Tag: Mini Puzzles

Beneath the Waves

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Beneath the Waves by Lauren Altes – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 40 pieces

Please forgive the wonky pictures in this one, I have no excuse other than possibly exhaustion from all the travel. This is the first of the puzzles from our recent visit to Michigan, so get ready for a week or so of beautiful (mostly) wooden puzzles assembled by me and the new additions to my puzzle posse

Still, isn’t this a bright and beautiful little puzzle? It was so nice to sit and talk while my sister-in-law made dinner and I put this colorful mini puzzle together. (I did offer to help with the cooking, but sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is stay out of someone’s way – that was the case on this particular evening.)

It didn’t take much concentration, the colors and the whimsy pieces helped to make this one pretty simple to put together – but it was still nice to work with even as easy as it was.

It seems these were just a generic set of whimsies, they didn’t really match the artwork at all. But that’s ok with me, it was still lots of fun.

The artist, Lauren Altes, also did the artwork for the puzzle that Mr. Bob Puzzles was commissioned to do for the National Breast Cancer Foundation of Australia in 2021- Look After Your. I loved her sense of humor, the colors, the composition; it made for a fantastic assembly and for such a good cause too.

I’ll have to check the rest of my Mr. Bob Puzzles here at the house and see if there are any more by this artist, I enjoy her work very much!

You Are Here

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

You Are Here – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This gorgeous, colorful and serene-looking image was in July’s subscription box, and my daughter picked it out for us to assemble together. It was quite difficult; the painterly style and less than optimal lighting in the bathroom made for a challenging assembly. There were quite a few times when I put pieces wrong, but luckily they did not quite fit correctly and I could see my errors.

The image isn’t one I would normally choose to puzzle, but it was more engrossing than I anticipated, and the sense of accomplishment I felt once it was complete was rather nice.

I’m very much looking forward to our next subscription box – what could be in store for us this month?

Robot Repair In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Robot Repair – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This is my bathroom puzzle in progress right now because I don’t have my next bigger puzzle on the board yet. My son and I picked out the next puzzle and the sorting started yesterday, but I wasn’t feeling well and ended up spending most of the day in bed so this is my only puzzle currently in the works.

Despite the bright colors around the edges, the rest of the image seems so similar on the pieces that it’s difficult to put in even a piece or two under the less than adequate lighting in there. It definitely shows that I need to ask hubby if we can do something about that; otherwise there will always be images that need to be finished under the better lights in the puzzle room.

After taking the picture I immediately found a couple pieces and put them in place, so perhaps this puzzle will stay in here to complete the assembly. Lighting really does matter!

American Girl – Molly

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

American Girl – Molly – Mattel – 150 pieces

This set of three puzzles was quick and entertaining to assemble, but unfortunately one of them was missing a piece. That’s the chance you take when you purchase thrift store puzzles, but honestly I would say somewhere around 97% of all my pre-loved puzzles are complete. When there is a missing piece or two it isn’t too much of an issue for me; I still got a great deal for my money.

There were two American Girl puzzle sets at the thrift store, and this is the second set that I’ve assembled. The first one, Josefina, was put together in March of last year. That one was complete, and honestly was a little bit better in the quality department than this one.

The fit was much looser with this set, which made the assembly a bit frustrating. The finish is extremely shiny which is a problem under artificial lights, but the image reproduction was otherwise quite good. There were a nice variety of piece shapes, and the chipboard is thin but sturdy.

This was my favorite of the three images, and I wanted to put it into the frame, but the looseness of the fit caused it to crumble when I tried to put it in the tray. I was too frustrated to re-assemble it just for another picture. Sorry…sort of.

Normally the image with a dog would be the one I’m drawn to, but for some reason I cannot verbalize this was my least favorite of the three.

A missing piece. A bit of a disappointment, but I finished the puzzle by putting together all the pieces I had – so mission complete!

The set of three puzzles comes with one frame, so it seems that you display whichever one you like best, or you can rotate the puzzles.

If you’re lucky enough to find one of these sets at a thrift store or online and you’ve got a youngster who enjoys the American Girl dolls and books, they would be a nice gift. The quality is fair/good. It was nice to give them a try, and I enjoyed them very much.

Tube-tastic

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

Tube-tastic – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This little thing was MUCH more difficult than anticipated, I was constantly putting pieces in the wrong places! I thought the image would be fun (it was) and wouldn’t take too long (it did); but no matter, the challenge got me motivated to finish it and it was enjoyable the whole way through.

Normally I don’t have to use the image on the tube these puzzles come in – but for all the little scribbles on the paper it definitely helped to have a reference.

The fit was a little looser than usual, but otherwise it was the same great quality MicroPuzzle that I’m used to. Loved it!