Chocolate Milkshake

On November 23, 2019November 22, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This was a fantastic quality Ravensburger puzzle with a new matte finish. The artwork is wonderfully fun and made for the exact right amount of challenge. I just love this image!

The dancing cows, the chocolate and treats flying around and everything in the background made for quite an easy assembly. I did the cows last, as they were the most difficult part, but even then they weren’t too bad at all. And they’re so cute!

Milkshake 1

You can see the difference in the finish here; on the right are pieces from a 1000 piece Ravensburger with the usual finish, the ones I’m used to seeing. On the left is this puzzle with the matte finish. You can’t tell as much from the picture, but the difference was quite evident to someone who has assembled many, many Ravensburger puzzles. I noticed right away, and was quite happy with the look of it.

I would love to find some more puzzles like this one, it was lots of fun. 🐄🐄🐄

Ice Cream Truck

On September 2, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

As summer is technically coming to an end, I figured a bit of ice cream is just what we need. Actually, according to this puzzle (and Charles Schulz) all we really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt!

This is an adorably cute image, almost too sweet. 😉 Mom and I put it together when she arrived one day to help me assemble a puzzle that I was struggling with but had already finished. I had no idea she was coming over to help me, and I completed the puzzle while she was on her way. Since the difficult one was done, we decided to put together a 300 piece puzzle and this was the one we chose.

Re-marks usually has good quality, and although this puzzle was ok there were a few very bent pieces that prevented the completed puzzle from laying flat. Other than that one area, I had no other problems with the quality of this particular puzzle. The pieces were thick and fit together well, and there were an excellent variety of shapes. The reproduction was very good, with sharp lines and colors; there was no blurriness or fading.

The image itself reminds me of the Richard Scarry books I used to read with my kids when they were young. The characters look somewhat like those he illustrated, especially their eyes. They’re very cute, and made for a fun puzzle to put together.

I love that everything is made of sweets; doughnut tires, an ice cream sandwich for a counter, mints for headlights, etc. So very cute!

So as summer is ending and we get together with friends and family, enjoy an ice cream sundae – or even better, enjoy an ice cream sundae or some chocolate and sweets with loved ones and then work on a puzzle together. I can’t think of a better way to spend a holiday weekend! 🍨

Suess Street

On February 18, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Finally I was able to get a 1000 piece puzzle done, my first since the beginning of January. Yikes! Luckily I was able to make a quick trip to get myself a few puzzles last weekend, and this is one of the puzzles I chose. I love this image, and it’s a Ravensburger so it’s wonderful quality. 🙂

I may have to make a change to the way I sort and assemble puzzles, I find these past few weeks that I have little tolerance for laying out all the pieces, etc. It may just be an attitude problem on my part; I guess I’ll wait and see. For the most part I sorted these by colors, with the brick background pieces sorted by shape. It seemed amazingly tedious, but again I have a bit of a ‘tude lately, so surely that didn’t help. And, it’s the first 1000 piece puzzle for me in more than a month, so there’s that to consider as well.

I love Dr. Suess, and I have many of his books completely memorized because I read them to my kids so often that after a while I didn’t even need to look at the pages. My daughter loved Fox in Socks, and my boys loved Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish; I was always partial to Dr. Suess’s ABC. This puzzle image makes me smile and remember that time spent reading with my little ones when they were still small.

If you’re a fan of Dr. Suess or Ravensburger, or just enjoy a very fun puzzle I highly recommend this one. Excellent quality with a wonderful image – what more could you ask for?

Santa & Rudolph

On November 26, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Not counting my “Christmas in July” on the blog, this was my first Christmas puzzle of the season! As usual, I’m only showing the character shown on the box – no spoilers. You’d miss out on the fun of discovering for yourself why it’s better if Santa keeps his job instead of handing it over to Rudolph. 😉

I adore Geoff Tristam’s sense of humor – even the gift tags on the presents were funny! His partnership with Ravensburger for these What If puzzles is a great pairing in my opinion; I hope it continues for a very long time!

I really appreciate the quality of a Ravensburger puzzle, especially after I’ve worked on another brand that isn’t as “premium”. It even makes me happy to lay all the pieces out, because I just know it’s going to fit well and that there will be enough variety in the piece shape so that the assembly isn’t overly tedious. (I’m working a puzzle with not much variety in the shape of the pieces and I’m feeling frazzled 😳 )

If you haven’t tried a What If or Wasgij puzzle yet, I highly recommend it! You’re not really working completely from scratch, most of the time you can tell from the picture on the box what the background, flooring, or scenery will be, as well as the clothes people are wearing. You can get a general idea of what might go where, you may just have figure out where the scene might end up. For me, it focuses the attention. If I’m looking at the image on the box I don’t have to pay super close attention to background items or colors to tell me where a section will end up. Without an image you’re guided by only the colors and shapes – and the hints on the box of course. It’s a pilates class for your brain cells, it makes them use their “muscles” in a different way. 😀

Santa looks pretty cute with his antler hat, but I think it would be better for everyone if he drives the sleigh!

(What If #10) The Birthday

On November 12, 2017July 26, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another puzzle where I don’t show the whole image, it’s more fun when you get to figure it out for yourself! I loved this puzzle, it was relaxing and so good at helping me relieve stress. More and more these days I seem to need my puzzles to help me stay calm and get rid of some anxiety, there’s only so much pharmaceuticals can do. 😉

I adore the Ravensburger What If and the Jumbo Wasgij series. The image on the box is only a clue to what the puzzle image is, you have to figure it out as you puzzle along. I find that I pay more attention when I assemble these types of puzzles, you can’t figure out where things fit into the image by just checking the box top!

All the What If puzzles are illustrated by Geoff Tristram, who seems to have exactly my sense of humor. The images are precise and detailed and always full of fun, artists like Mr. Tristram are the reason I fell in love with cartoon puzzles. In this edition, the box shows our hero Derek’s dream birthday dinner – the puzzle is what happens if the champagne is a little too lively. As usual, chaos is the result! 🙂

If you haven’t tried a Wasgij or What If puzzle, I highly recommend giving it a go. You use your brain differently I think, and it’s a very nice challenge. What If…..you ended up loving it??