Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Crafty Cornucopia

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Crafty Cornucopia by Tiffany Pratt – Blanc Puzzles (Buffalo) – 500 pieces

This is such a fun image, and I was very excited to try a new(ish) brand. Blanc Puzzles is part of the Buffalo Games brand, and both the box and pieces are quite different from a regular Buffalo puzzle. It was an entertaining assembly, and in my opinion there are some pros and cons for this new offshoot of Buffalo.

Both the backing on the chipboard and the finish on the top of the puzzle have a different feel to them. On the back is the white “sharp” backing that I’m not a fan of. In addition, it’s printed with both the name of the brand and the signature of the artist…

All of the Blanc puzzles do not have this printing on the back; I have another of this brand here that I have since completed and it has just the plain white backing. This puzzle is part of a series with images by Tiffany Pratt, in addition to the backing the box is very different too – quite large for only 500 pieces with a clamshell lid and magnetic clasp.

The front of the puzzle has an almost slick, silky feel – it’s very nice. I absentmindedly rub my thumb over a piece I’m holding when thinking about it’s placement, and the hand feel of the finish is quite nice.

The fit seems more “sturdy” is the only way I can think to describe it. There’s an audible click when some pieces are connected, but not all. I was certain when I started the assembly and noticed the different fit that when completed the puzzle would definitely stand up for one of my “fit-so-tight-you-can-stand-it-on-it’s-edge” pictures. Surprisingly it wouldn’t. Well, that’s not true; it did, but in such a flimsy way that the whole thing was distorted, it wasn’t worth photographing.

The shapes of Buffalo pieces come to a point in many places, and with the sturdier chipboard the points were very sharp. Unfortunately, the points that some pieces come to are so sharp that it’s easy for them to catch on other pieces, clothing, or even just your skin – which in this puzzle seemed to cause both image lift and splitting/peeling of the chipboard.

On the positive side the the high quality printing of the image is stunning; the colors are beautiful, the lines are crisp, there is no blurriness – in short the image reproduction is gorgeous. In addition, the pieces come in the usual plastic bag you cut or rip open, but they also provide a sturdier zip-top bag to store the pieces in once you’ve completed and disassembled the puzzle.

This puzzle was extremely enjoyable and went together very quickly. The sharpness of the image made it so that even with all the pink and white areas it was never very difficult to find the correct piece. You could tell what went where if you were paying attention – very important in a puzzle, don’t you think?

Night Owls Study Group

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Night Owls Study Group by Karen Burke – MasterPieces – 300 pieces

Is this not an adorable image? My son and I loved all the nerd/geek references – being a professed and proud professional puzzle geek myself I am part of that community. Nerds rock!

This puzzle had a rather odd fit that I’m having trouble finding the words to describe. It almost seemed loose when you connected some pieces together, but it is not a loose fit at all. The fit felt “off”, is the best way I can describe it. The pieces didn’t lay flat either, which is not a problem I can ever recall having with a MasterPieces puzzle.

It was like this all over the puzzle – almost like they were warped. Very odd indeed. And then, for a puzzle with and odd fit that feels loose but isn’t and whose pieces did not lay flat…check this out!

I’m telling ya, this was one of the most bizarre fitting puzzles I’ve ever done – and believe me I’ve done a LOT of puzzles!

Pixels & Pizza In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Pixels & Pizza by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Well, sort of in progress. I’m still sorting it – and that’s a start, right? 1000 piece puzzles take a lot longer for me to sort these days; I get so antsy to start assembling and want nothing more than to be done with sorting, so I take frequent breaks. In the back of my mind, I know that if I get the sorting done that I’ll be happier with the assembly so I keep slogging through it little bits at a time.

I’m very excited to start working on this image; there are SO MANY words, it’s got a fabulous 80s feel to it, and the colors are so bright and bold – it’s gonna be a great time – I can tell!

Burn It & Outback Footy

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Burn It & Outback Footy by Sue Janson – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 40 pieces

I love both of these images, although I think the Outback Footy side might be a bit of a challenge in a larger piece count – there’s a lot of brown in that one. This is another of the acrylic puzzles from Mr. Bob that I was sent to try out, and I loved both of them!

I wanted to assemble and write up a post about this as soon as possible so I wouldn’t forget to tell y’all something that had completely slipped my mind. While cleaning out my old emails and reading through some of them I came across a request Mr. Bob had for me regarding these acrylic puzzles – he asked me to run them through the dishwasher! 🧼

The puzzle you see above has been through a cycle of my dishwasher, and it emerged completely unscathed! This was buried in my old lady brain, I didn’t remember it at all until I was going through my emails. Mr. Bob wanted to show that these puzzles would last a lifetime, and through whatever punishment a person could throw at it. He told me he’d put one of the puzzles through a cycle of his washing machine (for clothes) and it came through with flying colors.

When I asked him if there were any other tortures he wanted me to inflict on these little beauties – in the name of puzzle science, of course – he asked if we had a cement mixer available! 🤣

It’s too bad they don’t seem to be going forward with their acrylic line, I think they’d have been excellent puzzles. They certainly would last for more than a lifetime.

After assembling this puzzle I did suggest that if they were going to produce the acrylic puzzles that it may be better to only make shapes with the whimsy pieces and not cut the extra lines into them. You can see from the pictures above and below that the extra lines cut into them make it more difficult to see the image underneath – at least that’s how it was for these aging eyes.

It would have been better to turn these over to the “Burn It” side so you could see in the milkshake that it’s more difficult to read the words underneath. But you can still see that the extra lines distort the image. If you can’t tell from the image at the top of the page, the sign on the ice cream cart says “Burn It to Earn It” – you gotta chase it to taste it apparently. That way you can burn off some calories before you take in more. 🍦🏃‍♀️

I had a wonderful time trying out these puzzles – love that you get two for the price of one, and appreciate just how sturdy and long-lasting they truly are.

*And I’m a little sad that I didn’t get the chance to try one of the larger 500 piece acrylic puzzles that they were working on. Mr. Bob was going to send me one to review – that would have been an amazing puzzle to assemble!*

Abstract Love

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Abstract Love – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

The blocks and shapes of color in this image made for such a fun assembly – absolutely loved this one! As an added bonus my daughter helped me finish this one when she came to spend some time with me following my surgery, puzzling with my loved ones always makes me happy. 💕

I was about halfway through the assembly before I realized that the image spells out “love” in an abstract way – well done Captain Obvious. Sigh.

This is one of the puzzles that came in my subscription box from MicroPuzzles in the summer of last year, Both puzzles are double-sided, and the reverse side is a line drawing of the color image on the front. The surprise gift in the box was a small set of paints, two small paintbrushes, and an easel to display your artwork once it’s been painted. So fun!

I didn’t paint anything, as you can see. I’m too much of a perfectionist, and deciding what color goes where and making sure I didn’t mess things up would be too much stress for me. My decision was to just enjoy the puzzle itself and forego the painting.

These mini puzzles are quite small, in this review of Stained Glass Tree you can see how small they are with something next to the completed puzzle for reference. I know that these little ones aren’t for everyone, but if they look like something you might enjoy they are highly recommended.

Even with my aging eyes I can still see well enough to work with these little pieces, and there’s something about putting the small puzzles together that is so satisfying. Can’t wait for this month’s subscription box to see what’s next!