Lily

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 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.

Untitled In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Untitled – Unknown – 150 pieces

I was waiting on a Puzzle Fairy delivery yesterday, so I didn’t want to start any larger piece count puzzles. A micro puzzle is always good for a good time, so this untitled puzzle from an unknown manufacturer seemed like an excellent choice – an adorable puppy face is almost always sure to make me smile, and there are several adorable puppy faces in this one. (Plus, there’s that sweet Boston Terrier in the corner, how in the world can I be expected to pass that up?) 🐾🧡

This way I was still able to put some puzzle pieces together yesterday to center and relax me, but whatever puzzle will be my next inspiration won’t have to wait long at all for me to finish this little guy and have the board ready for more pieces.

Wish I knew where these mini puzzles came from, but honestly there are no clues whatsoever in this aging brain of mine.

*The puzzles arrived, but it was later in the afternoon and I wasn’t even able to open them until this morning. So many puzzles and so much inspiration – thank you Puzzle Fairy! 💚🧚‍♀️

The Sunny City

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

The Sunny City by Felicia Chiao – Magic Puzzle Company – 1000 pieces

Oh man, I worked really hard on this puzzle and I’m so bummed I can’t show you all my work. *sigh* Oh well, that’s my policy when it comes to “mystery” puzzles, I never give away the ending and only show you a part of the puzzle that is shown on the box so there are NO SPOILERS here at My Jigsaw Journal.

I’ll never forget my first mystery puzzle, it was a Wasgij, and I was looking for an image of the box top to put on the What’s On My Board section of the blog, and the first image that popped up was a picture of the completed puzzle. I was so upset, I wanted to do the puzzle myself and figure it out and now I couldn’t un-see the solution! I will never do that to anyone so my policy is firm and I don’t do spoilers here. (I also never look for a mystery puzzle box image to put on the blog’s home page anymore!)

Magic Puzzle Company is a new to me brand, and I wanted to see what all the hype was about; the only way to do that is try it for myself. The pieces are a good thickness and there are an excellent variety of shapes that fit together well, if somewhat loosely; the fit seemed quite loose while assembling the border, but gets better the more you go along. The image reproduction is excellent with a matte finish and I enjoyed putting this one together more than I thought I would. Overall I would give it a good/very good rating.

If you haven’t heard of this brand, it’s called the Magic Puzzle Company because once you finish the puzzle there’s an extra packet to open, which helps you make your puzzle do a magic trick. It’s pretty cool, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

In the box you get the packet of pieces, the secret envelope, two posters (so you can have a friend join in the fun), a card with some info about the company and the puzzle itself and some easter eggs to look for in the completed image. The packet with pieces is closed with velcro so that none can escape, and the secret packet is closed with string ties; all meant to be reusable so you can send this puzzle on to others to enjoy once you’re done. In addition there is a sticker on the inside of the box top to record who completed the puzzle and the date – it’s meant to be passed on to others to share in the fun. I like that, and I have filled it out now that the puzzle is complete. 📝

There are a few whimsies in this puzzle, and for some reason I’m not sure of there is one very large piece. I have no explanation for it, just wanted to show you.

There are many things I want to say about this puzzle and the assembly – but I can’t without spoiling things. It’s frustrating. When I was working on the border I said to myself “I need to tell them …..” but then when I started writing up the post I realized I can’t tell you that, it might spoil things. Then something happened when I was working the inside of the image and the same thought came into my head, that I needed to remember to tell you that _______ happened – but I can’t!

Just ask Penny; I was texting her the day I finished it telling her how I was p*ssed that I put all that work into putting the puzzle together and I can’t show anyone or even say much about it. Luckily she says she doesn’t care for the artwork on their puzzles so she won’t be assembling any of them – so she got ALL the pictures that day, quite a few pictures showing everything – proof that I did all the work!😂

I really did enjoy this puzzle, even more than I thought I would. The artwork seemed as though it was all very much the same color palate and honestly I wasn’t sure how entertaining or difficult it would be to assemble, but it turned out to be great for puzzling and I had a very good time with it. Wish I could say more, I just refuse to spoil anything at all, so I can’t.

So what do you think? Are you up for a Magic Puzzle of your own? Abracadabra! 🧩

Quilting Bee

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Quilting Bee by Kay Lamb Shannon – Bits & Pieces – 300 pieces (Large Pieces)

Love this country/Americana image, and although it was entertaining it wasn’t great. I was hoping to enjoy it more, perhaps the problem is my expectations. There was nothing wrong with the quality or the image, it just wasn’t what I wanted unfortunately.

Bits & Pieces is a company whose quality isn’t my taste, but I will buy them if I like the image and can find them secondhand. In my post about this puzzle while it was in progress I talked about keeping “tools” in my purse for thrift store shopping, and how I opened this box to find that each puzzle in the multipack was bagged separately and had it’s own image printed out. It had definitely been well cared for, so I took a chance. I paid $3.99 for four 300 piece puzzles, not bad at all! All of the images in this multipack were cute country images, ones I probably wouldn’t buy on their own but in a multipack of smaller piece counts they’re perfect for me, and the artwork of Kay Lamb Shannon is detailed and beautiful. It was an excellent find.

I’m not really a fan of this cut, it’s almost circular and makes for many pieces that are almost triangular. I have no reason to not like it other than just my own personal preference. Everyone is different. I love a truly random cut puzzle, and I enjoy both grid and ribbon cut as well; this one though, I am just NOT a fan.

I saved the quilt for the last bit of assembly, I love to assemble quilts! Again, I have no real reason I can come up with, I just do. No apologies, no excuses – I like what I like.

This little puzzle was enjoyable, and other than the glare from the finish the quality was very good. It was a very nice palate cleanser after a 1000 piece puzzle, and before I start another larger piece count. That’s exactly what I have those smaller puzzles for, and this one certainly did it’s job. 😉