Wish You Were Here

On January 30, 2024January 29, 2024 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Wish You Were Here – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

Although I did enjoy this puzzle, the quality – specifically the edges – left a little to be desired. Still, it’s a collage of beautiful stamps and it was entertaining to assemble, which is the point of puzzling after all.

I’m used to Re-marks puzzles and their quality, but I put up with some of the annoyances because their catalog of images contains so many fun and beautiful collages and I’m a sucker for a collage! The issue I had this time was not with the fit or the image (the usual suspects), but with the edges.

There were two separate spots on this puzzle where the edges didn’t connect and just laid next to each other. A pet peeve of mine that I find very annoying. Puzzles should fit together not sit together! Although I didn’t pull the pieces for those specific sections when I was sorting I ended up going through the trays of pieces laid out to find each of the two sections so that the border would be complete and connected and wouldn’t move around during the rest of the assembly. Annoying!

If you’re a regular reader you know I adore this holiday even though there is no Mexican heritage in my background; so of course I’m going to show you this stamp. Isn’t it colorful and beautiful? I love it!

This was an enjoyable and slightly difficult section to put together; the dots made it easy to find the pieces, but it didn’t go together as easily as I’d assumed it would. Still, isn’t it a pretty stamp? I love looking at stamps from other countries, they’re so varied and interesting.

Border quality issues aside, I really enjoyed this assembly and definitely recommend this puzzle. It made for beautiful, contemplative, and interesting puzzling. 📧💜

Happy Beads

On January 27, 2024January 25, 2024 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Happy Beads by Elspeth McLean – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This gorgeous image was even more fun to assemble than I thought it would be. Great quality, beautiful colors and interesting designs – absolutely adored it! 🧡💛💚

Elspeth McLean is a new to me artist, who actually hand paints everything you see here, they’re just completely stunning little works of art, and it makes for really fun puzzling as well. Very smart of Ravensburger to partner with her to make such detailed and fabulous puzzles. This is my kind of artwork.

There is just so much intricate detail, and even though when you look closely you can see little differences in the size of the dots and lines it still looks almost perfect. Her use of color and the beautiful designs she creates are just so striking, and I can’t wait to get more puzzles with her artwork.

The fit was really quite good for a Ravensburger puzzle. Normally the fit is somewhat loose, but this one had such a good fit that I was actually able to stand it up – I’ve NEVER been able to do that with a Ravensburger before, not ever!

It’s a little warped out of shape, but still, I was amazed that I was able to do it at all. Being able to stand this one up and get a picture absolutely made my day. My emotions are sometimes tied too tightly to my puzzles (the scourge of PADS strikes again) but days when I can do something like this to make myself happy are completely worth the bad days.

I absolutely recommend this puzzle, if you can find it and feel as if you’re up to the challenge then by all means you should go for it; it’s a gorgeous, well made puzzle and there are hours worth of fun in that little box; it makes this puzzle geek’s heart go pitter patter. 😍

Land and Sea*

On January 26, 2024January 25, 2024 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Land and Sea* – Robert Frederick – 100 pieces

I was all set to be disappointed in this puzzle, but happily it surprised me with much better quality than the first Robert Frederick puzzle I completed, Woman with a Parasol, Facing Right.

Unlike that first puzzle, this didn’t have the bent pieces or the overly shiny finish. That means the cut, chipboard, variety in shape, fit, and finish were all very good. What a pleasant surprise!

Sadly, in my mind that doesn’t speak well of the company. If it can have very good quality but there is no consistency it wouldn’t be a brand I would be confident in purchasing retail. When there’s no guarantee it’ll be at least good quality it goes on my list of brands to only buy second hand. It’s annoying for me, knowing the potential for a good or great quality puzzle is there, but the standards aren’t always met. Although this particular puzzle was quite good, I find myself disappointed in the brand.

Thinking back to my shopping trip with my daughter, I cannot recall why in the world this puzzle was chosen. It is definitely not my pile of pieces, as far as the artwork goes. Why did I pick this one? Not a clue. It’s the mind/memory that goes first. Sigh. Old age ain’t for sissies. 👵

Still, at only 100 pieces it didn’t take too long, and it was a nice palate cleanser in between larger piece count puzzles.

*There was no title for this image, nor artist credited; I named it Land and Sea as I wasn’t feeling overly creative or inspired today.

Soda Fountain

On January 24, 2024January 22, 2024 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Soda Fountain – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

What a fantastic thrift store find this was! Truly excellent quality with a great image that was very entertaining to assemble – couldn’t ask for more. ❤❤

This was the best fitting Buffalo puzzle I’ve put together in a while, and I have a theory as to why that is. Interested? No matter, I’m going to tell you anyway…

This puzzle is 14 years old, manufactured in 2010; and the box is different – bigger, to be exact it is taller than currently manufactured Buffalo puzzles. There is enough room for all the pieces with a little bit of extra space at the top. The extra space is key, because if a couple of pieces don’t come apart as they’re being put into the box there is enough room that they won’t be smashed against the sides or the top and bent. Puzzles made more recently have a shorter box that JUST fits all the pieces; if the puzzle fits too well they’ll be smashed against the box and bent all out of shape. The fit is looser these days to be sure they’ll come apart and fit in the smaller box. It doesn’t always work though, and I’ve had a few Buffalo puzzles lately with quite a few bent pieces because there was less room in the box.

*This is where my brain goes when I’m puzzling sometimes, off on tangents like this. 🤷‍♀️*

This is what the picture in my mind is of a typical boy from the 50’s; striped shirt, baseball hat, baseball glove. It’s probably from old tv shows and movies that I’ve seen and not based on actual kids, since I didn’t show up on the scene till the late 60’s. Once I was of an age to notice things like what people were wearing it was the 70’s. *shudder* Thankfully I was the third of three children so mom and dad don’t have many pictures of me, they were too busy taking care of their three girls to take a bunch of pictures of us wearing those HIDEOUS clothes. 😉

A 1000 piece Buffalo puzzle is quite large, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to take this picture, but I had to try – the fit was just too good. It worked! Happy dance 💃💃💃

Of course I still prefer Pepsi, but this Coca-Cola puzzle was so much fun!

Wonderland

On January 23, 2024January 23, 2024 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Wonderland by Bill Bell – Wentworth – 140 pieces

This artwork is so crammed full of characters and things to see that even at only 140 pieces it was a bit of a challenge! Alice in Wonderland seems to be quite a common theme for puzzles, I’ve probably done eight or nine Wonderland themed puzzles, they make for good fun if you ask me.

I’m not sure what possessed me to get this puzzle, it really isn’t an image I would normally go for – there’s just too much going on. Perhaps it was the colors, or the piece count, I’m not certain. Whatever it was, I’m glad I didn’t just go with the usual style of artwork that usually finds it’s way into my cart because even with the added difficulty it really was very enjoyable.

It wasn’t until I was almost finished with the assembly that I realized the caterpillar was even in the image! He sure does look exhausted, doesn’t he?

The Queen of Hearts certainly looks like a mean one, doesn’t she? When I was looking at the pieces I was sure those teeth were going to be on the Cheshire Cat. Wrong!