Category: Jigsaw Puzzles

Cabana Retreat

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Cabana Retreat by Nancy Wernersbach – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This was an excellent quality large piece Ravensburger puzzle, with a beautiful image that was lovely to assemble. 💖

Nancy Wernersbach images are usually quite fun to put together, most of the artwork by her that I’ve done has been outdoor scenes; beachside, flower shop, cottage, etc. There’s something calming and beautiful about her work and it makes for excellent puzzling.

The large piece Ravensburger puzzles are quite fun for me, there’s a special something about the larger pieces that I find wonderful to work with. And the larger finished puzzle makes you feel as if you’ve accomplished something impressive when you’re done; it’s about the size of a typical 1000 piece puzzle.

A beach bag filled with books, drinks, perhaps a little puzzle, and maybe a snack or two sitting beside a bucket of champagne – doesn’t that sound like a lovely afternoon? If it weren’t for the sand (it gets everywhere!) and being out in the sun it would sound nice.

A plate of fruits with what could be a little pot of Nutella or chocolate sauce to dip them in – now that sounds amazing!

Great puzzle; excellent quality, beautiful artwork, and a good time was definitely had. Highly recommended!

The Party

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

The Party – Buffalo – 500 pieces

This very dark looking puzzle was difficult at times, but not nearly as challenging as I thought – it was much more enjoyable than anticipated!

The fit was looser than normal for a Buffalo puzzle, but it was otherwise good quality. The image reproduction was stellar, which it absolutely needed to be for such a dark image. Overall, other than the fit I was very happy with this puzzle.

The border was a little challenging, but not too awful. Sometimes a solid border like that can be extremely frustrating, but the shapes of Buffalo pieces make it a little easier and the system that I use to put edges together helped quite a bit as well.

I started with the kids, obviously. The faces were the easiest to pick out, and their clothing all had different textures to them that weren’t too hard to find. Then I put together those large letters, which other than the house below was the most difficult part of the entire image.

This dark bleeping house was the hardest part of the puzzle, but luckily it wasn’t too many pieces. It’s the only part of the puzzle that had me separating the pieces by shape, and even then I really had to pay close attention.

As a fan of the tv show Stranger Things I was excited to put this puzzle together, thank goodness it wasn’t disappointing!

Rainbow Pets

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Rainbow Pets by Myrna – Sure Lox/TCG – 500 pieces

Adorable as this image is, it wasn’t entertaining to assemble. Thin pieces, somewhat loose fit, shiny finish – it just wasn’t good quality and not the image I was looking to assemble. (My youngest son picked it out for me, and I assembled it to make him happy, ’cause I try to be a good mom.) The nicest thing I can tell you about this puzzle is that it wasn’t horrible quality, I’ve done way worse.

The odd thing about this puzzle was the fit. It seemed quite loose at the beginning when not many pieces were assembled, but the more the were added it seemed to get better. That sounds stupid, I know; almost all puzzles get better as more pieces are added – but this was very different. The edges seemed to barely connect and would come apart if disturbed by an accidental touch; if a small section was put together it was almost impossible to pick up and move without great care. But once you had a large section assembled it seemed to be an excellent fit. It was bizarre.

If I had wanted to (I didn’t) I almost could have taken a picture of it standing up when it was completed. It wasn’t great, almost crumbling, but it did stand up on it’s end – though not for long enough to actually get a picture before it fell apart.

Anyone know for sure what animal this is? I don’t. Gerbil? Hamster? Guinea Pig? Other?

If you like the look of this puzzle I have bad news for you, this puzzle is definitely not recommended.

Most Everyone is Mad

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Most Everyone is Mad by Dean MacAdam – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was even more enjoyable than I’d anticipated, which is always a fun revelation. There’s something about Dean MacAdam’s artwork, it makes for such fantastic puzzling – I haven’t been disappointed yet. 😍

The quality was excellent, my only issue was the amount of puzzle dust. I emptied the pieces out into my colander to start sorting, folded up the bag they came in to throw it away and got a HUGE poof of dust right in the face. Not only that, the amount of dust that ended up in the box after sorting was crazy; not the usual amount for a Ravensburger in my experience. I joked about snorting puzzle dust a couple of years ago, let me tell you – it ain’t fun!

I’m not sure why, but the look of these flowers made me very happy and they were the first characters I put together.

The Mad Hatter here was more difficult to find and assemble than I thought he would be. Most of the pieces for him had such small bits that it was hard to know what I was looking at. (Except the sparkly purple hat, that was pretty easy to locate)

I didn’t even notice until the entire puzzle was assembled that there were symbols for each suit in a deck of card carved into the tree around the Cheshire Cat. The heart at the top was noticeable, but I didn’t register that the others were suits until the whole picture was finished. *I’ve lightened up the color a bit so it’s easier to see the suits*

This puzzle was a joy to assemble, it is highly recommended. 👍🐛👍

My Favorite Color

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

My Favorite Color by Velvet Spectrum – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Boy, was I wrong about this puzzle – it was much easier than I anticipated, but not so easy as to be boring. It was such a good time! I started in the morning and was finished pretty quickly before midday. Great quality, beautiful image with such striking color – I absolutely loved it.💜

Started with the solid (ish) colors around the edges and worked in toward the center with the words. It wasn’t even close to as hard as I thought it would be. But it kept me absorbed and focused, and I ended up with this gorgeous image to share with you all. 💟

I can’t think of much else to tell you other than if you think you might enjoy this puzzle you should go for it. It was lots of fun and it’s so darn pretty!