Review: Mary’s General Store

On March 16, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Ravensburger’s 300 piece puzzles make me very happy; their wonderful, thick pieces were a joy to hold in my hand, and the beautiful image made for an entertaining assembly with just the right amount of difficulty.

The all around quality of Ravensburger puzzles has (almost) never disappointed me. There’s the odd manufacturing snafu that happens, but I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. On the whole, they’re one of the best puzzle brands around in my opinion. The pieces are thick, have a good variety of shapes, and fit together well. The image reproduction is crisp and clean with beautiful colors and a finish that isn’t too shiny and feels good in your hands.

I’ve assembled a few puzzles by this artist, and it seems he’s always able to convey a certain warmth and feeling into the artwork even when the images are vastly different. This image has a small town homey feeling to it, it seems very welcoming to me; plus it was lovely to put together.

It looks as though this puzzle is no longer in production, but if you come across one at a thrift store or yard sale, it’s highly recommended – loved it!

Details:

Title: Mary’s General Store
Artist: Joseph Burgess
Brand: Ravensburger
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 27 x 20 in. (69 x 51 cm)
Purchased: Used

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Very good, quite large for a 300 piece puzzle
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

Doggie Heaven

On March 15, 2019March 15, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This puzzle was bright, fun, and almost had too much cuteness! My son and I counted 45 dogs in this image (yup, he helped me finish it ❤).

I love the pooches being pampered under the hair dryers, and the dogs seem to love the kennel corn.

I really enjoyed this one! The pieces were actually thicker than other TCG puzzles I’ve done, and there were a variety of piece shapes as well. Much better quality than most other puzzles from this brand that I’ve worked.

Rosy Baby

On March 14, 2019March 13, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles11 Comments

This is one of a set of 3 puzzles in one box that we got from the thrift store. I couldn’t pass up 3 puzzles for 99 cents! I started with the smallest one because they’re all going to be a bit of a challenge and it seemed better to get my feet wet on the smallest and easiest in the bunch.

These are not the usual Ceaco pieces I’m used to, and I liked that! They were a little more wavy and wonky, which was a lovely change of pace from the same ole’ same ole’ piece shapes.

This was a challenging image, even at only 100 pieces. Baby’s skin and the roses were pretty much the same color! It’s cute though, right?

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*Just a quick note to tell you that I’ve got another week of posts set up to be published daily as I’ll be out of commission again for a bit after another surgical procedure. Some posts are short and sweet, and a couple of them are more my “average”. I can’t guarantee I’ll be online much to answer comments, but please don’t let that stop you from commenting – I love hearing from my puzzle peeps! ❤💖❤

Paradise Found

On March 13, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This was a quick and fun puzzle; not my normal image choice but I’ll give pretty much anything that’s a small piece count a try. 🙂

I don’t normally recommend Mega Puzzles for larger piece count puzzles, but the smaller counts are pretty darn good quality. The board is much thicker than I’ve found their 1000 piece puzzles to be, and there is more variety in piece shape as well. Many companies seem to go the extra mile for their 300 piece puzzles – perhaps because many seniors choose them because of the easier to handle pieces – and most people (erroneously) think that puzzling is mostly for old people.

It isn’t, of course, it’s for everyone – from the very young to the very old we can all benefit from the stress-reduction, peaceful meditative state, and many other wonderful health advantages that puzzling brings.

Norcross Love Affair

On March 11, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

There’s something about the simplicity of this image, it made for an excellent puzzle experience!

Luckily this was one of those Sunsout puzzles with a regular fit (not one where you get a blister from having to smash pieces together because the fit is too tight). The image reproduction is excellent, but there was quite a bit of shine on the finish. Overall a very nice quality puzzle – extremely pleasant to put together.

The large amount of sky seemed a little daunting at first, but it wasn’t too bad at all; the clouds, varying shades of blue, and the variety of piece shapes helped to keep it from being monotonous. And I loved the young and old couples….

Perhaps Norcross Love Affair shows the joy and wonder of young love, and also that even when you’re older you can still be madly, romantically in love with each other. The older couple is so adorable! If my husband had hair we might look like them someday – although we’d both probably be wearing something much more comfortable. 😉

As usual, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed assembling this image. Normally when it’s time for a new puzzle I look at the image and open the box to take a look at the pieces. If when I seem them I’m “not feeling it”, the lid goes back on and the search continues until I find one I’m ready to assemble.

Lately though, I’ve been giving myself a pep talk when I open the box. If the image on the box made me open it to see the pieces then I should do it. Most of the time I enjoy them more than I thought I would, so why not just give up the search for the perfect puzzle at the perfect time and just grab one that looks good and go? That’s what I’ve been trying to do anyways – and most of the time, like with this puzzle, they are great fun and I’m happy having assembled it. 😎