Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Flower Deer

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Flower Deer by Coco de Paris – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

This image is just beautiful, and adorable at the same time. Loved it! This is the third of these puzzles with images by Coco de Paris that I’ve done, and they’ve all been great fun, but not too easy at the same time. So entertaining!

The quality was pretty good for this thrift store puzzle. A good variety of piece shapes, good fit, nice image reproduction, and a not too shiny finish. Overall, I would say good/very good in the quality department for this one.

If you look at the back of the box there are so many different brand names it was difficult at first to decide which one to credit. Listed on the box were Milton Bradley, Cardinal, Hasbro, and Spin Master. I decided that the name shown on the front as well would be the name I went with, so Milton Bradley is credited here.

Fun little puzzle that didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it might, it was difficult to walk away from once I got into the assembly of the center. The border was assembled first, and then the puzzle sat unloved and alone on the board for more than 24 hours before I actually started working on the inside of the puzzle; but once I started I didn’t want to leave.

Lots of fun!

The Alchemist’s Home In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

The Alchemist’s Home by Vasilisa Romanenko – eeBoo – 1000 pieces

I’m loving this puzzle that my beautiful daughter gave me for Christmas and although it’s slow going I’m enjoying every bit of it. It’s been quite a while since I’ve put together an eeBoo puzzle, but the image on this one is fantastic and it’s been very entertaining so far.

Just a side note, the “stamp” on the front of the box says that the company is Woman Owned and Mother Run. LOVE THAT!

Woman with a Parasol, Facing Right

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Woman with a Parasol, Facing Right by Claude Monet – Robert Frederick – 100 pieces

I really wanted to enjoy this puzzle, sadly I was quite disappointed in it’s quality. Fine Art puzzles can be quite difficult with the painterly style and brush strokes, but the bent pieces and overly shiny finish made it even more troublesome than usual.

This was my first time with a Robert Frederick puzzle, and while I don’t like to make snap judgements I was pretty let down by this brand. I’ll hold off making a decision about the brand in general until there have been one or two more puzzles assembled, but so far it ain’t looking good.

Although the pieces were quite thick and sturdy, that in itself made the first problem I’m going to tell you about even worse. There were SO MANY bent pieces! And with a thick and sturdy chipboard, once it’s bent trying to get it back into shape is a losing battle. The finished puzzle didn’t lie flat because of all the bent pieces that I couldn’t get back to their original configuration.

My second issue with this puzzle was the EXTREMELY shiny finish. It was so shiny that even with the lightest areas of the puzzle I was constantly having to tilt my head to be sure what the piece actually looked like. I’m not a fan of the extra shiny coating on a puzzle. Not everyone can work with natural lighting (my puzzle board is in a room with only artificial lighting) and the shine makes it very difficult to see what you’re doing.

On the positive side…there were a good variety of piece shapes, the chipboard was thick and sturdy, and the fit was very nice. But to me those things don’t mean much with bent pieces that prevent the puzzle from lying flat and a shiny finish that makes it difficult to see what you’re doing under any artificial lighting.

While I love the actual artwork by Monet, this isn’t an image that I would dare to try in a larger piece count. Finding it in only 100 pieces made me quite happy, but unfortunately the quality left a lot to be desired.

Creatures of the Cosmos

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Creatures of the Cosmos by Sarah Walsh – Mudpuppy – 500 pieces

This puzzle was more enjoyable than I anticipated, and the pleasant surprise of having more than one piece shape was fantastic. Easy to sort, relatively easy to assemble, this one was lots of fun!

My daughter insisted I buy this one, and to be honest I wanted nothing to do with a Mudpuppy puzzle, but I couldn’t refuse my baby girl. Good thing too, because other than the “sharp” white backing I thought the quality of this puzzle was very good. My last Mudpuppy puzzle (a birthday gift) was good quality as well, but still had just the one piece shape; the fact that this one had a variety of shapes made me quite happy. Perhaps the fact that it had foil accents had something to do with the difference in pieces.

The stars in the constellations and the lines that connect them were all foil accents in this image. It’s hard to capture in a closeup picture, but it wasn’t difficult to work with at all.

Creatures of the Cosmos was enjoyable to assemble, and happily I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would! 🌟

Ice Cream Social In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

Ice Cream Social by Lars Stewart – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

It took me forever to decide which puzzle to do next; my last puzzle of 2023 was a 1000 piece puzzle that was a bleeping nightmare to work with and my first puzzle of 2024 was a little 101 piece puzzle that my son got me for Christmas. I wanted the next one to be entertaining and relatively good quality and seeing this Lars Stewart image made my decision for me – bright colors, lots of words, and lots of yummy, colorful ice cream!

This is a thrift store purchase, and there are a lot of pieces with bent tabs, but otherwise the quality has been good so far. The fit is nice, the finish is matte and has a good hand feel, there are a good variety of pieces and the image reproduction is gorgeous.

Here’s hoping it’s a complete puzzle and it remains fun to assemble!