Life Rules

Life Rules by Louise Carey – Andrews + Blaine – 1000 pieces

This was not an easy puzzle. Luckily, I was looking for a difficult/tedious puzzle to put on the board while I was working on all the micro puzzles for the holiday season – this one fit the bill perfectly. Putting together large letters isn’t as simple as some may think. This one tried to melt my brain!

I always love having words to assemble in a puzzle, but when the words are basically the whole image – or even when they’re just very large – it can become quite difficult. All the pieces are basically just the background color, and the color of the letter. And there were only four colors in this image, each color was used multiple times for their own set of words. It was quite the challenge.

The easiest part of this assembly was the sorting. I just had one tray for each color, and one container for any pieces that were only the background. I worked on one color at a time. Sometimes the font used for one quote was simple to find, but much of the time it wasn’t as easy to pick out the right pieces for a certain quote.

Because it was so tall and thin (13 x 37 in.), it was easy to push to the back of the board when I wanted a break from it – and that is exactly what I did. When I felt myself getting too frustrated I stopped and worked on something else. 😎

My fellow P.A.D.S. sufferer Penny sent me this several years ago, but I was never in the right frame of mind to work on it. I never have my puzzles in any order to be assembled, my brain has to be in the right “head space” to work on an image; so the puzzle I’m doing next has to speak to me in some way. This puzzle has previously never had much to say – except, “Put me back, you don’t want any of this today.”

Miss Penny has since been informed that she wasn’t getting this puzzle back – after all the work that went into this one I’ve glued the bleeping thing and will be hanging it in the puzzle room. I love the look of it, and couldn’t bear to disassemble it after all that effort!

Realm of the Giants

Realm of the Giants by Silvia Christoph – Ravensburger – 200 pieces

Isn’t this a beautiful dinosaur scene? I love the colors; a lot of dinosaur puzzles are more drab, with browns, greens, etc. – this one seems to pop. The detail and colors make it lovely in my eyes.

Surprise, surprise! Not a clue how the assembly of this one went, you’re shocked right? It’s no surprise to me, as I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday – or if I even ate lunch at all! My memory has been steadily declining for the past few months, and I keep commenting on it to the hubby. But you’re here to see about a puzzle, not the ramblings of an old lady who can’t remember sh*t. 🤔

Anyone else reminded of Jurassic Park 2 where the little baby-looking dinosaurs attacked the little girl on the beach? Or is it just me?

Most people would look first at the T-Rex, as it’s the one dino that everyone knows and recognizes; but my eye was drawn to this “little” guy. I love the purple colors on the back, and that gorgeous fin. The colors in this image are absolutely beautiful, and it made for quite the fun assembly – I think.

I just liked the wings on this one, that’s the only reason you’ve got a close-up of them. I don’t know what the name of this species is, but I can say without doubt that I enjoy looking at their wings. 🙂

As always, Ravensburger puzzles are excellent quality. I would even go as far as to say that their kid’s puzzles are exceptional. The pieces are truly thick and sturdy and the fit is wonderful. This puzzle is still here in the house, and I took out some pieces to feel them – fantastic!

Dory and Nemo

Dory and Nemo by Disney/Pixar – 24 pieces

To be honest, this was done so long ago that I no longer have the puzzle here at the house, and I cannot remember which brand it was. But I can tell you that I delivered it to my darling “grandson” and he is enjoying it quite a bit according to his mom. Excellent news!

I can also tell you that it was relatively good quality, other than some slight warping on the pieces that you can see in the picture below…

But for me, spending 59 cents on this puzzle at the thrift store, I still got my money’s worth and then some. A sturdy kid’s puzzle for less than a dollar, and I was able to give it to my honorary grandson for him to enjoy assembling many more times. A bargain at twice the price!


I had the most awful day yesterday (which I will tell you all about later on), and was looking through my phone at old pictures (you’ll understand later). There were several pictures of finished puzzles and I decided to transfer them all to the new computer. Shocker of all shockers – I’ve got six completed puzzles that I never wrote about – pictures and all!

As I was trying to take my mind off of other things this evening (it’s after 11 pm currently), I started putting together drafts of all the puzzles that were completed forever ago so that I’d have a little bit of leeway in getting myself back to the puzzle table while still being able to post more often. There will be discussions in the Jigsaw Journal household today regarding use of the puzzle table and how I can both be able to work on puzzles and allow my husband to continue to bring home the bacon – from home. As it were.

Sorry, it made sense in my head. 🤷‍♀️

Best Friends

Best Friends
Best Friends – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Stacey loves herself some puppy puzzles, and here’s another one. Look at those adorable faces – completely irresistible!

The scarves on this one were the most difficult part for me, it wasn’t always easy to tell which way things went and what went where. But overall this puzzle wasn’t too terribly challenging, and in the end you get this sweet image of two best friends. Aw!

Disney Diner

Disney Diner
Disney Diner – Ceaco – 200 pieces

This is the first Ceaco I’ve done in quite a long time; and this was a puzzle I got in a swap, I absolutely did not buy this – they’re still on my naughty list. I found that I was still carrying an attitude about this brand, which previously I might have apologized for, but not this time. My attitude is justified, and I won’t be saying I’m sorry for it.

Anyway, on to the puzzle.

The image is cute, and I enjoy puzzles with Disney images so this one was fun to put together. Thanks to Penny for sending it along!