Month: November 2023

Christmas Spirit In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

Christmas Spirit by Susan Winget – Ceaco – 577 pieces

Yesterday I got a text from my puzzle pal Penny, that said “Stop the presses! Stacey has a very Christmasy/Santie Claus puzzle on her board??? Am I in the Twilight Zone?” No ma’am, it isn’t the Twilight Zone and you’re not having a stroke, I am working on my Christmas puzzles right now!

I’ve got one going in the bathroom, and this one on my board; and there are a couple of them finished already too! (You can see them on the November page if you don’t believe me – but I really did do them 😎)

This puzzle is a special edition Ceaco puzzle with a red velvet backing and whimsy pieces. Mom got it at the thrift store (she was the thrift store ninja), and it still has the sticker on it – she paid 99 cents for it! Unfortunately even though I just got started it is obvious it won’t be complete…

This lovely piece was in the box. It has obviously been chewed up by a pet; the velvet backing is gone, and the front of the piece looks like this. Sigh. Maybe it’s just me, but I think I’d rather a person just tossed this piece in the trash and didn’t put it in the box to be donated. It would be better to get to the end and realize there’s a missing piece than to find this while you’re laying out pieces and know for sure this puzzle won’t be complete. That’s just my opinion of course, but that’s how I feel.

Anyway, I won’t get much work done on this today as I’m off to deliver a birthday cake to a friend and probably spend a little time visiting. When I get back I’ll most likely be wiped out and spend the rest of the day in bed. So, I’ve got an hour or so this morning to puzzle, and then I’m off.

Happy puzzling today my friends!

Glorious Morning

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles10 Comments

Glorious Morning by Jane Maday – E&L Corp. – 250 pieces

This beautiful image is unfortunately attached to a puzzle of very poor quality – but I enjoyed assembling it anyways. Things don’t always have to be perfect; in fact, if they were things would get boring pretty quickly.

It’s been a while since I’ve done an E&L puzzle, and the quality of this one reminded me why that was. Thin pieces, sloppy fit, and shiny finish – these are puzzles I usually pass right on by. It was a thrift store puzzle given to me by a friend though, which is why I wanted to assemble it.

It was such a small puzzle (14 x 10 inches) that I just put all the pieces on the board. I tried to just put them wherever, but the OCD kicked in and I ended up laying them out neatly in rows – couldn’t help myself! 🤷‍♀️

I started with the four birds and then started filling in the birdhouses and flowers. It wasn’t an easy puzzle, but was still fun. The missing piece was a little disappointing, but it’s par for the course sometimes. Thrift store puzzles come with a bit of risk, but usually the ones I find are complete. When they’re not, it isn’t too much of a problem; the task is to put together all the pieces you have, and I completed my task.

I’ve done quite a few puzzles with artwork by Jane Maday; they’re usually outdoors with birds and flowers and they’re always entertaining to put together. Despite the quality issues it was still fun – in fact I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. 🐦❤

Quilt Farm

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Quilt Farm by Eduard – Buffalo (Country Life) – 1000 pieces

Such a beautiful image, and it was so entertaining to assemble that it went together quite quickly. If you’re looking for a great puzzle and the image is to your liking I highly recommend this one.

The quilts were all so colorful and the patterns were so interesting. You know I can’t resist a puzzle with quilts, there’s just something about them. I can’t put my words together to properly convey how happy they make me, but I’ll keep trying. 😊

For some idiotic reason I thought this section with the vegetables would be pretty easy to assemble – boy was I wrong! It turns out that the wooden boxes were much more simple to find and put together. The veggies, well they weren’t always so easy.

Another of my loves, puzzles with dogs. 💕 Of course you were going to get a closer picture of these adorable puppies!

Great puzzle, beautiful image, gorgeous quilts – what’s not to love?

Went Shopping!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous11 Comments

My daughter and I went shopping on Sunday, and while wandering around the store we found these two books – each with nine 96 piece puzzles inside – and even better, they were only $2.99 each!

I looked through the books and realized that even though the pieces are extremely thin (almost like cardstock) I didn’t care. The fit seems to be quite good, so even if they’re thin it shouldn’t be too difficult to assemble each one. Plus, the images on the puzzles are interesting, beautiful, and look like they would be fun to put together.

And who doesn’t smile when they think of Bob Ross? I actually used to sit and watch his show when I was younger, and was amazed at how quickly he could put together a stunningly beautiful image. He made it look so easy! And I was a rambunctious, always-on-the-go kind of kid; there was something special about the man himself, something that made hyper little me (who was usually only interested in the fast paced commercials rather than the actual programs) sit down and just watch a man paint.

So on those days when I’m wanting to puzzle but feeling like a 500 or 1000 piece puzzle is too much, I can take a little 96 piece puzzle out of one of these books and put it together. They are “one coffee” puzzles that are larger than what I usually assemble, and it looks like they’ll be lots of fun.

I’m not ashamed to tell you I was almost giddy when we found these. Basically I got eighteen 96 piece puzzles for less than $6.00; you can’t beat that, even if they aren’t premium quality pieces.

Doesn’t matter, I’m still pleased as punch to have found them, and just looking at them puts a great big smile on my face. 😎

I Read Banned Books

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles13 Comments

I Read Banned Books by Laura Korzon – Mudpuppy – 500 pieces

You’re damn right I do! In fact, when I do a puzzle like this or read about banned books, it only makes me want to read them even more; I wonder if those book-banning d**che-bags understand that at all. Probably not, that would take critical thinking skills, logic, and comprehension.

This was a fantastic puzzle with very good quality that went together quite quickly – in fact it was almost too easy and I found myself wishing it was 750 or 1000 pieces to make it last a bit longer.

Although I don’t care for the backing Mudpuppy uses, and wish there was more than one piece shape, it was otherwise a very good quality puzzle. The fit was excellent, and the image reproduction was stellar. In fact, the fit was so good that….

I don’t know why it makes me so happy to be able to take pictures like this, but hey, if it makes me happy to take a stupid picture of a puzzle standing up – why not? It’s a little thing, and it really does make me smile. 😁

On the back of the small poster that comes with the puzzle is a little blurb about each of the books with one or two sentences describing what they’re about. A couple of the books I’d never heard of, and a few I’ve heard of but haven’t read. Finding out what they’re about has made me want to read them all. I’ve only read three of the nine books shown, but I’d definitely be interested in reading the rest of them.

This really was a fun, good quality puzzle. If it looks like it would be your pile of pieces, go for it! It’s very highly recommended – two stacks of banned books 📚📚 and two thumbs up! 👍👍

*Heartfelt and special thanks to my dear friend and fellow Puzzle/PADS Posse member Penny for this lovely birthday gift. I absolutely adored it! 💖*