Month: October 2023

Choose Joy Giveaway Winner!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Miscellaneous7 Comments

Choose Joy – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

The random number generator has spoken and the winner of this adorable little MicroPuzzle is………….

Entry #2 – Jess

Congratulations Jess! I hope you enjoy this charming little puzzle as much as I did. I will be sending you an email shortly, and will hopefully get this on it’s way to you very soon.

Thank you to everyone who entered, I always enjoy holding giveaways here on the blog; putting a little bit more puzzle joy into the world is a good thing, and I am extremely grateful that I am fortunate enough to be able to do that here every once in a while.

And a heartfelt thank you to everyone who stops by here at My Jigsaw Journal, it is much appreciated that you spend even a few minutes of your day here, and you are always welcome!

*For those of you who don’t enjoy the tiny little puzzles, don’t worry, I’ll be holding another giveaway next month, with a regular sized puzzle!*

As always, happy puzzling my friends. 💚🧩💚

The Party

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

The Party – Buffalo – 500 pieces

This very dark looking puzzle was difficult at times, but not nearly as challenging as I thought – it was much more enjoyable than anticipated!

The fit was looser than normal for a Buffalo puzzle, but it was otherwise good quality. The image reproduction was stellar, which it absolutely needed to be for such a dark image. Overall, other than the fit I was very happy with this puzzle.

The border was a little challenging, but not too awful. Sometimes a solid border like that can be extremely frustrating, but the shapes of Buffalo pieces make it a little easier and the system that I use to put edges together helped quite a bit as well.

I started with the kids, obviously. The faces were the easiest to pick out, and their clothing all had different textures to them that weren’t too hard to find. Then I put together those large letters, which other than the house below was the most difficult part of the entire image.

This dark bleeping house was the hardest part of the puzzle, but luckily it wasn’t too many pieces. It’s the only part of the puzzle that had me separating the pieces by shape, and even then I really had to pay close attention.

As a fan of the tv show Stranger Things I was excited to put this puzzle together, thank goodness it wasn’t disappointing!

Rainbow Pets

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Rainbow Pets by Myrna – Sure Lox/TCG – 500 pieces

Adorable as this image is, it wasn’t entertaining to assemble. Thin pieces, somewhat loose fit, shiny finish – it just wasn’t good quality and not the image I was looking to assemble. (My youngest son picked it out for me, and I assembled it to make him happy, ’cause I try to be a good mom.) The nicest thing I can tell you about this puzzle is that it wasn’t horrible quality, I’ve done way worse.

The odd thing about this puzzle was the fit. It seemed quite loose at the beginning when not many pieces were assembled, but the more the were added it seemed to get better. That sounds stupid, I know; almost all puzzles get better as more pieces are added – but this was very different. The edges seemed to barely connect and would come apart if disturbed by an accidental touch; if a small section was put together it was almost impossible to pick up and move without great care. But once you had a large section assembled it seemed to be an excellent fit. It was bizarre.

If I had wanted to (I didn’t) I almost could have taken a picture of it standing up when it was completed. It wasn’t great, almost crumbling, but it did stand up on it’s end – though not for long enough to actually get a picture before it fell apart.

Anyone know for sure what animal this is? I don’t. Gerbil? Hamster? Guinea Pig? Other?

If you like the look of this puzzle I have bad news for you, this puzzle is definitely not recommended.

Shopping Trip

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous8 Comments

I had to leave the house yesterday, and found myself at the bookstore looking at jigsaw puzzles, I even ended up buying a few – who woulda thunk it???

Before leaving home I was sorting my next puzzle, but now that I’ve got these new ones the one I was preparing to assemble seems so boring! Plus, if I get Frankenstein and the horror books done quickly they can be posted this month for Halloween.🎃

Interestingly, after my jaunt to the store I now have a shopping tip for you, if you shop in person. The World of Frankenstein is a Laurence King brand puzzle, and if I were you and wanted good quality I would only purchase this brand if you can be sure where it was manufactured.

In the store today there were plenty of puzzles by this brand, including The World of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, etc. – but they were all manufactured in China. The World of Frankenstein was one of only two images by this brand in the store today that was manufactured in the Netherlands. There is a big difference in quality between the two, and after seeing the difference in person and talking with a fellow puzzle blogger in Europe about this brand I wouldn’t purchase a Laurence King puzzle if it was made in China. If you’re spending your hard-earned puzzle budget on a new LK puzzle, please be certain where it was manufactured.

I’ve never recommended a brand specifically depending on where it was made, but there’s a first time for everything. So, if you find a Laurence King puzzle that was manufactured in the Netherlands I highly recommend them. I just completed one of their puzzles and it was excellent quality (I adored it!). If you find the same brand but it was made in China, be wary. Just a friendly suggestion of course. 😊

Anyway, now that these three puzzles are sitting on my board, my fickle menopausal brain (currently being slowly boiled from the inside by hot flashes) has decided that I’m going to assemble the horror books collage. I haven’t started it yet, but I’m very much looking forward to it!

Happy puzzling today my friends!

Most Everyone is Mad

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Most Everyone is Mad by Dean MacAdam – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was even more enjoyable than I’d anticipated, which is always a fun revelation. There’s something about Dean MacAdam’s artwork, it makes for such fantastic puzzling – I haven’t been disappointed yet. 😍

The quality was excellent, my only issue was the amount of puzzle dust. I emptied the pieces out into my colander to start sorting, folded up the bag they came in to throw it away and got a HUGE poof of dust right in the face. Not only that, the amount of dust that ended up in the box after sorting was crazy; not the usual amount for a Ravensburger in my experience. I joked about snorting puzzle dust a couple of years ago, let me tell you – it ain’t fun!

I’m not sure why, but the look of these flowers made me very happy and they were the first characters I put together.

The Mad Hatter here was more difficult to find and assemble than I thought he would be. Most of the pieces for him had such small bits that it was hard to know what I was looking at. (Except the sparkly purple hat, that was pretty easy to locate)

I didn’t even notice until the entire puzzle was assembled that there were symbols for each suit in a deck of card carved into the tree around the Cheshire Cat. The heart at the top was noticeable, but I didn’t register that the others were suits until the whole picture was finished. *I’ve lightened up the color a bit so it’s easier to see the suits*

This puzzle was a joy to assemble, it is highly recommended. 👍🐛👍