The Safari Park

On November 8, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

I had a great time with this puzzle, and found that it was very difficult to stay away from. Even when I needed to take a break and rest, all I wanted to do was get back to the board and continue the assembly. That’s not always a good thing for me physically, I love to puzzle so much that when one is this engrossing I tend to push myself farther than I should because I want to get back in the puzzle room and get back to assembling. (I always pay for it later, not a good thing. But I keep doing it, because I just can’t help myself. 🤷‍♀️)

Safari Park 2

The picture on the box tells me the types of animals I might be assembling, the color of the car and the clothes the characters are wearing. It also tells me what the premise is – What If the animals were more enterprising than we realized? That what the puzzle image will be. The box also shows one character as they will be in the finished puzzle, and this is always the character I photograph. I try to make sure that I don’t spoil these mystery puzzles for anyone who might have them in their to do pile. It’s such a bummer when they get spoiled for me, I never want to do that to anyone else. You’ll notice that the character I photographed is heavily cropped, if more was shown it would spoil some of the premise.

Normally I don’t show anything other that the one character from these puzzles, but there was something really funny that I just had to show you…

Safari Park 1

I’ve got no eye deer if you find this as funny as I do; it cracked me up!

What If? and Wasgij? puzzles make me very happy. There’s a mystery to solve and I have some hints to what the finished image will be but have to figure it out myself. There’s a real sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when it’s finished. And it’s nice to bring order to the chaos using only the colors and shapes of the pieces.

If you haven’t tried these puzzles I absolutely recommend both series. They both are excellent quality brands and the images are entertaining and great for puzzling. I have so many of them still to do, and I’m looking forward to every single one of them. 💗

#Fuzzy Friends

On November 7, 2019November 7, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

How adorable are these guys and gals? So sweet! This was a great quality puzzle by MasterPieces. The random cut was lovely, but it took me a minute or two to wrap my aging brain around the way things would go together. There’s always a period of adjustment when I start a randomly cut puzzle, I have to stare at things for a while until the gray cells warm up and comprehend how the pieces fit together. Once that’s done it’s off to the races!

Fuzzy Friends 1

This is how it looked after putting together everything I pulled from the initial sorting – not bad! Fuzzy Friends 2

This was my favorite section, I love those faces! Puppies and kittens are almost always cute and make for adorable puzzles. They’re not always easy (a lot of fur tends to be a bit of a challenge) but they’re usually entertaining.

The fit was very good and I truly enjoyed the random cut. It’s been a little while since I’ve assembled a MasterPieces puzzle, I forgot how much fun they can be. After a steady diet of grid cut puzzles, it’s lovely to change things up and do something different.

Whether you prefer random or grid cut, there’s no denying they are very cute fuzzy friends. 🐶🐱

Wings

On November 6, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

A beautiful, colorful puzzle that was actually quite calming for me to assemble. The bright colors made it relatively easy, but all the birds and butterflies made for a bit of a challenge; the perfect combination.

Great quality puzzle with thick pieces that fit together well and a good variety of shapes. The image reproduction was bright and clear, but the finish was extremely shiny. It’s part of Buffalo’s Vivid Collection, perhaps that’s the reason for the shininess. It’s a bright image though, and the shine didn’t cause too much glare while working under artificial light.

Today’s Project

On November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Mr. Bob

Yesterday I received these two puzzles to review, I’m very excited to get to assembling today. The image I chose was Save the Whales, and I was surprised to find when I opened the package that I had not one but two puzzles!

Mr. Bob Puzzles are manufactured in Australia, and they have recently switched over from making cardboard puzzles to making wooden ones. I’m so appreciative that I’m able to assemble and review these puzzles, and my initial impression is very positive. The pieces are quite large and thick and the image is beautiful. The puzzles come in cloth bags, and each one has a “tag” to tell you which puzzle is inside…

I adore the Save The Whales image, and even though that was the one I chose for review I’m starting with the 100 Aussie Icons. I’m saving the whales for last – to build excitement perhaps. They both look like they’re going to be lots of fun, I don’t think it matters which one goes first.

When I poured out all the pieces I was shocked at how large the pile was, and it had me going through my other wooden puzzles to find another 500 piece to compare it to. This is a 500 piece Wentworth next to the 515 piece Mr. Bob puzzle…

Mr. Bob 3

The Wentworth is on the left, Mr. Bob on the right; there’s quite a difference in size! I’m so looking forward to going through all the pieces, looking at all the shapes and sizes and finding the whimsies. Being an American I’m certain I’ll need help identifying all the Aussie icons, but it’ll be fun even if I don’t know what they are; the image looks very entertaining!

Who Said That?

On November 4, 2019November 3, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

What a fascinating and fun jigsaw puzzle! It was almost as much fun sorting this one as it was assembling it. I loved reading all the quotes – many I knew, and many I’d never heard before. If you can find one of these puzzles I would highly recommend giving it a try; it’s not easy, but the challenge is oh so much fun.

In my previous in progress post regarding this puzzle I mistakenly said that this was a Buffalo puzzle, in fact it’s by Crystal Lines. It was made in Australia, a great product sent to us from Down Under. This particular puzzle is 25 years old, produced in 1994. I highly doubt it’s still being manufactured, but you might be able to find it in your local thrift store if you’re very lucky.

There were 240 portraits and 240 quotes to match up. Every portrait piece fits with every quote piece, you have to be careful. The portraits all overlapped with the pieces above or below them (or both), and they were helpful in making sure you matched them up properly. You don’t need to know them all to assemble this puzzle, but knowing some of them helps to get you started. There were quite a few quotes from movies that were easy to match up with the actors who said them: “Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn” can only be one person, find the portrait of Clark Gable and you’re on your way.

There were philosophers, artists, entertainers, businessmen and women, writers, poets, and public figures just to name a few. From Socrates to Robin Williams the quotes were thought provoking, funny, a little shocking, and hilarious. Reading through them all was so entertaining! 😎

I knew more than I thought I would, and there also were a few that I thought I knew for sure and was completely wrong. Oh well, I don’t usually get a perfect score on anything.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes – mostly silly and very true….

Who 1 Who 2 Who 3 Who 4

The quality of this puzzle was stellar, and the pieces were quite large. At 504 pieces this puzzle measured approximately 38 x 24 inches, about the size of the average 2000 piece puzzle! The pieces are very thick and fit together quite tightly. The portraits were very well done and I could tell who most of them were without reading the names (the ones I was familiar with, anyway).

If you are lucky enough to come across this puzzle, I suggest you give it a try. It isn’t easy, but boy howdy is it fun! 🙂