Doug the Pug (Cheesy)

On December 1, 2019December 1, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Doug Cheesy — Doug the Pug (Cheesy) – Buffalo – 300 pieces

My daughter was out shopping and sent me pictures of two Doug the Pug puzzles – she didn’t ask if I liked them, she knew I would – she asked if I HAD them. Smart girl, she knows if I’d seen them at the store that they definitely would have found their way into my cart. I didn’t already have them, and she felt the need to get them for me and bring them over to my house the same night.

It’s a good thing she did too; I couldn’t sleep that night and not wanting to disturb my husband’s sleep I got out of bed and spent a bit of time in the puzzle room. Doug got assembled in the wee hours of the morning, but I don’t think he minded much. He was probably sleeping off all of that cheese!

The puzzle went together relatively quickly. But I will say, however, that all that cheesy goodness made for a much more difficult assembly than I thought. The colors of pretty much all of the different cheesy treats were very similar, and once you add in the shirt there were a LOT of orange-y looking pieces to sort through.

Being a Buffalo puzzle, the quality was very good. The pieces fit together very well, and their signature zig-zag pieces even helped with the assembly. With so few pieces to sort through it was easy to separate the zigs and zags and put those pieces together right away. The image reproduction was quite good as well, the picture was sharp and clear with no blurry or fuzzy areas.

The finish was the only drawback, it was very shiny – much shinier than the average Buffalo puzzle. It made working under artificial lighting difficult, even with the light colored pieces there was glare that had me tilting my head to the side and wiggling the pieces back and forth to make sure what I was looking at or if I had the right piece.

Doug Cheesy 1.JPG

What an adorable, cranky, kissable face! Of course, Doug the Pug’s moneymaker is most definitely that face – and when I say money maker it is no joke. This dog has an Instagram account, his own Facebook page, and of course he’s on Twitter. All of these social media accounts have millions of followers, he’s been in music videos, is a New York Times bestselling “author”, has his own line of merchandise, and makes many celebrity appearances. He and his owner are rolling in the dough, all from his face that is so appealing, grouchy, sweet, expressive, and stone-faced all at the same time.

I hope you enjoyed this post, because Doug will be making another appearance tomorrow with another puzzle. 🐶🐾🐶

Review: Dog Stamps Quilt

On November 29, 2019November 29, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments

Dog Stamps Quilt – hmmm, a collage with dogs, I wonder if I liked it? It won’t be much of a spoiler for me to tell you I adored it! It had everything going for it before I even opened the box, and luckily once it was opened the quality was just as good as the artwork.

Bits and Pieces is a brand I normally only buy second hand because of some very bad experiences with their puzzles. When I saw this image though, and the fact that it was only 300 pieces, I had to throw caution to the wind and give it a try. And I’m very glad I did! The pieces were very thick, with an excellent variety of shapes that fit together very well. The offset, almost wavy grid cut made for some fascinating piece shapes that sometimes seemed almost geometric, and the interesting way they fit together made for an absorbing and entertaining puzzle.

Dog Stamps 1

These adorable puppies jumped right out at me when I was sorting; first of all, their little faces look like they’re about to get into a lot of mischief, and secondly the background is a beautiful shade of blue that stood out in a sea of brown and tan pieces. Their faces and expressions are just too cute!

Dog Stamps 2

This little guy had such sad, sweet eyes. I had to take a close-up picture of this stamp; it’s just too sweet to pass up, and I think it would make a great puzzle image on it’s own.

Overall I was quite impressed with the quality of this puzzle. I find that many 300 piece puzzles with large pieces have thick chipboard that is quite sturdy, even if the larger piece count puzzles from the same brand aren’t as thick. Bits and Pieces is a brand I don’t usually endorse, but in this piece count I have no reservations in giving this puzzle a thumbs up. It’s great quality and an excellent image, and if the artwork makes you smile it is definitely recommended. Two doggie paws way up! 🐾

Details:

Title: Dog Stamps Quilt
Artist: Barbara Behr
Brand: Bits and Pieces
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Offset grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, highly recommended

1980’s

On November 27, 2019November 27, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you won’t be surprised by this – I absolutely loved this puzzle! Even though it’s 1500 pieces there was zero anxiety about starting it; it’s a collage puzzle about the 1980’s, what’s not to love? I remember every single thing shown, and even if I wasn’t a fan of The Police or never watched an episode of 21 Jump Street that doesn’t mean I didn’t love putting every single piece of this puzzle together. Many sections brought back memories that put a smile on my face, and even just looking at this picture of the puzzle makes me happy. 🙂

Since the last Re-marks puzzle I assembled had a stain over the image, I’m happy to report that this puzzle had no problems. The pieces were a good thickness and fit together well, and the reproduction had no issues other than being slightly shiny. There was only one piece shape, but it didn’t bother me much because there weren’t any large areas of one color (and most likely because I enjoyed the image so much). 1500 pieces with all one shape would normally be quite annoying for me, but it’s all relative; with a great image on the puzzle and good quality otherwise it wasn’t much of a bother at all.

80's 1.JPG

My family loved The Muppet Show, and never failed to watch it every week. This was back in the time of only three tv channels – yes youngsters, you heard that right – only three! There was cable tv, but that was basically just HBO (and they didn’t make tv shows or movies, they only showed movies that had once been in the theaters). So on Saturday or Sunday nights we had only 3 choices, it definitely made deciding what to watch much easier that’s for sure! My dad loved Statler and Waldorf, mom loved Kermit, and I loved The Swedish Chef and Beaker (odd choice, I know, but I was an odd child). The show was fun and funny, and sometimes a little bit raunchy, and thinking of it brings a smile to my face.

80's 2

These are two more things I loved. Spirograph kept me entertained for hours and hours and I used to make cards and gifts for my family with it when I was young. Mom used to get out her colored pencils and help me color the images in sometimes to make the “artwork” even more beautiful. Sometimes she would take a spirograph picture she really liked to work and make copies for us to color over and over.

As for Clue, we found the board game boring for the most part, but we absolutely loved the movie! Back in 1985 there weren’t DVD’s, but we did have a video cassette player and as soon as we were able to find the movie on VHS we most definitely had a copy. I’m sure the statute of limitations has run out, so I can tell you that we rented the movie and made a copy of it. 😇 The movie was so unusual with it’s many different endings, and we were a family that loved a great comedy. (How awesome were Madeline Kahn, Tim Curry, and Michael McKean? Just an awesome cast in general, and we adored this movie)

80's 3

This was another great action/comedy movie, and we all loved it. I can’t see anything about this movie without saying “Hey you guuuys!” in my head, and sometimes out loud. My kids loved it too when they were younger, it’s just a great all around family movie. (Well, it was PG, so there were some not so family friendly moments, but in 1985 my sisters and I were teenagers, and I didn’t show it to my kids until they were ready 😉 )

If I were to reminisce about every section of this puzzle it would be a very, very long post indeed. There are things I would have to explain to the younger generations, and most of the explanations would draw blank stares and looks of disbelief. How in the world would you explain Max Headroom, or the popularity of the Trapper Keeper?! Ah, the 80’s. What a decade! It made for a thoroughly entertaining puzzle though. I’m giving it two pairs of Calvin Kleins, standing way, way up! 👖👖

The 20th Party Parade

On November 26, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

20th Parade — The 20th Party Parade by James Alexander – Jumbo (Wasgij) – 1000 pieces

I love being able to show an entire Wasgij puzzle without having to worry about spoiling anything. Normally I have to make sure I’m photographing the correct person from the finished puzzle, and I have to crop it so I don’t show anything extra. This time I didn’t have any worries at all, this is the box image bonus puzzle and there are no spoilers here. It was a very busy image, but it made for a fun puzzle.

This was definitely not an easy assembly, the image is so detailed and all the boxes everywhere gave me quite a challenge. Most of the boxes in the foreground were pretty easy, but the ones in the background were much more difficult. There were so many in the store that all the smaller boxes looked alike. I saved them for last, but they were still a bit of a challenge. Overall though, I enjoyed it very much.

20th Parade 1

The intricacy of this illustration is amazing, it’s only about 15 pieces out of 1000 but it’s so incredibly detailed. I’ve actually assembled the Wasgij Mystery Puzzle #13, and this is exactly what the box looks like. I’m sure computers helped out quite a bit, but still, this entire image must have been a LOT of work!

I haven’t put together the actual Wasgij yet, this one is from the perspective of the priest, I wonder what everyone is looking at. I guess I’ll find out soon enough. 🙂

Afternoon Visitor

On November 24, 2019November 23, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This image is gorgeous, and I would definitely want to do this one in 1000 pieces. Look at the dogs sleeping by the fire – how sweet are they? Steve Read’s images aren’t always ones that speak to me, but this one was a joy to put together at 40 pieces, and I can see how it would make a great puzzle in any size.

Afternoon Visitor whimsies

Great whimsies, I love the silverware/flatware, the detail Wentworth puts onto their whimsies makes all the difference. You can’t always tell what some of them are by shape alone, it’s the extra cuts that clarify exactly what each one is. I don’t always like the look of the extra lines on the front of the puzzle, but it doesn’t usually detract too much.

This was the last of my regular micro puzzles; all I have left now are four Christmas/winter themed ones. According to my family’s tradition, no Christmas anything is allowed until after the Thanksgiving meal. So Santa and all his helpers are just going to have to wait until after next Thursday before assaulting me with holiday everything. (Yes, I’m feeling a little “Bah Humbug” this year).

I do wish I had a few more everyday image micro puzzles though, I could use them to pad my queue – I’m running out of puzzles for the blog again! Anyone out there feeling like writing up a guest post? Done any fun or fabulous puzzles lately? 😁