When you see a puzzle called “Love”, you don’t normally expect a Wysocki, or at least I don’t. This one though is a great scene, with more people than you normally see in one of his images.
I had a great time with this puzzle, and it went together pretty fast. A turn of the century tennis club with a lot of lounging around going on. The foreground was a little harder than the background, but it wasn’t too bad. The background and sky definitely looks like a typical Wysocki, and assembling those parts was almost soothing; I’ve put together quite a few Wysocki images and it was comforting to assemble.
Buffalo puzzles are very good quality, and their 300 piece puzzles are my favorite of all their piece counts. There’s something about the boxy pieces that isn’t as pleasing to work with when they’re smaller. Just my own opinion of course, many people love the larger piece count Buffalo puzzles. There’s nothing wrong with them, I just have to be in the right mood to work on a 1000 piece or higher.
I love this flag “We Are Oblivious To Sanity” – I think I’d like to get that put on a t-shirt for myself. Sanity is overrated if you ask me. 🙃
Laundry Day by Adrian Chesterman – Ravensburger – 300 pieces
It seems like forever since I’ve assembled a Ravensburger, and my daughter found this adorable puzzle on clearance while we were at the bookstore. How could I pass it up? The answer is – I couldn’t! I suffer from PADS, and my happiness was directly tied to finding fun puzzles to assemble, thankfully there were a LOT of beautiful puzzles on clearance and I was a very happy little old puzzle lady that day. 😁
At only 300 pieces, I was able to put this one together in bed on the white board. I needed to be working on a puzzle, but wasn’t feeling well enough to sit at my puzzle table. The smaller piece counts are not only just as fun to assemble as larger piece counts (they are for me anyway), but they’re great when I want to puzzle but have to be in bed. I also find them to be an excellent palate cleanser for when I’m stuck or frustrated with a larger piece count that I’m working on, or after I’ve finished a particularly difficult image.
This unbelievably cute image by Adrian Chesterman was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but that was a nice surprise. The challenge was welcome, and the puppies were too cute!
The quality, of course, was exceptional; Ravensburger puzzles usually are. The feel of the pieces in my hand was lovely – I think I’ve assembled so many of their puzzles that I would be able to tell which pieces were theirs if I was blindfolded! When I get a Ravensburger, one of the first things I do is open the box and grab some pieces and just run my fingers across them. They are a great thickness, and the finish feels wonderful in my hands.
Also, when I’m holding a piece and thinking about where it should go, I find that I absentmindedly rub it with my thumb. It’s always nice to have a premium quality puzzle that has a good hand feel, and Ravensburger is definitely in that category for me.
This puzzle made me very happy, it was great on all counts – quality, image, and assembly. It gets two wet noses way, way up! 🐶🐶
Coral Reef by Lambert and Samborski – Great American Puzzle Factory – 294 pieces
This is a VERY interesting puzzle that I found in the trunk of my mom’s car. She bought it at the thrift store, but didn’t have a chance to show it to me before she went into the hospital. It was extremely entertaining, and she would have loved working on it with me; I would have loved working on it with her too.
It’s called The Moving Puzzle, and is made by the Great American Puzzle Factory. On the box it says “The never-ending, always moving jigsaw puzzle!!” On the back of the box it tells you that there are two ways to approach this tricky image. You can assemble the picture so that it matches the image on the box top, then change your picture by moving the pieces from top to bottom, left to right and so on. Or, you can pick any piece and build your puzzle from it, all the pieces will fit together and the image will grow in all directions, it doesn’t have to be a rectangular puzzle.
I assembled it the first way to begin with. The picture above is the puzzle assembled as it is on the box top; then I started moving things around…
Then I moved many things around and changed the puzzle to be rectangular again, I’m showing it next to the original way it was assembled so that it’s easier to see the differences…
Coral Reef by Lambert and Samborski – Great American Puzzle Factory – 294 pieces
It’s a pretty cool concept, and it was fun to move things around and make the image change. I will say though that everything doesn’t always line up exactly right. If you assemble it to look like the box top the image is fine. When you see where things can move and start changing the puzzle the image doesn’t always line up perfectly. (Just an observation from a puzzle nerd who looks closely at those things 🤓)
At only 294 pieces, it would be great for kids too. This one will end up at the school my daughter works for, and I hope those children enjoy it as much as I did.
It’s a great quality puzzle; the pieces are extremely thick and the colors are lovely with very nice image reproduction. There is only one piece shape, and I cant really comment on the fit because they really only snug up next to each other, they don’t interlock. It wasn’t much of a problem for me because my puzzle board is covered with fabric, but if you work on a slippery surface it would most likely be quite frustrating.
Mom always found the most interesting puzzles when she went thrift store shopping. If you find a Moving Puzzle, give it a try – it’s a different puzzle experience, that’s for sure.
The is the second of two puzzles from this company that I’ve assembled to review, and I found the quality of this one was even better than the first. The image was a little more of a challenge, but I still enjoyed the assembly very much.
FairHope Promise Puzzles is a subscription service that sends you a new puzzle every month, and they also come with a 30-day devotional included in the box. You can also purchase the puzzles separately – click here to see the puzzles they currently have available. They make and sell other Christian-themed items, including greeting cards, books, and music cds.
I found the quality to be very good, with thick pieces that fit together very well and have a good variety of piece shapes. They are larger pieces, easy for both younger and older puzzlers to grasp and hold – I quite like working with the large pieces – it makes the finished puzzle seem larger and more of an accomplishment. The image reproduction is beautiful, and the image in this puzzle especially is lovely.
This is everything included in the box; the accompanying devotional, the poster to help with assembly, and the puzzle itself. I always appreciate a poster with a puzzle, it’s nice to have the complete image that is a bit larger than the one on the box, and it’s great for when more than one person is working on the puzzle. One can use the box and the other can use the poster.
The tree was a bit of a challenge; all the leaves across the top and the large trunk made me slow down and really pay close attention to the shapes and shades of color. I rather like the ones that are a bit more difficult; if they’re too easy it goes by too quickly for my taste. It’s a very pretty image and one that was fun to assemble.
I know my readers are a varied group of puzzlers with different beliefs and attitudes, and these puzzles won’t appeal to everyone. But for those who may be interested, I found them to be very good quality and can definitely recommend them. 🌳👍
Details:
Title: I Will Help You
Artist: Promise Puzzles
Brand: Promise Puzzles
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Very good, recommended
I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
This is a beautiful image, and a very good quality puzzle. This was the first puzzle I assembled after mom passed, and I was worried that puzzling without her would be too difficult emotionally. I was happily surprised that once I started the actual assembly, my “puzzle brain” took over and I was engrossed with the picture and the pieces. I’m not usually someone who enjoys photographic puzzles, but I found this one both entertaining and calming.
FairHope Promise Puzzles is a subscription service where you get a new puzzle every month with a 30 day devotional included; but it seems you can also just purchase the puzzles without the subscription by clicking here. Their catalog is small, but they do have some interesting and very pretty images. They also make and sell a variety of other Christian themed items, including greeting cards and music cds.
The quality was very good – the pieces are a good thickness with a nice variety of shapes and they fit together extremely well. The image reproduction is beautiful, with lovely bright colors; though the finish is somewhat shiny. There weren’t many dark areas in the puzzle though, so the shiny pieces weren’t too difficult under artificial light. In addition, each puzzle includes a poster to help with assembly, which I love. My eyesight is getting worse by the day it seems, and having the poster as a reference definitely helps!
I enjoyed this assembly very much, and it was an excellent choice for the very first puzzle I did after losing mom. Although I know these puzzles won’t appeal to everyone who reads the blog – we puzzlers are a wonderfully varied group – for those who might be interested I can definitely recommend these puzzles. 👍
Details:
Title: God’s Comfort
Artist: Promise Puzzles
Brand: Promise Puzzles
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Shiny finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Very good, recommended
I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
My Jigsaw Journal 