A Drive in the Country

On April 21, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

A new company for me to try out always makes me happy, and luckily this one had a beautiful image, gorgeous colors, and great quality. I’ve tried many, many different companies and from my experience finding great quality isn’t the norm. I was very pleasantly surprised. 🙂

Of course I can only speak for this particular puzzle, having only assembled one puzzle from this brand. Usually I prefer to try at least 3 different puzzles before making a final judgement, so I’d love to try another from this brand, hopefully a larger piece count. I’ve found that some companies that have excellent quality 300 piece puzzles don’t have the same quality for larger piece counts. I don’t know why this is, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me; but I have definitely found it to be true. I’m hoping to run into a larger puzzle from The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory to see what the quality is like and if it compares to the great experience I had with this one.

The pieces were nice and thick, fit together extremely well, and there were a very good variety of shapes. The quality of the image reproduction was excellent, though the finish was a little bit shiny. Overall the quality of the puzzle was impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed the assembly.

I love the tiny little details and the quality of the artwork by Carol Lawson; it was great fun to assemble. It reminded me of my youth for some reason I can’t explain, I just loved the softness and sweet quality of the teddy bears.

At only 300 pieces this went together quickly, but it made me happy and that’s the part that matters most. 💗

What Do You Think?

On April 20, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling12 Comments

Recently I was contacted by a new puzzle company, looking for feedback from puzzlers about their new product; they’d love to hear your thoughts about their puzzles.

Starz Puzzles are a new brand of wooden jigsaw puzzle and their product seems quite new and different. Unlike many other companies their puzzles are made of solid maple hardwood – not plywood or MDF; in addition, they print the images directly onto the wood, there is no paper involved. They also have designed a new star-like piece shape, which according to Starz allows for an unlimited puzzle, an infinity puzzle. Are you intrigued? I am.

Please check out their website by clicking the link above, and if you’re so inclined please leave a comment here letting them know your thoughts. Any feedback, good or bad, is welcome; they would very much like to know what those of us who actually assemble jigsaw puzzles think. Even though I haven’t actually assembled one of their puzzles I’m giving them my feedback as well.

Thanks so much for your help! 🙂

Something Fishy

On April 19, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

This has beautiful colors, but wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped; I’m not a big fan of underwater images. Isn’t it interesting how I love bright colors in a puzzle, but if they’re fish or a scene under the ocean it isn’t as entertaining? My brain is so odd!

That isn’t to say that it wasn’t fun to assemble at all, because it was. It just wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped. Who’s to say why some images make us happy and some don’t, we like what we like. The best pictures don’t always make the best puzzles, and sometimes images look like they’ll be fun, but for some reason we can’t explain they just aren’t.

Unfortunately this had a missing piece so it ended up in the recycle bin instead of being given back to goodwill, but those are the chances we take. It’s a tiny bit disappointing, but I still got to put the puzzle together; I can’t be unhappy with that. 🙂

Want a Ride?

On April 18, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

Another silly title by me for a puzzle with no title shown on the box. How intense are these puppy/kitty looks? Pretty intense. Would you want a lift from a car full of these darlings? I definitely would!

Fair quality kids puzzles from Milton Bradley. The fit was good, the pieces were on the thinner side, and the finish was a bit shiny. Not too bad for a thrift store purchase, I got 3 silly puzzles to assemble for a dollar – not bad at all! 🙂

Inspiration Please!

On April 17, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling10 Comments

I’m wallowing, I’ve been wallowing for more than a week now and have absolutely no ambition, energy, physical strength, or anything else I need to get out of bed and work on a puzzle.

In my head I want to puzzle, but then I’m lacking whatever else is needed to actually get up and do it. There’s a 500 piece puzzle that has been on the board for about a week now, and I just can’t seem to get my butt in there and finish the damn thing. It’s very pretty, a bit challenging, and has been fun so far – but the inspiration seems to have flown away from the Hummingbird Garden.

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All nine hummingbirds are assembled, as are the flowers in both the upper and lower right corners. It’s more than halfway complete, putting it away now is just stupid. Besides, who says if I take this one down and start another that there’d be any more inspiration? Sigh.

Ah well, today is Wednesday. Hump day. Maybe I’ll finally get over the hump and finish this one. Perhaps all I needed was to moan and complain about it to my PADS posse and get all that whining out of my system; here’s hoping!