Haunted Mansion

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Haunted Mansion by David Maclean – Vermont Christmas Co. – 550 pieces

Are you starting to feel the Halloween holiday spirit? Or spirits? I am! This puzzle was finished waaaay back in August, but it’s finally time to show it off. Isn’t it a good one? It was a great quality puzzle, and a nice image for puzzling, but was more difficult than it looks.

I’m not sure how I feel about the image honestly, with so much of it obviously digital manipulation it just doesn’t float my boat as much as I’d hoped. That’s ok though, we can’t fall in love with every single puzzle can we? And thank goodness we all have different ideas of what’s good, or at least what’s good for us – otherwise this world would be a very boring place indeed and it would be overrun by sameness and no surprises. B.O.R.I.N.G.

It’s been almost 5 years exactly since I’ve worked a VCC puzzle, and I forgot how much I admire their quality and their catalog. Great variety of piece shapes made of thick chipboard, a great fit, excellent image reproduction, and a slightly shiny finish that doesn’t bother me too much. I’m sure there will be more Vermont Christmas Co. puzzles on my board before you know it.

While appropriately spooky, the graves and ghosts were harder to put together than you might think. The purple ghosts weren’t much of a problem as their color stuck out, but the rest of them gave me a run for my money!

This is my favorite part of the whole puzzle, I just love how the witch looks against the moon, how the moon looks against the sky, how the sky looks behind the trees…….great image that was entertaining to puzzle – and about as difficult as you think it would be.

Couldn’t help myself. It’s a great puzzle, with a fit so good that it’s proud enough to stand up and tell you itself!

Colorsplash In Progress…

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Colorsplash by Katharina Santl – Ravensburger (Puzzle Moment) – 200 pieces

I got started on this puzzle yesterday, worked on it for a bit and then spent most of the day in bed. It may actually look different this morning though; I finished typing up this post in the late afternoon after a nap but I’m wondering if my youngest decided to work on it himself while I was in bed. It’ll be interesting to see how it looks this morning when I get up.

Katharina Santl’s artwork is very different, isn’t it? Abstract images have always attracted me; ones that are different, unusual, or just special in some way, and the image here is definitely one of those! This beauty is joining the ranks of the many interesting and atypical puzzles I’ve done that make me feel so grateful to live during a time when I can easily buy puzzles from almost anywhere in the world that have such a wide variety of images and artwork available to choose from.

At only 200 pieces it shouldn’t take too long this morning to finish it up. I’m a little sad it’ll be over so soon, but there’s an interesting Christmas collage already sorted and in the wings waiting for it’s chance on the board.

Yep! I said Christmas. 😮🎄😮

Pepsi

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Pepsi – Rose Art – 300 pieces

My favorite drink combined with my favorite pastime, what could be better? I love the bright colors and the fun images shown with the Pepsi, it was just an all round entertaining and challenging puzzle that still makes me smile.

The quality was surprisingly quite good, much better than I expected really. The pieces were very thick, the fit was quite good, and the image reproduction was stellar. The finish on the puzzle was shiny, but not enough to bother me too much. I’m lucky enough to have a light over the puzzle board AND a room light, so when there’s a shiny puzzle I just have to turn off the one directly above the board and things are much easier.

My youngest one got into the game when I took a nap after posting my in progress update on this puzzle. I’d been up for hours so I stopped working on it, typed up the post, then immediately went for a nap even though it was a little before 8 am. While I was resting he came in the room and did a little bit of assembly, which always makes me happy. The only thing that would have been better is if he’d come and help when I’m in the room.💕

The fit was so nice on this puzzle that I knew immediately when I started assembling the border that it would stand up when it was complete; and I took the picture this way before the regular image with it laying flat. I was confident it wouldn’t fall because the fit was amazing!

If you like the look of this one I can recommend it, it was great fun but much more challenging than your usual 300 piece puzzle – but if you ask me the challenge is what makes it fun.

Fantasy

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Fantasy – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

This isn’t my best picture taking lately, but please be kind – it’s been a rough week. Still, thank goodness that somewhere in all the disaster of the week I had there was time to sit and relax and think about nothing other than which piece goes where. Isn’t puzzling just the best hobby ever?

I know a lot of people think puzzles are just for when you get old, but they’re so good for your mental health, your physical health, mental acuity, etc. Now why in the world would you want to wait until you get older to enjoy all those benefits? Plus, it’s a bargain; where else can you spend just a few dollars and get hours and hours of meditation, relaxation, and enjoyment? If you’re not already sold, I don’t know if I can help you. Puzzles are awesome, for the very young, the very old, and every age in between.

Back to this particular puzzle. I usually let you know how many of these books I’ve read, and it’s a sad number folks – apparently fantasy isn’t my usual genre because out of fifty books I’ve read only three! Oh my. So for this post I’ll be showing closeups of books I haven’t read, but I LOVED assembling the covers. It also shows the amazingly gorgeous image reproduction. When you see them up close you realize how beautiful this puzzle would be in person.

This one is a stunner, and was easy to find almost every piece the first time I went thru all the pieces. A little bit of a challenge to assemble, but that’s part of the fun.

I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but I do know the song from Stranger Things. 😂 This gorgeous lion with the purple background was fun to find and assemble. Can’t ask for much more.

Gorgeous green color made this one easy to pick out but not quite so simple to put together. I’ve never even heard of this book, but I love the cover.

As usual I enjoyed myself immensely as I worked on this puzzle. Every piece put in was an accomplishment, and it was great fun from the border to that very last click into place. If you haven’t figured it out by now I love puzzles, and this one made me very happy indeed. 💚

Golden Age of Disney (Section B) In Progress…

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Golden Age of Disney (Section B) – Trefl – 1500/13,500 pieces

I should have planned better – I just finished my Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland birthday puzzle, and then went right into the Alice in Wonderland section of the big puzzle. Honestly, it wasn’t planned and I swear I’m not obsessed with the book or movie; it just worked out that way.

So far…..the Cheshire Cat is kicking my ass! Phew! It’s nice to be able to complain about it sometimes, even though I chose this puzzle to do at this time. My whining doesn’t mean I don’t like it or I’m not having a good time, it just means this section is difficult and sometimes I want to b*tch about it to my puzzle people who will understand.

The majority of the pieces for this brand (for this puzzle) are what I call ballerinas; two male/two female ends. That makes sections like the Cheshire Cat difficult and tedious at times. At the moment I’m working on the body and tail, but when it starts getting frustrating or tiresome I then switch to working on the border of the section. As you can see, the border is almost done – I’ve gotten bored and tired of the tedium A LOT. 😂

I started with the wording, as per my usual; surprisingly all of it was finished in one sitting. After putting the border together I couldn’t sleep much that night and ended up sitting in front of the board in the wee hours, not ready to go to sleep until I’d completed my task. The words were both easier and more difficult than I bargained for.

Now it’s the Cheshire Cat’s section, which I chose because it looked to be the smallest of the three. I stupidly thought that even though it looked like a challenge it would be the quickest to finish. What a moron I am sometimes! 🥴

And yet, even though I’m still moaning about this tough section – I’m also still having a great time.

Happy puzzling today my friends!