Stained Glass Songbirds

On March 26, 2020March 26, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles7 Comments

This was a gorgeous puzzle that sadly was over too soon. The picture doesn’t do it justice, the colors are spectacular! Great quality thrift store puzzle that makes my heart and eyes very happy.

This was another puzzle where I wasn’t aware of the artist until I was finished and writing up the post – it’s Ciro Marchetti. He’s another digital artist whose work I greatly admire, and this one definitely didn’t disappoint. The colors are AMAZING!

Buffalo has to be given some props here for their exceptional image reproduction in addition to the great quality of the pieces and the fit. This puzzle is an example of one of the reasons why I love thrift store shopping. You can find a puzzle like this, of fantastic quality, for a small fraction of what you would pay retail. Yes, sometimes you run the risk of missing pieces, but it’s worth it in my book. Even a puzzle with missing pieces can be entertaining to assemble – at least it is for me. As my friend Nicola says, “The job is to put all the pieces together until there aren’t any more”. You can complete that task even with an incomplete puzzle. 🙂

Songbirds 1

The colors of the flowers and stained glass were just beautiful. I did not manipulate this image other than to crop it, these are the true colors!

Songbirds 2

The red and yellow birds were the first ones I put together, one bird led to another and before I knew it the puzzle was complete. I think this image would be excellent in a larger piece count, it was just too much fun to be over so quickly.

Songbirds 3

The colors, the puzzle, the quality – just fabulous!

Giveaway Winner!

On March 25, 2020March 25, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling3 Comments

Drumroll please, the random number generator has spoken and the winner of the Christmas at Hogwarts jigsaw puzzle is…

Lucky entry #5……….Penny. Congratulations!

I’ve sent you an email, and hopefully will be able to get your puzzle out to you very soon. Here’s hoping it’s as much fun as it looks!

Thank you to everyone who entered and commented, I enjoy holding these giveaways very much. Thanks also to everyone who stops by here at My Jigsaw Journal, you are always welcome and appreciated.

Be on the lookout for another giveaway soon. We all need something fun to look forward to! 🧩💝

Review: The Bookshop

On March 24, 2020March 24, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

This gorgeous puzzle is an Aimee Stewart – I had no idea! I don’t really check who the artist is most of the time before I start working a puzzle; I just knew the image spoke to me, and thought it would be fun, if a bit challenging to assemble. Well, of course it was – it’s an Aimee Stewart! I put together the entire puzzle and didn’t know until I started writing up this post that it was by my favorite artist.

The quality was fantastic, as per usual for a Ravensburger. Just feeling the weight and finish of the pieces makes me smile; I think I could tell a Ravensburger piece from all others at 20 paces. (Well, maybe 2 paces, these eyes are getting older every day). Holding a piece while contemplating it’s placement and rubbing my thumb across the top of it gives me a quiet kind of happiness, it’s like meditation.

This was a little more challenging than your average Aimee Stewart puzzle; the colors are much more muted, and the scene itself was more difficult. The flowers below the sign and the ivy around the edges were the hardest for me. The books everywhere were less difficult than I’d assumed, even though there are so many of them!

The Bookshop 1

This little girl in her pretty purple frock is so sweet, and it’s such a pretty color.

The Bookshop 2

All those books in the window? You can read the titles, and look at the detail! I should have known who the artist was. I can’t believe I didn’t. I’m hanging my head in shame.

I’d seen this image several times before I finally took the plunge and got it for myself, and am I ever glad I did. Have you been thinking of buying this? Go for it, this puzzle is highly recommended. 👍👍

Details:

Title: The Bookshop
Artist: Aimee Stewart
Brand: Ravensburger
Piece count: 1000 pieces
Size: Approx. 27 x 20 in. (69 x 51cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

Rainy Day Sketch In Progress

On March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Rainy Day Sketch IP — Rainy Day Sketch by Tricia Reilly-Matthews – Sunsout – 500 pieces

I just started working on this puzzle early this morning – up at 4 am – yay. I finished my Stacey & Ruth puzzle yesterday, and picked this one out, but didn’t touch it at all until this morning.

Picking out puzzles is sometimes a bit crazy for me. I seem to forget the previous negative experiences I’ve had with a certain brand unless they were over the top terrible, and I want to think that this next time is going to be amazing (a bit like having kids 😉 ). Sunsout has provided me with some amazing puzzling experiences, and some that weren’t so great. When I see an image I really like from a certain brand it overrides the negative and I only seem to remember the good ones.

I found two really adorable Sunsout puzzles on my last shopping trip before we were all told to stay home and socially isolate ourselves. My desire for a few new puzzles and the cute images on the boxes completely wiped out most of the negative Sunsout experiences I’ve had previously. Needless to say, I bought two new puzzles from this brand; now that I’ve started working with this one I remember why this isn’t a brand I usually purchase. 😐

The fit isn’t great, and even though I’m not even a third of the way through this puzzle there have been many, many pieces that seem to fit where they do not belong, and when they do fit it feels “mushy”. You can’t really be certain you’ve got it right unless or until it connects to other pieces around it. I. Am. Not. A. Fan. Of. This.

Oh well. Lesson learned. For now.

Classic Games

On March 22, 2020March 22, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Classic Game was a lot of fun to assemble, and therefore it went together pretty quickly. When I’m having a good time I find it hard to stop. We addicts are like that sometimes. 😉

Collages like this are easier for me to assemble quickly because sorting into sections is easy, and I am able to take my containers and trays into bed and work on them there when sitting up is difficult. White Mountain has so many beautiful, interesting, colorful, and educational collages that I can always find one (or twelve) that I would like to assemble.

Classic Games 1

This made me laugh, Samuel Clemens is a scary/creepy looking dude (in my opinion), and Authors doesn’t sound like a game many children would want to play. I wonder how popular this was.

Classic Games 2

I remember having this game as a child, but I’m trying to remember how to play it – because I don’t recall it being educational. Maybe it was one of those games that was so much fun to play that you don’t notice you’re learning anything. I can’t say for sure, because all I can remember is that we had this game, there is no memory of anything else. (Gee, I hope it wasn’t a memory game!)

Classic Games 3

Mom taught me how to play Chinese Checkers when I was young, and she told me how her mother taught her how to play when she was young. There are such good memories of playing this with her and trying to figure out how she was so much better at it than I was; it was probably because grownups are a little better at strategy than young children are. We had fun being together and talking while we played Chinese Checkers, and this game will always be special to me. 💗

As usual I loved this puzzle – a bright, colorful collage of games – what’s not to like? It was a very good quality puzzle that I found to be a joy both to look at and to put together. If you’re a fan of games, collages, or White Mountain puzzles in general I would absolutely recommend giving this one a try.