fit is wonderful. I found this puzzle much more difficult than expected, which was wonderful and interesting. There were several spots where it was very difficult to figure out what went where.
The image itself is beautiful, but looking at the pieces separately they have an almost blurry quality. Makes for a more challenging assembly, and then when you look at the finished puzzle you wonder why you had difficulty at all. Deceptive! Loved it!
We can’t bring ourselves to throw away such a wonderful, old puzzle even though a piece is missing. I might try my hand at fashioning a replacement piece; that may be difficult though because the box is showing it’s age as well and wouldn’t work for copying the color. We’ll do the best we can, but even with the missing piece it’s a wonderful vintage puzzle. 🙂
Willow Whispers by Alan Giana – MasterPieces (Memory Lane Series) – 300 EZ Grip pieces
Willow Whispers was a quick, fun puzzle to get myself back into puzzling after a short trip out of state. It took a little longer than normal for a 300 piece puzzle, but I’m still recovering from traveling. 🙂
MasterPieces puzzles have come up quite a bit in my eyes, their quality is very good and their puzzles are a great value. The pieces of this puzzle were thick and extremely sturdy, and they fit together very well; I was able to lift the finished puzzle without any pieces coming apart. There was little to no puzzle dust in the bag, the pieces were all separated and undamaged and had no hanging bits of paper on the back. The EZ Grip puzzles are excellent for anyone needing larger pieces. The image reproduction is bright and colorful with a slightly shiny finish. All in all, wonderful quality! Click here to see all the puzzles available from MasterPieces at Puzzle Warehouse.
This assembly was fun, I always enjoy a 300 piece puzzle. It’s a good feeling to start and finish a puzzle in one day, and even nicer when it’s a lovely picture. The edges were easy to find (I appreciate that), and it was also easy to pick out sections to work on without having to check the picture on the box. The red leaves in the foreground and background were easy to spot, as well as the water, path, and bench. There are several sections of flowers, but it’s easy enough to find their places by checking the picture. I wasn’t able to sit for long to work on it, and it was nice to be able to come and sit down for only a few minutes and be able to find and place several pieces.
The finished puzzle is 24 x 18 inches (61 x 46 cm). The box has the name of the puzzle, manufacturer, piece count, and image of the puzzle on all four sides. The name of the artist is on the top and one side of the box, along with a short bio on the back and pictures of other puzzles in the series. Interestingly, if you wanted to shelve this horizontally you would have to store it upside down – the image and wording on the side for storing flat is upside down on the lid. I don’t think it would be a deal breaker if you like the image, but it’s unusual and I don’t recall seeing that on any other puzzle boxes before.
The artwork by Alan Giana is charming, calming, and colorful and makes for excellent puzzling. I’ve done several puzzles with his artwork and they have all been entertaining and sometimes challenging, depending on the piece count. They are beautiful and detailed, and make me want to visit the places shown for a relaxing weekend. 🙂 Click the link above to see all the puzzles from this artist available at Puzzle Warehouse.
Willow Whispers is a beautiful puzzle that made for an entertaining assembly. At 300 pieces it’s quick to go together and could be a great family project for an evening. Definitely recommended. 👍
I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
My Jigsaw Journal 