Category: Jigsaw Puzzles

The Baker

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

The Baker (GiGi the Cat) by Christiana – Ceaco – 300 pieces

This cute little puzzle was fun – but it’s a Ceaco so I went into it with an attitude. A bad attitude. I know I shouldn’t, but it’s difficult to be objective when you’ve had such bad dealings with the company about their poor quality puzzles. I do my best, but I’m human.

The quality was just ok. There were a good variety of shapes and the image reproduction was nice as well. As usual the poorest part of this Ceaco puzzle was the chipboard used (the fit was loose as well with some dull cutting evident, but it wasn’t awful). The chipboard was on the thinner side, and some pieces were delaminating and splitting. In my humble opinion an upgrade to the quality of the board would make a world of difference in the overall quality of this brand.

An upgrade to their customer service wouldn’t hurt either. Just sayin’.

This is GiGi and her companion, FiFi the mouse. If I’m honest it took me a few minutes to find FiFi in the image once I read their story on the box. I hunted all over for that mouse before I found her peeking over GiGi’s shoulder. It was easy to overlook her in the patterns and colors of the image.

This is GiGi’s pet, a Scottish Terrier named CoCo. All the repetitive names made me smile, silly as it is; and it had me brainstorming as to how many more names like these that I could think of. LuLu, KiKi, BeBe, etc. There are quite a few combinations you can come up with!

The box says that GiGi loves cooking, painting, shopping, gardening and camping. I don’t think GiGi and I would have much in common; I do love cooking, but rarely feel well enough to do it much. As for the rest of it, I’m tired just reading about it! GiGi must be much younger than I am. 💤👵💤

Overall the best part of this puzzle for me was the interesting, colorful and silly image. Parts of it were just challenging enough to keep it from being a boring 300 piece puzzle that went too quickly. I enjoyed myself despite my admittedly terrible attitude about this company.

If there are more puzzles out there from this artist (perhaps from another brand) I’d be more than happy to give them a try; her aesthetic is just my pile of pieces. 🧩

Art Nouveau Tiles

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Art Nouveau Tiles by Barbara Behr – Cobble Hill – 1000 pieces

This gorgeous and challenging puzzle tested me at times, but I loved every minute of it! The artwork is so interesting, it was a perfect puzzle at just the right time.

Excellent quality, great fit, and amazing reproduction. The tiles actually seemed to have the texture and crackled look of real tiles. Stunning!

I couldn’t pick my favorites, they’re all so lovely in their own way; here’s a closeup of each quarter of the image….

I suppose I should tell you what my favorites were in each section, but they were all so beautiful it’s very difficult to choose.

Here are some more pretties, wouldn’t they look lovely somewhere in a home?

I love the turkey in this section – he’s up at the very top. And that brilliant blue in the bottom right corner is divine.

And here are more beauties, they’re all so lovely in their own way – and all so different from each other. I just cannot choose favorites.

National Geographic Magazines

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

National Geographic Magazines – Buffalo – 500 pieces

This was much more entertaining than I’d expected, what a lovely surprise! There was something about this I saw when shopping for puzzles, and honestly it confused me why I wanted it so much. Normally photographic images aren’t my pile of pieces at all, but this one spoke to me on some level and I knew it needed to be here for me to assemble. I was right!

It seems like a broken record for me to tell you what good quality Buffalo puzzles are, but it’s the truth with all the puzzles I’ve been assembling lately. The image reproduction especially on this puzzle was exceptional, and the rest of the quality was wonderful too.

This is the oldest actually dated magazine in the collage, from March of 1921. At 50 cents a copy it seems quite expensive (according to my internet search it would be about $8.00 today). There is a partial cover with a 25 cent price at the bottom, but the date is covered by another magazine and I can’t tell you which year it’s from.

National Geographic is 134 years old, with the first issue published in 1888. It began as a scholarly journal, but became a popular magazine a few years later. It didn’t begin publishing photographs until 1905, but photos are what it’s become known for.

Not only was this bright with easy pieces to pick out, I love what the article is called – Dragons of the Deep. It does look slightly like a dragon at the front, doesn’t it? 🐲

I just like the look of this one, that’s it. It reminds me of one of my favorite books series by Jean M. Auel that begins with Clan of the Cave Bear; there was an exciting mammoth hunt in the first book, and mammoths played a big role in subsequent books as well.

This puzzle was so much more enjoyable than I’d imagined it would be; it was wonderfully entertaining! If it looks like something you’d enjoy it is highly recommended. Great quality, great image – great puzzle.

Father & Son

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Father & Son by Karen Burke – MasterPieces – 300 pieces

What a great image, it’s so adorable I don’t even have words to tell you how much I loved it. And with those handsome Boston Terriers is it any wonder that I couldn’t pass this one up? That little guy looks almost exactly like my sweet boy Buddy. 🐶💗

This was the best quality Masterpieces puzzle I’ve done in quite a while; fantastic fit, beautiful and crisp reproduction, and a great variety of shapes with a very nice cut. Usually there’s one thing or another I find with this brand, a loose fit or maybe the occasional problem with the image or cut. This time there wasn’t anything for me to complain about at all – and I love that!

I prefer to spend my time telling you all about great puzzles instead of being disappointed by less impressive ones. It’s more fun to let you all know which ones are awesome – and of course they’re also much more entertaining to assemble.

It was wonderful to put this beauty together – from the first piece to the very last – and I am definitely recommending this one if you can find it. Happy puzzling my friends. 🧩

Bestsellers

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Bestsellers – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

This fantastic collage image was so entertaining to me that I did something I haven’t done (alone) in years – I completed this puzzle in less than one day. It was already sorted, but I started with the edge in the morning and it was finished before 9 pm. It was easy to pick out pieces for each book and I was fully engaged in each little section.

The fit was a bit loose, but otherwise the quality was pretty good. I know going in that Re-marks puzzles aren’t premium quality, but their catalog of images is just too fun for me to pass up. In general though, they have good quality puzzles and I never hesitate to buy one of them.

I wanted to show the books closer up, so I’ve taken pics of each third of the puzzle. Please excuse the glare at the top, I didn’t have the angle just right.

This section has my favorite book of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird. And a confession that I haven’t read many of these books at all. In this first section only four of these books have been cracked open by me; what an ignorant philistine I am!

Three is the number of books read by me in this section. Yikes. But in all fairness, if they don’t interest me or the subject matter is too heavy and deep it is like slogging through mud for me to read them. I don’t do things because others do; I follow my own weird, winding, strange little path. I don’t read books because “people” think they’re important; I read books purely for education and/or entertainment. No excuses or explanations required.

I’ve only read two books in this section! And yes, one of them was Twilight. 🦇 In my defense, I was wanting to understand why my teenaged (at the time) daughter was so enthralled by this series, and so I read it. Then I needed to find out what happened so I kept on going. I won’t say they’re a guilty pleasure because I don’t believe you should feel guilty about things that make you happy (unless it hurts others), but I do enjoy that series now and again. It’s nice to zone out once in a while and read a sappy young adult love story.

The other book in this section that I’ve read was Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. VERY different in every way from Twilight. Very very different.

I love these panoramic collage puzzles from Re-marks, no matter what the subject of the collage is. I’ve got another one waiting in the wings – Broadway Musicals. I wonder if I’ll like it…..

OF COURSE I WILL! 😎