Ready for a Drive

On August 20, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Despite this being a thrift store puzzle with slightly poor quality that had obviously been assembled several times, I still had a good time putting it together. 🙂

There were a lot of bent tabs with image lift, and the image was more challenging than I’d assumed. Those are the chances you take with used puzzle, but most of time even with a poorer quality puzzle I still enjoy the assembly. White Mountain puzzles can be hit or miss; and even though this puzzle seemed slightly the worse for wear, it wasn’t too bad to work with.

Mom and I both really liked the image when we first got this puzzle (quite some time ago), but I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to assembling it. Sometimes I have to be in the right mood for a particular puzzle; but I’m glad I finally got to it.

It took longer than expected to complete, but I kept at it and eventually got it finished. It could be in part that this puzzle makes me think of mom. Perhaps I didn’t want to be done with it, because when I look at it I think of her. Not because anything in the image reminds me of her, but because of the image as a whole and how much we both loved it and thought it would be an entertaining puzzle. It was, and I’m sad that we didn’t get to work on it together.

Ready for a Drive 1

I think the little girl in the blue dress is my favorite person in this image – she reminds me of myself – a little cranky, in an adorable way. Mom called me cute all the time, but she was probably a bit biased.

Sweets In Progress

On August 19, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

In Progress 3

I finally got going on Lip Smackin’ Sweets by Lafayette Puzzle Factory, and I’m a little disappointed with the thickness of the pieces and the way they fit together. I’m not certain I’ve ever done a 1000 piece puzzle by Lafayette; so the loose fit and thinner pieces were a bit of a surprise.

Ah well, it’s still an interesting picture and I’ve certainly worked with much worse in terms of pieces and fit before, so I’m sure I can get through it just fine.

So far the Pixy Stix were the hardest little sections to put together – which was such a bummer because I ADORE them! They’ve been my favorite non-chocolate candy since I was little. Yes, I know, it’s like eating pure sugar, but whatever. You love what you love, right? I make no excuses. 😁

Just Ducky

On August 18, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles9 Comments

This cutie was more fun than I thought it would be. I don’t always enjoy Sunsout puzzles, as some of them have such a tight fit, it’s off-putting for me. But the fit on this one was quite good and just the right amount of hold.

I actually put off assembling it for quite a while, because I thought the background would be awful to get through. I had a great time with the assembly though, and the background didn’t take nearly as much time as I feared it would.

I’m still surprised by puzzles; ones I think will be great fun turn out to be boring or tedious, and ones that I dread assembling turn out to be charming and much more pleasant than anticipated. You’d think after the hundreds and hundreds of puzzles I’ve assembled that I’d be a better judge of what I will enjoy. Nope. Still as clueless as ever.

But I’m cute, with a great sense of humor – so I’m still a catch! ☺

Review Update…

On August 17, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling9 Comments

Canvas – Cloudberries – 1000 pieces

Pixels – Cloudberries – 1000 pieces

In my reviews of the above Cloudberries puzzles, I mentioned that I thought they should put the dimensions of the finished puzzle on the box so we puzzlers can be sure it will fit our workspaces.

Yesterday I was informed that they, in fact, do put the dimensions on the box. Oops! I looked all over the boxes to try and find the puzzle size, and somehow I completely missed it every time. My sincere apologies!

Cloudberries box

I can only blame lack of sleep and pain meds for my poor observational skills (or perhaps my advancing age and worsening eyesight). As you can see above, the first line of the small print shows the finished size of the puzzle.

I’ve edited both reviews, and wanted to be certain to update my readers as well. I’ll do my best to be more observant from now on. 🙂

Review: Canvas

On August 16, 2019August 16, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments

It was no surprise to me that I absolutely loved this puzzle, the image is so different from the “normal” puzzle pictures that you usually see of countrysides, cats, and collages. I love that it’s unusual and colorful, and it made for a challenging but thoroughly entertaining assembly. (My apologies for the slightly wonky picture – I am obviously not Ansel Adams!)

Cloudberries is a newer puzzle company with a small catalog of interesting images, and I have found the quality to be excellent. The pieces are a good thickness, with a good variety of shapes, and fit together well. The image reproduction is stellar, with bright colors, sharp lines, and no areas with fuzzy or blurred images.

There are more ballerinas (2 prong/2 hole) than anything other shape, but that’s usually the case with most puzzle companies. It was a bit of a pain when I got to the all white pieces, but didn’t bother me with the colored areas at all.

Canvas 1

The color wheel was the first thing I assembled and I really love the look of it (that it had words was a bonus!)

Canvas 2

The darker of the two globes had me spinning my wheels for a bit, but I got it done in the end. I work under artificial light and it was hard to distinguish the right pieces and where the lines were. It looks pretty darned cool though! I absolutely loved this image; it’s so unusual and colorful, and much more interesting to assemble than a landscape. (At least it was for me.)

Canvas 3

You can see in the upper right corner where it looks “dirty” for lack of a better word. It’s part of the image, but was a little confusing at first. I thought the box was a little dirty in places too, but it’s part of the “Canvas” image. On the plus side, it did make it easier with the white pieces. 😉

I adored this puzzle; the assembly was entertaining and interesting, with just the right amount of challenge. I definitely recommend you give Cloudberries puzzles a try if you have the chance. They have some fantastic images in their catalog, and they make a great puzzle! 🌦🍒👍

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