Category: Jigsaw Puzzles

Clue

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

Clue – Spin Master – 1000 pieces

I enjoyed this assembly, but was underwhelmed with the quality of the puzzle itself. The image is a wonderful collage of cards and pieces from the game and made for a fun afternoon of puzzling; but I was hoping with all the hype surrounding these board game puzzles that they’d be great quality. Perhaps managing my expectations would have been a good idea before I started.

In general, the quality was fair/good; I was hoping for better. The chipboard was quite thin, but relatively sturdy although there were still plenty of bent tabs. The image reproduction was very good, but with a shiny finish that made for a somewhat difficult time underneath the artificial lights in my puzzle room. There were a very good variety of piece shapes and the fit was somewhat loose.

I liked that it looked as though this were a picture of an actual board game, with the crease in the middle where it gets folded to fit into the box.

LOVE the doily in the corner and the pistol too. It was a fun image to put together, and not as difficult as I thought it would be; it was finished the same day I started.

If nothing else this puzzle had me watching the movie Clue again, it’s a family favorite and most of us can toss out quite a few quotes when the moment is right. Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Aileen Brennan and the entire lineup is just about as perfect a cast as you can get in my opinion. Hubby, my youngest son and I watched it together the night before I started the assembly and we all had a great time.

The images of the characters in the game just didn’t seem right to me; Miss Scarlet is supposed to look like Lesley Ann Warren, and Mr. Green should look like Michael McKean. I know the game came first, but the characters to me will always be the actors from the movie. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if I told you I’ve seen it at least twenty times. (When I said the movie is a family favorite I wasn’t kidding 😊) It’s probably been at least 25 years or more since I’ve played the actual game, but I’ve seen the movie much more often – so those are the characters I think of when you say their names.

Tiki Mask Montage

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Tiki Mask Montage – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

My daughter picked out this puzzle, and she did a fantastic job. This was so much more entertaining than anticipated, and more than once I found myself sitting in the bathroom just so I could add a few more pieces to the puzzle.

The bright colors, the different masks – it was all thoroughly enjoyable from the first edge pieces to the final piece in the middle. Why on Earth did I wait so long to get this one done?

I sure hope you all are enjoying reading about these puzzles, because they are still loads of fun for me to assemble and I don’t see myself stopping my subscription anytime soon. Every month I receive two more puzzles – they aren’t always images that I might pick out myself, but usually they’re fun to assemble and I’m always proud of myself whenever we get one done.

This particular puzzle did make me a little bit sad though, once it was finished. There were no more pieces left to add and I was sorry it was over. 😢

Coronium In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Coronium by Nadieh Bremer – Artifact – 172 pieces

After finishing my puzzle yesterday my son chose the next puzzle for me – he picked this gorgeous wooden puzzle by Artifact. I put a few pieces out on the board, but haven’t really gotten into the actual assembly yet.

I’m procrastinating writing up all the posts for the puzzles we did on vacation (not to mention the ones I’ve completed since we returned home) – and that’s not good for my mental health. If I’m not feeling like writing that leads to laying in bed and not writing or puzzling at all. And we all know where that leads. It’s not good. At all.

So before I get started on my beautiful wooden puzzle I’ve got to at the very least get all these pictures of puzzles off of my phone and into some drafts. Once that’s done I’ll feel better about getting started on my new puzzle.

Happy puzzling today my friends! 💚🧩

Elizabeth’s Garden

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Elizabeth’s Garden by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 300 pieces

It’s been a while since I’ve assembled a puzzle with a Wysocki image. I love the symmetry in his paintings, and the Americana feel – and as usual this was a beautiful image and a very good quality puzzle.

It went together very quickly; I sorted the puzzle and assembled the border the night before and then it didn’t take long at all in the morning to put everything in it’s place. Sometimes it’s nice to do something not so challenging – at least it is for me.

Unfortunately my brain is mush today and I can’t think of a thing to say about this puzzle. There was nothing wrong with it, and I enjoyed the assembly; but I seem to be unable to form coherent sentences this morning.

My apologies.

Childcare!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Childcare! by Bill Houston – Jumbo (Wasgij Mystery) – 1000 pieces

As per my usual routine I don’t show the entire finished image for these puzzles that don’t have the solution on the box top (Wasgij, What If?, Puzzle Twist, etc.); so you’re only seeing the character shown on the box as one of the hints.

With this Wasgij, there is an image on the box showing the two adults taking care of the children in what looks to be a sort of playroom. The hints tell you that “Children can be so unpredictable and sometimes they can drive you mad! The two childcare assistants are doing their best to look after all these children, but what’s the worst that could happen?” That’s the scene you have to puzzle. You can see from the box image what clothes everyone is wearing, what the carpeting and walls looks like, etc. Starting with a shirt color, or any part of the image that stands out – you can get going on piecing together the finished image.

I’m always intrigued by what the finished artwork will look like and how greatly it does or doesn’t differ from the box image. They’re fun and entertaining, and always so colorful and interesting. (If you couldn’t tell already, I love these puzzles!)

After putting together the border and finding extra pieces I was worried that perhaps this puzzle might also be missing some pieces, but thankfully it was complete. In total there were four extra pieces; three in the border and one interior – all from the same section…

I always feel bad when this happens, because I know there’s someone out there missing four pieces of their puzzle. Missing pieces are such a disappointment with new puzzles, and although I had nothing to do with it I feel guilty because their pieces ended up with me. 🤷‍♀️

I thoroughly enjoyed this assembly, as usual, so I don’t know why it’s been so long since I’ve put together a Wasgij puzzle. According to my blog it’s been almost four years since I’ve done one! November of 2019 was the last Wasgij assembled – how is that possible?

There’s still a stack of Wasgij puzzles at least four feet high in my bedroom closet, the fact that they’re not in the puzzle room is probably why it’s been so long. Out of sight, out of mind perhaps?

Whatever the reason, I need to get to whittling down that pile of puzzles – they’re too much fun to be sitting un-assembled in my closet!