Winged Things 17

Winged Things
Winged Things 17 – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

This is a gorgeous image that was a little challenging too – it needed just the right amount of brain power. It’s a great little puzzle that I think looks amazing. The name of the puzzle makes me wonder what the other 16 Winged Things look like, and I also wonder if they were made into puzzles.

Normally there isn’t much discussion about the boxes puzzles come in, but this one was was something worth talking about. The box was so enormously difficult to open that I had to have one of my sons help me. It’s just a round-ish box with one flat side (easier to put on the shelves I’m assuming). Seriously, it was so difficult to open it took two grown people working together, and we had to use a butter knife to pry the pieces apart. We must have looked like a couple of world class mindless idiots – we couldn’t open a cardboard box! (Thank goodness there is no video evidence of this to add to my humiliation)

Once we finally got the box open I had a fabulous time putting this together. The piece shapes were interesting, and the colorful image made for such entertaining puzzling. This puzzle had a somewhat loose fit but it wasn’t too bad, and the image reproduction was absolutely beautiful.

Winged Things 1

The center was very unusual; most circular puzzles have 3 pieces that form a small circle, but this one had eight pizza shaped pieces – very interesting – and it added to the difficulty as well.

It isn’t often that you see circular 300 piece puzzles, but I was very happy to find this at the store. I only bought two of them, but there were more; I might have to go back and get another one. 😉

Review: MOMA Frank Stella (Firuzabad)

Firuzabad
MOMA Frank Stella (Firuzabad) by Frank Stella – Galison – 750 pieces

MOMA Frank Stella is a gorgeous geometric puzzle that caught my eye immediately, and I was so happy to be able to assemble it for review. The image is fantastic for puzzling, and I enjoyed the assembly very much!

I was happy to see that on the Galison website most puzzles have a picture of the actual assembled jigsaw so that you can see the shapes of the pieces. You can clearly see that this puzzle doesn’t only have one piece shape; in fact, it’s a random cut. Even better!

This puzzle had very good quality; the pieces are a good thickness and fit together well with an excellent variety of shapes. My one issue was that many of the edge pieces didn’t connect together, they merely sat next to one another until interior pieces made connections. I saw when initially sorting the puzzle that this would be the case, and didn’t try to start with the edges as I normally would to avoid unnecessary frustration.

Blocks of color in a puzzle make me very happy, so you can imagine how much I enjoyed this assembly! It was a Goldilocks assembly; not too hard, not too easy – just right! This was after one day of work…

Firuzabad 1

Color by color is how this one was put together, and it made for extremely fun puzzling! The colors are bright and beautiful, the shaped aspect made it more interesting, and the overall assembly was highly entertaining.

Firuzabad 2

I loved this puzzle, and if the image looks like one you’d enjoy it’s highly recommended!

Details:

  • Title:                  MOMA Frank Stella (Firuzabad)
  • Artist:                Frank Stella
  • Brand:               Galison
  • Piece count:     750 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 24 x 16 in. (61 x 41 cm)
  • Purchased:      N/A, sent for review

Quality:

  • Board:               Very good
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Excellent
  • Box:                   Excellent
  • Fit:                     Very good
  • Puzzle Dust:     Small amount
  • Piece cut:          Random cut
  • Piece shapes:   Very good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Very good, recommended

 

I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Songbirds

songbirds
Songbirds – Lafayette Puzzle Factory – 500 pieces

Alas, this is the last of the mini shaped puzzles that I had left, and now they’re all done. They’re beautiful and so entertaining for me to assemble, I’m a little sad that there aren’t any more. 😥

The colored backing makes them easy to sort, each mini puzzle has a different color so you can separate them easily. Or if you’re looking for a little more of a challenge you can ignore the backs and assemble them with no pre-sorting. I absolutely adore these little puzzles! You get that wonderful sense of accomplishment with each figure completed, and it revs me up to get going on the next one.

Puzzling is all about enjoyment and relaxation for me, and assembling these puzzles gives me so much pleasure. I love them❣

**Lafayette Puzzle Factory, I hope these were excellent sellers for you and that you might want to make more of this series. I’ll be waiting outside your virtual doorstep for a new release and will scoop up every one you have to offer!

It’s Christmas Time

It's Christmas Time
It’s Christmas Time by Randy Wollenmann – Wentworth – 245 pieces

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! This puzzle is a great Christmas holiday treat with a cup of hot cocoa and a cookie. Fun, fun, fun puzzle with unique pieces that added an interesting twist to our afternoon entertainment. Not too difficult, pieces fit nicely together. Awesome quality pieces, colors vivid, and so smooth to the touch!

………………….

Ok, I know I said no more holiday puzzles this year, but today’s post was composed by a guest writer – my favorite sister-in-law, Lena. 💗

This is the puzzle I sent her family for Christmas; they completed it yesterday and she sent me the picture and told me she was sending a “blog post” about it. I think she may have been joking at first, but I told her to write it up and I’d post it here today. Don’t judge my writing too harshly compared to hers – she has a background in communications, and I’m just a wife and mother who loves puzzles. 😉

 

 

Cottages

Cottages
Cottages by Kim Leo – Lafayette Puzzle Factory – 500 pieces

I’ve run out of things to say about these mini shaped puzzles. They’re adorably cute and lots of fun!

I’m not sure what my expectations were with these cottages, but for some reason I can’t explain I wasn’t as entertained by these puzzles as much as I’d hoped. The quality is the same as the previous puzzles, but there was just something missing for me. Still, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy them, because I absolutely did.

Cottages 1

I couldn’t seem to pick any of the cottages as my favorites, so I decided to take close-up pictures of all of them. 😁

Cottages 2

Don’t they all look like lovely places to visit over the summer?

Cottages 3

Although they weren’t as entertaining as I’d hoped, they were still fun – and terribly cute!