Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Cardinal – 48 pieces

My youngest son decided it was time for me to put together one of my kids puzzles that have been hanging out at the bottom of my puzzle shelves way in the back – and of course he chose TMNT. He tells me this is from the 2012 version of the show, in case anyone was wondering. 🐢

*In case you were wondering if I was wondering – I wasn’t. But he loves to talk about the things he’s interested in, and I’m his mother, so I listen.*

In addition to providing all the information I learned about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he even helped out with the assembly right from the beginning! I’m sure the fact that it was only 48 pieces was a consideration, but he was genuinely excited about this puzzle and I was happy to have his assistance.

I was quite impressed with the quality of this puzzle, it came in a 6 pack of kids puzzles of varying piece counts (all from Nickelodeon shows) that I paid $1.49 for. I was expecting much lesser quality, but was happily surprised that the pieces were thick and fit together well, and the image reproduction was very good.

It was a bargain at even twice the price. Cowabunga dudes!

Ice Cream Bars

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Ice Cream Bars by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

Here’s another puzzle that I was very much looking forward to, but it had very disappointing quality. It’s been a while since I’ve done a White Mountain puzzle, and they can be hit or miss – this one was a miss, unfortunately. I wanted to enjoy this, and I did – just not as much as I’d hoped. Oh well.

The image reproduction on this was was quite blurry in some places, and there were quite a few pieces not cut all the way through. The fit was good, not as tight as some WM puzzles can be, but good. The chipboard was a good thickness, and the finish was a bit shiny, but not too much so; it was mainly the reproduction that caused me so much trouble.

So let’s look at some of these ice cream bars and wrappers up close…

Apparently sex sells, even ice cream bars.

I wanted to show the difference in clarity – the Dairy Queen cup is quite clear and the surrounding wrappers were quite muddled and blurry up close – I’m not sure I was able to capture it in the picture though. Perhaps the artist used actual vintage wrappers or pictures of them and they’re just what they looked like. I can’t be sure, but it was frustrating to have some of the image be so blurry in places.

Six Klondike bars for $1.49? Wow. Just wow. And you can also see in this picture that the words are quite clear and the image of the boy and the ice cream bars is fuzzy and indistinct.

The overall quality of this puzzle was quite a letdown; I was hoping for an entertaining collage with good quality that I could just relax and enjoy – this puzzle wasn’t it. ☹

Clue In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling27 Comments

Clue – Spin Master – 1000 pieces

I just finished sorting this morning and quickly put together the logo that goes in the middle – and I got all the pieces on the initial sort – way to go me!

The quality is less impressive than I was hoping for; the pieces are thin, the fit is very loose and there are a LOT of bent pieces. It’s quite different than Harmony Harbor by the same brand that I just posted about two days ago. That puzzle had quite a few bent pieces as well, but the chipboard was thicker, the finish was matte instead of shiny and the fit was very good.

According to the blog this is my first 1000 piece puzzle by this brand, and unfortunately so far I’m underwhelmed.

Apparently this is one of a series of six puzzles with images of classic board games, the others are Guess Who?, Monopoly, Battleship, Life, and Scrabble. They aren’t available online other than on resale sites; you can only get them in-store at Target and they seem to be extremely difficult to get. I wasn’t aware of any of this when I purchased it, and honestly I’m finding it quite frustrating just trying to get any information about this puzzle and/or the series.

Here’s hoping the assembly is less exasperating than the search for info about the puzzle itself. Fingers crossed!🤞

Cozy Bathroom

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Cozy Bathroom by Olga – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This was a large piece puzzle by Ravensburger, and both the quality and the image made for a wonderful puzzling experience. The pieces felt amazing in my hands, the artwork is stunning, and the fit was exceptional – loved it!

When I work on a puzzle like this it reminds me why Ravensburger is one of my favorite brands of cardboard puzzles; the quality far surpasses most other puzzle companies and they have such a broad range of images in their catalog to choose from. And there’s something about the larger piece puzzles of theirs that is even more satisfying to work with – I just adore them.

This beautiful painting on the wall doesn’t seem very detailed when you see it close up, but you know exactly what it is – an homage to a Monet painting. Gorgeous!

There was something about this tableau in the corner of the image, it’s absolutely beautiful. I don’t know about anyone else, but whenever I see someone bathing on tv or in the movies and there are lit candles everywhere my first thought it how much of a pain in the a*s it would be to light them all in the first place. Or clean up after them when wax spills onto tables or other surfaces. Candlelight is lovely, but sometimes it doesn’t seem as though it’s worth all that work.

Stunning image, fantastic quality, and a wonderful all around assembly; this puzzle is very highly recommended. 🛀👍

Harmony Harbor

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles9 Comments

Harmony Harbor – Spin Master – 300 pieces

This is a beautiful image, I’m not sure that it’s “calming” for me though. I wish there were more to say about this puzzle, but it was just…meh. Not bad, not great – it just was. Most certainly it is more about me than the puzzle itself or the image, but that’s how it seemed.

Spin Master has come out with these Calm puzzles; there is an app to download (comes with a free 30-day subscription) and you use the app to enhance your experience with mindful audio content from Calm, the #1 app for meditation, relaxation and sleep.

I’m not interested in an app to help me enjoy my puzzles; all I need is a beautiful image made by a quality jigsaw puzzle company and some great music to sing along with or just peace and quiet. Having the audio curated for me just isn’t what I’m looking for.

The quality was good; there were quite a few pieces with bent tabs, but the chipboard was a good thickness, the fit was very good, and the image reproduction was lovely with a matte finish.

I wish I had to more say about this puzzle, I’m just not feelin’ it at the moment. Sorry.