Category: Jigsaw Puzzles

Christmas Day (What If? #15)

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Christmas Day by Geoff Tristram (What If? #15) – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

Another wonderful What If? puzzle from Ravensburger; great quality, hilarious image, and fun all-around puzzling. Was there any doubt as to whether or not I’d enjoy this one? Nope.

This one’s been hanging around my house for about…..seven years or so. Oh my! It’s been constantly moved down on the list of puzzles to be done, because I have this irrational dislike of Christmas puzzles. Even though I know that images by Geoff Tristram are always entertaining and funny it still took me forever to get this one done.

As per my usual I do not show the finished puzzle, as it’s a mystery what the image is. You have to figure it out as you assemble. The box says “We all dream of the perfect Christmas, a day full of happy family memories, where gifts are gratefully received, everyone is full of festive cheer, and the catering goes without a hitch. But WHAT IF Christmas Day wasn’t perfect? And WHAT IF our family’s Christmas wasn’t that merry?” The image on the box top shows the type of Christmas we all dream about, but the puzzle inside shows the holiday many of us really experience.

Normally I never show anything other than the small hint on the box top, which is usually one of the characters – but this time there was a little joke that actually made me laugh out loud, so I wanted to share it with you too…

As I was assembling it I thought it would be Monopoly, but this is so much better! Actually, that’s how I feel about Monopoly, it takes so long and I find it mind-numbingly boring. Hours of misery for all the family! 😂

This was a great puzzle with a hilarious image, it is most definitely recommended. I’m giving it two snowflakes way up! ❄❄

Burma Road

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles12 Comments

Burma Road by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo (Silver Select Edition) – 1000 pieces

While this was an entertaining image to assemble, I found the puzzle itself a bit of a disappointment. Still, they don’t all have to be perfect, and there is still fun to be had even though the quality may be lacking.

Normally I have no issues with Buffalo puzzles, but honestly the purpose of the Silver Select Edition puzzles eludes me. From what I can see the only difference is a “giftable box with silver foil accents” and a resealable plastic bag to store the pieces in; the price is the same as other 1000 piece Buffalo puzzles. I’ve only done this one puzzle, but it’s all I have to go on. The fit was quite loose, the cut seems a little different, and overall I was a bit disappointed.

If it had been your average Buffalo puzzle in the usual box I don’t think I would have been as let down, but the box has “Silver Select Edition” stamped on it, and truthfully I was looking forward to a puzzle with elevated quality. When that failed to appear it seemed more disheartening somehow.

This field of watermelons was no easy feat to assemble! I knew it would be difficult, and it made the finished section feel like quite an accomplishment.

There’s something about the buildings in a Wysocki image that makes me want to take a walk through them; they seem so inviting and quaint.

This building had me wondering what those pointed spokes are on the roof – does anyone out there know? What are they called and what is their purpose? Certainly I could do some online research, but I’d much rather talk to you.

The title of the image is Burma Road. Do any other oldsters out there remember the Burma Shave signs on the road? Their popularity was quite a bit before my time, but one town over from us there were a set of five or six Burma Shave signs on the road out of town. I always loved seeing them. The signs in this image say “Dewhiskered…kisses…defrost…the misses…Burma Shave” Very cute!

Battleship

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

Battleship – Spin Master – 1000 pieces

These board game puzzles seem to be growing on me, each one I complete seems to be more entertaining than the last; this one was my favorite assembly so far. The quality remains the same, but perhaps I’m more used to it now and it doesn’t seem as disappointing as before. It’s a good quality puzzle, overall.

There’s only one more left here at the house to assemble (Guess Who?), but there are actually three more in the series. The other two, Life and Monopoly, aren’t ones that we’ve been able to find; that’s alright with me though, neither of them were ever games that I enjoyed playing very much. The puzzles themselves would most likely be much more fun than playing the games, although you never can tell.

In all honesty, I’ve never even played Guess Who?, but the puzzle itself looks like it’ll be both challenging and engaging and I’m looking forward to it.

Unfortunately I’ve already told my best story about 70s commercials in the post about this puzzle when it was in progress. I did get more of the story recently though. We had a small get together at the house to celebrate both mine and my father’s birthday, and he re-told the story of my doing jingles and commercials at the grocery store (I told you my parents love to tell this one). He told me that my mother ordered me to “stop singing commercials next to me!”; my response was to go to the next aisle over, where I wasn’t next to her, and kept right on singing and quoting tv ads. What a little imp I was!

The blue background here was one of the last bits to be assembled, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. In fact, the entire puzzle was easier than anticipated. Not too easy, of course, but the challenge level was just about right. There was never a point where I needed to separate by piece shape, and overall it was a great assembly from beginning to end.

Rainbow Tarts

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Rainbow Tarts – Buffalo – 300 pieces

This was a perfect puzzle for when I wasn’t feeling up to much puzzling – it was easy to sort and assemble – which was just what I needed. It had a quality problem, but it was still a fun one to put together.

I normally don’t have problems with Buffalo puzzles, but there was an issue with the image on this puzzle. There were tears in the image, as if the pieces weren’t cut all the way through and they tore when the pieces came apart. They were small little rips, but still noticeable to me. I emailed Buffalo about the problem, and have yet to hear back from them other than the automated response.

It was so easy to sort that it was no problem at all to assemble this line by line. The most difficult colors were the first three lines, after that it was even easier!

Even though this would have been easy to finish in no time at all it was on my board for a few days, I took my time because I wasn’t really in the mood to puzzle – but I needed to just the same. When my mood gets very low I don’t want to do anything at all; puzzling can help me out of it, but sometimes I need to force it and that’s when these smaller piece count puzzles are the best choice.

Dino Glow

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Dino Glow (?) – Ceaco – 100 pieces

Yes, dear readers, I assembled a Ceaco puzzle. It’s from the thrift store, and came taped up with another glow in the dark puzzle (both new and unopened) from the same brand. Since it’s second-hand, and Ceaco gets none of my money, in my mind it was perfectly fine to buy it.

I always like to have a few kids puzzles here at the house; when I’m in a mood and feeling b*tchy it’s better for me to do something quick and easy than to try a much larger one that I would normally assemble. Plus, kids puzzles are fun!

Glow in the dark pictures are always difficult for me to take. The lights are turned off and even though I try my best, it’s challenging to get both the puzzle itself centered and the actual glow. I’ve gotten some good pictures before; this one is alright, but it isn’t one of my best.

It was a good quality puzzle, although the fit was a bit loose. I took it outside to “charge up” the glow in the sunlight, and had to be quite careful because pieces wanted to come apart when the puzzle was moved. Happily for me, the glow on this puzzle wasn’t the sandy-feeling chemical that all the previous GITD puzzles I’ve assembled have – it feels more like lines of dried hot glue. If you have a tactile aversion to GITD puzzles like I do, this type of glow was much nicer to puzzle with.