Category: Jigsaw Puzzles

Heart Nosed Ned

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Heart Nosed Ned by Dylan R. – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This puzzle had me a little faked out; the border was a bit of a challenge, but I didn’t find the interior of the image overly difficult to assemble. In the end it was a great puzzle that makes me smile every time I see it. 💖🐶

When I started this puzzle it had been almost a year since my last MicroPuzzle was assembled, and I was honestly a bit hesitant – my eyes are almost a year older and surely haven’t gotten any better! My worries were unfounded, all that was needed was good lighting and the pieces seemed to fall into place (as long as I’ve chosen the correct ones of course).

Heart Nosed Ned seems like a puzzle made especially for me. Not only does it look like our beloved Buddy, who left us about a year and a half ago, but it was painted by a young man with autism; if you’re a long-time reader you may remember that both of my sons have autism. Once I saw this beauty on the MicroPuzzles website and read about it’s artist there was no way it wasn’t going to find it’s way home to me. It’s my perfect puzzle!

This is an excerpt from this puzzle’s web page:

The price includes a charitable donation to Art with Intention.  Art with Intention is an art enrichment program for those thriving with autism, Alzheimer’s, down syndrome, cerebral palsy and stroke recovery.

— ABOUT THE ARTIST –– DYLAN R.

Dylan is a young and energetic artist with autism. He shows his creative talents with drawing, painting, and clay. When he has a brush in his hand, he often loves to paint trees and animals. Other activities he enjoys include hiking, kayaking, and DreamWorks cruises. Dylan has been painting with our program since early 2016 and his work has always been a crowd favorite.

As an added bonus, this month’s puzzle subscription box had this fantastic stand to hold your puzzle container. It’s a great help to have the image available and upright so if help is needed you can make sure you’re looking for the correct piece.

I absolutely adored this puzzle – great quality, beautiful image, wonderful artist story – all around fantastic! 😍

To all our puzzle posse members in Canada – I pray you are all safe and well despite the raging wildfires, and you have my continued prayers for the safety of you and yours, and for a quick end to this horrific situation. Please stay safe, you’re important to us!💖

Reservoir of Succulents

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Reservoir of Succulents – Wentworth – 40 pieces

This was much more difficult than it looks, to be honest I was a little intimidated when I poured out those 40 pieces. They all looked so similar and like they knew I wasn’t up to the task. Oh dear, perhaps I’m a little sleepy this morning. 😴

I had to get one more puzzle in the morning before I went off to the guillotine (oral surgery), so this one was it.

Great whimsies – Wentworth doesn’t always have the whimsy pieces match the image, but they got it perfectly right with this one. I couldn’t tell you any of the names of these succulents (other than the general term cacti), but I do know that they are succulents. 😎

Portrait of a Quilt

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Portrait of a Quilt by Helen Klebesadel – Cobble Hill – 500 pieces

Once I actually opened the box for this puzzle and saw the pieces it had to be next. An explanation wouldn’t really make sense, it just had to be the next one on my board, and I’m so glad it was.

The larger pieces of this puzzle, the bright colors and interesting patterns – it made for excellent, entertaining puzzling and I adored it with every single piece I placed. ❤

Excellent Cobble Hill quality; the linen pieces felt amazing in my hands, and the fit was near perfect. The image reproduction is stunning, and I cannot recommend this puzzle enough!

I hope whatever puzzle you’re working on right now is as much fun as this one was. Happy puzzling my friends! 🧩

Love Letters

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Love Letters – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

Such a bright, colorful, entertaining puzzle – where do I begin? We all know how much collage puzzles make me happy, and this one was no different. The piece shape is quite evident in the finished image, but it doesn’t take away from how much fun I had putting it together. In addition to their many images with book covers, Re-marks has quite a few of these stamp collages as well – I’ve not been disappointed with any of them. 😁

I was so glad the border had a pattern, it was easy to pick out the pieces while sorting; the cut was very random and there were many, many pieces that looked as though they would be edges that were not. It was quite helpful to be able to see at a glance whether or not the pieces were actually part of the border.

This puzzle had a very loose fit, but was otherwise good quality. The random cut made for interesting piece shapes, and the image reproduction was good, though somewhat shiny.

These were two of my favorite stamps, but they were all so interesting and beautiful – it was hard to choose just a few to show up close.

To Fetch or Not to Fetch

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

To Fetch or Not to Fetch by John Cuneo – NY Puzzle Co. – 500 pieces

I like the image of this New Yorker cover, although the painterly style sometimes made for a more challenging assembly. It’s a well made puzzle, good quality – but it isn’t for beginners.

The border of this one needed a big straw (it sucked) – but only on the side with the black stripe. It was so dark, and a couple of pieces seemed to fit where they did not belong; that’s one thing I despise in a puzzle, I like to know when a piece fits that it’s the correct one. Several pieces that fit perfectly in the same space is so annoying!

Otherwise this was an entertaining assembly, there was a LOT of grass, but there’s enough shading, etc. so it didn’t seem too insurmountable.

This is what it looked like once I’d put in every piece that had something other than green – the rest were all shades of green. Not much fun, but once it was finished I was glad I kept at it. Yay me!