Puzzle with me: Euro Jigsaw Jam

Euro Jigsaw Jam #112 by speedpuzzle.eu brought a new competition format: the "Unboxed" custom puzzle, which meant that we could not use the box image as a reference. That made this another mystery puzzle, only I would get the box afterwards for this one. :)
To be honest, this EJJ left me quite underwhelmed. My time wasn't stellar but also not catastrophic. However, I wasn't too happy to pull another kids' art puzzle out of the bag. I loved the flowery rainbow we got a while back. But for this unboxed challenge, diffuse structures, repeating patterns and no clear lines whatsoever were not very enticing and made this quite the frustrating event. I had no idea what I was assembling and never really recognized that I was assembling this upside-down. I uttered quite a few expletives of frustration while I was solving it. Yes, this is supposed to be a challenge, I get that. But if I am not the parent, this honestly is not a picture or a collage I would turn into a puzzle and have people buy at 25 EUR for the competition. This is the first speedpuzzle.eu brand puzzle that will immediately land in my trade/sell pile. I redid the puzzle again right after the competition and was only able to shave off 5 minutes from my 1st attempt, even though I now knew the picture AND had the box image for reference. But with 1 hour, 29 minutes, and 37 minutes, the second attempt got me under 90 minutes (if only barely), so this one can find a new home soon.

Kids' Art
speedpuzzle.eu
500 pieces
EAN: 4262478164202

December 21, 2025 (1st try; 1 hour, 35 minutes, and 52 seconds)
#eurojigsawjam #ejj #speedpuzzling #speedpuzzle #jigsawpuzzle #puzzle #kidsart

All frustration aside (which was bound to happen at one point...): EJJs are a very fun thing to attend and I am looking forward to more competitions in the new year. For this year, though, this was my last EJJ.
You can rewatch the livestream here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/tv_j3Dj4...