Vintage Matchboxes

On April 26, 2026April 26, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Vintage Matchboxes – Colorcraft Puzzles – 1000 pieces

*This is the last puzzle from 2024, I promise! Since it sat on my puzzle board for just over two years I am CERTAIN it’s the last one; we had to dust it off just to take a picture. Ick.*

Sorry there aren’t any close up pictures of this one, I actually did take them, but they were awful. It’ll get better, I just have to get my blogging sea legs back.

As per usual there are no memories of this assembly. Colorcraft Puzzles are about mid-range in puzzle quality if memory serves; the fit and image quality are good, the finish is a bit shiny and can cause glare under indoor lights, the boxes are quite small for 1000 pieces and JUST fit all the pieces.

It’s a cool image and my hope is that it was entertaining to put together. But if it wasn’t, I don’t remember so it’s all good. 😉

Frosty Frolics

On April 24, 2026April 21, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Frosty Frolics – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

*Yes, another puzzle from the land of 2024. Apologies. But I did assemble them so why not show them off, right? Unfortunately all I did for this draft was download the picture and put it into a draft with the info above – that’s where the story ends.*

So…what’s you’re going to get here is general information about MicroPuzzles and my impression of the image, because there is NO recollection of assembling this one at all. On the plus side, if there were no notes in the draft about anything negative that means this puzzle left no bad impressions and had an overall good experience with the assembly.

Usually when there is a problem with a puzzle’s pieces, fit, image, etc. I always make a quick note in the draft of something specific I want to remember to talk about when ultimately the post is typed up. In the last puzzle that was posted, Squish Summer, what I put in the draft was only three words; but they reminded me that I was unimpressed with the quality overall, and specifically that the pieces were warped.

This image is very cute, and I’m certain that the lines between sky and snow on each level helped make the assembly a bit easier. MicroPuzzles always entertain me, and even though these aging eyes need help I still enjoy working on the tiny puzzles that can be put on a tray and taken to whatever room I want/need to be in.

Thankfully I have plenty of MicroPuzzles yet to be assembled so that when a 1000 piece puzzle seems like way too much of a commitment I can pick an adorable image that I know will be a well-made puzzle that can be done almost anywhere.

Long time readers will remember how I feel about Christmas-y images, but this one wasn’t too sappy of a portrayal and/or with too much white snow that ramps up the difficulty and makes it frustrating to put together. Although I don’t actually remember assembling this one, just looking at the image I can say that it was most likely a pretty fun puzzle.

Just typing up this post has made me want to assemble a MicroPuzzle once I’m finished with the one currently on my board. Luckily I have plenty to choose from! 🧩

Flight of Scarlet In Progress…

On April 22, 2026April 23, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Flight of Scarlet by Daniel Merriam – Artifact Puzzles – 364 pieces

Forgive the dark picture, I don’t seem to be quite caught up on taking and downloading pictures as I once was. It’ll get better. 😎📸

This one’s only been in progress for a couple of days, but it’s coming along nicely if I do say so myself. Once the light colors of the image are finished my feeling is that it’s going to be much more difficult; but hopefully it’s the fun kind of difficult that keeps you entertained and engrossed in what you’re doing.

There aren’t many whimsies in this puzzle; there’s a cat, some (7) butterflies, and a heart – that’s all. Usually there are many more with an Artifact puzzle, but perhaps because this is a limited edition and also one of their “challenging” puzzles the whimsies aren’t the focus. It doesn’t matter as much to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love whimsy pieces, but it’s more about how the assembly goes. How much I can sit and get involved with finding and connecting pieces and be completely in the moment; that’s the special sauce of puzzling for me – at least one of them!

I purchased this puzzle several years ago, maybe a year or more before my latest sabbatical – it just never seemed the timing was right to put it together. Now I just said “what the hell, might as well give it a go”.

Even if it takes a while I’m hoping to really enjoy it….I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes.😉

Shimmer and Shine

On April 20, 2026April 17, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Shimmer and Shine – Cardinal – 24 pieces

*Here’s another completed puzzle from 2024, although there wasn’t much in the draft for this one, so this is going to be a pretty bare bones kinda post. In fact, what I wrote was – “meh, warped pieces”. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this puzzle wasn’t overly impressive. LOL*

Even though I’ve put together some extremely large and difficult jigsaw puzzles, I still enjoy puzzles of all sizes – even those made for children. This one however didn’t seem too impressive back when it was assembled. “Meh” isn’t a word that I use regularly, so this one must have been pretty run of the mill and not particularly well made.

Sorry Cardinal, I calls ’em like I sees ’em. 😎

Squish Summer

On April 18, 2026April 17, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

Squish Summer – Buffalo (Foil) – 300 pieces

*This puzzle was completed in 2024, and I honestly have NO memory of it at all. Luckily I did write a bit about it back then, so at least this is accurate. Perhaps it’s ridiculous to post a puzzle that was done so long ago, but I figure it’ll help get me back in the swing of things, so to speak.*

After putting together all of the pieces with color I was left with approximately 40 pieces that were basically all silver. There are “blue” blocks in the water, but under artificial light they all just looked completely silver with the reflected light so it was difficult for these old eyes to see the patterns.

I ended up having to separate by shape and use brute force to finish the last few pieces. Luckily I’ve been doing puzzles for a while and am good at seeing the shape I’m looking for when brute force is called for – so it didn’t take as long as it might have otherwise.

Two of the cutest little squishmallows, in my opinion.

Excellent quality all around, but I’ve learned my lesson and have decided I really really don’t care for foil puzzles and will NOT be getting another. Still, the fit was good enough for my favorite puzzle picture….