Cozy Fireplace

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

Cozy Fireplace by Olivia Gibbs – Playview Brands (Hugge collection) – 500 pieces

A new puzzle brand to try out, too bad it was a bit of a disappointment; I hadn’t seen the “Hugge” puzzles before and I was hoping they were good quality. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either – for myself that means I won’t be getting another of these puzzles unless I find them at the thrift store.

According to the box Hugge is a Danish term that describes a quality of coziness that makes a person feel content and comfortable. It’s also often used as an adjective meaning “cozy or comfortable”. There are also instructions on How to Hugge: get comfy and relax, create a cozy atmosphere, appreciate your surroundings, be present, light a candle and do a puzzle! Each puzzle comes with a candle to help you get cozy; the candle in my puzzle was wood sage and sea salt scented. Honestly, it doesn’t smell like much to me, but I’m not as interested in the candle as I am the puzzle itself.

Overall, the puzzle quality reminds me of some White Mountain puzzles – the kind that aren’t the best quality. I’ve had some great quality from WM and some questionable quality as well; this brand reminds me of the latter. The piece shapes even remind me of White Mountain puzzles, almost exactly the same shapes. Unfortunately there were extra hanging bits of backing paper on many pieces (what I lovingly call “hanging chads”), a spongy type of fit that isn’t always pleasant to work with, an extremely shiny finish, and some image lift on many tabs so that running your hands over the finished puzzle isn’t advised. In general it was disappointing.

Many of the edge pieces had an extra 1/8 of an inch or so of the blue backing paper which doesn’t sound like much of a big deal, but removing it without damaging the piece wasn’t easy and I had to use a razor blade to get rid of it. Probably around 25 pieces or so had this extra paper and it was a pain to deal with. Nothing life altering but an annoyance nonetheless.

I wish I had good things to say about this puzzle but I really don’t. The artwork by Olivia Gibbs is adorable, and made for a great puzzle image, but that’s about it for me on the positive side.

Classic Sitcoms

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Classic Sitcoms – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

This puzzle went quickly once I slogged through the sorting, which I find to be the worst part of puzzling – but for me it makes the rest so much more entertaining – that’s why I do it. At the time I’m typing up this post the virus still hasn’t fully let go of me, so it took a while to get through the sorting and putting together the edges. Once I made it thru the boring sorting and was able to actually start on the inside assembly it seemed to fly together.

Collages really are my happy puzzle place, and this one was no different. It looked like such fun it had to be the first one I assembled once my huge puzzle order arrived. If you can believe it, I’m old enough to have seen at least one episode of every single sitcom shown – except one. The Wonder Years never made it to my screen, it was just never my cup of tea. But I’ve seen every other show! I Love Lucy was already off the air before I was born, but most people my age have seen at least an episode or two, it’s been in re-runs forever.

It was a little more challenging than I thought it would be, but not too bad at all. The entertainment factor was high though and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. There were some easy to pick out sections like Bewitched, Mary Tyler Moore, I Dream of Jeannie, etc. Once those were done I picked out all the words, then the pieces with a bit of the white frame around each section, and then there weren’t many pieces left and they all seemed to jump right into the puzzle very quickly!

As per usual I picked out a couple to show you close up, shows that myself and my family really loved. Also, check out how clean and clear the pictures are close up, the image reproduction on this puzzle was excellent…

M*A*S*H was a favorite when I was younger, and my oldest son (the lover of all things movie/tv related) loves to watch the show with me as well. We’ve seen every episode, and it brings back many good memories. I remember the whole family gathered to watch the final episode of the series back in 1983. Seemed like the whole of America stopped to watch it too as I remember there being a whole lot made in the press about it being the most watched tv episode ever. After I typed up the previous sentence I checked the internet and according to my googling it still reigns as the most watched tv episode in US history – that’s amazing!

Soap was a favorite of mine and Mom’s; it makes me think of her.💕It was a satire/spoof of soap operas and was so over the top and stupidly funny that we absolutely LOVED it! Someone gifted me a box set of the entire series (there were only 3 seasons unfortunately) and Mom and I used to love to watch it together. I still have it though we barely watch DVDs anymore with all the streaming these days. Soap isn’t available on any of the streaming services, so thankfully whenever I need a good laugh it’s easy enough to pop in one of the discs and reminisce. Soap is one of my favorite sitcoms of all time, so I’m glad it was included in this collage.

This puzzle was a great time, and if you’re looking for a few hours of entertainment I can highly recommend it. Very good quality and an excellent image for puzzling!

Rebels In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Rebels – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

I’m sure it won’t be a surprise for you to hear that this puzzle is making for a completely entertaining assembly. If you ask me it needs to be a 2000 piece puzzle because it seems to be going together much too quickly and the fun is going to be over way too soon. 😥

There are most likely many things to tell you about the assembly so far, but I need to get back to my puzzle; it’s calling to me…

It also occurs to me that there aren’t nearly enough collage puzzles here, perhaps I need to do some shopping!

Mojo

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Mojo by Kristian Adams – Artifact – 118 pieces

This little cutie is finished once again and I found it just as engaging the second time around. The interesting shapes of the pieces made it extremely entertaining to assemble, as did the image itself. At only 118 pieces you would think it would go together quickly, but for me it took a bit of time to orient my brain to the way the pieces fit together.

There weren’t many whimsies in this one, but the creatures all made for an interesting fit in and around all the other pieces. I think the odd little sausage-shaped dog (?) is my favorite, and in second place is the two piece caterpillar. 🐛

To be honest I didn’t take a new picture of the front of the puzzle or the whimsy pieces, I already had them in my media from the first time I posted this puzzle. I did, however, flip it over to give you a different look at the pieces; there’s something about the backside of a wooden puzzle that makes me happy so why not share it, right?

I’ll probably start re-assembling more of my wooden puzzles, just because I feel like it. Hope all you tens of readers are up for a little repetition!

The Missing Will

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

The Missing Will (Murder Most Puzzling) – Chronicle Books – 500 pieces

So this is another mystery puzzle where you don’t have the complete image until you assemble it (or if you wanna “cheat” there’s a picture of it in the clue envelope that comes with the puzzle – but honestly there isn’t a way to cheat a puzzle, whatever works for you is best). Therefore, I am only showing you the small image featured on the box, not the entire finished puzzle. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.

I have no idea what possessed me to start this puzzle, it has been my experience that “murder mystery” puzzles are usually not the best quality. HOWEVER, this one was a pleasant surprise! The pieces were a good thickness, very sturdy, and the fit was lovely. A group of 10 or 15 assembled pieces could be picked up and moved with no problems, nothing fell apart. For the most part the image was bright and easy to pick out words, sections, etc. This puzzle made me very happy. 😁

Usually a company that doesn’t normally make jigsaw puzzles isn’t the best in the quality department. I was happy to find that for at least this puzzle it was a pleasure to assemble. To be honest I don’t even remember where I got this puzzle, but it was loads of fun to put together and I found myself wanting to get back into the puzzle room (even when I was resting in bed and feeling horrible); there were more sections to assemble and connections to make and I wanted to see the finished image.

With this mystery you learn that Uncle Gregory has died and no one can find his will; basically the number combination to the safe is in plain sight in the room, and you have to figure it out. I’m going to show you the answer, because in my mind it’s extremely clever. But here’s a warning, spoiler ahead. If you have this puzzle and don’t want it to be spoiled for you, stop reading now and have a great day.

If you want to see the answer, scroll down a bit…

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If you read these words aloud, you’ll have the combination…04790423. Admittedly I didn’t figure it out myself and had to open up the clue envelope, but I thought it was so clever that I had to share it.