Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Heart Nosed Ned

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Heart Nosed Ned by Dylan R. – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This puzzle had me a little faked out; the border was a bit of a challenge, but I didn’t find the interior of the image overly difficult to assemble. In the end it was a great puzzle that makes me smile every time I see it. 💖🐶

When I started this puzzle it had been almost a year since my last MicroPuzzle was assembled, and I was honestly a bit hesitant – my eyes are almost a year older and surely haven’t gotten any better! My worries were unfounded, all that was needed was good lighting and the pieces seemed to fall into place (as long as I’ve chosen the correct ones of course).

Heart Nosed Ned seems like a puzzle made especially for me. Not only does it look like our beloved Buddy, who left us about a year and a half ago, but it was painted by a young man with autism; if you’re a long-time reader you may remember that both of my sons have autism. Once I saw this beauty on the MicroPuzzles website and read about it’s artist there was no way it wasn’t going to find it’s way home to me. It’s my perfect puzzle!

This is an excerpt from this puzzle’s web page:

The price includes a charitable donation to Art with Intention.  Art with Intention is an art enrichment program for those thriving with autism, Alzheimer’s, down syndrome, cerebral palsy and stroke recovery.

— ABOUT THE ARTIST –– DYLAN R.

Dylan is a young and energetic artist with autism. He shows his creative talents with drawing, painting, and clay. When he has a brush in his hand, he often loves to paint trees and animals. Other activities he enjoys include hiking, kayaking, and DreamWorks cruises. Dylan has been painting with our program since early 2016 and his work has always been a crowd favorite.

As an added bonus, this month’s puzzle subscription box had this fantastic stand to hold your puzzle container. It’s a great help to have the image available and upright so if help is needed you can make sure you’re looking for the correct piece.

I absolutely adored this puzzle – great quality, beautiful image, wonderful artist story – all around fantastic! 😍

To all our puzzle posse members in Canada – I pray you are all safe and well despite the raging wildfires, and you have my continued prayers for the safety of you and yours, and for a quick end to this horrific situation. Please stay safe, you’re important to us!💖

Sweet Treats In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Sweet Treats by Tatiana – Buffalo – 500 pieces

My youngest has decided he is now the driving force behind what puzzles I assemble, and unless I can make a decision when he’s not here or when he’s sleeping then he’s picking what’s next. There is some veto power that I can wield, but for the most part I allow him to find the next puzzle because it makes him happy – what a cool mom I am! 😇

So this is the puzzle chosen for me, and I have to say it was a fabulous choice. The previous puzzle was a 1000 piece White Mountain of less than stellar quality that really had me frustrated at times; the image reproduction was awful, there were hanging chads everywhere and many pieces were not cut all the way through.

But ahhhh… this puzzle is like a refreshing drink of water after chewing on a combination of sand and aluminum foil – the quality is excellent and it’s washing the awful taste of that subpar puzzle out of my mouth and making me very, very happy indeed.

All the candy in the middle will be a bit of a challenge, mostly because I’ve put away the box and am not using the poster for any help. I’m enjoying the puzzle so much that I don’t want to rush through it.

If it takes me a bit longer that’s alright with me, I’m in no hurry.

Reservoir of Succulents

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Reservoir of Succulents – Wentworth – 40 pieces

This was much more difficult than it looks, to be honest I was a little intimidated when I poured out those 40 pieces. They all looked so similar and like they knew I wasn’t up to the task. Oh dear, perhaps I’m a little sleepy this morning. 😴

I had to get one more puzzle in the morning before I went off to the guillotine (oral surgery), so this one was it.

Great whimsies – Wentworth doesn’t always have the whimsy pieces match the image, but they got it perfectly right with this one. I couldn’t tell you any of the names of these succulents (other than the general term cacti), but I do know that they are succulents. 😎

Portrait of a Quilt

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Portrait of a Quilt by Helen Klebesadel – Cobble Hill – 500 pieces

Once I actually opened the box for this puzzle and saw the pieces it had to be next. An explanation wouldn’t really make sense, it just had to be the next one on my board, and I’m so glad it was.

The larger pieces of this puzzle, the bright colors and interesting patterns – it made for excellent, entertaining puzzling and I adored it with every single piece I placed. ❤

Excellent Cobble Hill quality; the linen pieces felt amazing in my hands, and the fit was near perfect. The image reproduction is stunning, and I cannot recommend this puzzle enough!

I hope whatever puzzle you’re working on right now is as much fun as this one was. Happy puzzling my friends! 🧩

What’s Puzzling…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Cozy Bathroom by Olga – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

I’ve only done a couple puzzles with artwork by Olga, and both of them have had only kittens/cats in them – how delightful to have this adorable puppy in this image! How could you resist that sweet face?

Yesterday I had only started on the sorting of this puzzle, but spent most of the day in bed. Luckily (not really), I was up and at the puzzle board at 3 am; so it’s now completely sorted and there is actual assembly going on.🧩

Insomnia is not great for me personally, but it is good for giving me plenty of quiet time to puzzle with no one asking questions or expecting anything of me. It’s also good for making sure there are plenty of puzzles in the queue to be posted – there is much more time for me to puzzle if sleep doesn’t interfere much.

There’s no need to worry about having enough puzzles to get through our upcoming trip, there will be plenty ready to go before we even leave. There will even be enough completed to have a cushion of a couple of days after we return – time for me to get back into the groove of puzzles and posting. I’ll be taking some smaller wooden puzzles and my computer with me, of course, but it’s nice to have a big enough queue of completed puzzles that there’s no worry about keeping up. 😎