Broadway Musicals

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Broadway Musicals – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

Doesn’t this look like fun? If you answered yes – get yourself a cookie, you were absolutely right! Even though it’s 1000 pieces (and I hadn’t done one that big in a more than a year 😲), it didn’t seem like a larger puzzle because it felt as though I were assembling a bunch of smaller puzzles, little bits at a time.

As an added bonus it’s a panoramic puzzle, so there was much less leaning over the board to reach the top of the image than there normally is. I adore panoramic puzzles, they’re so much easier on this old body.

The quality was the usual for Re-marks. There weren’t any issues at all other than a slightly loose fit, but even that wasn’t too bad. The pieces are a good thickness, there were a good variety of piece shapes, and the image reproduction was crisp and clear (just a bit shiny). Their catalog of collage images is just too good to pass up, so whatever quality issues the brand has doesn’t matter much to me. My head gets turned by a pretty “face” on the box and before you know it the puzzle has been adopted and has come home with me.

I haven’t really seen many musicals in the theater, but I have seen the movie West Side Story many, many times. We also had a record of the soundtrack when we were little, and my sisters and I knew every word of every song. My parents love to tell the story of them taking us all to the movies to see it for a matinee; and as soon as the first song started playing there were three young girls singing along at the top of their lungs. Luckily the other people in the theater weren’t too upset with us, perhaps we were just too cute. Apparently we even got some applause after that first song! 🤩

I haven’t seen this show, but I’ve heard lots of good things about it and would love the opportunity to watch it. Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper – yes please! It’s too bad they don’t record the show and put it on a streaming service for the rest of the world to see. A streaming service with theatrical shows would be amazing for those of us who don’t live in or near New York. In fact, a streaming service that has plays and musicals from around the world (not just Broadway) would be an excellent idea. I would definitely be a subscriber – how about you?

I don’t recall ever hearing about this show, but reading all those signs makes me think I would absolutely love it. Coming of age in the 80’s means I love all that music, all those hair bands, all that arena rock – it’s one that would most likely have me singing along at the top of my lungs, just like when I was a little girl at the movies. 😁🎶

Plumes of Color

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Plumes of Color by Eduard – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Is this not a GORGEOUS image? It’s even prettier in person! A beautiful image and a great quality puzzle, what more could a puzzle gal ask for?

Being that I was too nervous to sort or assemble a larger puzzle right away, this was one of the few smaller piece count puzzles that was here at the house; obviously it had to be next.

The only problem was that I’d spent a good number of hours re-reading through much of my blog and came upon a post about a gradient puzzle from a few years ago that was pretty darned difficult. In that post I wanted to remind myself that although they are usually lovely to look at, gradient puzzles can be extremely challenging and care should be taken in judging whether or not the pretty picture would be fun to put together. Yikes.

Luckily this puzzle, at only 300 pieces, wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d built it up to be. Good fun was had and it kept me out of trouble.

For a little while. 😊

Where Do You Puzzle?

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous24 Comments

Do you have a special place to work on your puzzles? Do you have a puzzle board that’s exclusively for you or do you have to take over the dining room table from time to time? Do you work only in one place or do you roam the house and puzzle all over?

I’m always interested in how others get their jig on, so to speak.

When this post starting forming in my brain it had me thinking about how my Grama (who instilled in me my love for jigsaw puzzles) used to work on her puzzles, and I’m amazed at where she chose to puzzle. She always sat in “her” chair in the living room and used a huge piece of cardboard that she placed on the big footstool in front of the chair. Thinking about how much leaning over that required, I’m stunned she didn’t develop back problems. When my sisters and I would spend the night at her house there were many times when we went to bed and Gram was working on a puzzle; when we got up in the morning she was still sitting there in her pajamas in front of the board and the puzzle was much closer to completion. I used to think to myself that I couldn’t wait to be a grownup so I could stay up all night if I wanted to and work on puzzles. (I have done so on several occasions, and it is very nice not to have to answer to anyone about my bedtime, that’s for sure.😉)

Mom used a big sheet of white board paneling, cut down to a manageable size, that my dad bought from the hardware store. When she was working on a puzzle she’d put it on top of her big table in the office (it had plenty of room for us to sit side by side and puzzle together when I visited), and when she needed the table for other things she’d just pick up the board and set it on the day bed. She also worked late into the night on puzzles, especially if we hadn’t finished a puzzle on one of our Friday visit days. She’d text me a picture of the finished image and say something like “worked on this one till 3 am, but we finally got it done!”.

I have several boards and have both a dedicated room where I work on my puzzles, and extra boards and trays so that if need be I can work on larger and smaller puzzles in other rooms of the house. My main boards were made by hubby, my mom, and me – it was definitely a team effort.

My fantastic husband helped me to make a board to work the giant 40,320 piece Disney puzzle, measuring 5 feet by 4 feet, plenty of room for each section to be completed.  Mom and I found some gorgeous suede-like fabric on clearance at Joann Fabrics that was perfect for the cover.  I purchased enough material to cover a smaller board (4′ x 3′) and 2 large boards (5’x 4′) for about $12.  We bought a 4′ x 8′ sheet of sub-flooring (luan) for about $13, and cut it into the 2 sizes I wanted.  Mom and I then glued the material on the boards and for about $25 total I have two beautiful jigsaw boards, and they are extremely nice for working puzzles. The fabric makes it so the pieces don’t slip around easily and the color makes a nice background contrast so the pieces are easier to see.

The smaller board fits puzzles up to approximately 3000 pieces and is the main one in use.  The larger one was primarily for my Disney monster, but is also needed for some bigger piece count puzzles I still have to get to. Plus I have a white board (dry erase) that I use when working on larger puzzles in bed, and various other boards that can be put to good puzzle use if need be. And let’s not forget my paper-lined cookie sheets that I use for our bathroom puzzles and for working on small puzzles in bed. 🛌🧩

Well, that’s where and how three generations of women in my family got/get their jig on. I’m certain most people’s homes aren’t as crazy with so many boards and places to work on jigsaw puzzles as mine is, but I’d love to hear where and how you puzzle.

Kellogg’s Vintage – Day 4

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

Kellogg’s Vintage – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) we have come to the end of the vintage Kellogg’s mascot puzzles. They were so entertaining to put together and a welcome way for me to step back into puzzles after a long hiatus. 💕🧩

I’m old, but apparently not old enough to remember who two of those mascots are. I know the frog in the middle is Dig ‘Em, but the other two don’t look familiar at all. AT ALL. I feel old.

I am old.

There was a bit of sleuthing required to find out their names; the monkey on the left is Jose and he was the mascot for Cocoa Krispies. He didn’t last long at that job because it was felt that Jose with his cabana boy hat and bongo drum was an ethnic stereotype. Having seen quite a few older commercials from the 50’s and 60’s I absolutely wouldn’t doubt that he was stereotypical – at the very least.

The chipmunk on the right is Sugar Pops Pete. He sure looks like he’s having a good time, doesn’t he? I used to like Sugar Pops when I was a young’un; it’s another one of those cereals that ended up taking the word “sugar” out of their name. Heaven forbid! Sugar! *clutching my pearls*

If you’re new here, these are 500 piece puzzles from RoseArt/Lafayette Puzzle Factory; each puzzle is a set of 12-18 smaller shaped puzzles in various themes. Each smaller puzzle has a different colored backing – you can choose to work the entire set as one large 500 piece puzzle, or sort them according to color and work on each smaller image individually. I’ve found that either way is entertaining, it all depends on what you prefer.

These sets of small shaped puzzles always bring me joy. If they look like you might enjoy them too they are highly recommended. 🥣

Kellogg’s Vintage – Day 3

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Kellogg’s Vintage – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

More of the vintage Kellogg’s mascots and boxes – how many of you knew that at one point the mascot for Honey Smacks (which used to be called Sugar Smacks and seems to have been altered for this puzzle) was a seal? I never knew that! A quick search tells me his name was Smaxey the Seal. I watched an old commercial with Smaxey on YouTube and, uh, it was something.

For me, the vintage image of Tony the Tiger is so odd looking with those eyes, I don’t ever recall seeing this version of him way back in the Cretaceous period when I was young. 🦖

Still, even though Tony’s eyes were freaking me out and I was completely in the dark about who the seal was, these puzzles were still entertaining to assemble and I enjoyed myself very much.

Anyone else out there tried these puzzle sets? Aren’t they great fun?