Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Puzzle In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling15 Comments

It’s been quite a week here for me, and I’m wiped out. My daughter had to have a third surgery on her leg injury from last year’s crash, hubby had a couple of physical therapy sessions and I had an appointment with my pain doctor – who wanted to talk about my getting an implant that delivers a pain medication derived from the venom of a Cone Snail – what?! Yes, that is my complicated life these days.

Anyway, to help my brain leave all of that behind for a little while I’m currently working on Skate Night by Aimee Stewart. It’s slow going, because I’ve just not been feeling well enough to sit at the puzzle board for long periods – but I’m enjoying it very much.

I assembled this image once before – in a 300 piece – this one is 1000 pieces. When I put it together the first time and posted about it I wished for the image in a large piece count, and my wish came true! My dear friend and fellow puzzle junkie Penny saw this when it was released and sent it to me; it was during my absence from puzzling, and besides trying to help me get back to my puzzles she also knows how much I love Aimee’s images.

If you’d like to see the post of Skate Night in 300 pieces, click here. I adored it the first time, and I’m having even more fun the second time around!

Isis

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles14 Comments

Isis by Kinuko Y. Craft – Ceaco – 550 pieces

My youngest asked me to do this puzzle when I was choosing what was next, and like the pushover that I am that’s exactly what I did. It was alright, much darker than it looks and just about as difficult as I’d imagined. Meh. It’s ok.

Typical Ceaco quality. Nothing horrid or fantastic, on the lower end of the quality scale in my opinion.

I’ve had this puzzle for at least 4 or 5 years, and it kept getting moved around in the shuffle of puzzles; I was never in the mood for it. At least it’ll be on it’s way to the thrift store now that it’s complete.

She’s got a beautiful face and the artwork is lovely – just a little dark around the edges for my taste. Kinuko Craft’s images make for beautiful but quite difficult puzzles. I’ve still got a few here, and they’re still being shuffled around because these days I’m usually not in the mood for that much challenge (unless my baby boy asks me to be 😉).

American Girl – Josefina

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles7 Comments

American Girl – Josefina – Mattel – 150 pieces

This was quite a unique set of puzzles I haven’t seen before; they go along with the American Girl dolls and books. It comes with three puzzles that are 50 pieces each and a frame so that you can display whichever one you’re feeling like showing off at the moment. There’s only one frame to go with all 3 puzzles; you can assemble one puzzle at a time in the tray, place the clear cover over top of it and slide it into the frame.

They were pretty good quality, better than I expected. The pieces are on the thinner side, but are very sturdy, the finish is extremely shiny and hard to work with under artificial lights, but otherwise the reproduction is very nice and there are a good variety of shapes. Overall I was impressed because they were nicer than I thought they would be.

Love the blue dress, and that it looks like there are three generations of women here. 💗

I love the brightness of this one, and the beautiful colors. It was the easiest of the three to assemble.

I love her shawl, and the adorable little goat she’s cradling. So cute!

This is the frame that comes with this set of puzzles. If you had a child who enjoys the American Girl dolls/books/toys this might be a nice set of small puzzles for them. I found two sets of them at the thrift store, maybe you might get lucky and find some too!

Words of Wisdom

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles20 Comments

Words of Wisdom by Steve Cameron – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was a little too easy for my taste – the hardest part was laying out pieces. It was still fun though, and it was probably the perfect puzzle for me to attempt while dealing with hubby recovering from his very first surgery. My big tough Marine isn’t the easiest to deal with when he doesn’t feel well (if you know what I mean).

As far as White Mountain puzzles go this one was about the norm – quality was good/fair. The fit was slightly loose, which I have been noticing more often from this brand than I used to. It used to be that many of their puzzles had a fit so tight that I felt as if I were working on an exercise program for my arms and fingers; I haven’t run into that issue at all since the pandemic began.

Just an observation.

As far as the image goes, a lot of these words of wisdom are your average clichés, but some of them I’d never heard or read before. Regardless, it was entertaining and I enjoyed myself even if it was a little too quick to go together. (I think if it had been a little more challenging I would have been able to spend extra time and enjoy it even more). But honestly, finding the perfect puzzle image that is just the right amount of fun/difficulty is pretty rare; so I don’t hold it against anyone that this was a little too easy for me.

This was the first section I assembled; mostly because it’s bright color was extremely easy to pick out, and partly because that’s how I feel most days – like my brain is running Windows 95 and there are 17 tabs open. Yep. That about covers it.

This is a good reminder. Whatever style you like, take some time out to listen to music when you can; it’s helped me tremendously during the past couple of years and I highly recommend it.

As I’m typing this up I’m enjoying an eclectic mix of music from the 1940s to present. Most of it is from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but I like many different genres and delight in putting it all on shuffle and having fun with whatever song pops up next. Could be Mama Cass, could be an 80s hair band, could be Elvis or The Beatles, could be some classic rock or my favorite a capella group – you just never know. 🎼

Butterflies In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Butterflies III – Cra-Z-Art – 500 pieces

I spent A LOT of time yesterday trying to decide on the next puzzle; for some reason my brain was being extremely fickle and I just couldn’t stick with one choice. Several times the decision was made, and several times I changed my mind. At one point I thought the best way to come up with the next puzzle was to go shopping and find something new – my brain is so weird sometimes.

Eventually everything finally came to rest on this set of 18 butterflies and I was able to get them sorted while I was in bed watching tv. I’ve only gotten a few of them finished this morning; either they’re more difficult than usual or I haven’t had enough coffee yet. Or it could be both.

There are some large butterflies in this set and some beautiful (but difficult) patterns. I’ve found myself staring at the pieces, completely engrossed in the assembly; I forget there’s coffee next to me, I forget everything until that mini puzzle is done. Then I come out of my stupor to find that much time has passed and my coffee is cold!

Some of the sets are quite easy to assemble, and some are more challenging. So far I’d put this one in the more challenging category. Last night was a terrible night for sleep and I’m dragging and feeling stupid this morning – that could be a part of the problem. Perhaps I should go watch a couple episodes of the current show I’m binge-watching; I can have a few cups of coffee and make sure I’m more awake and aware before I attempt to put together any more pretty butterflies.

It’ll probably be about a month before you start seeing the assembled flutter-bys being posted, but please don’t expect names and bios; although they’re beautiful creatures they just don’t have personality to speak of.

If I can’t see faces I can’t see individuality, identity, charisma, or emotion. Without those I’ve got nuthin’!