Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Rabbit Hole Town

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles11 Comments

Rabbit Hole Town – HUADADA – 1000 pieces

Sigh. I’ve done it again. Without realizing it I purchased another crap-tastic puzzle made in China that steals artwork and does not properly license it or credit the artist on the box. My sincere apologies. Another awful puzzle with letters on the back, a bad fit, no artist credit, and missing pieces.

After it happened the first time I vowed to take more care when buying thrift store puzzles, and I thought I had this time. When I looked at the box, it had an address in Madrid, Spain on the side and I – wrongly – assumed that meant it wasn’t one of those puzzles. I should have been more diligent and read the entire box, and will do that from now on. My only happy thought around this is that this company got exactly zero of my dollars, and what I spent went to a Goodwill store that helps out in my community.

There are three edge pieces missing, all together on one side. Normally I always choose to be positive about things like missing pieces. Not going to happen today. Today I am blaming the company, I bet this thing was missing pieces when it was brand new. I have no actual proof of that, but whatever.

Yep, I’ve got an attitude. Deal with it.

This puzzle was so tall that I decided to actually use the letters on the back to sort the puzzle and to do each half separately so I didn’t have to stand up or lean way over to reach the top and cause more pain. I’ve never done this with a puzzle before; once with a 2000 piece puzzle I laid the image sideways on my board and worked it that way but I’ve not separated a puzzle in half before.

The posted included with this puzzle is RIDICULOUSLY large. It’s exactly the size of the completed puzzle – and that’s too big to be helpful honestly. The only way to use it effectively would be to hang it up on the wall, but not everyone puzzles in a place where that’s a viable option.

The artwork is absolutely adorable, and if I knew how to find who the artist is I would give them credit. It is nowhere on the box, obviously, they can’t really advertise that they stole someone’s work and put it on their sh*t puzzle. If you know who the original artist is, please let me know in the comments so that I can at the very least credit them here on my tiny little blog.

These companies that popped up during the pandemic to take advantage of the puzzle craze that was happening don’t seem to be going anywhere, and there are more of them than ever. I would never knowingly give any of these companies my hard-earned money. It disgusts me that they steal from artists, it ticks me off that their puzzles are so popular these days and that many puzzlers think they are good quality and have no problems at all buying their products. In general it is depressing, frustrating, and enraging.

I can’t tell you what puzzles to buy, it’s really none of my business. But I can tell you how I feel about this disturbing trend and let you see it from hopefully more than one side. I understand both sides, or at least I think I do. I know that I’m lucky to be able to afford the puzzles I buy, and I also know that not everyone is able to spend as much and does their best to get as much bang for their buck as they can. I really do understand, that was me in my younger days when I didn’t have extra to spend on anything. But spending money on these puzzles keeps these trashy places in business, places that steal artwork to make a quick buck. And if the artists whose work we enjoy can’t make enough money licensing their artwork to legitimate puzzle companies then it may end up that we won’t have their work any more. If they can’t make a living at it, why continue to do it; especially when others are profiting from your creations but you aren’t.

This company needs a VERY BIG STRAW. Cause it sucks.

Musicals

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

Musicals – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

Musicals went together VERY quickly, even after I tried to slow myself down a bit by taking more breaks; but in the end it was just too entertaining and was finished the day I started it. Oh well, having fun was the point, right? (If you answered yes to that question, go and get yourself a treat – that was the correct answer!)

This was an excellent quality Re-marks puzzle, the fit was very good, the image reproduction was lovely and everything “worked” the way it should. The only thing that was a drawback was the shiny finish, when I was working on the darker sections I had to turn my overhead light off so that I could see what was what. I’ve only got two more Re-marks collages here in the to-do pile, perhaps a shopping trip is in order sometime soon.😇

With these types of collages I usually let you know how many of the books or movies shown I have read or seen, this one was an impressive 24/50! My parents loved music and musicals so I grew up on those wonderful old movies, plus there are quite a few I’ve watched with my kids. Anyone feel like reminiscing?

This is the first musical that I can ever remember seeing. My parents loved this movie and whenever it was showing as a matinee somewhere they would pile us all into the car and off we’d go to see the movie – again. My father, who was and is a big softie, would always cry when they sang Edelweiss, and it took me a long time to understand why. Now I know, and if I saw the movie again now I would probably cry at that scene as well.

Grease was an excellent movie and I have seen it many, many, many times. I also had the double album of the soundtrack, on vinyl of course, and could still sing every song without missing a word, and also tell you which song comes next. I wasn’t in love with John Travolta as many girls were at the time; I identified with Rizzo played by Stockard Channing, she was my favorite character in the movie. She looked a little like me, we both had freckles, and I thought she was the coolest of the cool even if she was a little mean sometimes. I still love this movie, hubby even bought me a 40th anniversary edition of the dvd that came with a little leather jacket for the dvd case.

Grease came out in theaters when I was 10 years old. Oh my gosh, how in the world is this movie 48 years old? Oh my gosh, how in the world is this woman in the mirror almost 58 years old? 👵

Prince was one of my favorite musicians back in the day, his music got me through some tough angsty teenage years. I watched this movie a lot back then, but mostly fast-forwarded to the musical parts (we had a copy on VHS). A few years ago my husband wanted to do something nice for me so he got me a copy of this movie because I was looking for it on the streaming services and I couldn’t find it. Isn’t that sweet of him? Well, it had been some time since I’d last seen the movie, so I watched it from beginning to end – then I remembered how I used to fast-forward through most of it, because the movie is TERRIBLE! The music is great, don’t get me wrong, and Prince Rogers Nelson was a musical genius, but that movie was just awful. It makes me laugh to think of it now; I knew back when I was only a stupid teenager with wildly fluctuating hormones and a not-yet-fully-formed brain that this movie was bad and the only parts worth watching were the songs.😂

So there it is, singing nuns and Austrian families, greasers and female “gangs”, and a horrid movie with great songs. What a collection, huh?

Olde Buck’s County In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Olde Buck’s County by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Unfortunately I didn’t puzzle at all yesterday. Fortunately, my daughter came over to visit and hang out with me all day! Totally worth it!

Therefore, all I had time to do this morning before 8 am was put together a few of the pieces with words and take a picture so that I could get this post out into the world on schedule. And I’ll do my best to make up for it with lots of puzzle time today to be sure. It won’t be difficult, a Wysocki puzzle is almost always fun to assemble. There are usually plenty of little signs all around, lots of beautiful scenery, great old buildings, etc.

I’m pretty sure it’ll be hard to walk away from and it might even be done before you know it!

Peacocks

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles12 Comments

Peacocks – MicroPuzzles (Puzzle Packs) – 80 pieces

So MicroPuzzles has come out with a new line, they’re smaller in piece count but the pieces themselves are larger and easier to handle – and they have some beautiful, adorable, cute as a button images to choose from. This is in the beautiful category (just my opinion) and while it’s a stunning image it was more than a little challenging to put together, even for only having 80 pieces.

These little beauties are even better quality than the MicroPuzzles that come in the test tubes; the pieces are thicker and sturdier, the fit is exceptional, the image reproduction is clear and crisp, and the finish is more matte. Overall, I’d say these were excellent quality mini puzzles. The finished puzzle is 5″x7″ (approx. 13 x 18 cm), and is a perfect size for puzzling when you are out and about or have only a small space to work with.

They come in a little plastic pouch that is easy to throw into a bag or suitcase so that you can puzzle anywhere, and the seal is very tight – you won’t have to worry about it coming open and spilling pieces everywhere.

Here you can see the difference in piece size between the newer puzzle pack pieces and the regular MicroPuzzles that come in the tubes. The test tube piece is on the far left next to the much larger piece from the new Puzzle Packs in the middle. They’re both relatively small, but the larger pieces are easier to work with and see the image on; I enjoyed working with them very much.

My youngest picked out this puzzle for me to assemble, and I told him that it was quite the challenge for me. Still, I enjoyed trying out these new puzzle packs and am looking forward to going through the rest of my recent purchases from MicroPuzzles. Oh, and speaking of a puzzle with a great fit…

You guessed it! My signature standing on the edge picture, which fellow puzzle blogger and my puzzle bestie Penny has named The Stacey Stance! This little guy stood up so well that it barely needed to curve around at the bottom. As I’m typing and looking at this picture I can’t seem to keep a smile off of my face, these pictures are so good for my mental health.

Enjoy mini puzzles? You might want to give these new Puzzle Packs from MicroPuzzles a try, this one was lovely! 🦚

Love Stamps 2

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Love Stamps 2 by Lois B. Sutton – White Mountain – 500 pieces

This beauty went together pretty quickly once I really got going; it was started in the evening and all I got put together was the border and one stamp before I had to give it up and get some rest. In the morning once I got going the pieces seemed to fly into place, it was almost too easy. It was great quality with large pieces that made a pretty big finished puzzle, and almost every stamp was fun to put together. (The red and white one in the lower right corner was a beast for me to do!)

There’s something about this 500 piece White Mountain that felt so different from their 1000 piece puzzles; the chipboard, the finish, the fit – it all felt completely different to me. I liked it very much. That’s not to say I don’t like their 1000 piece puzzles, but they are hit or miss in the quality department sometimes – which I put up with because their catalog of images has so many gorgeous collages. Other than the shiny finish there were no quality issues with this puzzle, it’s most definitely one of their hits.

These were my favorite stamps, though they really were all beautiful in their own way. The heart on the left took my breath away, even when I was just sorting it – isn’t it gorgeous? That would make a challenging but stunning puzzle all by itself. And of course the puppies, always the puppies with me. They are each adorable, but in very different ways.

This is another puzzle that would be great in a larger piece count, although I might need an alcoholic beverage before starting that red stamp in the lower right corner if it had double the pieces!

Beautiful stamps on a great quality puzzle, I loved the love stamps. 💕