Tiny Toy Tops by Alyssa Hemsath Mooney – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces
This puzzle was SO much more difficult than it looks; I definitely misjudged the challenge level. From the box image it looked so bright and happy, but the pieces themselves seemed so dark and painterly. It took me quite a bit longer than a 300 piece puzzle usually does.
That isn’t to say it wasn’t enjoyable, because it was. Figuring things out, deciphering the colors and shapes and eventually putting everything back together again gave me such a sense of accomplishment – I did it!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Milton Bradley puzzle. This one was good quality; with somewhat thin pieces and a good fit. They aren’t a go-to brand, but they’re not too bad either.
If you’re looking for a 300 piece puzzle that’s a little more challenging than most, give this one a try. It definitely gave me a run for my money. 💵🏃♀️
Wool Shop USA by Steve Crisp – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces
This is such a lovely image from Steve Crisp, and doesn’t it look like an awesome shop to visit too? I would definitely enjoy spending a little time in there.
I have been actively avoiding any puzzles with dogs in them, and I honestly didn’t even see the little pupper in this puzzle until I was putting it together. It’s fascinating how I seem to take in the image as a whole and don’t notice things; sometimes glaringly obvious things, until I’m putting it together. I’ve done puzzles with names that let you know you’re putting together a puzzle with cats, but I don’t notice the title – or the cats – until I start assembling. It’s normal for me to miss certain small details until the actual joining of pieces, but many times I miss stuff that is right out in the open.
This was a good quality puzzle from Milton Bradley, with a nice variety of shapes that fit together very well. The image reproduction is gorgeous, as you can see from all the pictures here – even in the close ups there is much detail with crisp lines and no fuzziness in the backgrounds.
I just love the look of this cash register, it’s so much more interesting looking than the little computers you see at stores everywhere these days. I think it would be more fun to use a cash register like this than to just touch a screen – just my opinion of course. Old timey things seem like they’re better made and more aesthetically pleasing to me.
As someone who’s been around crafts all her life, I can say this is an excellent representation of an old sewing machine. This is what they looked like, and they were both beautiful to look at and extremely well made. And there were two old sewing machines in this image, they reminded me of when I was young. My mother had a very old sewing machine in a cabinet that looked like a regular old table, but when you flipped the top over, pulled the machine up, and opened up what looked like a table leaf – you had a sewing machine, with a flat surface for your fabric, and you could pull a chair right up to the table and put your legs underneath. It was VERY cool, and I wish we still had it in the family. 🧵
There’s something about these old timey panels with well dressed women, they’re so perfect for the image. The rest of the image is crisp and clear and both of these panels on the front of the counter are more fuzzy and indistinct, and it gives the whole scene a look of authenticity.
Such a pretty picture – and it was pretty difficult too! I knew it would be going in of course, I just didn’t know how much. The brush strokes made it quite a challenge; but being the puzzle goddess that I am, I finally triumphed! I’m pretty proud of myself for finishing the pretty picture. 😁
The quality of this Milton Bradley puzzle was good/fair. The pieces were on the thinner side, and some were easily or already bent when I opened the box. The fit was good, if somewhat loose, and the image reproduction was good. Overall I found it a bit disappointing, but of course that is just one person’s opinion; you may find that the quality is perfectly acceptable for you, and in the end that is what matters most. For myself though, I don’t think another new purchase of a 1000 piece Milton Bradley puzzle is in the cards for me unless the image was fabulous and I just couldn’t live without it.
All the pretty flowers that look so beautiful in front of Mill Cottage were just blobs of paint. I suppose, when you think about it, basically all paintings are just blobs of color the closer you get to them; but these little blobs of color were very difficult to assemble. I should know better than to buy puzzles like this, brush strokes and blobs are no fun for me!
I loved this little guy, he was one of the first things I assembled. It looks like he’s trying to get the attention of the girl on the shore, and maybe he’s trying to impress her. How sweet. Lovesick little boys are pretty cute, good thing we little girls know how to handle them. 👧
I was up most of the night, so this puzzle finally got sorted and started. Yay insomnia? Yeah, I don’t think so. 🥱
On the plus side I’m finally working a puzzle again after a couple of days of almost no puzzling at all; on the minus side I’m exhausted and loopy and not all here mentally. Although one could argue that I am never “all there”. Whatever. I’m lots of fun!
When I was near the end of the sorting I found a couple of edge pieces that had become completely delaminated (the image was separated from the chipboard), but luckily both parts of the pieces were there so I could fix them before I started assembling. It was odd that it was only two pieces and that they were next to each other along the edge.
The paper used for the image was quite sturdy, in fact when I was sorting I didn’t notice that these two pieces were much thinner than the rest. But I recognized immediately that the two pieces of chipboard had no image on one side. It was easily remedied with a little bit of super glue, not much of a problem at all really. Onward!
It looks as though it’s going to be a difficult assembly – there’s a LOT of green. But perhaps I’m wrong and it’ll be much easier than I thought. Here’s hoping.
I hope all you members of the PADS Posse have a great day, with plenty of time for our favorite hobby/obsession. Happy puzzling! 🧩
It was the colors that drew me to this puzzle, they were just too fun and happy to resist. I’m glad to say that I had a great time with this one, and it had just the right level of difficulty. It’s a fun image with fantastic image reproduction – all in all a wonderful puzzle!
Although it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, it was by no means an easy puzzle. But the challenge was completely absorbing and I loved it. The pieces were thinner than I’m used to, but still quite workable with an exceptional fit. I don’t think I’ve done a Big Ben puzzle with 1000 pieces for quite a long time, and I was pretty happy with the quality.
Loved the look of these two magazines, they were one of the first sections that I assembled – old time detective mags, very cool!
Here is an article from obviously a very old magazine; it seems to be saying that if your husband cheats that you’re driving him to it because you aren’t meeting his “needs”. Are you friggin kidding me?!? What a load of crap. Most people probably wouldn’t notice it, it’s only 4 pieces out of 1000, but I certainly did.
This postcard section was really fun to put together, but I’m not sure I could explain why – it was just truly entertaining. The postcards and sunglasses made for great puzzling. Or perhaps I need to get out more, I’d much rather assemble a beach puzzle than go to an actual beach. Sand everywhere – yick!
With all that’s going on in the world now, going to the beach is most definitely not a good idea; all you can do is dream of going to the beach- or perhaps assemble an entertaining beach themed puzzle! 🙂
My Jigsaw Journal 