Month: November 2021

Happy Thanksgiving/Happy Thursday!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

It’s Thanksgiving here in the United States, and just plain ol’ Thursday in the rest of the world. Whether you spend the day with family and/or friends eating lots of food, or it’s just a regular Thursday for you – this is the day that I traditionally tell all my readers how thankful I am for them. This year it means more than ever.

You have no idea how much it means to me to have so many faithful readers of my insignificant little jigsaw puzzle blog. How much I appreciate everyone who comments just to say hi, or tell me what a cool puzzle I just posted about – or even to tell us all what you’re working on. I love my readers, and am so thankful that you’ve stuck with me; through thick and very, very thin.

If you only read and don’t comment, if you comment a little or a lot, if you only pop in once in a while, if you just like the giveaways – it doesn’t matter – I’m truly thankful for you all. 🤎

2037 Calories

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

2037 Calories – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

They’re baaaack! The bathroom puzzles have at last made a reappearance! When I started puzzling again last month I re-read the entirety of this blog to help me get back my puzzle mojo. When I started reading about my self-titled “bathroom puzzles” it really made me laugh, and also made me think I should get some more of those little puzzles again; hubby and I had so much fun with them. If you’re a newer reader, here’s a link to the first Bathroom Puzzle with info on how they were born here at My Jigsaw Journal.

A trip to Barnes & Noble (where I found the STEM puzzles) netted us zero puzzles in test tubes, nor any small ones at all. So online I went, and found MicroPuzzles. They’re a small business in California, and they only make “micro” puzzles in test tubes. The company is doing very well, they started out in their one bedroom apartment, and now have a 2500 sq. ft. warehouse – little puzzles have helped grow a bigger company! Their catalog is pretty sizeable for a small puzzle company, and I love their unique and interesting images.

I splurged and spent “too much” on a gift pack of 13 mini puzzles, and this is the first one we did. It was mostly me, but hubs came in at the end and finished it up … he loves that. It’s a guy thing, at least for him. He loves to come to my rescue, and help me with anything that needs to be done – that includes jigsaw puzzles. 😉

We had such a great time putting this puzzle together, working with the small pieces was truly entertaining. And the quality was quite good as well. I’m so glad I found this company, their puzzles are making me very happy indeed.

Don’t we all need a little happy these days? I definitely do!

*On a funny side note, our daughter came over to visit while we assembling this puzzle, and when she went into our bathroom we heard her all the way out in the living room; “Oooh, there’s a pooping puzzle in here again!”. 🤣

(I think I’ll stick with my moniker for the time being, it’s a little less uncouth)

Sprouts Sprouting

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Sprouts Sprouting by Assaf Frank – Wentworth – 30 pieces

So adorable! This is a lovely holiday image if you ask me; no Santa, no perfectly decorated tree with exquisitely wrapped presents, no falling snow – this is my kind of Christmas puzzle. Brussels Sprouts in winter hats. Perfect!

As usual, a fantastic Wentworth puzzle; the image and interesting cut made it a little more challenging than their usual micro puzzles. But I absolutely enjoyed assembling this one.

I love the artwork, and am looking forward to finding more of puzzles with Assaf Frank’s images if they’re as fun as this one!

**Can someone from the UK tell me what it is with brussels sprouts and Christmas? Are they just one of the traditional holiday foods or do you all (generally speaking) love them?

Seaside Sunshine

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

Seaside Sunshine by Nancy Wernersbach – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

Sorry about the cockeyed picture, apparently I was having balance issues the morning I took this picture. I started working on this puzzle on Halloween, and finished it up the next morning; perhaps it was a candy hangover – that’s why I couldn’t hold my camera straight. I was coming out of my sugar coma!😉

It was so nice to get back to Ravensburger quality; the feel of the pieces, the wonderful click when they fit perfectly, the matte finish. Just a great quality puzzle with a beautiful image. This puzzle has been in my to-do pile for several years, and now I’m trying to figure out why I waited so long – it was so entertaining!

You all know I love a quilt puzzle -and this one had two of them – such lovely colors!

Just Add Water

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Just Add Water by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

I was pretty disappointed in the quality of this puzzle, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t also satisfying to assemble. There was fuzzy image reproduction, the fit was too tight, so much puzzle dust and lots of hanging chads. The thing is….I knew that was a possibility when this puzzle was purchased.

White Mountain puzzles, for me, aren’t a premium quality puzzle. There have been issues with fit, image reproduction, and delamination. BUT – as far as My Jigsaw Journal is concerned – they have one of the best catalogs of collages around. Collages make me extremely happy, so I put up with the less than outstanding quality. It’s just how it is. For me. You may not think it’s worth it, and that’s fine too.

When the bag was opened, I thought at first that there wasn’t much puzzle dust, but I was wrong. Much of it was still attached (barely) to the pieces, moving them around to sort brought about the dust storm. There were long thin pieces of backing, small bits, and plenty of it stayed on the pieces creating what I call hanging chads. Disappointing.

Within a few moments of starting to assemble the edge the tightness of the fit showed up – 10 pieces put together and the straight edge was curling up because of it. I expected the fuzzy image, so that wasn’t a surprise. Even with all these problems, because it was a collage with an image that was pleasing I still enjoyed myself and finished this puzzle pretty quickly.

So, who’s ready to reminisce/talk about drink mixes?

Ok, never heard of this one. And for the record…..EW! You probably can’t read it because the wording in the image is fuzzy, but it says “fortified corn starch beverage mix”. I’m gagging a little bit. Ick.

Any root beer drinkers out there? I don’t care for it myself, but if I did, one has to wonder how it would taste being made from a mix. It’s a “soft drink” right? It would be like getting a package of powder and adding water to make Pepsi or Coke with no carbonation. I acknowledge that as far as fussy eaters go, I’m one of the best – but this sounds horrible to me. Thoughts from anyone who enjoys root beer?

This one brings back memories. We mostly had kool-aid or flavor-aid on those occasions when we were allowed to drink sweet stuff; but when there was a really good sale (and mom could add a coupon) every once in a while – we got to have Country Time lemonade. My sisters and I loved it, probably because it was rare that we were allowed to have it. And what is it about pink lemonade that makes it so much cooler than regular lemonade? Whatever it is, we loved this. Though if I had it now, it would probably seem awful and way too sweet.

Very tight fit = puzzle standing up picture. It makes me happy. No apologies, excuses, or explanations. 😎