Beauties Of Chinese 56 Ethnic Groups

Brand: Taiwang

Pieces: 1000
Size:  50cm x 75cm

Product Code: TW-1000-009

It's Lunar New Year, and since I don't have any puzzle images of snakes (of which this is the year), I have decided instead to put up a puzzle that I completed several years ago and which has been sitting in my puzzle photo vault for all that time! I won this puzzle through a Facebook competition back then, and it was such a beautiful image to complete. 

There are a couple of puzzles I have in my collection that would be perfect for this Lunar New Year and I hope to complete them soon so that I can show them to you. In the meantime, take a look at the one above!

I hadn't done this brand before and have never seen it available in Australian stores (or even online for that matter) but the design is beautiful and I remember the quality being exceptional. 

Have you got any puzzles in your collection where you've never tried the brand before but the image drew you in and you're raring to complete them?

Bear Fairy Tale

Brand: Unknown
Pieces: 1000
Size: 75cm x 50cm
Product Code:  -

I've done a lot of jigsaw puzzles over the years. These have ranged in piece size, brand and quality- I like to shake it up rather than stick to one particular type. If I see an attractive design, I will go for, whether or not I have done something from that brand before. It's usually the design that draws me in, rather than who makes it or how long it will take to complete.

That is how I ended up doing this puzzle. 

I purchased this one from the shopping app Wish, and even though the box text is all in Chinese, I managed to work out (thanks Google Translator) that this one is called Bear Fairy Tale (or something along those lines!). I have no idea what the brand is (or much else for that matter) but I was greatly impressed by the quality. 

The pieces are cut from wood and have the alphabet printed in sections on the back to help make the puzzling process easier. The front of each piece is glossy and bright and the design is cute and well done. 

I really enjoyed doing this puzzle and will probably look at others of the same style at some point. I haven't done a wooden puzzle as big as this before so it was a nice change from putting together the usual cardboard pieces. When designs are this cute, it's great to branch out and try something a little bit different!

Playful Pandas

Brand: Cardinal
Pieces: 500
Size: 35.5cm x 27.9cm
Product Code: -

It's quite rare that I don't post this blog (and Instagram) on a Saturday morning, but sometimes circumstances call for a change. Tonight my husband and I are going to be attending the Evanescence concert in Melbourne (one of my favourite bands from my teenage years), and we'll be staying in the city overnight so I won't have any opportunity to post tomorrow morning. We'll also be staying in Melbourne until late tomorrow night- we wanted to experience 'White Night'- therefore my next opportunity would have been Sunday morning and that just feels too late! 

So I'm getting in a day early!

I have decided to post the above puzzle for two reasons- one, we'll be spending time at Melbourne Zoo on Saturday and I love to visit the pandas! And two, even though it's the Year Of The Dog for Chinese New Year, I didn't have any puzzles of dogs to put up so I figured I'd put up one of a distinctly Chinese animal instead! 

The above puzzle was quite easy to do, although some parts of the dragon (above the pandas) were a little bit challenging. The pandas themselves weren't too bad because the shading of their fur made it easier to differentiate each part and determine which panda was which. 

Funnily enough, when I finished this puzzle, there were two pieces left over, with nowhere left to put them! Usually with these cheaper brands, you find yourself missing pieces, so I suppose that was a pleasant surprise, even if I couldn't do anything with them. Maybe there's another Playful Pandas puzzle out there somewhere that's missing two pieces?! Oh well, at least it wasn't mine!