Christmas Cats

On December 21, 2018December 21, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This is my least favorite of the Christmas micro puzzles we bought this year, it seems very bland and colorless other than the blue of the sky and the one orange cat. Still it’s a pretty scene, and it was fun to assemble; and even my least favorite wooden puzzle is still a favorite. 😉

Growing up in the northern United States, this sort of scene is what I think Christmas is supposed to look like – wintry and snow covered. Having lived in Florida for the past 15 years, I’m still finding it difficult to get into the holiday spirit when it’s 85 degrees outside and the air conditioning keeps turning on. Perhaps that’s part of the reason for my lack of Christmas cheer – or it could be I’m just turning into a cranky old lady – or both!

Christmas Cats whimsies

Only four more days until Christmas – and then no more Christmas puzzles until July. (Unless of course I get one for a present, then I may feel obligated to assemble it right away 🎁)

Three French Hens

On December 20, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

The artwork of Rachel Arbuckle makes for gorgeous puzzles, and even though I absolutely didn’t need them I couldn’t resist getting the first 3 puzzles in this series. I’m very much looking forward to all 12 of these beautiful puzzles. Although I’d imagine the last 5 or 6 puzzles will be quite crowded looking in comparison to these first few – this puzzle has the hens, turtledoves, and the partridge – if that continues the 12th day will be jam packed!

Three French Hens whimsies

I love that there are the correct amount of birds in the whimsies! Although if this series continues that would be quite a challenge in the later puzzles – unless you get a much higher piece count. Wentworth puzzles go all the way up to 1500 pieces, but they’re a bit out of my price range. 😏

The 250 piece Wentworth puzzles are just about right for me, in both size and price. They’re small enough that the number of pieces doesn’t overwhelm, I can work on them in bed on my white board when I’m not feeling well, and they’re very reasonably priced as far as wooden puzzles go. Also I normally only buy wooden puzzles when they’re on sale and I can get free shipping, so that the price goes down even more. I’m a proud cheapskate!

Three French Hens 1

These aren’t the last pieces that went into the puzzle, in fact they were the ones I started with (other than the edges). But I thought it was very cool that each of the hens had a hen whimsy in it – three French hens in three French hens!

From here until Christmas Day it’s going to be wooden Christmas puzzles on the blog – both micro puzzles and larger. No clue what’s happening after Christmas – I suppose that depends on if I get any puzzles from Santa or his helpers! 🎅

Jackson Browne – Late for the Sky

On December 19, 2018December 18, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

I was very excited to try this new company that makes jigsaw puzzles of album covers – front and back. Unfortunately I was extremely disappointed in the quality and fit, and the entire assembly wasn’t very entertaining.

Surprisingly it had nothing to do with all the black and darkness, it was the poor quality of the pieces – both their fit and the torn and peeling image. The paper used on the front wasn’t heavy or sturdy enough, and at many of the “corners” where pieces meet the paper was torn. Extremely annoying and frustrating!

JB Late for the Sky

It doesn’t matter if the image you’re working on is dark or light, busily patterned or all one color; torn and peeling paper ruins the puzzle in my book.

Jackson Browne Late for the Sky B

The quality of either the paper or the finish on the back cover was better, and there were only a few corners where it was torn. It’s sort of a boring and very dark image, but I was very excited to work on it anyway. I enjoy trying out new brands; testing the quality, seeing if the image and colors match up to the box, etc. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed with this one. I usually don’t like to make a quality determination for certain until I’ve worked more than one puzzle, but I’m hesitant to even give this brand another try.

Working on this puzzle had me thinking of some amazing album covers from my youth that would be make great puzzle images. This is the very first one that came to mind, I loved this whole album!

Journey-Escape-Framed-Album-Cover-Wall-Art-af243bfa-de43-4f0f-b6ec-229555c1c442

I would be “Stone in Love” if I had this as a puzzle, and would welcome it with “Open Arms”. 😎 Don’t Stop Believing!

What album cover would you like to see on a puzzle?

Happy Holidays

On December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

advent advent wreath burn burnt

With only 7 days until Christmas, I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a joyous, love-filled holiday season. If Santa still visits your house, I hope he brings you a puzzle or two; if not, I hope you’ll treat yourself to a puzzle or two. 🎅

Puzzles are anti-anxiety meds in a box, a mental-muscle workout with a pretty picture, and enrich the lives of puzzlers like us in too many ways to mention. Merry Puzzle-mas! 🎄

Tall Tower

On December 17, 2018December 16, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Tall Tower was a tall order! We started assembling it on Thanksgiving Day, and didn’t finish until December 3rd. It was super challenging, but the best part was that I got to work on it with both my mom and my oldest son. 💖

I purchased this puzzle during a sale at Artifact Puzzles earlier in the year, and it took me months to be in the right mood for it. My weird old lady brain makes absolutely NO sense sometimes. Take it from me, getting old definitely ain’t for sissies. 😉

The whimsies for this puzzle are so adorable! I didn’t realize it until I was dis-assembling the puzzle, but some of the whimsy pieces are shaped like images in the puzzle, it’s so creative! Alas, it was too late for pictures to show close-ups of the image and the whimsies. My apologies.

Tall Tower whismies

There were a lot of musical figures, in addition to plenty of animals. It’s so fun to work with them. I truly enjoy the detail you’re able to get with wooden puzzles; you could never make such small, intricate cuts on a regular cardboard puzzle.

This is the first Artifact puzzle I’ve worked with small dropouts in the whimsies, they make the image even more interesting in my opinion (see the top left corner, and the picture below). It’s not a true dropout in the sense that it isn’t negative space that you have to work around, but I still like the look of it. And I didn’t even notice the flock of sheep until we were done and I was taking photographs. Love it!

Tall Tower back

Such an interesting cut! This puzzle gave us quite a mental workout, but it’s always worth it in the end if you’ve enjoyed yourself. Mom did the majority of the work on this one since the puzzle stayed at her house, but my son and I helped too – shout out to my puzzle posse!