Policeman Dreams

On September 24, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles5 Comments

There’s something about this image, I love it! I haven’t had enough coffee this morning to articulate exactly why, all I know is that this image makes me smile and was a pleasure to assemble.

I went about assembling this puzzle backwards – I started with the more difficult sections. No idea now why this was, but I started with the sidewalk/road and then the sky. The rest of the puzzle wasn’t as challenging, although the cars did take a bit more concentration.

MasterPieces quality has been improving, in my opinion. The pieces fit together very well and are a good thickness. The finish is still a bit shiny, but overall that’s really my only issue. Every once in a while I get a puzzle where the pieces aren’t completely separated, but I’ve seen that with every puzzle manufacturer. There’s never going to be a company that is perfect every single time.

The Childhood Dreams collection by Dan Hatala is nostalgic and heartwarming and focuses on moments between parents and children. There are at least 11 more in the series that I’ve seen and I would love to do every single one of them; they are absolutely gorgeous! My black belt thrift store shopper has been given instructions to buy any of this series that she can find. 🙂

Celestial Map Puzzle Ball

On September 23, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This was only the second 3D puzzle that I’ve assembled, and it was a bit of a letdown. There were 4 missing pieces, 1 piece completely broken in half, and many pieces that were bent and damaged. 😦

Mom and I were hoping to enjoy this assembly as much as the first puzzle ball that we did, but the condition of this puzzle was terrible. Wherever it’s previous home, it was not well loved – in fact, someone was extremely rough with it. It looks as if whoever took it apart before was not careful or gentle, perhaps they didn’t enjoy the assembly. Whatever the reason, they damaged it and lost pieces. Why not just throw it away?

Although this puzzle was a bit of a disappointment, it was still fun to spend time with mom assembling it. That’s the most fun thing about puzzling for me I think, sharing it with loved ones. I enjoy the solitude of working on a puzzle alone, trying to concentrate only on what I’m doing and finding the next piece. But even more enjoyable is working a puzzle with someone, talking and laughing and spending time together. It’s 10,000 times better than staring at the tv, scrolling through things on your phone, or clicking through web pages on the computer!

Scooby Doo

On September 22, 2017September 22, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This was a bright and easy puzzle by Pressman Toys. The pieces are thick and extremely sturdy and you can see that they fit together very well. I’ve done several puzzles by Pressman Toys lately and am impressed by the quality of their puzzles for children.

There’s not much you can say about a puzzle with only 24 pieces – but I’ll do my best. If you really look at every piece, there’s something easy to find that will help you locate the adjacent piece. This is essential in a puzzle for very young children, and helps them gain confidence in their puzzling abilities. This is a great puzzle for younger kids and I’m happy it’s going to end up where children can enjoy it.

We’ve recently added a school for children with developmental disabilities to the places we donate our puzzles. So the adult puzzles are being donated to the local senior center, and the kids puzzles to the school. If it isn’t something we’re absolutely in love with and will definitely do again, it goes out the door.

We have too many puzzles yet to do, and too little space to be hoarding them all. It makes me happy to think that we’ve brightened someone else’s day with the gift of a puzzle – and don’t we all need a little happiness?

Grist Mill Stream

On September 21, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

A new puzzle company for me, and it was pretty good. It’s difficult to tell how the fit is, because there are so many whimsy pieces and not everything connects. The image is kind of bland for me, but it was interesting to work with all the different shapes.

The piece shapes are pretty obvious in the finished image, but I almost think that’s a good thing here because it’s cool to see all the different shapes of the whimsy pieces. There were the usual dog and cat, etc., but some were really different! There’s a grand piano, a peacock, several letters, and a faucet to name just a few. 🙂

The pieces are a good thickness and very sturdy. Again, I can’t say much about the fit other than to say that the pieces that did connect seemed to fit together well. The image reproduction seemed a bit fuzzy, but that may have been the artwork itself. It was a little difficult for me to tell for sure. I try to err on the side of positivity, so we’ll say that it was the artwork and not the reproduction that was fuzzy.

I enjoyed assembling this puzzle and would be happy to try more puzzles from this company. I think for me the whimsy pieces are a fun change of pace once in a while, but I wouldn’t want to do them all the time. I’m just not a fan of pieces that don’t connect, it seems as though you’re always having to adjust everything. Again, that’s just my personal preference – if you enjoy them, rock on!

Vacation Stamps

On September 20, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Travel Stamps by Finchley Paper Arts – Ravensburger – 2000 pieces

I picked this puzzle out to work on with family while we were holed up at my house during Hurricane Irma. I’ve had it for some time and I’m not sure why I waited so long – it was really fun! I had help from both my daughter and my mother; 3 generations of awesome women working together.

Usually when I start a 2000 piece puzzle I’m slightly intimidated. It’s so big and there are so many pieces to sort through it almost feels like there’s no good place to start and that it’ll take forever to finish. I realize how odd that sounds coming from someone who has completed the World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle, but I never said that I was rational or that I always made sense. Anyway, for some reason this puzzle wasn’t intimidating for me and I knew exactly where I should start. 😎

The assembly was very methodical and soothing for me and I enjoyed each and every piece we put together. We started with the pale border area and then with all the wording. From there it was easy to pull out all the colored frames for each stamp and assemble them one color at a time. We didn’t get it completed before everyone left to go back to their homes, but we got quite a bit accomplished together; I finished it 2 days later.

This was a great puzzle with what seems like 15 small puzzles in the middle of it. That made it easy to find and assemble pieces, especially when several people were working on it. If you’ve got a big enough work space this puzzle would make a great family project!