Tag: Multipack Puzzles

Hello Kitty and Friends – Day 1

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

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

It’s been a while since I’ve done a pack of mini shaped puzzles from RoseArt; these were much more enjoyable to assemble and much better quality than the last set I put together. Plus, I’ve learned so much about the world of Hello Kitty – I had no idea there were so many characters!

Overall the quality was quite good, I was happy to find this after the not so great quality of the Peanuts puzzles I did earlier this year. The pieces fit together well, there was no damage to them, and none of the pieces were still connected. The pieces are much bigger now than the puzzles I began doing all those years ago, and they make for bigger mini puzzles. The finish is a bit shiny, but the colors were bright and fun, and made for excellent puzzling.

Many times when I’ve done a puzzle like this I create names and backstories for each little puzzle, but that won’t be happening this time. These characters already have names and extremely detailed backstories, so I’ll just be sharing what I’ve learned about them online and letting you know how each puzzle was to assemble.

This is Monkichi (his full name is Osaru no Monkichi, which means “Monkey’s Monkey in Japanese). He enjoys puns, and has a sunny easygoing personality. He loves bananas and apparently can eat 10 of them in just one minute! He lives on a mountain in the Japanese countryside with his Mama who is a very good cook, and his Papa who is the Pun-Master.

This little guy was one of the easier puzzles in this set; he was smaller, and the colors made it less difficult to assemble than some of the others.

Chococat gets his name from his chocolate-colored nose; and his whiskers are like antennae that help him pick up information so he usually the first to know about things. He loves to fool around with his best friends, but he can be a little scatter-brained at times. His parents (Rory and Catrina) are divorced, and he lives with his mom.

Although this was the smallest of all the puzzles at only 24 pieces, it was by no means easy to assemble! Almost every piece was just black and white, and it took me much longer than you’d think to put everything together properly.

Pompompurin is a good-natured golden retriever dog who was born on a sunny day on the 16th of April. He lives in his very own basket in the entrance hall of his sister-owner’s house and his favorite food is his Mama’s cream/caramel pudding. His trademark is his brown beret that is always on his head. He loves collecting his owner’s shoes, sleeping, and hanging out with his friends (a hamster named Muffin, a mouse named Scone, and a bird named Custard). He’s a laid-back dog who easily makes friends, and he loves soft things.

This was one of the few puzzles that I had to assemble the edges first in order to make progress. All those yellow pieces were a LOT.

Hope you enjoyed your introduction to these Hello Kitty characters, I enjoyed learning about them. Stay tuned for more new characters on Day Two!

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.

Peanuts – Day 4

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Peanuts by Charles Schulz – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

On our last day of the Peanuts puzzles we have Linus and his security blanket (felt a kinship with him as I was a thumb sucker for a little bit too long as well), Snoopy again, and my most favorite of the Peanut characters – Pig-pen. I was a tomboy who spent her days climbing trees, digging in the ground and in general having as much fun and getting as dirty as possible. I hated having to take a bath or shower at the end of the day and one of my parents’ nicknames for me was Pig-pen. 😎

I hate having to say over and over that this set of puzzles disappointed me, but not everyone reads every post and I feel obligated to say that although I’ve always been happy with the quality of these RoseArt/Lafayette Puzzle Factory sets – this one was different. The fit wasn’t good, the chipboard was too thin, and there were one or two missing pieces. *I can’t really be sure about the missing piece count because these are shaped puzzles and it could be one larger or two smaller pieces missing.*

In general, these puzzles sets are great for when you don’t have much time or space to puzzle; you can use the colored backing to sort the pieces and just grab one color and start assembling one small puzzle at a time. I love them, they’re great when I’m feeling anxious about sorting or starting a larger piece count puzzle; I can just grab this “500 piece puzzle” and put together each little one without worrying about anything else.

Specifically though, this Peanuts set was less than optimal quality, and unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend them. I wish this set had been more entertaining to assemble, but it just wasn’t.

I really did want to enjoy it. 😢

Peanuts – Day 3

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Peanuts by Charles Schulz – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

Here we have Franklin, Marcie and Sally – of these three I liked Marcie the most, she was matter of fact and logical and totally out of place with the craziness of the other characters in the Peanuts world. To be honest I remember that Franklin was in the comics but I don’t recall a thing about him. That’s most likely my old age brain – I don’t remember much about Sally either, other than she was Charlie Brown’s sister.

There isn’t much more to say about these little puzzles. They weren’t great quality and even though the set was a gift from hubby I wasn’t happy with them at all. Damn the bleeping pandemic – for many much more important reasons than this – but in a small way for it’s effect on our puzzles.

Until now these sets have never let me down, this one did.

Peanuts – Day 2

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Peanuts by Charles Schulz – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

Of the Peanuts characters shown today I related to Peppermint Patty the most – she was her own person and didn’t really care about what others thought of her. Charlie Brown (the main character of the comics) just never really clicked with me; he always seemed resigned to his fate and that is DEFINITELY not me at all. And Snoopy – I always loved Snoopy’s commitment to making mischief wherever he went. 😁

I talked about the quality of this set in yesterday’s post, it was my first disappointing set of these mini puzzles by RoseArt/Lafayette Puzzle Factory. I’m hoping that the other two sets I have left – Hello Kitty and Main Street – are of better quality than this one was.

The assembly was enjoyable, but not as much as with previous sets. I guess I’m going to have to say that this particular set of puzzles isn’t recommended; or perhaps if you’re looking to assemble these be cautious and check to see where they were manufactured. If it’s in China, beware.