Category: Jigsaw Puzzling

Advent Calendar Part Deux…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling14 Comments

Hubby was getting some groceries at Aldi a couple of days ago, and brought this advent calendar home to me – do I have a fantastic husband or what? What a sweetie pie!

This set is exclusive to Aldi, and retails in the US for $9.99 – not too shabby! The box tells me the puzzles were manufactured in China, but I’m hopeful that they’ll be good quality. If the box is any indication, they may be pretty good; the box is thick and feels quite premium. If you’ve got an Aldi nearby they may have this set available.

There are twelve puzzles, 80 pieces each. You can see that I’ve opened the first section to take a peek, but I haven’t taken the pieces out of their plastic bag or started assembling any of them yet. I will soon though, with the number of puzzles already in my queue it’s time for me to get to assembling puzzles with holiday images already!

Those of you that have been here for a while may remember the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad advent calendar of puzzles from 2019 – it holds bad memories for me. I’m still mad at Ceaco about it! But this was a gift from hubby so I’ll have to put those memories out of my head and assemble these puzzles with no preconceived ideas about their quality.

It’s Part Deux of my assembling an advent calendar of jigsaw puzzles and I’m hoping the sequel is better than the original. (You know, like Aliens or The Godfather Part II or Terminator 2: Judgement Day)

The Ceaco advent calendar of puzzles that I assembled in 2019 seemed like a comedy of errors; out of twelve puzzles four of them were missing pieces, one had extra pieces, and there was one puzzle missing entirely and substituted with another that had already been assembled. And for a set of puzzles with so many quality problems to find it’s way into the hands of a jigsaw puzzle blogger was just so bizarre. I was glad to be able to warn people away from purchasing it though. It was unbelievably frustrating to deal with so many problems in one set, and the customer service I received was even more upsetting. Ceaco hasn’t gotten one penny of my puzzle budget since, and they’re still on the naughty list.

Here’s hoping that this newest advent calendar does a better job in the quality department, you know how much I enjoy little “one coffee” puzzles.

I’m looking forward to happy puzzling! 🧩💚

Burma Road In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling9 Comments

Burma Road by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo (Silver Edition) – 1000 pieces

Although I am very much enjoying this Wysocki image, my first impression of this Buffalo Silver Edition puzzle is one of disappointment. The only difference I can see so far is the box; it’s much fancier than a regular Buffalo puzzle and the pieces come in a resealable plastic bag – that’s it.

The fit is VERY loose, the cut is a bit odd, and I’m just not that impressed with it at all. I was hoping it would have thicker pieces, or a more snug fit, or a different cut – something to make it different from their regular puzzles. This Silver Edition puzzle is underwhelming. 😥

Still, it’s a very nice image and I’m enjoying myself even if the puzzle quality isn’t up to my snobby standards.

Battleship In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Battleship – Spin Master – 1000 pieces

Finally got myself out of bed and back at the puzzle board – Battleship got sorted and started yesterday, it’s looking good already!

So far this one has been more entertaining than both Clue and Scrabble (I haven’t posted about Scrabble yet, but it’s coming up in a few weeks). I’m not sure my muddled brain can express exactly why this one is more fun, but whatever the reason I’m just trying to enjoy it.

Any other oldsters out there remember the commercials for Battleship? I do. There are two old men at the opera – their wives are watching the performers and the men are behind them playing the game. Of course once one sinks the other’s battleship the loser stands up and yells “You sank my battleship!” causing everyone to stare and shush them. Those commercials from the 70s have that phrase imprinted in my brain.

Commercials were always more important to me than the actual programs when I was young. Mom always told me that I would be playing in the house, ignoring the television, but when the commercials came on I would run into the living room and stand there transfixed until the commercials were over. Once the show was back on I would leave the room and go back to whatever it was I was doing.

My parents used to love to tell the story of little 4-year-old Stacey at the grocery store walking along beside my mother, stopping at the products I recognized and reciting the commercials. Everyone in the store thought it was adorable, but for my mother it became exasperating. She had her three young girls with her, she was just trying to finish her shopping, and I was holding things up with my relentless in-person advertising. My poor momma.

I probably should have saved that story for my post about the finished puzzle, but it was right at the front of my brain this morning so why not share it, right?

Anyway, I hope whatever puzzle you’re working on right now is interesting, good quality, and most of all entertaining. Happy puzzling!

Rainbow Tarts In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Rainbow Tarts – Buffalo – 300 pieces

This puzzle is beautiful, fun, and relatively easy to assemble. That being said, there is a quality issue with it that’s quite disappointing for me, and I’ve already sent an email to the company about it.

There are rips in the image on the puzzle, as if it weren’t cut all the way through and when the pieces came apart they peeled off. I haven’t had a quality issue like this with a Buffalo puzzle before, and it’s a bit of a bummer for me as I really love the image.

Still, it shouldn’t take too long to finish, and the colors really are lovely.

Happy puzzling today my friends!

…Frankenstein In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

The World of Frankenstein by Adam Simpson – Laurence King – 1000 pieces

Well, I was hoping to finish this one yesterday, but as usual life got in the way. I wanted nothing more than to be able to sit down and play with my puzzle, but unfortunately I could not. Today though, at least I’m hopeful.

It’s going together quite haphazardly, not really the normal way I go about things – but I’m really enjoying myself and letting the puzzle lead. I started with the top of the image; the blue and green mountains, the purple sky, and the sun. Then I dove right in to the iceberg in the middle, and it wasn’t easy. Still, it was nice to sit and stare until I saw a couple of pieces that went together; had my music playing and was bebopping along in my head and putting pieces together. Love it!

My youngest son has been coming in every day and giving me little bits of information about Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (the author), and all the Frankenstein movies that have been made. Did you know the original book was written 205 years ago? I do, now. Did you know that the first Frankenstein movie was produced by Thomas Edison in 1910 and was about 15 minutes long? I do. Now.

I’ve got a lot more, but I won’t bore you with them. Besides, I’ll probably learn some new ones today while I’m finishing up! 😉