Review: Harry Potter Book 7

On February 15, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews5 Comments

This is the last of the Harry Potter book puzzles from the collector’s set I received for Christmas from my daughter. I absolutely loved assembling every single one of them – even Book 5 which was quite difficult! They’re excellent quality with fun subject matter, and perfect little *One Coffee Puzzles* you can finish in one sitting (perhaps with a cup of coffee or an adult beverage 😉 ).

I haven’t assembled many NY Puzzle Co. puzzles, but I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve done, and this set has raised my opinion of them even more. They have pieces that are a good thickness and fit together extremely well. The image reproduction is lovely with great detail and beautiful colors, and they were so enjoyable that I’d love to assemble every one of them again! All the pieces were the standard 2 prong/2 hole shape (what I call a ballerina), but there was plenty of variety of size and shape within them; accidentally placing a piece wrong was never a problem. With a puzzle of this size the lack of variety in shapes wasn’t an issue for me at all.

Many puzzlers never bother with small piece count puzzles, and I think they’re missing out. I used to think that anything less than 1000 pieces wasn’t worth my time, but I’ve come to the realization that puzzling is fun no matter the piece count. Puzzles of all sizes, shapes, and subjects make me happy! (In fact, we just bought a box of 10 kids puzzles from the thrift store – they’re only 24 pieces each, but they were so adorable and looked like they’d be pretty entertaining; at $1.99 for all 10 we couldn’t resist 🙂 )

Being an adult doesn’t mean I can only do puzzles with “adult” pieces counts; and I love that NY Puzzle Co. has many smaller puzzles in their catalog. Most of us puzzlers love that sense of pride and happiness you get when your puzzle is complete, and I think it’s just as rewarding to have that feeling when you complete a puzzle you can assemble in the time it takes to have a cup of coffee.

I adore these puzzles, and had the best time with each and every one. They’re wonderful quality and highly recommended. Alohomora! Open the box and unleash the magic. 🧙‍♂️

Details:

Title: Harry Potter Book 7
Artist: Mary GrandPre
Brand: NY Puzzle Company
Piece count: 100 pieces
Size: Approx. 7 x 9 in. (18 x 23 cm)
Purchased: New (gift)

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Very good
Box: Very good, 7 boxes inside a larger box
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Offset grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety within single shape
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, highly recommended

Pets Selfie

On February 14, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Pet Selfie — Pets Selfie by Howard Robinson – Wentworth – 40 pieces

For Valentine’s Day this year I decided to assemble this micro puzzle, because what better example of pure, unconditional love and friendship than our furry friends and family? They’re amazing, and always ready to give lots of love❣

You would think a puzzle hoarder like myself would have plenty of “love” puzzles to choose from, but I don’t (at the moment). There are many puzzles here that I love and am looking forward to assembling, but not ones that are love-related. But when I picked up this puzzle and saw the goofy faces of the pets I thought that this would be the perfect image for today. I think I was right; it’s so adorable and I love their sweet faces.

Pets Selfie whimsies

How cute are these whimsies? I was a little confused by the one in the middle though, perhaps it’s a dog house? Or do I have it upside down? Suggestions anyone?

Hubby and I don’t really do Valentine’s Day, we haven’t for most of our marriage. I expect him to treat me as if he loves me every single day of the year, and he expects the same from me. We don’t need a special day for it, in our house that stuff happens all the time. 💖

I do usually celebrate February 15th though – half price candy day!! 😉

Harry Potter Book 6

On February 12, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I love the color on this one, and like the first five in the series this one was great fun to put together.

NY Puzzle Company has a bunch of 100 piece mini puzzles, and I find them relaxing to assemble and extremely entertaining! Being a proud cheapskate I find it a little difficult to spend full price for a puzzle with only 100 pieces that will only take me 10 minutes or so to assemble, but that doesn’t mean they’re not lots of fun. 😉

Grandpa’s Cabin

On February 10, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles5 Comments

I’ve had this puzzle at my house for a few months, and just wasn’t in the right mood for it when mom first found it. I finally decided to dive in, and had a great time. The artwork by William S. Kreutz made for a challenging and beautiful puzzle and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Love it when that happens!

MasterPieces random cut usually keeps things interesting, but this one was quite devious! Many times I was convinced a piece was missing, and it turned out to be 2 oddly shaped pieces in a configuration I hadn’t even considered. It certainly kept me on my toes right until the very end. This isn’t one of those puzzles where the nearer you get to the end, the faster the pieces fly into place; and I really enjoyed the challenge of it. Maybe our work on the Mystery Box Puzzle is giving me a greater appreciation for fun of conquering a complicated puzzle. 😎

I love the image, especially the characters. Grandma’s face is so sweet looking! Although if it were my family my daughter would be the one who went fishing and my sons would have stayed inside at the cabin to play video games or watch a movie. 😉

There’s something about this puzzle that makes me very happy, but I’m not sure how to articulate it. I had a wonderful time with the assembly, and just looking at the pictures brings a smile to my face.

Trolls (1)

On February 8, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This was a fun little puzzle with beautiful colors, and it’s a bit more difficult than it looks. The quality was very nice, and the fit was excellent – not bad for a dollar store puzzle!

Mom was going to the dollar store to look for something specific, and I asked her to look at the puzzles to see if there might be a small puzzle or two there that I might be able to use for a mash-up. She bought some kids puzzles to try out, but none of them really worked for that purpose, so I just puzzled them. My brain is far too muddled these days for combining two puzzles into one anyway. 😉

Such funny and interesting creatures! I love the glitter guy on the far left, I haven’t seen the movie so I have no idea what his name is; but they are all very cute in my opinion.

There was no name on the puzzle at all, so I’ve named this one Trolls (1) because she bought two of these puzzles and the other one is unnamed as well. This was the prettier of the two, so this one gets top billing.

This was the first puzzle we’ve gotten at the dollar store, and I was impressed with it. I’m sure others aren’t as good quality, but if we take a chance on missing pieces at the thrift store, then I guess we might (if we love the picture) take a chance on a cheap puzzle. 🙂

*probably not very often, I truly can be quite the puzzle snob sometimes*