Life is a Box of Colors

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Life is a Box of Colors – Cra-Z-Art (Kodak) – 350 pieces

I had a really good time with this puzzle. And since I don’t remember the last Kodak puzzle that was put together, I didn’t know what kind of quality this might be; I was happy to find that it was a very good quality puzzle that was also truly a joy to assemble.

For some reason I decided I was going to pick puzzles based on piece count and go upwards to 1000 pieces. One day I did both 150 and 200 piece puzzles, so of course the next one had to be 300 pieces. I thought I’d jump to 500 pieces after that, but when I looked through the shelves in my closet I was surprised to see I had a couple of 350 piece puzzles, and obviously this one jumped right out at me with it’s bright, beautiful colors.

The pieces were thick with a good variety of shapes. It’s one of those puzzles that has fat pieces and thin pieces, you can tell when you start assembling the border; the thinner, shorter pieces make up the side borders and the fatter, taller ones are the top and bottom borders. The finish was quite shiny, and I did most of the assembly without my overhead light on because there was just too much glare to deal with. The image reproduction was gorgeous, of course, look at those “kodak colors”! The fit was quite tight, almost like a Springbok or certain Sunsout puzzles – I’m not a fan of this type of fit, but at least it wasn’t loose, right?

Assembling words makes me so happy, of course this was the first section to be completed. Isn’t it a stunningly gorgeous image? Love it!

Did I mention something about an extremely tight fit? Oh yeah, I did! In fact, I was so sure that this was going to work that I stood the puzzle on it’s edge first, before I got any pictures of the completed puzzle. That can be a risk if you’re not sure, but I knew there wouldn’t be any problems with this one.

I absolutely loved this assembly. Much of it was put together when I was on the phone with my daughter, I just sat talking and absentmindedly finding pieces and putting them in. When I look at this puzzle that will be what I remember, talking to my baby girl and putting together a beautiful puzzle. 💖

Old Friends

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Old Friends by Anthony Kleem – Rose Art – 300 pieces

This went together quite quickly, but unfortunately the quality wasn’t quite up to snuff. It was brand new, but there were several problems with the chipboard and the image coming up at the corners of the pieces. It’s a lovely bit of Americana artwork by Anthony Kleem, I just wish it had been sitting on top of a better puzzle.

Rose Art puzzles can be hit or miss, and I was hoping with this being an unopened one that the quality would be better. The chipboard however was starting to split on several pieces and although it seems sturdy there were one or two tabs that had to be bent back into place before they would fit properly. In addition the image was lifting on the corners of many pieces, it was a bit disappointing to be honest.

I wish I had better things to report, but the quality was lacking on this one. It’s a great image though, and it made for fun puzzling too.

Currently In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling8 Comments

How to Live with an Idiot by Lucia Heffernan – Buffalo – 300 pieces

I wasn’t feeling much like puzzling yesterday, but I got up out of bed and puzzled a bit because I needed something to post today. I had decided on another puzzle by another company, but when I opened the box and saw all the pieces were ballerinas I put it away for another day. Then I saw this little cutie pie and got going.

I love Lucia Heffernan’s images, all the ones I’ve done so far were dogs; this one is mainly cat, but it’s about dogs. Love that fat little pup sitting on a cushion taking a nap! It’s so nice to do an image by an actual artist isn’t it?

Hopefully I’ll be motivated to do more puzzling today, but for now I’m going back to bed.

Happy puzzling today my friends!

Lily

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Lily by Sasha Fortova – Ravensburger (Puzzle Moment) – 200 pieces

This image is so different and gorgeous, I just had to have it! And I love the smaller piece count puzzles that are not childish looking for us “adults” who enjoy smaller puzzles sometimes. Plus I found it in the sale section at Puzzle Warehouse, so I got it at a discount – bonus!

I love that this 200 piece puzzle doesn’t have large pieces. Don’t get me wrong, I love a large piece puzzle too, but sometimes I just want a smaller puzzle with regular pieces, and there aren’t many of those around in my to do pile. In addition, this was the best quality Ravensburger puzzle I’ve done in quite some time. The finish is matte and the image reproduction is beautiful, and it’s the best fitting Ravensburger I think I’ve ever done IN MY LIFE!

That’s quite the statement, I know. But take it from someone who has done hundreds of Ravensburger puzzles, this was the best fit I’ve ever had. Never have I been able to stand up one of their puzzles, but…

Not only does this one stand up, it’s very tall, and that makes it even harder to do. Usually landscape oriented puzzles stand up best, the taller ones don’t have the integrity to withstand it – but this one did with no problem at all. I was amazed, truly. This was a wonderful quality puzzle with such a stunning image that I cannot possibly get rid of it.

I rarely keep cardboard puzzles unless there’s a sentimental value for me. I have one of my grandmother’s puzzles, several puzzles mom and I did together and loved, but probably 99% of the cardboard puzzles I do get sent on to a friend or donated to the local thrift store, senior center, or the VA where we live. But this little beauty stays with me, it’s fantastic!

Vivienne on Vacation*

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Vivienne on Vacation* – Unknown – 150 pieces

Isn’t this adorable? I have no idea where this puzzle came from, but I have two mini puzzles in test tubes with no brand name, no titles, just photographic images. When a smaller puzzle was what I was looking for this seemed like a good image for the summer. I’ve named her Vivienne, and she is obviously on vacation. 🌞🕶

The quality is very good, although the pieces are thinner than MicroPuzzles they do have an excellent variety of piece shapes; MicroPuzzles has only one shape, but both of them are good quality puzzles that are entertaining to assemble. The finish on this one is quite shiny, so much so that I had to turn off my overhead light to properly see the darker parts of the image. Other than that I have no issues with the quality at all – what a pleasant surprise!

There isn’t a lot to say, other than that I enjoyed this one very much and the image makes me smile when I look at it. Again, I have no clue where I got this one, but I’m glad it was in my stash.