Beauty and the Beast

On September 13, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This beautiful image was fun to assemble, but it was the first time I’ve been disappointed in a MasterPieces puzzle in quite a while. 😒

My experience with this brand has mostly been very good. The image reproduction has always been excellent in my opinion, as are the variety of piece shapes. They are a good thickness and fit together well. I’ve heard that others have found the fit to be quite loose, but that hasn’t been my experience at all. That doesn’t discount their experience; there have been many times where people with the exact same puzzle have had much different levels of quality – a lot of the time it all depends on where in the run your puzzle was produced. Beginning of the run may give you a tighter fit, end of the run can be much looser.

My problem with this puzzle wasn’t the fit at all, it was the bent pieces. I can’t be sure if it was because of the box (book shaped and somewhat small for 300 large pieces) or if it was another reason. The pieces were almost jammed in the box, and up into the spine of the “book”. Whatever it was, there were many bent pieces and the puzzle didn’t lay flat when complete, which was disappointing.

Otherwise I enjoyed the assembly very much, and found the image itself to be absolutely stunning. Steve Crisp’s artwork is beautiful, the colors are perfect for the scene, and it made for a captivating puzzle.

The random cut helped with keeping my focus as well, you couldn’t rely on the edges of the pieces to help you find what exact shape you were looking for. You have to rely more on patterns and shades of color because you may think you’re looking for a certain shape and it could end up that 2 pieces fit where you thought only 1 should go. I love it when a puzzle keeps me on my toes. 🙂

The bent pieces were a bummer, but I enjoyed it anyway – it’s a beautiful puzzle!

Unknown Title

On September 12, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Here’s another puzzle from several years ago, and I specifically remember the time frame and what was going on when I was assembling it. I don’t always remember the specific time, but I do with this puzzle – it was June of 2016. It seems odd that I don’t have the title or even the brand of the puzzle, but unfortunately I don’t have that information (even though I searched the internet for info on it). I wish I did, because this was so much fun to assemble; I’d love to be able to recommend it by name. 🙂

Even though this thrift store puzzle had two missing pieces it was so much fun! It was so long ago, and missing pieces, but I do recall that mom wanted me to keep it so she could assemble it even though it wasn’t complete. It may be hiding in the piles and piles of puzzles at mom’s house, but she’s in the process of moving, so finding it isn’t an option at the moment.

The great colors and all the wording made this puzzle both entertaining and challenging; and part of the reason mom wanted to assemble this even with missing pieces is because I enjoyed it so much. I don’t recall much about the actual quality of the puzzle, but the image is what made it so much fun to put together.

If you can find a title, artist, or manufacturer please let me know (I’m not great at finding things online, obviously). 🙂

Cupcakes!

On September 10, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was a quick little 200 piece puzzle that I assembled in bed one evening while watching tv with my husband. It went together even more quickly than I thought it would, and was extremely entertaining.

Re-marks puzzles can sometimes be hit or miss, but this one had very good quality. In particular, the image reproduction was excellent with crisp lines and beautiful colors. The piece shape is a bit obvious in the finished image, but otherwise I had no problems with the pieces or the fit.

Mom took me to the store a few weeks ago so I could stock up on some smaller piece count puzzles and this is one of the ones we found. More often these days for me it isn’t as much about the image as it is about the piece count; I haven’t been doing many 1000 piece puzzles lately even though the majority of the puzzles here at the house are 1000 piece or higher. I was running out of smaller puzzles, and luckily we found this gem among all the others. 🙂

Route 66

On September 9, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Route 66 is a popular theme for jigsaw puzzles, and I’ve done several of them. This one was great fun, had excellent quality, and was one of the more entertaining versions in my opinion.

Ravensburger puzzles are always a great find at thrift stores, and this one was no exception. Even though it had obviously been assembled several times, the fit was still excellent. The box was pretty beat up, but thankfully there weren’t any missing pieces.

There was so much to see in this image; and with so many postcards and Route 66 road signs it was a bit of a challenge as well. But it was the best kind of challenge, the kind that sucks you in and focuses your attention. And as an added bonus I got to assemble this puzzle with my mom, which upped the entertainment factor. Puzzling with mom is the best!

Route 66 lends itself well to collage puzzles, and this is a bright, beautiful image. It’s no longer in production, but if you run across it at a thrift store I would highly recommend it – this Route 66 puzzle was definitely a place to “get our kicks”. 🚗

Things I Ate as a Kid

On September 8, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I love collages, images by Charlie Girard, and bright, fun colors on a puzzle. This puzzle has all of those things, but for some reason I didn’t enjoy this puzzle as much as I’d hoped I would. I can’t put my finger on why that was, but you can’t fall in love with every puzzle I guess.

There was nothing wrong with the puzzle itself, even with it being a thrift store purchase it still had very good quality. There isn’t anything wrong with the image either, when I saw the box I was very excited to start assembling it. Doesn’t it look like fun to you?

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It sure looked like fun to me, but for some reason I can’t quite put into words I didn’t have as much fun as I’d hoped.

Perhaps I just wasn’t in the right mood, or perhaps I just wasn’t feeling well. I think the problem was definitely with me, and not with the puzzle itself. We can’t love every puzzle, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give this one a try if you have the chance. It was good quality, and perhaps you’ll be in the exact right mood to enjoy this one to the fullest. 🙂