Sea Anemones

On December 31, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

This is another new wooden puzzle company that I found and gave a go. They’re beautifully thick pieces with a stunning image reproduction. I was worried that the dark background would make the puzzle more challenging, but it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d thought.

Such a great puzzle image! Ernst Haeckel’s book Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature) has provided puzzlers the world over with stunning illustrations that make for entertaining and beautiful puzzles. Every time I see a puzzle image by Haeckel there’s great temptation – they’re so detailed and realistic and look like they’d be so fun to put together – and they are!

So many whimsies! All sorts of sea creatures – turtles, seahorses, lobsters, starfish, dolphins, etc. – plus a few things from the land like palm trees and a lighthouse. The blue “N” is the logo for NookPuzzles. Computer technology and lasers are awesome! Can you imagine trying to cut out these shapes with an actual jig saw?

Sea Anemones whimsies

I love the 2 fish swimming together here (the whimsies on the left), is it possibly Nemo and his dad? And the purple anemone was my favorite, the color is so lovely but the picture really doesn’t do it justice at all.

I was extremely surprised by and grateful for the free gift sent with the puzzle – a beautiful wooden Christmas tree ornament! 🎄

Sea Anemones gift

Free gift aside, I’m still not sure how I feel about this brand after only working one puzzle; am I the only who has certain feelings about something with no explanation whatsoever? I’m on the fence about this brand at this point, but I can’t even tell myself why! The fit was the tightest I’ve found in a wooden puzzle (very nice!), the image is beautiful, the piece shapes are interesting and intricate, but there was something about it that I can’t really put my finger on. Sigh.

Seriously people, my brain is slowly being poached in the sweat from my hot flashes.

It’s Christmas Time

On December 30, 2018December 30, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! This puzzle is a great Christmas holiday treat with a cup of hot cocoa and a cookie. Fun, fun, fun puzzle with unique pieces that added an interesting twist to our afternoon entertainment. Not too difficult, pieces fit nicely together. Awesome quality pieces, colors vivid, and so smooth to the touch!

………………….

Ok, I know I said no more holiday puzzles this year, but today’s post was composed by a guest writer – my favorite sister-in-law, Lena. 💗

This is the puzzle I sent her family for Christmas; they completed it yesterday and she sent me the picture and told me she was sending a “blog post” about it. I think she may have been joking at first, but I told her to write it up and I’d post it here today. Don’t judge my writing too harshly compared to hers – she has a background in communications, and I’m just a wife and mother who loves puzzles. 😉

Today’s Project…

On December 29, 2018December 29, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Today's Project

My oldest son and I are working on his Christmas present today. He’s a giant movie buff, and asked for a movie puzzle that we could work on together, glue, frame, and hang in his room. Awesome present for both of us!

We’re listening to stand-up comedy, working on it together, and hope to have it finished by tomorrow at the very latest. If we really get going and finish it quickly, I might even have time to get one more puzzle in before the end of the year!

**Update**

It took less than 2.5 hours and we finished it already!

The Challenge of 2019

On December 28, 2018February 28, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling17 Comments

Box of wooden pieces — Mom’s Christmas present this year!

My Christmas present to mom this year wasn’t the usual jigsaw puzzle. In fact, I don’t have any idea whether or not there is a complete puzzle here at all! Intrigued??

I was in bed, bored with television, looking at eBay for some reason. I’ve never shopped there, it was just curiosity; looking at the crazy prices people will pay for “luxury” wooden puzzles made my head spin! Anyway I came across this box of vintage wooden puzzle pieces – 5 pounds of pieces all thrown together in one storage box – with no boxes, pictures, or brands. Oh man, I can’t tell you how much that got me going, I wanted that box!

Imagine the challenge of hundreds and hundred of pieces with no guides at all. No piece counts, brand names, images, not even a guarantee of an entire puzzle. Plus, they’re all wooden pieces!

Since hubby does the eBay thing all the time, I told him about it. We discussed it, how much I wanted it, what I was willing to spend, etc. He had no problem with the purchase and won the auction for me. 🎉

Mom always says that she doesn’t need gifts or “things”, she’d much rather have an “experience” as a present. This is true, she’s a bit of a hoarder and in her 70’s, there’s not a lot she actually needs. So I decided to present her this box of puzzle pieces (that belong to me) as this year’s gift. The actual gift though is the time spent together working through this box of pieces to hopefully put together a puzzle, or two, or however many there are.

I have no idea how long it’s going to take us, but I am so looking forward to the challenge!

It could turn out that there isn’t a complete puzzle in the box, and being completely truthful I absolutely don’t care. If there are several incomplete puzzles or several complete ones it doesn’t matter in the least. This box is hours and hours I get to spend with mom, talking, laughing, playing with gorgeous puzzle pieces – I wouldn’t trade that for all the luxury puzzles in the world! ❤❤

Ocean Life

On December 27, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This was one of those thrift store puzzles that almost breaks my heart. We love finding fantastic quality kids puzzles, assembling them, and then donating them. When we find one of such excellent quality that’s missing a piece it’s so much more of a disappointment than regular missing pieces to me.

This Mudpuppy puzzle was one of the best quality kids puzzles I’ve seen in quite some time. Extremely thick pieces, beautiful colors, excellent fit – and it even had a little extra something – a search and find aspect. All the pictures around the edges are also shown in the main image and they’re not all easy to find.

What a bummer that it’s missing a piece! It makes me sad, as a lover of puzzles, that they aren’t taken care of. (But I do remember childhood too, vaguely, so I also understand.) But for some strange reason these missing pieces makes me wish that I could go back to my childhood and take MUCH better care of all of my toys and things. If I had, not only would they be worth some big time cash right now, I’d still have some of the things I loved to play with as a child. How awfully sweet and uncharacteristically sentimental of me, right? I know!