Category: Jigsaw Puzzles

Fantasy Golf (What If? #18)

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Fantasy Golf by Geoff Tristram (What If? #18) – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

It’ll be no surprise that I had a great time assembling this puzzle, Geoff Tristram’s artwork is always so bright and colorful and full of his sense of humor. It makes for excellent puzzling!

With mystery puzzles like this where the box image is not the final image of the puzzle, I only show you the one character shown on the box as a hint. In this case the character was reversed and facing the other direction on the box, so I reversed the image of my picture to make it match. I also darkened around the edges so the character is the focus.

When I was starting my first What If? puzzle I searched for an image of the box to put on my homepage to show what puzzle I was working on, and the first thing that popped up in my results was a picture of the finished puzzle. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I couldn’t un-see it, and it ruined the fun I would have had figuring out the puzzle for myself. I never want to do that to anyone else, so I do not show the completed puzzles here. Ever.

In Fantasy Golf, the box says “Have you ever experienced the frustration, fury and despair that only golf can deliver? What If golf suddenly became easier to play – almost a “walk in the park”? The picture on this box shows the disheartened and gloomy golfers at Hacketton Hope Golf Club. The puzzle inside this box shows a new way to play this most challenging sport!”

In my opinion these puzzles aren’t terribly difficult. The box image shows you what the characters are wearing (most of the time), and you just have to figure out how things end up. You do that the same way you would assemble any other puzzle, by finding colors or patterns that match and putting them together. The more you assemble, the more the idea of the image takes shape and before you know it the mystery of the image is clear. The puzzles are in cartoon form, so the colors are bold and bright, and it’s easy to pick out a pattern or color and start building.

The wordplay is always entertaining as well. Did you catch it earlier in the name of the club? Hacketton Hope. Hack it and hope. It’s all over this puzzle in the names of golf clubs, people, even the brands of clothing. It’s one of the reasons his puzzles are a favorite of mine, we have similar silly senses of humor. 😁

If you’ve never given What If? puzzles a try, I highly recommend them. Great Ravensburger quality, excellent images, and a fun little mystery to solve.

Medicine Teepee

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Medicine Teepee by Joseph Henry Sharp – Artifact – 105 pieces

Oh man, was this ever a fun puzzle to assemble! Usually pieces that don’t connect really annoy me, but the way this puzzle was almost like playing with a tangram was extremely entertaining. I absolutely loved it!

There was really no need to take a separate picture of the whimsy pieces, as they’re all sitting on top of the puzzle – you can check them out for yourself. I actually really liked that, it made the rest of the puzzle a little more of a challenge. Whimsies and the pieces that fit around them make a puzzle easier to put together; with these on the top you couldn’t use them to assist in the assembly.

The image by Joseph Henry Sharp was interesting and made for slightly difficult but excellent puzzling. There were quite a few times where I placed pieces wrong (especially in the sky and the grass), you definitely had to pay close attention. Having to be completely focused on the image and the shapes made for an almost meditative experience and I can’t wait to assemble this one again!

What a fantastic puzzle! And a special thanks to Alice for letting me know about the half-price sale at Artifact they were having in June. I got this beauty for only $18.00! 💗

American Girl – Molly

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

American Girl – Molly – Mattel – 150 pieces

This set of three puzzles was quick and entertaining to assemble, but unfortunately one of them was missing a piece. That’s the chance you take when you purchase thrift store puzzles, but honestly I would say somewhere around 97% of all my pre-loved puzzles are complete. When there is a missing piece or two it isn’t too much of an issue for me; I still got a great deal for my money.

There were two American Girl puzzle sets at the thrift store, and this is the second set that I’ve assembled. The first one, Josefina, was put together in March of last year. That one was complete, and honestly was a little bit better in the quality department than this one.

The fit was much looser with this set, which made the assembly a bit frustrating. The finish is extremely shiny which is a problem under artificial lights, but the image reproduction was otherwise quite good. There were a nice variety of piece shapes, and the chipboard is thin but sturdy.

This was my favorite of the three images, and I wanted to put it into the frame, but the looseness of the fit caused it to crumble when I tried to put it in the tray. I was too frustrated to re-assemble it just for another picture. Sorry…sort of.

Normally the image with a dog would be the one I’m drawn to, but for some reason I cannot verbalize this was my least favorite of the three.

A missing piece. A bit of a disappointment, but I finished the puzzle by putting together all the pieces I had – so mission complete!

The set of three puzzles comes with one frame, so it seems that you display whichever one you like best, or you can rotate the puzzles.

If you’re lucky enough to find one of these sets at a thrift store or online and you’ve got a youngster who enjoys the American Girl dolls and books, they would be a nice gift. The quality is fair/good. It was nice to give them a try, and I enjoyed them very much.

Vintage Summer Books

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Vintage Summer Books by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

We all know how much I adore the artwork of Aimee Stewart, so normally starting one of her puzzles I know that I’ll really enjoy the assembly. This one had me a little wary, I thought perhaps all the flowers and greenery would be quite challenging – I was completely wrong, it was a FANTASTIC assembly, with just the right degree of difficulty. 💚🌼

I adore the look of this section and it was one of the first ones that I put together. There’s something about vintage advertisements, they make me happy.

Just look at all the beautiful colors in this one little section, absolutely stunning! The flowers weren’t nearly as difficult as I thought they’d be, in fact I enjoyed putting them all together.

The piece in the center with the couple kissing was the last piece to be placed in this book. I looked at the piece, was trying to find colors to match it with and then suddenly realized it was a couple. All the titles of the books were complete and in place, so I knew then that this must be the last piece of “In Love’s Garden”; none of the other book titles seemed as though a man and a woman kissing should be on the cover. 💏

This puzzle was much more entertaining and enjoyable than I thought it would be, and I went into it knowing it would be fun! Don’t you love it when a puzzle is even better than you thought?

Tube-tastic

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

Tube-tastic – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This little thing was MUCH more difficult than anticipated, I was constantly putting pieces in the wrong places! I thought the image would be fun (it was) and wouldn’t take too long (it did); but no matter, the challenge got me motivated to finish it and it was enjoyable the whole way through.

Normally I don’t have to use the image on the tube these puzzles come in – but for all the little scribbles on the paper it definitely helped to have a reference.

The fit was a little looser than usual, but otherwise it was the same great quality MicroPuzzle that I’m used to. Loved it!