Tag: Mini Puzzles

Nordic Tree

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Nordic Tree – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

How cute and colorful is this image? I love it! All the different patterns at the side, the circle around the tree, and the interesting shapes on the tree itself made for slightly difficult but very entertaining puzzling.

In a larger piece count I would be all over this image, all the colors and shapes are absolutely my pile of pieces! With only 150 pieces and it being a micro puzzle, it was more challenging than expected. Your brain tells you you’re looking for a certain color or shape, but it changes so quickly into the next shape or color that your eye goes right past the correct piece and lands on what you think you should be looking for. Normally I puzzle without looking at the image on the box (or tube), and that made for a longer assembly than would usually be normal for a puzzle of this size.

I do enjoy the challenge of a more difficult puzzle, if everything is too simple it can easily become a boring assembly. There was no chance of that happening with this image though, it kept me on my toes!

Happy Holidays!

Sweata Weatha

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Sweata Weatha – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

Now this is my kind of Christmas puzzle! There is no perfectly decorated tree with snow falling softly outside, no Coca-Cola Santa, no roaring fire – just silly sweaters in a colorful image. It was so much fun!

If memory serves me correctly this was in my MicroPuzzles subscription box from the holiday season in 2021, it was an extra puzzle sent “compliments of Brian in shipping“. You remember Brian, don’t you? If not, check out Brian’s Worst Nightmare that I assembled a couple of years ago.

Unlike all the rest of the puzzles you get in your subscription box each month, this image is actually available on the MicroPuzzles website. Each subscription puzzle is an exclusive you can only get in your monthly box, but this one was a gift from Brian, so if you like it you can get your hands on this one.

Loved it!

Dainty Dissectology December

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous6 Comments

It looks as if you, dear readers, are going to be seeing a LOT of small puzzles this month; get ready, there are going to be quite a few of them. They aren’t all micro puzzles like the one above, but almost every puzzle this month is a mini puzzle with a small piece count. I don’t have many holiday puzzles because they’re just not my pile of pieces, for the most part. There are only a few 1000 piece Christmas puzzles here, and all the rest are little ones.

After hubby brought home the advent calendar of puzzles from Aldi, it prompted me to read through my posts of the previous advent calendar puzzles assembled in 2019. It reminded me how hectic (and maybe a little depressing) the holiday season can sometimes be and that most days the only puzzling I was able to do was that small advent calendar puzzle in the morning with my coffee. So I decided to do these puzzles the same way – one every day, and I’ll post about them the same day they’re assembled.

*Get ready for the ever-changing menopausal moods and attitudes of Stacey, it may be a roller coaster ride!😏🎢*

In addition to the twelve puzzles in the calendar, I have several other small holiday themed puzzles here to assemble. A 40 piece wooden micro puzzle from Mr. Bob Puzzles, a 100 piece gingerbread house puzzle from a company called Paladone, a 100 piece E & L puzzle of a wintery holiday scene (thrift store puzzle from a friend), and a set of three 100 piece puppy puzzles that are all decked out in holiday gear.

All in all that’s 18 holiday themed mini puzzles (plus two MicroPuzzles I’ve already assembled). Therefore I have dubbed this month Dainty Dissectology December.

Also, because of the number of holiday puzzles and the fact that I’m posting about each one separately, there will not be any in progress posts this month until after Christmas. I don’t know if they’re something you enjoy, or whether you’re looking forward to not hearing my banal ramblings about whatever puzzle I’m working on – but with all the dainty puzzles I’ve got here, there will be a new one every day until Santa comes! 🎅

I hope you enjoy seeing so many small puzzles – and I’m desperately hoping I enjoy assembling them too!

Please allow me to toot the horn of My Jigsaw Journal for just a moment, the site has been featured on the blog of Cloudberries Puzzles. If you get bored of all the dainty puzzles this month, maybe go and check out their post of Fun Jigsaw Puzzle Sites to Check Out When You’re Bored.

Orca Sunrise

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Orca Sunrise – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

My daughter fell in love with this image when she saw it, but she never actually wanted to help with the assembly for some reason. I know she tried a couple of times, but was frustrated with the difficulty. Still, it’s beautiful artwork and was quite entertaining to assemble.

You can see in the above picture that the fit was very good, as was the all around quality – as is usual for MicroPuzzles. There’s something about working with these little puzzles that is so satisfying for me, though I still struggle to explain why that is. I don’t really need to spell it out though, as long as they remain fun to assemble that’s all I really need. 😊

Hello Kitty and Friends – Day 4

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Hello Kitty and Friends – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

And now we’ve come to the final day of the Hello Kitty puzzles; it’s two friends, and Miss Hello Kitty herself! I enjoyed putting these puzzles together, but if you ask me there’s so much white that they all seemed harder to assemble than they look.

The quality was pretty good actually, much better than the last set of these puzzles I assembled – the Peanuts gang. No missing pieces, no pieces still attached to each other by the backing paper, and a relatively good fit. The finish is quite shiny, but even under artificial lighting it wasn’t too difficult to work with.

It was difficult to get pictures though, as the backing is quite slippery. Because my puzzle board is covered with fabric most puzzles grip the fabric and stay put when I stand the board against the wall to get good pictures with no glare from the artificial lighting. With the backing on these little puzzles, each one would just slide right down the board when I attempted to photograph them. That’s why quite a few of the images are at an angle, I couldn’t stand the board up at all.

And now, the final three characters…

Pochacco is a white dog with floppy black ears and a sporty, playful personality. He loves soccer, basketball, and skateboarding. Although he walks upright, Pochacco is clumsy and trips over himself quite a bit; this usually results in a head injury with an accumulation of bandages. He was born on February 29 (Leap Day) and lives in Airy Town.

Other than his red shirt, it was all black and white and not simple to assemble (even though it may look easy). Still, he’s a cute little guy, isn’t he?

Kuromi, whose name translates to “black beauty” in English, is a rabbit with a black jester’s hat with a pink skull; the skull’s facial expression apparently changes to match Kuromi’s mood. Her birthday is Halloween (October 31), which is fitting seeing that she also has a devil’s tail. She enjoys cooking and writing in her diary, and her favorite colors are black and hot pink.

This one wasn’t as difficult as the others to assemble, and it went together pretty quickly. With the placement of her eyelashes and that little smile, she looks as if she’s up to something, doesn’t she?

And last but certainly not least is Hello Kitty herself! She is a white Japanese Bobtail Cat who was born on November 1. Surprisingly she dislikes catnip, but she does enjoy baking cookies and collecting cute things, and she loves her Mama’s apple pie. (The backstory on her even tells us her blood type, if you can believe it – just….wow).

The clothes and hairbow made this one a little easier to assemble, but she’s got a very large, very white head! Good thing these puzzles were only a few pieces each, any larger and they wouldn’t have been much fun at all.

Overall this set of puzzles was enjoyable to assemble, but much more difficult than they look; the predominance of white with black lines made for a bit of a challenge even with only a few pieces per puzzle. Still, they are all adorable and were fun to assemble.