Tag: Jigsaw Puzzles

Maleficent

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Maleficent (Disney Villainous) – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

This beautiful and dark image was quite the challenge, but fortunately the resident Puzzle Goddess was up to the task! All of the Disney Villainous puzzles are quite dark, but this one seemed even more so and made for some difficult puzzling.

The quality was very good, typical for Ravensburger puzzles in my opinion. There’s something about finishing a Ravensburger puzzle and running my hands over it, my little puzzle massage. It feels fantastic!

This is Merriweather – my favorite of the three fairies in the Sleeping Beauty movie. She’s a little shorter and thicker than her sisters and a bit more stubborn, which makes her adorable in my eyes and she was always my favorite. Doesn’t she look determined?

I started with the fairies and worked on the easiest sections to pick out with the lighter colors. The circular picture frames were the easiest to find and so I began with them. It wasn’t as easy to pick out the pieces for what went inside the frames, because many of the pictures had such dark images in them.

Many of the framed images were dark and indistinct, it made it very difficult to fill them in. They all made me want to get myself better lighting above the puzzle board. I haven’t mentioned it to hubby because the moment I do he’ll want to find and order new lighting and then he’ll be disrupting my puzzle time with the installation. (Perhaps I’m just moody today and even thinking about all the interruptions is making me a bit cranky.)

Although I enjoyed assembling this puzzle very much and I do recommend it, it comes with a bit of a warning. It is VERY dark and not an easy assembly; it isn’t recommended for someone who isn’t accustomed to assembling challenging images.

Robot Repair

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Robot Repair – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

Isn’t this the cutest little image? I thought it was anyway. It turns out that the cuteness doesn’t translate to ease of assembly – this was much harder than I thought it would be!

Does it sound dumb to you that after the hundreds and hundreds of puzzles I’ve done that I still can’t always tell whether a puzzle will be easy, difficult, entertaining, or a dud? It sounds dumb to me; yet I can’t always tell and can’t give you a reason either. You just do the best you can and pick puzzles that you like the look of, I suppose. Anyway, back to our puzzle…

This puzzle came in my MicroPuzzles subscription box, and the theme of that month was Mad Science. It was the companion puzzle to Tube-Tastic that I posted about in August. I love the image, but the size of the pieces and the number of pieces that constituted each little robot made it more challenging than I thought it would be. I ended up having to bring this one into the puzzle room in order to complete it under better lighting.

Even with the challenge I enjoyed this puzzle very much, and it’s too darn cute! 😍

Cabana Retreat

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Cabana Retreat by Nancy Wernersbach – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This was an excellent quality large piece Ravensburger puzzle, with a beautiful image that was lovely to assemble. 💖

Nancy Wernersbach images are usually quite fun to put together, most of the artwork by her that I’ve done has been outdoor scenes; beachside, flower shop, cottage, etc. There’s something calming and beautiful about her work and it makes for excellent puzzling.

The large piece Ravensburger puzzles are quite fun for me, there’s a special something about the larger pieces that I find wonderful to work with. And the larger finished puzzle makes you feel as if you’ve accomplished something impressive when you’re done; it’s about the size of a typical 1000 piece puzzle.

A beach bag filled with books, drinks, perhaps a little puzzle, and maybe a snack or two sitting beside a bucket of champagne – doesn’t that sound like a lovely afternoon? If it weren’t for the sand (it gets everywhere!) and being out in the sun it would sound nice.

A plate of fruits with what could be a little pot of Nutella or chocolate sauce to dip them in – now that sounds amazing!

Great puzzle; excellent quality, beautiful artwork, and a good time was definitely had. Highly recommended!

The Party

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

The Party – Buffalo – 500 pieces

This very dark looking puzzle was difficult at times, but not nearly as challenging as I thought – it was much more enjoyable than anticipated!

The fit was looser than normal for a Buffalo puzzle, but it was otherwise good quality. The image reproduction was stellar, which it absolutely needed to be for such a dark image. Overall, other than the fit I was very happy with this puzzle.

The border was a little challenging, but not too awful. Sometimes a solid border like that can be extremely frustrating, but the shapes of Buffalo pieces make it a little easier and the system that I use to put edges together helped quite a bit as well.

I started with the kids, obviously. The faces were the easiest to pick out, and their clothing all had different textures to them that weren’t too hard to find. Then I put together those large letters, which other than the house below was the most difficult part of the entire image.

This dark bleeping house was the hardest part of the puzzle, but luckily it wasn’t too many pieces. It’s the only part of the puzzle that had me separating the pieces by shape, and even then I really had to pay close attention.

As a fan of the tv show Stranger Things I was excited to put this puzzle together, thank goodness it wasn’t disappointing!

Rainbow Pets

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Rainbow Pets by Myrna – Sure Lox/TCG – 500 pieces

Adorable as this image is, it wasn’t entertaining to assemble. Thin pieces, somewhat loose fit, shiny finish – it just wasn’t good quality and not the image I was looking to assemble. (My youngest son picked it out for me, and I assembled it to make him happy, ’cause I try to be a good mom.) The nicest thing I can tell you about this puzzle is that it wasn’t horrible quality, I’ve done way worse.

The odd thing about this puzzle was the fit. It seemed quite loose at the beginning when not many pieces were assembled, but the more the were added it seemed to get better. That sounds stupid, I know; almost all puzzles get better as more pieces are added – but this was very different. The edges seemed to barely connect and would come apart if disturbed by an accidental touch; if a small section was put together it was almost impossible to pick up and move without great care. But once you had a large section assembled it seemed to be an excellent fit. It was bizarre.

If I had wanted to (I didn’t) I almost could have taken a picture of it standing up when it was completed. It wasn’t great, almost crumbling, but it did stand up on it’s end – though not for long enough to actually get a picture before it fell apart.

Anyone know for sure what animal this is? I don’t. Gerbil? Hamster? Guinea Pig? Other?

If you like the look of this puzzle I have bad news for you, this puzzle is definitely not recommended.