Tag: Shaped 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!

Coronium

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Coronium by Nadieh Bremer – Artifact – 172 pieces

If you’re thinking that this looks like quite a challenging puzzle to assemble – you would be absolutely correct! It was much more difficult than I gave it credit for; although I did assemble it during the week that an extra medication was added to my regimen that made me feel very dizzy and disoriented, so perhaps it was the meds and not any lack of intelligence on my part that made it seem so hard. 😉

Fantastic image again by Nadieh Bremer, this one almost seems as though it’s a companion puzzle to Nebulium but it really isn’t. The artist seems to enjoy creating images with color gradients and science mixed together – and I’m glad she does! Coronium was the suggested name of a chemical element thought to exist in the late 1800s. It wasn’t a new element, just ionized iron in the atmosphere around the sun. This is her version of the element, should it actually exist. Isn’t it gorgeous?

I’ve got one more of Nadieh’s puzzles here from Artifact and am very much looking forward to putting it together. It’s over 400 pieces though so I’m certain it will definitely put my gray cells to the test.

I didn’t pull any whimsies to photograph separately as most of the pieces seemed to be fantastical and interestingly shaped. I did recognize the symbol for pi, but that was about it. I didn’t go very far in my mathematics classes (Algebra II was as far as I got), so perhaps there are more symbols that I just don’t know. I’m certain someone will let me know if that’s the case.

Absolutely LOVED this one even though at times I felt stupid and thick and that it might be too difficult for me. It wasn’t too much for me, and it was so interesting and different from most of the puzzles that I assemble that I couldn’t help but fall in love with it. The colors, the shape, the pieces and the way they went together all made for a truly amazing assembly. 💙💛💚

Pop the Champagne

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Pop the Champagne by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 80 pieces

This challenging and beautiful little puzzle was SO much fun to put together! It was the last one in a day where we put together two mini wooden puzzles, one larger and more difficult wooden puzzle, and a 500 piece cardboard one. Luckily, we had just as much fun with this last one as we did the first.

I’ve done a few shaped Aimee Stewart images, and they’re always a bit challenging but lots of fun – this one was no different. The swirling shapes of the pieces and the gorgeous colors made for a great assembly.

There was only one whimsy piece with this mini puzzle, a bunch of grapes right near the center of the bottle…

We had such a great time with this that it ended up staying with my sister-in-law, she kept saying how much fun it was and I just couldn’t resist leaving it for her just like the Tea Bath puzzle we put together at their cabin on our first trip. I know it will be well loved and put together many more times. 💕

Hubby and his sister worked on it by themselves for a few minutes, and I got in there closer to the end and sis and I put in the last few pieces together. Love, love, loved it!

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.