Some people say 300 piece puzzles aren’t worth their time – too few pieces and they just aren’t challenging enough. To those people I say, try this little succulent out, it’ll give you a run for your money!
Many times a 300 piece puzzle can be assembled in one sitting, but this one took me quite a bit longer. I enjoyed the challenge of it though, and had a great sense of accomplishment when that last piece finally went in. If I could have given myself a pat on the back I would have. Well done, Stacey!
This puzzle was 300 pieces of completely absorbing entertainment. I couldn’t help but get sucked in every time I sat down in front of it; it doesn’t look terribly difficult, I should be able to get it done in no time. Then you’re looking for the right piece – why can’t I see it, where does this fit in? Why does every succulent look like all the other succulents? What kind of word is succulents anyway?! Who shot JR?
*(Sometimes my train of thought goes off the rails, my apologies. Everyone knows that Kristin shot JR.)
Big World by Ciro Marchetti – Milton Bradley – 750 pieces
If I’m being honest I’d tell you I was a little bit scared to start this puzzle. Look at the image, it’s gorgeous – but I didn’t know where I would begin. Once I started sorting the pieces though, I found a few sections to pull out and start with; when they were assembled it didn’t seem so daunting to keep going and filling in from there. Sometimes I have to just jump in and get myself going, most of the time it’s never as difficult as I think. 🙂
Milton Bradley puzzles seem to have improved their quality quite a bit, I was thoroughly impressed with this puzzle and it’s quality. The pieces are on the smaller side, but not too much so. They had a good hand feel, fit together quite well, and had a very good variety of shapes. The image reproduction is excellent and did the artwork justice in my opinion, the colors are beautiful with no blurriness or fuzzy areas. Overall a very good quality puzzle.
There’s just something about peacocks, they make for wonderful puzzle images. This one is beautiful, and I wish the picture did it justice. It was one of the first things I assembled after the edges and even though there weren’t many pieces to it, it gave me a great sense of accomplishment.
This flying fish balloon and the ship below it – great fun to put together! The use of colors by Ciro Marchetti brings to mind images by Aimee Stewart – both artists produce absolutely gorgeous artwork. This one especially has a dreamy quality, a fantasy image that makes no sense but definitely looks like a world you’d want to visit (or at least I would).
I’ve been a little obsessed with assembling panoramic puzzles lately. It’s much easier on your back to not have to reach so far to put pieces in at the top; having the entirety of the puzzle very close to you is somehow comforting and I am completely enjoying working with them. I only have one more panoramic here in my stash, I guess that means I might have to arrange a shopping trip – these puzzles are good for my mental health.
Big World was more fun than I expected and had much better quality than I anticipated. If you’ve got a long enough workspace to assemble a panoramic puzzle this one is absolutely recommended – two peacock tails way up! 🦚🦚
This one was hard! It’s only 300 pieces, but the image made it very difficult. I knew that going in, but I love the colors and thought it would be entertaining to assemble – it was.
I started with the purple, then the yellow peppers and the ties at the top. After that it was mostly just reds and greens, and I had to pay close attention. It was a lot of fun, even if I had to exercise my brain a bit. (It’s good for us older people to keep our brains sharp, and I do my best 👵)
Photographic images aren’t ones I usually go for, but this one was so bright and pretty, I couldn’t resist it.
My first 2000 piece puzzle in almost two years. Yay me! The image was so fun that I had to put aside all the anxiety-inducing thoughts and buy this one – and then I got the gumption up to start assembling it – I’m super proud of myself!
The sorting was the worst part for me; not only because there were so many pieces to go through, but also because seeing some of the pieces I really just wanted to get to the assembly. But the sorting does help tremendously when you finally do get to the assembly, and I’m not someone who can just scrabble through the box to find pieces, my OCD won’t allow it! 😏 I need all the pieces laid out or separated in some way, I just can’t help it.
I’ve never done a Big Ben puzzle with such a large piece count, and I was a little disappointed when I started sorting. The pieces are on the thin side, and small. But then again I had just finished a 300 piece Buffalo with very large pieces, so the comparison wasn’t very fair. Once I started working with it, the pieces didn’t seem so bad after all. The fit was good, if a little loose, and the pieces weren’t that small – it is a large 2000 piece puzzle after all – they can’t be huge or the finished puzzle wouldn’t fit on my board!
I loved this small section in the lower left corner, handwriting like this reminds me of my grandmother’s writing. When they used to teach penmanship in schools back in the day all the handwriting seemed similar, and my grandma’s writing looked like this. It makes me smile…
It was a little difficult to assemble as you can’t read the words very well, but I still enjoyed putting it together. I really do love assembling words. 🙂
I was talking with a puzzle friend recently about how when you initially sort a puzzle the pieces all seem so indistinct because you aren’t as familiar with them; but once you start working the puzzle you become more comfortable with them and start recognizing what certain colors are and then you feel more confident in sorting them into sections. That was certainly the case with this puzzle. There were a LOT of pieces that I had no idea where they would go – they seemed so dark and blotchy and I had no idea where they’d fit in. Once I got going and putting together the easier sections I got used to the puzzle and was able to sort it even more carefully. And I had a great time!
This section was one of the first that I put together. The colors are beautiful and it was very easy to sort these pieces out; plus it was quite entertaining. Believe it or not, the chocolate treats on the tray looked almost blue while I was sorting. It’s interesting how when you break a picture down into very small pieces how the colors seem so different than you’d think. It’s fun to figure out what everything is and where it belongs – that’s what we puzzlers love!
This puzzle was an interesting test for me, I assembled it much differently than I usually do. I found it enjoyable and pretty entertaining! It’s a very nice quality puzzle, and the repetition of the image made it a bit of a challenge. I had a very good time with this one. 🙂
With all the different elements repeated several times, I picked certain things (like pincushions, the red buttons, or the spools of thread) and assembled them all. Then I used the box image to see where each one fit into the frame.
I found that I really enjoyed assembling the puzzle this way. And once I got a few parts assembled and set in the frame, it was easier to see where things belonged and work off of them. It’s not always going to be applicable to every puzzle image, but it was a nice change for me.
Maybe we should all shake things up every now and again and try things a different way – we might find that we like it very much!
I’m enjoying these Big Ben puzzles, the quality is quite good and they have plenty of interesting and challenging images to choose from. They’re nice when I need a quick puzzle fix, and I like having them around. When I finish a larger puzzle and want something that will be entertaining and won’t take forever to complete I’ve got a Big Ben puzzle that’ll do the trick very nicely.
My Jigsaw Journal 