A nice collage from the thrift store, it was a bit of a challenge but we powered through only to find there were 3 missing pieces. Sigh. Oh well, those are the chances we take with thrift store puzzles – if we get a $20 puzzle for 69 cents then we have to expect that sometimes it won’t always be complete. It was still fun to do! 🙂
Another chilly puzzle for Christmas in July. It took us a while, but mom and I finally got this one finished last week. It was moderately difficult, but quite fun to assemble with a friend.
The cut was random which mom doesn’t really care for, I don’t mind it so much but I do prefer a grid cut most of the time. With the randomness sometimes you think you know what shape piece you’re looking for and it turns out you weren’t even close! It’s nice to change things up once in a while though, I think it makes my brain work differently – it takes me a bit to make the change in how I’m perceiving the pieces and how they fit together. It’s excellent exercise for the brain cells!
The pieces felt thick and sturdy and fit together well, the image reproduction was lovely and made me hungry for Christmas cookies! The finish was quite shiny, but the puzzle wasn’t dark so it didn’t present a problem.
All things considered a good quality puzzle that mom and I had fun assembling together, even with the 3 missing pieces. Merry Christmas in July!
The Racehorse – Ravensburger (What If #8) – 1000 pieces
The picture on the box shows Jim Luckless buying himself a racehorse, the puzzle shows what happened after that. What if his horse had a very special talent, what if things took an unexpected turn? As usual with these type of puzzles I don’t show the entire finished image, I don’t want to spoil anyone else’s fun figuring out what happened to poor Jim. 😉
Ravensburger puzzle, with it’s usual excellent quality. It’s so nice to “come home” to my favorite puzzle company after working with other brands. They’re just such wonderful quality and I always enjoy working with them.
Geoff Tristam’s artwork is excellent and I love his sense of humor. Oh sorry, he’s from the United Kingdom so I should say I love his sense of humour! 😉 I also enjoy the bio on the back of the box which is always accompanied by a picture of Mr. Tristam with accessories related to the puzzle – on this box he’s next to a beautiful horse. A lot of work goes into these puzzles and it’s very much appreciated.
If you haven’t tried a What If puzzle, give it a shot. They’re fun and the right amount of challenging; I highly recommend it!
Santa’s Highway by Jim Todd – Sunsout – 1000 pieces
Santa’s Highway is a great shaped puzzle from Sunsout. It was so much fun that it went together more quickly than normal for a 1000 piece puzzle. Another puzzle for Christmas in July! 🎅🤶
While I’m not a big fan of the way Sunsout rectangular puzzles fit together, their shaped puzzles are altogether different. The fit of their rectangular puzzles is very tight and you have to work at putting two pieces together – really press down on them. The shaped puzzles they produce fit together differently and I enjoy the fit much more. Sunsout has an excellent catalog of shaped puzzles, click the link above to see Sunsout puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse.
Sunsout quality is very good in my opinion. The pieces are thick and sturdy and fit together well with a random cut that gives you a wide variety of piece shapes. The image reproduction is excellent with a slightly shiny finish that can cause glare under lights. Their boxes are large and square with the name of the puzzle, artist, and manufacturer along with the piece count on all four sides – making it easy to shelve either vertically or horizontally.
The finished puzzle is 27 x 32 in. (68 x 81 cm) which is an impressive size! It’s one thing to read the number and have an idea in your head of how big it is, and it’s another thing to actually see it. It definitely makes a statement, and would look amazing framed – or even better, glued and mounted on foam backing that is cut to fit the shape. It would make more of a statement in it’s highway sign shape I think. This puzzle is part of The Highway Series by Jim Todd – gorgeous puzzles shaped like highway signs with scenes from along the route; they’d make a great wall hanging for a car enthusiast or frequent traveler! Click the link above to see all the Highway Series puzzles and others from this artist available at Puzzle Warehouse.
Santa’s Highway went together quickly as it was easy to pull out sections to assemble. Unlike rectangular puzzles it isn’t as easy to start a shaped puzzle with the edge. I started with the cactus and reindeer flying across the moon, then moved on to the map and pictures. One after another each section went into place quickly because it was so much fun to assemble that I couldn’t leave it alone! Also, I loved how the edge looks beveled; it makes the puzzle even more striking and distinctive. I had a great time with it and am now looking at getting Lincoln Highway from this series to assemble next – it has gorgeous scenes from Historic Pennsylvania Highway 30. Another one added to my wish list, which is getting quite large! 😉
This puzzle was a wonderfully entertaining assembly and I enjoyed it from start to finish! If you enjoy Christmas or shaped puzzles, or even want to give shaped puzzles a try I highly recommend Santa’s Highway. Two thumbs way up! 👍🎄👍
I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review, all opinions are truthful and 100% my own.
Glen Canyon – Bela Baliko (America’s Parks Collections) – 1000 pieces
Another new puzzle company we’ve tried! This isn’t our usual puzzle, mom and I prefer cartoon puzzles and collages, but this one was pretty, it was a thrift store purchase, and the pieces were so nice!
The Bela Baliko quality was good-ish. Beautiful image reproduction with nice, thick pieces and no hanging bits of paper or puzzle dust. On the downside, the fit was unusually loose, probably the loosest fit we’ve worked with. The slightest brush with your hand or arm and the pieces were upset. That seems to be happening a lot lately with the new companies we’ve tried. Perhaps it was just the end of the run, I’ve only worked the one puzzle from Bela Baliko so I can’t judge their entire catalog by this single puzzle. I’m just saying how this one was to assemble.
Mom and I assembled this puzzle over several days. It wasn’t too difficult, but could be tedious at times as there was quite a bit of rock that was the same color. Still, it makes for a lovely image and it was fun to try a new company. And you can’t beat the price – 69 cents! 😎
Antique World Map – Ravensburger (Wood Finish) – 1000 pieces
I thought this wood finish would be cool when I ordered it. It wasn’t cool. It was AWESOME!
I had probably assembled about 20 pieces of the edge when I texted my mom and told her I wanted every single wood finish puzzle that Ravensburger has. I absolutely love the way the pieces look and feel. Especially on this antique map, it gives it something extra and it looks amazing! I can’t stop running my fingers over the puzzle, it’s something special. Either that, or I really need to get out of the house more. Maybe a little of both? 😊
This wasn’t a easy puzzle, the entire map is very muted with very little bright color and lots of shades of brown. It took me 4 days to complete, though some days I wasn’t able to work on it much. Still it was moderately difficult, but I would definitely recommend it! This is a gorgeous puzzle when complete and would be beautiful framed.
I love the look of antique map puzzles, I think most of them are beautiful and always exclaim over them when I’m puzzle shopping or browsing. But for some reason this is the first one I’ve actually purchased and assembled! Mom did find a 4000 piece Educa map at the thrift store, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. None of them look easy, but I just find them stunning to look at; I’m proud of myself for finally ordering and assembling one. 🙂
If you’re not intimidated by the difficulty of this puzzle I highly recommend it! The texture of the pieces is fabulous and the finished product is definitely frame-worthy!
My Jigsaw Journal 