Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Mother’s Day Puzzle Giveaway

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling24 Comments
Spectacular Peacock by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 240 pieces

In honor of my spectacular mother – who gave me life, unlimited and unwavering unconditional love, treasured friendship, a love for jigsaw puzzles and so much more – I am holding this giveaway for Spectacular Peacock, a beautiful 240 piece shaped Wentworth Wooden Puzzle.

My mother and I loved to assemble puzzles together much more than we enjoyed assembling them on our own. Even though putting together a puzzle by yourself gives you some quiet reflective time to de-stress and relax, we enjoyed spending time together talking, laughing, and puzzling; we could spend entire days having the time of our lives with just a few puzzles and each other.

When I started treating myself to some wooden puzzles, she fell in love with them too; we would marvel over the intricate shapes, show each other when we made a connection, and discuss the fantastic quality. I will never forget the months we spent assembling the mystery puzzle box of vintage wooden puzzle pieces that I gave her for Christmas the year before she passed; she told me it was the best present she’d ever received in her life, and we both had the best time assembling that giant 100 year old puzzle and spending extra time with each other. They are cherished memories that will be with me the rest of my life. 💗

So,to bring a little more joy into my life this first Mother’s Day without her – and in honor of her love of Aimee Stewart images and wonderfully made wooden puzzles – I’m giving away this beautiful, gently used wooden jigsaw puzzle. It’s a little challenging, even at only 240 pieces; it’s shaped, so starting with the edges is more difficult than you might think, and it includes several beautiful whimsies of flowers, peacocks, and more. I adored assembling it (even though I was in the hospital at the time), and I hope the winner enjoys it just as much. If you’d like to see the completed puzzle, you can click here to see my original post.

They say if you want to feel better you should do something for others, and I think “they” might be right. When I made the decision to give this puzzle away for Mother’s Day to honor her I immediately started to smile just thinking about how happy it would make someone to win it. And it made me happy too!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post (if you need something to say, I’d be honored to hear about your own mom.) Each comment will be given a number, and I will use a random number generator to determine the winner one week from today on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10, 2020. This is open to all puzzle lovers, no matter where you live. Good luck!

For my momma – my puzzle posse, my best friend in the world. 💝

Cottages – Part 2

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments
Cottages 2-1
Cottages (2) by Kim Leo – Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces

Day two of adorable cottages by Kim Leo. I really do love these small shaped puzzles! Reassembling the cottages makes me want to go back and reassemble all the ones I still have. I’ve kept quite a few of them, and given some away to my “grandson” who loves puzzles as much as I do.

Each of the puzzles has a colored backing so that you can sort them easily, or if you prefer more of a challenge you can ignore the colored backing and make it a true 500 piece puzzle. I prefer to use the colored backing and sort them into twelve piles. I don’t always assemble the entire box all at once, so it’s nice to be able to sit down and grab a pile of pieces and put together one or more of these shaped beauties.

Cottages 2-2

Lilacs -n- Lace Bed & Breakfast – gotta tell you I love the bright color of this one. I would LOVE to have a bright purple house with a green porch, but I don’t know that the neighbors would be too pleased. The lilac bushes on the side of the house make me a little homesick for Michigan. The don’t grow here in Florida, and I miss their beautiful scent and seeing the brightly colored lilac bushes everywhere.

Cottages 2-3

We’ve got two black cats in this one, and it looks as if they’d like to take that bike for a spin while the dog doesn’t seem to want to get involved. He looks as if he wants to say “Mom wouldn’t like it if you messed up her bike.” I love the look of a yellow house, it always seems cheery to me. Although I’m not so sure about the neon pink door. Ah well, at least it matches the bike!

Cottages 2-4

What a sweet little cafe, with lots of flowers everywhere. Doesn’t this look like a relaxing place to have a nice meal, with lots of small talk? This one definitely reminds me my home state, it must be because the artist lives there. She seems to perfectly capture the quaint feeling of small town homes and businesses.

These puzzles make me so happy! 💖

Cottages – Part 1

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments
Cottages 1-1
Cottages (1) by Kim Leo – Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces

I am completely in love with these 500 piece puzzles from Cra-Z-Art. They are a series of shaped puzzles of various animals/houses/objects/food and they are so much fun! Each of the boxes is a total of around 500 pieces and includes between 12-16 smaller shaped puzzles. I think I’ve done all of them, but there may be one or two that I have yet to find. They’re all adorable and unbelievably entertaining, and great for when you don’t have a ton of time to sit and puzzle – or even if you prefer to sit down and put them all together at once.

I’ve assembled these 12 before, but I received another copy as a gift for Christmas from my puzzle pal Penny, and putting them together again isn’t a burden at all; I absolutely love these small shaped puzzles, and doing any of them again is a joy! 💝

This time around I’m showing each of the puzzles. This box of 12 cottages will be spread out over 4 posts: 1) to show each of the 12 puzzles close up and appreciate the artwork, and 2) to give myself a little breathing room as far as posts in the queue ready to go – I’m finding it hard to puzzle lately, sitting at the table is too painful for me for any length of time. So get ready for 4 days of tiny cottage puzzles, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Cottages 1-2

The flowers climbing up this house are so lovely; my thumb is NOT green, so I don’t know what kind of flowers grow on a climbing vine, but it sure would be pretty to have. They definitely wouldn’t survive a hurricane down here in Florida, but it’s nice to think about them adorning the front of my house. 🙂

Cottages 1-3

I love the color of this little flower shop, and more pretty climbing flowers! Also, keep an eye out for cats, you’ll find at least one in every puzzle. I thought at first the artist must definitely be a cat person, but after a bit of research I’ve learned that she and her husband live in Michigan and only have a dog. I wonder why there’s a black cat in each puzzle. Perhaps as a tribute to Heronim (Harry Wysocki, brother of Charles), another prominent Americana artist from Michigan?

Cottages 1-4

This seems like a perfect puzzle for fall; apples and pumpkins for sale, and a black cat resting on a bale of hay. Of the three cottages shown today, this one is my favorite – fall is my favorite season. Unlike some of the other cottages, this one looks as though it’s been “cut” out of a larger painting. You can see in the border that there was more going on in the background. I’d love to see the rest of the image!

What Is It About….

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

What is it about being told you can’t do something that makes you want to do it? After being told that puzzles are hard to find and getting more expensive, and seeing it for myself – all I want to do is find and buy some puzzles!

I don’t really need any puzzles, there are literally hundreds of them here between my house and my mom’s house. Hundreds! Years worth of puzzle assembly. Why in the world do I now have a bee in my bonnet about buying more? It’s my contrary nature, I think. No puzzles for sale? I need to find some puzzles to buy!

Is it just me? Does the lack of availability make you want to buy more? Or is it just that I don’t like being given limitations? I gotta tell ya, I do NOT like being told what to do, or what not to do. Of course no one told me that I couldn’t buy any, but the lack of availability and rising costs made me more determined than ever to find puzzles. Not just any puzzles, but ones that appeal to me and that are not overpriced. Stubborn? Me? Yep.

*There are two orders on their way to my house right now. 😈

Pig House

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles14 Comments
Pig House
Pig House by Susan Sturgill – Great American Puzzle Factory – 550 pieces

I hemmed and hawed about assembling this puzzle, it’s probably been at my house for two years, perhaps even longer. It’s a thrift store find of mom’s that looks like a fun image, but with it’s muted colors I knew that it would be difficult. Of course you never know until you get to assembling, but it turns out I was right; the truly random cut and muted colors made it quite a challenge.

The Great American Puzzle Factory is no longer in business, but I don’t think it could have been because of their quality. I’ve done several of their puzzles, and they’ve all been very good. The pieces were very thick, with an excellent variety of shapes and an excellent fit. The image reproduction is very good as well, the muted colors seem to be true to the original artwork.

Pig House 1

La Pension Porcinee – the pig boarding house. I love the whimsy of the artwork and the simple and silly things all the pigs are doing. One is out walking the poodle, and there is a piglet blowing bubbles on the front steps while two old timers are in rocking chairs on the porch.

Pig House 2

Bath time – cleaning up with a big bottle of Hogwash – love it!

Pig House 3

Two honeymooners, expressing their love for one another while a cat hides under the bed. It’s not something you think pigs would be doing – traveling from Cincinnati! 😉

Pig House 4

Here we see the deliveryman bringing “food” into the kitchen. I’m certainly glad I don’t live close to this boarding house!

This puzzle is 34 years old – from 1986. It seems odd to me that the year I graduated from high school is that many years ago. That can’t possibly be. My math must be wrong. Right?