Hello Kitty and Friends – Day 3

Hello Kitty and Friends – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

Two of these characters seem happy, one definitely does not. It’s almost funny the look on the penguin’s face – he looks so disgusted!

I had NO IDEA the Hello Kitty world had so many characters, it’s amazing how detailed all their stories are and just how many of them exist. It’s been quite the deep dive into this world of Sanrio (the world in which Miss Hello Kitty lives).

Badtz-Maru is a male penguin with spiky hair. His birthday is April 1 (April Fool’s Day). He is one of the few Sanrio characters that is marketed to both males and females. In Japanese, “badtz” is a term for “X”, the cross signifying a wrong answer. “Maru” means circle or “O”, and signifies a correct answer. Thus, his name figuratively means “wrong-correct,” and is frequently represented by “XO”. Badtz-Maru has many different facial expressions and poses, but a common expression is of pulling one eye down and sticking out his tongue, a gesture equivalent to blowing a raspberry.

He was mostly black and white, with a bit of yellow – and not the easiest of the puzzles to assemble. But once you get in the groove of these puzzles it isn’t too bad.

Cinnamoroll was born on March 6 on a cloud far up in the sky, and is a white and chubby puppy with long ears that enable him to fly. He has blue eyes, pink cheeks and a plump and curly tail that resembles a cinnamon roll. You can barely see his tail in this image, but I’m taking their word for it that it looks like a cinnamon roll.

With barely any color and the length of this one it had me confused for a little bit, and the way the border went together meant it wasn’t easy either. Still, I really enjoyed all of these little guys.

Little Twin Stars is what these two are called; the boy is Kiki and his sister is Lala. They were born on December 24 on Omoiyari Star in the Dream-Star Cloud. To learn how to be the shiniest, best stars they could be they traveled a long way to Earth. Kiki loves star fishing and inventing things, and Lala loves cooking, drawing, and writing poems.

This was the first of the puzzles that I put together, and it was one of the easiest for me even though it was the largest. They’re adorable little things, I enjoyed it very much.

One more day to go, and don’t worry, Hello Kitty herself will be there!

Northern Lights In Progress…

Northern Lights by Nancy Wernersbach – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

Unfortunately there hasn’t been a lot of puzzling going on here the past few days, but I did manage to get this one going yesterday at least.

It already looks pretty good, don’t you think? Those Northern Lights are beautiful in the sky. 😍

Hello Kitty and Friends – Day 2

Hello Kitty and Friends – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

Super cutesy images aren’t usually my thing, but these mini shaped puzzles were fun – and deceptively difficult at times. Enjoyment is the most important though, and I definitely got my money’s worth from these.

Let’s jump right in to learning about our newest friends…

Tuxedo Sam is a dapper young penguin from Antarctica’s Tuxedo Island. Sam owns 356 bowties, tends to overeat, and sometimes makes clumsy decisions (don’t we all though?). He is from a distinguished family, attended university in The United Kingdom, and speaks English very well. He also has two younger brothers, named Pam and Tam, who are doppelgangers of him; and his closest confidante is a seal named Chip.

It’s amazing how when I look at the completed puzzle it doesn’t seem like anything difficult at all. Assembling it was another matter altogether. I don’t look at the poster or the box when I’m assembling these mini puzzles, and my lack of familiarity with these characters meant I had no idea what the finished image was going to look like. This one was harder than it looks!

This is Keroppi, a frog friend of Hello Kitty. He enjoys swimming, baseball, playing with boomerangs, and singing. He lives with Pikki, his sister and Koroppi, his brother, his mother (a housewife and a professional chef), and his father (a doctor) in a house on the edge of Donut Pond.

This cute little guy wasn’t as difficult as some of his friends to assemble. Besides, I love frogs! 💚

This is a white rabbit named My Melody (often shortened to My Melo) and she is Hello Kitty’s best friend. She is an honest, good-natured girl whose favorite food is almond pound cake. Her birthday is January 18, and she was born in the magical forest of Mariland, home to many of her friends.

With basically just the colors pink and white, this took a little more time than you would think to assemble. Still, isn’t she cute?

Hello Kitty and Friends – Day 1

Hello Kitty and Friends – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

It’s been a while since I’ve done a pack of mini shaped puzzles from RoseArt; these were much more enjoyable to assemble and much better quality than the last set I put together. Plus, I’ve learned so much about the world of Hello Kitty – I had no idea there were so many characters!

Overall the quality was quite good, I was happy to find this after the not so great quality of the Peanuts puzzles I did earlier this year. The pieces fit together well, there was no damage to them, and none of the pieces were still connected. The pieces are much bigger now than the puzzles I began doing all those years ago, and they make for bigger mini puzzles. The finish is a bit shiny, but the colors were bright and fun, and made for excellent puzzling.

Many times when I’ve done a puzzle like this I create names and backstories for each little puzzle, but that won’t be happening this time. These characters already have names and extremely detailed backstories, so I’ll just be sharing what I’ve learned about them online and letting you know how each puzzle was to assemble.

This is Monkichi (his full name is Osaru no Monkichi, which means “Monkey’s Monkey in Japanese). He enjoys puns, and has a sunny easygoing personality. He loves bananas and apparently can eat 10 of them in just one minute! He lives on a mountain in the Japanese countryside with his Mama who is a very good cook, and his Papa who is the Pun-Master.

This little guy was one of the easier puzzles in this set; he was smaller, and the colors made it less difficult to assemble than some of the others.

Chococat gets his name from his chocolate-colored nose; and his whiskers are like antennae that help him pick up information so he usually the first to know about things. He loves to fool around with his best friends, but he can be a little scatter-brained at times. His parents (Rory and Catrina) are divorced, and he lives with his mom.

Although this was the smallest of all the puzzles at only 24 pieces, it was by no means easy to assemble! Almost every piece was just black and white, and it took me much longer than you’d think to put everything together properly.

Pompompurin is a good-natured golden retriever dog who was born on a sunny day on the 16th of April. He lives in his very own basket in the entrance hall of his sister-owner’s house and his favorite food is his Mama’s cream/caramel pudding. His trademark is his brown beret that is always on his head. He loves collecting his owner’s shoes, sleeping, and hanging out with his friends (a hamster named Muffin, a mouse named Scone, and a bird named Custard). He’s a laid-back dog who easily makes friends, and he loves soft things.

This was one of the few puzzles that I had to assemble the edges first in order to make progress. All those yellow pieces were a LOT.


Hope you enjoyed your introduction to these Hello Kitty characters, I enjoyed learning about them. Stay tuned for more new characters on Day Two!

Holiday Books In Progress…

Holiday Books – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

Another holiday puzzle already on my board, and we’re not even halfway through November! Surprised that I have so many Christmas puzzles here? So am I! Although, thinking about it just now I realized that almost all of them were given to me – they aren’t ones I purchased, because….well, you know.

In fact, of the twenty-one holiday puzzles here at the house left to be assembled, I purchased ONE of them. The set of 12 advent calendar puzzles was a gift from hubby, three are thrift store puzzles mom bought, five (including the one I’m currently working on) were sent to me by my bestest puzzle buddy Penny, and only one of them was actually purchased by me.

When I tell you the title of the Christmas puzzle I bought, you’ll get it. It’s called Ruby the Red Beaked Emu. I just gotta be me! 😁

I’ve already put together three holiday puzzles, and I gotta tell you – I’m sick of them already. Yep. Once I finish this one I’ll be taking a break from them. In fact, there are two 1000 piece Christmas puzzles that perhaps will be put away for next year because I just don’t want to make myself put together puzzles because it’s the right season. I’m supposed to be having fun!

Eighteen of the puzzles are 100 pieces or less, so I’m planning to save those until December; I can assemble them in the morning with a hot cup of coffee and start my days with a completed puzzle. Doesn’t that sound lovely? It does to me.

This collage puzzle I’m working on right now is going pretty quickly, and other than a very loose fit I’m enjoying it. Collages make me happy.

Even if they are holiday themed. 😉