A Very Merry Holiday!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

A Very Merry Holiday! by Neil Easton – Jumbo (Wasgij Original) – 1000 pieces

Suddenly a few days ago I remembered all the Wasgij puzzles I have here to do, and I also remembered how exceptional the quality is and how much fun they are. Of course it was time to grab one of them and put it together. This was the first one I got my hands on, and it looked perfect for this time of year – lots of sun and sand and people at the beach.â›±

If you’re new to Wasgij puzzles (jigsaw spelled backwards), you do not puzzle the image shown on the box, in the original series of puzzles you are shown a character on the box image and told to puzzle what that person/character sees. There are a few hints, you can see people or things in front of them and for the rest you have to just go where the puzzle takes you. It isn’t as difficult as it sounds, you will find colors or patterns when sorting or laying out the pieces – just grab some pieces and get puzzling!

Another hint is that there is one person or character shown on the box that will be in the finished image. That is the only part of the completed puzzle that I show here, I never want to spoil the fun for anyone – it’s more fun to figure it out yourself. At least I think it is.

I had the best time with this puzzle; in fact I told both Penny and my hubby that it was dangerous. It was so enjoyable for me that I couldn’t stop myself from working on it and sat in front of the board for WAY too long. I should have taken many more breaks to give my poor hip a rest, but I just didn’t want to stop! Even after I went to bed, when I didn’t fall asleep right away I got myself out of bed and had to put more pieces in. Maybe it was just me, but if that isn’t the case I feel it’s my duty to warn you that assembling this puzzle may be addictive.

If a Wasgij puzzle seems like something you might want to try, this one is most definitely recommended. 😎

Sherlock Holmes

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Sherlock Holmes – Gibsons (Book Club Series) – 1000 pieces

Well, you won’t be surprised to hear that one day my impetuousness took over and on a whim I decided that puzzle shopping was the order of the day. Of course thrift store puzzles wasn’t what was wanted, it needed to be new ones. I needed to see and feel the boxes, turn them over and read them, and see whole shelves full of bright, shiny, new puzzles to decide which ones were coming home with me.

This Sherlock Holmes puzzle found it’s way into my hands and of course there was no letting it go. It’s a collage, but an interesting one and I absolutely love the look of it. Apparently Gibsons has a series of puzzles based on literature and treasured stories, and they all look like so much fun to do! They only had this puzzle at the store, but my online detective work has uncovered others in the series and they all look amazing to my eye; I’ve found Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Gothic Novels, and a very cute image of book covers. If I hadn’t already spent way too much of my puzzle budget this week they would all be on their way to my home right now.

My blog tells me the last time I assembled a Gibsons puzzle was in 2018, so it’s been a while; but that was a children’s puzzle of only 150 pieces, the last time I assembled an adult Gibsons was in April of 2017! They aren’t a brand I normally buy, but the two puzzles I just referenced were apparently quite good quality, so I’m not sure when or why I stopped buying them. Perhaps it’s just because they’re a puzzle company in the UK and I don’t normally buy cardboard puzzles from there. Honestly, I’m just not sure.

Words were the first thing I assembled after the border, and this little map was part of that. There’s something about the look of it that makes me smile.

I just love the look of this crest, that’s my only reason for showing it to you. Did you know Great Scotland Yard is the name of a street in Westminster, London? I certainly didn’t. There is also a Great Scotland Yard Hotel, which is what this crest is apparently a symbol for.

These little sections are what most people think of when they hear Sherlock Holmes; a deerstalker cap and the quote “Elementary my dear Watson”. Having never read the books or short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, my only references are television shows and movies. If you said Sherlock Holmes to me it would conjure up images of Jonny Lee Miller as the detective and Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson. 📺🔎

I had a great time with this puzzle. It was good quality and had an excellent image for puzzling – which are basically the things that are most important to me. If you think this might be a puzzle you’d like I highly recommend it.

What’s In Progress?

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling14 Comments

For me, nothing just yet. My last puzzle completed is still on the board and I haven’t even taken pictures of it yet; yesterday was spent in bed. But what about you? What’s currently in progress on your puzzle board or table?

Working on something fabulous? I wanna hear all about it!

Chosen One

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Chosen One – Mega Puzzles (Multipack) – 150 pieces

Here’s another fun puzzle from my multipack I found at the thrift store. I’m not in love with all of the images included, but this movie has a special place in my heart and I like the look of this one. It was pretty awful quality, but still was fun to assemble. It’s so nice for me to work on a smaller piece count after finishing a larger puzzle, it feels like a palate cleanser.

Many of the pieces had this problem; the die didn’t cut all the way through, and when someone separated the pieces the paper gets torn. Once it’s torn it can leave paper sticking up like this which makes the piece lift up off of the board. Annoying.

This is another puzzle where I documented the assembly as I went along, with a smaller puzzle it’s over so quickly and the puzzle doesn’t really need closeups to show you certain parts of the image. It’s more fun to just see how it came together – at least I think it is.

Of course it got started with the words, they’re almost always my favorite part.

Sorry about the glare, I didn’t check the picture before I continued on with the assembly – and I should have. I’ll get better at it if I start doing more in progress assembly pictures. Although you can’t see him well Buzz is mostly finished here.

After Buzz was done I just grabbed all the pieces with blue/purple of the little green men/squeeze toy aliens; it’s just fun to go where the pieces take you, especially on a smaller puzzle. This one was really enjoyable.

Even though this was missing a piece it was still great fun to put together and I enjoyed it. This puzzle came from a multipack, so it may be that the wandering piece found it’s way into a small bag with a different puzzle – or it could be long gone. You never know. Still even with a missing piece this was entertaining and made me smile. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Life is an Open Book – Paris

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Life is an Open Book – Paris by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

What a stunningly beautiful image, I had the best time with this puzzle! Of course we know that Aimee Stewart is my favorite puzzle artist, her images make for the most interesting, challenging, wonderful assembly experiences. I absolutely adore them, and this was even more fabulous than expected.

The Life is an Open Book series of puzzles has been out in the world for many years now, but I just got my hands on one of them very recently. What on Earth I was thinking waiting so long to try these out I have no idea – I can’t have been thinking very much at all. I want every single city in this series. Immediately! The quality was excellent, the image was fantastic, and the assembly was so challenging and relaxing at the same time. My little old lady’s puzzling heart is going pitter patter at the thought of collecting the remaining three cities. 💓

When I first saw this tiny little section of the puzzle, it made me smile. Of course I remember the horrible Chat Noir puzzle that mom and I put together – it was not much fun at all; but seeing this tiny representation of it made me think of her, which is lovely. We HATED this puzzle, and after assembling it we vowed to be more discerning before jumping in feet first whenever there was an image we loved; because they don’t all make for fun puzzling. Still, I have the memory of this puzzle intertwined with memories of mom and I working on it together, cussing and laughing and cheering each other on – of course it brings a smile to my face.

Fine Art puzzles are not really images I enjoy putting together, so this is most likely the last time you’ll see Ms. Lisa here on the blog. Still, I can now honestly say that I assembled an image of the Mona Lisa. 🖼

All the books, posters, and knick-knacks made for such entertaining assembling; lots of words, beautiful colors, many small things to discover and place in the image.

This artwork shows off the best of Aimee Stewart in my very humble opinion. You’ve got her shelves, lots of books, posters, bright colors, a collection of many disparate objects that all seem to work together perfectly to make a stunning piece of art. And it all fits together on a beautiful puzzle that is a joy to assemble – I couldn’t ask for more.

Other than the remaining cities in this series, of course.😉