Computer Catastrophe

On March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

My sweet baby girl gave me this puzzle for Valentine’s Day; she is so generous and kind, and I’m so proud of who she is – I raised a great lady! 💗 Besides all that, she has great taste in puzzle images, how cute is this?!

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a new Artifact wooden puzzle, or any new wooden puzzle for that matter. It’s so much fun to look through the all the pieces and find the whimsies, and to see all the interesting shapes. The whimsy pieces in this puzzle are all parts of the image…

Catastrophe whims

They are all easy to find except for the interesting shapes at the top of the picture; they are shapes that are shown on the spines of two of the books, it took me a few minutes to figure out what they were. The 3 piece dragon whimsy is so cute, he’s obviously my favorite. 🐲

Catastrophe IP

The geometric shaped pieces made for an interesting assembly, but once you figure out how everything fits together it’s great fun!

Catastrophe 1

I love to see the wooden puzzles from the back, it’s always interesting to look at the shapes and how everything fits together. The cut of this puzzle is something I’ve never seen before; it’s a little simple, but was very entertaining to assemble and placing every piece was a joy.

The artwork by Randal Spangler is so whimsical and adorable, I absolutely love it! I’ve been looking around for more puzzles with his work; it looks as though Artifact and Vermont Christmas Company are the only brands who have Randal Spangler images. I’m thinking I may have to get me some more puzzles with his artwork!

Thank you again to The Baby Princess for this beautiful puzzle! 😘

Daddy’s Down Time*

On March 4, 2020March 3, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

Another fun image from my box of 12 puzzles by the artist Iralu. I love his bright colors and fun sketch-style drawings. They aren’t the best quality puzzles out there, but I just couldn’t resist the artwork. None of the images in this set have titles, so I am naming them as I go; since the lady in the tub puzzle was named Momma’s Me Mood, I have titled this Daddy’s Down Time*

The 300 piece puzzles in this set are better quality than the 150 piece puzzles in the same box. They’re a little thicker and fit together MUCH better, and I have no idea why that is – it makes no sense to me. I would think that they would all be manufactured in the same facility – shouldn’t the quality be the same?

Anyway, this was a fun one and I enjoyed it very much! I don’t really recommend buying puzzles in a multipack box set, the quality is usually questionable. But if you find one with artwork that you can’t live without I say go for it – everything doesn’t have to be perfect for you to enjoy putting the puzzles together. 🙂

How to Sort a Puzzle

On March 3, 2020March 3, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling12 Comments

Seriously? I can’t tell you how you should do it! Whichever way works for you is how you should sort. Or not. You may be a scrabbler who likes to root around through the box to find pieces, or someone who doesn’t sort at all and just lays them all out. Whichever way works best – that’s what you should do.

I dislike posts that tell you how you should assemble, sort, or work on your puzzle; it’s not my place to tell you how to do something. Everyone has their own way that works, and for them that is the perfect way to do it. But if you’re just starting out and looking for suggestions I’ll tell you how I do it and maybe something might work for you.

I use a strainer (shown above) to get rid of puzzle dust as I’m sorting. I dump the pieces into it while it’s sitting in the box, and as I grab them to lay out on trays most of the dust falls to the bottom and out into the box. Cookie sheets from the dollar store that I’ve lined with paper are my trays where I lay out the pieces.

Sorting

I use plastic containers to hold pieces that I pull out to work on after the edges are assembled, but I let the puzzle tell me which pieces/sections to pull out. It could be a pattern, a color, or pieces with words – it all depends on which puzzle I’m assembling. Sometimes I go into the sorting with an idea of what I’m going to pull, but that usually changes a bit once I’ve put a few handfuls of pieces on the tray and see what I’m working with. Whichever pieces I don’t pull I lay out on the trays. I’m a bit OCD, so they’re laid out in orderly rows so that I can compare shapes and colors when I’m looking for a piece.

Most of the time I pull out the edges as I’m sorting, so when I’m done I have the edge to assemble, and also the sections that have been sorted into containers to begin working on once the edge is put together. Sometimes with a shaped or wooden puzzle the edges aren’t easy to find or assemble, so that isn’t where I start. The puzzle leads me in both the sorting and assembly, so each time is different – that’s part of the fun of jigsaw puzzles!

Sorting isn’t something I actually enjoy doing, but I find that in the end it helps me and works best for the way I puzzle. Many people don’t sort at all, so you have to find the way that works for you. You may be a sorter, a scrabbler, or a lay them all out kind of person – you just have to figure out which one.

A sorter, a scrabbler, a lay them all out-er, or something else altogether; which one are you?

Happy puzzling!

Window Shoppers

On March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

There’s something really compelling about this image, but putting it into words seems to be a bit difficult for me at the moment. I can’t exactly explain why, but seeing this image took my breath away, and I just had to have it. Good thing too, because the assembly was completely entertaining!

The colors are so beautiful, the quality was excellent, and all-around this was a wonderful puzzle.

Shoppers 1

I love this lady and her manservant, looking at it makes me smile. She’s carrying the tiniest of boxes, and he can barely see over the stack he’s loaded up with. 🙂

Shoppers 2

In this group of ladies I would absolutely be the one in jeans. I wanted to be the cute girl in pretty skirts, but it never seemed to work out that way.

Shoppers 3

This section was quite entertaining to assemble. The colors of the glass windows stood out, as did the bricks. It was the right amount of challenging, and for other reasons I can’t explain putting together these buildings was great fun.

I seem to have a limited vocabulary this morning, and can’t explain why I enjoyed this puzzle so much. All I know is that I loved putting it together.

Perhaps that’s all I really need to know. 🙂

Review: Vintage Posters (Paris)

On March 1, 2020March 1, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments

Doesn’t this look like a great time? It was! I absolutely loved it, even though it seemed like it would be quite difficult I found it had the perfect amount of challenge, and wonderful quality.

Puzzler1909 (a fellow puzzle blogger) and I conducted an international puzzle swap so we could work brands that are difficult to get in our home countries. I sent an Artifact wooden puzzle and a Galison; and I received this D-Toys, a Grafika, and a bonus Art Puzzle. (It was one I really wanted, but was missing pieces, so I chose another puzzle. She sent it anyway, knowing how much I like the artist – how sweet was that?)

D-Toys can be purchased in the US, but this image was nowhere to be found at any of my usual puzzle dealers. I’ve found that some of their puzzles aren’t the best to work with, but if you get the “high quality” ones they’re absolutely lovely. The pieces are a good thickness with a nice fit and excellent hand feel, and they are altogether very very nice to work with. This puzzle was hands down the best quality D-Toys puzzle I’ve ever assembled. 🙂

There was a big party in Paris, four years after the Eiffel Tower was built, this is a poster advertising it and I think it’s gorgeous! Although I’m not sure what all the boxes on the left side are showing…

Paris 1

Will the party be so amazing that it blows you away? Is there a tornado coming? It’s very silly, but seriously, what is happening here?

Paris 2

Theater, clowns and music, this was one big bash wasn’t it? Apparently they knew how to throw at party back in the 19th century. 😉

Paris 3

I know this is meant to show that there will be acrobats at the Eiffel Tower, but to me it just looks as though they’re tossing women off head first! All kidding aside, you can see the excellent fit in all of these close up images – it was fantastic, and wonderful to work with.

This puzzle was a joy to assemble, and although I was a little nervous when I opened the box and started sorting it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I was wondering if assembling words would be more difficult with a language I don’t speak or read, but it turns out it was no problem at all. (Although it might be a challenge with a language whose characters/alphabet are different than English) The quality, the fit, the image – they all made for a fantastic assembly and a really good time. Many, many thanks to Nicola at Puzzler1909 for swapping puzzles with me – I am so looking forward to assembling the other two!

If you can find this puzzle and the image appeals to you, it is very highly recommended! 👍🗼

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