These board game puzzles seem to be growing on me, each one I complete seems to be more entertaining than the last; this one was my favorite assembly so far. The quality remains the same, but perhaps I’m more used to it now and it doesn’t seem as disappointing as before. It’s a good quality puzzle, overall.
There’s only one more left here at the house to assemble (Guess Who?), but there are actually three more in the series. The other two, Life and Monopoly, aren’t ones that we’ve been able to find; that’s alright with me though, neither of them were ever games that I enjoyed playing very much. The puzzles themselves would most likely be much more fun than playing the games, although you never can tell.
In all honesty, I’ve never even played Guess Who?, but the puzzle itself looks like it’ll be both challenging and engaging and I’m looking forward to it.
Unfortunately I’ve already told my best story about 70s commercials in the post about this puzzle when it was in progress. I did get more of the story recently though. We had a small get together at the house to celebrate both mine and my father’s birthday, and he re-told the story of my doing jingles and commercials at the grocery store (I told you my parents love to tell this one). He told me that my mother ordered me to “stop singing commercials next to me!”; my response was to go to the next aisle over, where I wasn’t next to her, and kept right on singing and quoting tv ads. What a little imp I was!
The blue background here was one of the last bits to be assembled, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. In fact, the entire puzzle was easier than anticipated. Not too easy, of course, but the challenge level was just about right. There was never a point where I needed to separate by piece shape, and overall it was a great assembly from beginning to end.
Scrabble is one of my favorite board games, and it made for quite an entertaining puzzle too! The quality was a bit underwhelming; but having assembled Clue earlier in the year, my expectations were appropriately managed before I began. Even so, I enjoyed the assembly, and it was just about the perfect amount of challenge.
My beautiful daughter bought me this puzzle after I made the mistake of telling her about the board game puzzles from Spin Master that were exclusive to Target. She made it her mission to visit every Target near a friend’s house, her work, etc. to see how many she could find for me. Is she the sweetest girl or what? I’m a very lucky momma who raised a kind, thoughtful, generous daughter.💖
Back to the puzzle…the pieces are on the thinner side, but somewhat sturdy (there were a few problems with bent pieces); there are a good variety of piece shapes and the fit was good. The image reproduction is fuzzy in some places and crisp and clear in others, and the finish is shiny.
There wasn’t much that needed close up pictures in this image, but I took this one just because I like the look of it. I always loved pouring out the tiles when beginning a game, the little wooden pieces clacking against each other – I know, my weird brain again. I make no apologies. 😜
Overall I enjoyed this puzzle. It took forever to sort because a) I wasn’t feeling well, and b) I really didn’t feel like putting this one together. As you can probably guess my son picked out which puzzle I’d be assembling. But once it was sorted and the assembly began it went rather quickly. I started in the morning and was finished in the evening before bed. It was more entertaining than I thought and in the end I’m glad he picked this one out – it was fun!
It’s been forever since I’ve played Scrabble, even though it’s one of my favorites. No one in my family will play with me anymore. The way my weird brain works also makes it so that I’ve got a ton of odd words stored up there, and I’ve never lost a game. I don’t blame them though, if there was a game I always lost I wouldn’t want to play it either. I feel that way about strategy games, hubby kicks my a** every time and it’s so frustrating!
Hubby and I now just stick to games that usually have a small element of luck in them as well as skill or strategy; cards, yahtzee, etc. It’s more fun if we both always have a chance. 😊
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.
Quilt Farm by Eduard – Buffalo (Country Life) – 1000 pieces
Such a beautiful image, and it was so entertaining to assemble that it went together quite quickly. If you’re looking for a great puzzle and the image is to your liking I highly recommend this one.
The quilts were all so colorful and the patterns were so interesting. You know I can’t resist a puzzle with quilts, there’s just something about them. I can’t put my words together to properly convey how happy they make me, but I’ll keep trying. 😊
For some idiotic reason I thought this section with the vegetables would be pretty easy to assemble – boy was I wrong! It turns out that the wooden boxes were much more simple to find and put together. The veggies, well they weren’t always so easy.
Another of my loves, puzzles with dogs. 💕 Of course you were going to get a closer picture of these adorable puppies!
Great puzzle, beautiful image, gorgeous quilts – what’s not to love?
Pop Art Puzzle by Andrew Rae – Laurence King – 1000 pieces
This amazing puzzle was one of the most interesting and entertaining puzzles I’ve done in a VERY long time. I started in the morning around 8 am, and was finished by 10 pm – it was beautiful, educational, interesting, weird, and FUN!
It’s going to be an extremely long post, so buckle up!
Laurence King is a new to me brand, and I was duly impressed by the excellent quality. (The World of Frankenstein was my second LK puzzle to be assembled, but was posted last month for the Halloween holiday) These puzzles are manufactured in the Netherlands, and the puzzles seem to be exactly the same quality of a Jumbo puzzle. The fit is exquisite, the image reproduction is bright and crisp with a variety of piece shapes and the waxy-feeling finish that makes it seem like a premium quality puzzle – because it is!
*Beware though, it seems puzzles by the same brand that are made in China are not of the same quality as those made in the Netherlands. If you can’t be sure where the puzzle was manufactured proceed with caution. I would only purchase ones I was certain were made in the Netherlands.*
According to the surprisingly large (23 x 17 in.) poster in the box, “This puzzle presents illustrator Andrew Rae’s reimagined version of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, taking the glorious and surreal scene in a new, pop-art-inspired direction.” There is a wonderfully detailed and interesting section about both Bosch’s Garden and the pop art movement along with a legend of the artists and artwork represented in this image.
I loved learning about the artists and seeing the portrayals of well-known (and some not as well-known, at least to me) artists and artwork. The image isn’t something I would normally choose for puzzling, but the subject matter and the included poster with so much information was just too good to pass up. As it turns out, it was much more engrossing than expected and the assembly was truly delightful. 💛
It was so difficult to decide what pictures to take, and in the end I only took three; there is just too much to see! At the end of this post, though, I’ll be giving you the list of the 56 representations of the artists and artwork shown. It’s all just too interesting for me to give you just a regular old post about this puzzle.
Educational puzzles (which is what I consider this to be) make me so happy, and learning more about pop art and seeing the artwork reimagined or just paintings of the artists themselves was fascinating. I cannot seem to find the right words to tell you how much I loved this puzzle!
This tiny little section shows the artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, and a rabbit sculpture fabricated by Jeff Koons. I’m a big fan of Keith Haring’s work, so of course his image was the first picture I wanted to take from the completed puzzle. The 32,000 piece jigsaw puzzle with Haring’s artwork, Double Retrospect, was the first one I considered assembling seven years ago when I made the decision to complete a VERY large piece count puzzle. Unfortunately at the time it was already out of print and unavailable. Of all the puzzles of that size available at the time, his artwork was the one that stood out and really excited me; although after assembling a different enormous puzzle I realize that his image would have been extremely difficult with the limited color palette and big blocks of solid color.
🎶Here I come to save the day!🎶 This is Andy Kaufman doing his famous rendition of the Mighty Mouse theme song on Saturday Night Live. I’m a comedy nerd as well as a proud puzzle geek, so this little section jumped right out at me and made me smile.
In this small section of the image (perhaps about 11% of the puzzle) are so many things to find. Of course Botticelli’s Venus jumps right out at you, but did you catch Monet’s Water Lilies? Or Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais? Bacchus by Caravaggio? Have you heard of A Bigger Splash by David Hockney? I hadn’t. Jackson Pollock is decorating a mushroom, and the man just to the left of him is the artist who created the image for this puzzle, Andrew Rae. There are even more just in this section, there’s so much to see and find – and it was so much fun!
This was so enjoyable, not only for the great quality puzzle but the subject matter as well. I loved looking for each of the artists or the artwork and found it to be educational as well as entertaining. Laurence King has quite a few puzzles like this by different artists, each one with a different subject; Freddie Mercury, Jane Austen, James Bond, The Harlem Renaissance, Dracula, Shakespeare, Frida Kahlo, Wes Anderson, The Story of Impressionism, and many more. My PADS is kicking into overdrive!
This puzzle is very highly recommended, I absolutely adored it.💖
Stay tuned for the list of artists and artwork represented in this image…
Andy Warhol
Campbell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol
Yayoi Kusama
Grayson Perry
Niki de Saint Phalle
Varvara Stepanova
Venus by Botticelli
Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais
David by Michelangelo
Salvador Dalí
Rhinoceros by Albrecht Dürer
Andy Kaufman
Tracey Emin
Balloon Dogs by Jeff Koons
Rabbit sculptures by Jeff Koons
The Wounded Deer by Frida Kahlo
For the Love of God by Damien Hirst
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Pablo Picasso
Water Lilies by Claude Monet
The Son of Man by Rene Magritte
La Tauromaquia by Francisco de Goya
Little Yellow Horses and Little Blue Horse by Franz Marc
Henri Matisse
Viva la Vida, Watermelons by Frida Kahlo
John Cage
Keith Haring
Marie-Thérèse Walter
Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
The Monarch of the Glen by Edwin Landseer
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living by Damien Hirst
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp
A Bigger Splash by David Hockney
Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe by Édouard Manet
Portrait of Pope Julius II by Raphael
The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai
Catherine the Great
Horse with Jockey: Horse Galloping on the Right Foot, the Back Left Foot Only Touching the Ground by Edgar Degas
Capricho no. 39: Hasta su abuelo by Francisco de Goya
Gilbert & George
Tiger in a Tropical Storm by Henri Rousseau
Andrew Rae
La recontre, ou “Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet” by Gustave Courbet
