Tag: Ravensburger

Rainbow Cake (Circle of Colors)

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Rainbow Cake (Circle of Colors) by Inna Markova – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This beauty was so much more fun than I anticipated – love, love, loved it! Why did it take me so long to do a Ravensburger puzzle once I came back to the puzzle table? No idea, but I’m so glad this one was available, I had the best time. 😍

Ravensburger puzzles are my go to, I love their quality. Of course, no company is perfect and sometimes I’ve had an issue here or there but it has always been resolved quickly and to my satisfaction. When I was working on the behemoth 40,320 piece Disney puzzle I found a piece that was mangled with most of the image torn off; and even though the puzzle wasn’t yet for sale in the US at the time, the company happily replaced the entire section of the puzzle for me. Excellent customer service.

I found myself constantly running my hands over the completed sections of the puzzle the entire time I was working on it, I just couldn’t help myself. I do love a puzzle massage at the end of an assembly, but there’s something about how this brand feels – it’s fantastic! From the sorting in the beginning to the very last connection I kept running my fingers over a piece I was holding or even small assembled sections, it was a tactile joy.

The quality of this puzzle was excellent in every way. The fit was wonderful, great variety of piece shapes, and excellent image reproduction. The only drawback was the amount of puzz fuzz (puzzle dust) in the bag, but that’s easily remedied by dumping out the pieces into a colander and shaking it out; and it didn’t detract from the assembly in any way.

The border was a bit time consuming, but it wasn’t too horribly difficult. After that I worked on the whiter section that goes just inside the edge pieces. I didn’t work the rest of the puzzle from the outside in though, I went from the center outward. Started with the pinks and purples in the center and then to each successive color. It was completely enjoyable for me, and I tried to keep myself in check to make the assembly last, but as usual it was just too much fun and I couldn’t help myself.

No self-control at all. 😇

Oh well, self-control or not I enjoyed this puzzle very much and if you’re of a mind to give it a try it is most definitely recommended.

Happy Beads

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Happy Beads by Elspeth McLean – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This gorgeous image was even more fun to assemble than I thought it would be. Great quality, beautiful colors and interesting designs – absolutely adored it! 🧡💛💚

Elspeth McLean is a new to me artist, who actually hand paints everything you see here, they’re just completely stunning little works of art, and it makes for really fun puzzling as well. Very smart of Ravensburger to partner with her to make such detailed and fabulous puzzles. This is my kind of artwork.

There is just so much intricate detail, and even though when you look closely you can see little differences in the size of the dots and lines it still looks almost perfect. Her use of color and the beautiful designs she creates are just so striking, and I can’t wait to get more puzzles with her artwork.

The fit was really quite good for a Ravensburger puzzle. Normally the fit is somewhat loose, but this one had such a good fit that I was actually able to stand it up – I’ve NEVER been able to do that with a Ravensburger before, not ever!

It’s a little warped out of shape, but still, I was amazed that I was able to do it at all. Being able to stand this one up and get a picture absolutely made my day. My emotions are sometimes tied too tightly to my puzzles (the scourge of PADS strikes again) but days when I can do something like this to make myself happy are completely worth the bad days.

I absolutely recommend this puzzle, if you can find it and feel as if you’re up to the challenge then by all means you should go for it; it’s a gorgeous, well made puzzle and there are hours worth of fun in that little box; it makes this puzzle geek’s heart go pitter patter. 😍

Happy Beads In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Happy Beads by Elspeth McLean – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

I fell in love with a couple of puzzles by this artist at the store, and bought two of her 500 piece puzzles. Of course I got them home, opened the boxes and looked at the pieces and thought “Why in the world didn’t you recognize how difficult these were going to be?” That’s me all over, if I love the image then damn the consequences – I’m buying it!

Actually this one seems like it’ll be the easier of the two that were purchased, and even though I knew going in it would be challenging it hasn’t been as horrible as I’d prepared myself for. Actually it’s been much more enjoyable than even I thought.

Last night I was working on this and one bead led to the next; things were connecting and even though I knew I needed to get out of my chair and go lie down it was extremely difficult to crowbar myself away from this puzzle. In the end a bargain was made (in my mind) that once the pieces were pared down from four trays to three that would be the end of work for the night. It was difficult, but eventually the last piece was put in for the evening and finally got myself to bed. 🛌💤

It’s going together slowly, bead by bead, but it’s been nice just zoning out and searching for the pieces of one bead or another; it’s almost meditative as focus is definitely required. When a puzzle takes that much of my concentration it almost shuts out the rest of world.

Isn’t that something we all need from time to time? I certainly do!

Northern Lights

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Northern Lights by Nancy Wernersbach – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This wintery image with the gorgeous Northern Lights in the background was pretty darned entertaining to assemble, and isn’t it just a beautiful puzzle? Loved it!

Ravensburger quality – as usual. This one had a fantastic fit though; in addition to the thick pieces, crisp image reproduction, variety of shapes, and wonderful cut. The pieces are larger than normal, and the finished image is approximately the size of a regular 1000 piece Ravensburger puzzle. The larger size made it even more surprising that I was still able to get one of my favorite, silly pictures…

Look at that edge, it’s barely distorted at all and standing up almost perfectly straight. I almost never get to do this with such a large puzzle, and this made me happier than it should – I was pleased as punch to be able to stand this one up. 😁

You know I love to see a beautiful canine fur baby in a puzzle; and I can’t resist getting a close up picture of them either.

Precious puppy puzzles please this passionate puzzle practitioner. 🤎🐶

The Flintstones

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

The Flintstones – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

My sweet, beautiful daughter got me this puzzle for my birthday, and she did such a good job picking it out – it was so much fun! It was definitely a Goldilocks puzzle; not too easy, not too challenging – it was just right. Of course I loved it. ❤

Wonderful Ravensburger quality, as usual. The feel of a Ravensburger puzzle massage (running my hands over the completed puzzle) is like no other, it’s so satisfying. Perhaps that’s just my little ritual, but the feel of a great quality puzzle when it’s finished makes me very happy.

Maybe I’m just being pedantic again, but if it’s 3,000,000 BC – how would they know? Wilma is reading a “magazine” with that date on it; but B.C. means before Christ, so how do they know he’ll be born in exactly 3 million years? It’s such a minor detail, I know, but these things jump right out at me and I can’t stop myself from seeing these little, insignificant details and then pointing them out to you. I think it’s the former executive secretary in me, I’m hard-wired to find mistakes.

All the black and white sections were the hardest to do, and the last bits to be assembled. After putting together the colorful scenes I assembled the slightly colored frames, and ended with the grayish sections. I really enjoyed every part of this image, it was VERY entertaining.

Alright, it’s time to reminisce. Anyone watch The Flintstones when it was was a prime time cartoon? How about in reruns during the 70s? The series was no longer being made when I was born, but I remember watching the reruns when I was younger. The theme song has permanent residence in my brain; I think most of my generation could sing it from memory. It’s iconic.

The opening of the show, which changed several times, at one point had the family going to a drive-in restaurant where Fred ordered a slab of dinosaur ribs that tipped over the car when they were brought. Also an iconic image that is forever stuck in the far recesses of my brain. Nostalgia, huh?

This puzzle was so much fun, it is definitely recommended. If it looks like something you’d enjoy – go for it – it gets two Brontosaurus ribs way up!🍖🍖