Retirement

On June 16, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Love, love, love this image! Not only is it beautiful and funny, it made for a fantastic assembly. Hubby decided to get me some more puzzles from Mr. Bob (I think because he wanted to spend a little extra money on himself, and buying me something too lowers his guilt about it). So he asked me to pick out two images and this was the first one I chose.

Mr. Bob Puzzles has a great catalog of beautiful, interesting, and unique images to choose from, it’s difficult to find just one or two that I want to order because I want almost all of them! 😍

Jim Tsinganos is one of the featured artists at Mr. Bob Puzzles, and I adore his artwork. You know how much I love humor – so this funny, silly, beautiful image jumped right out at me when I first saw it, and I’ve had this one on my mental wish list for quite a while. Thank goodness I finally was able to assemble it. There are several other images of his still on my list, and I hope to get them someday, what a fabulous artist he is!

The cut is more “traditional” with regular looking pieces, but it’s quite deceptive. With so many straight or nearly straight edges throughout the entire puzzle it becomes a much more challenging assembly than you would think. It isn’t possible to begin with the edges, at least it isn’t for me; most of the pieces look as though they might be edges! Even on the inside of the puzzle you have to focus much more on the colors, textures, and shading – it’s a bit of a mental workout and I love it.

Retirement 1

Great whimsies with this puzzle: Dorothy, Toto, The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, a flying monkey, The Wicked Witch of the West, etc. There are also the usual whimsies of Australia, clasped hands, and the Mr. Bob logo along with the profile of Mr. Bob too. I love the look of all of them!

My only criticism is – where is the cowardly lion? Was he too scared to show up for his profile sitting? Did he take too long to get there because his scooter slowed him down? I’m being silly, I know – but give an old lady some leeway to be ridiculous now and then. 😉

Retirement 2

Emerald Towers Retirement Suites – I really do love the art and humor of Jim Tsinganos!

Retirement 3

This closeup speaks for itself, it makes the entire image. I love how Dorothy’s shoes no longer have heels; she’s turned those in for flats which are so much safer and easier to walk in. The Cowardly Lion might have broken a hip or something and needs a scooter to get himself around, and The Tin Man needs a cane. You can’t really see a big change in The Scarecrow, other than he seems a little “heavier” than I remember him and a bit more stooped at the shoulders. He also seems to be leaning a bit on Dorothy.

Great image, great quality puzzle, wonderfully entertaining assembly – what more could you ask for? 💖🧩

Building Facades In Progress

On June 15, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Buildings IP — Building Facades by Iralu – Cardinal – 500 pieces

This particular puzzle from a family pack of twelve puzzles has seen me start and stop assembling it before. This is the third time I’ve started, and this time I’m finally going to get it done!

The quality of the 500 piece puzzles in this set is pretty bad, with thin pieces and a terrible fit. The finish is quite shiny as well, and causes quite a bit of glare. Those are the reasons for me starting this puzzle previously but then putting it away; I was NOT in the mood to deal with a bad quality puzzle before.

This time I feel myself being quite stubborn about it though, I really like the artwork and so I’m wanting to power through and get this one “done and dusted”, as they say. I’m not sure I can articulate why this time was the one and why I’ve got a bee in my bonnet to get this finished. I just know that’s how it’s going this time around.

The Human Body

On June 14, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This puzzle was very good quality, which is unfortunately NOT something I have said about the last few Eurographics puzzles I’ve assembled. Unlike those, this puzzle had thick pieces, many shapes, and a good fit. I love to be happily surprised by a brand that I’ve had issues with before!

Eurographics quality has gone down in my opinion, but this puzzle has bucked that trend and I’m happy that at least their children’s puzzles seem to have been made with a little more effort. I still wouldn’t buy an adult jigsaw puzzle from this brand for myself, but I’m happy that this one was much better quality than I expected. 🙂

Educational puzzles are so entertaining for me to put together, even if they’re made for young children. Sometimes I get to re-learn something I already knew, and sometimes I get to find out something new and interesting – and I LOVE THAT!

The smaller colored areas were easy to assemble, but the two human figures in the center were much more difficult…

The Human Body 3

Bones and muscle on both sides, looking very much the same, made it more difficult to assemble this part; and it was the last thing I put together. But I think that’s a very good thing; if a puzzle is too easy it becomes boring, and we don’t want our kids to be bored with puzzles we want them to be engaged and excited by assembling them. All the health and intellectual benefits of puzzling are even more pronounced for children; it helps their developing brains and they become better learners. I’m a huge proponent of puzzles for kids!

The Human Body 1

I enjoyed reading each of smaller sections on the different systems of the human body. It’s aimed at children, but it’s always good to give yourself a little basic refresher course. The circulatory system was the first section I assembled after completing the edge.

The Human Body 2

I find the spine fascinating, so I definitely enjoyed this small section – besides it was very colorful, which is always a plus.

Each section of this puzzle was bright and colorful, entertaining, and educational. In short… what a great puzzle!

Snail Mail

On June 13, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

This was my first puzzle back after many many days of no puzzling at all. For me, it’s always best when I get back to puzzles after any kind of break from them that I start with one that I know I will enjoy – collages are my happy place so that’s where I began.

The overall quality was good, but my one complaint was that many of the pieces were still connected. This puzzle was probably produced near the end of the run when the die had become dull, so all of the pieces weren’t cut all the way through. It isn’t the end of the world, and it wasn’t a big deal for me to separate them.

The pieces were thick and had a great variety of shapes. The fit was slightly loose, but not so much as to be annoying. The image reproduction was gorgeous with beautiful colors and crisp lines, and it really was a joy to assemble.

Snail Mail 1

The color of this stamp was the first thing I noticed – this picture doesn’t do it justice. Absolutely gorgeous!

Snail Mail 2

My first thought was that this would make a beautiful puzzle on it’s own. In fact, many of the stamps in this collage would make gorgeous puzzles by themselves.

Snail Mail 3

The look of this stamp is so unique and interesting. I absolutely love it!

Hound….In Progress

On June 12, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Hound IP — Hound of the Baskervilles by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 300 pieces

I started this puzzle on my white board so that I could work on it in bed; that’s why there’s no pretty plum colored fabric behind it. I didn’t get very far with it yesterday before I had to put it down, but at least I made a start!

It’s been a bit since I’ve done a Wysocki, so I’m looking forward to this image. Sometimes they all seem very similar and it becomes a little boring for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love Americana images, but if I do too many of them in a row or too close together it isn’t as rewarding or entertaining.

I hope you’ll be working on a fun puzzle today, I certainly will be! 💖🧩