Category: Thrift Store Puzzles

Lady Bug Land

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

Lady Bug Land by Michael Searle – Ravensburger – 300 pieces

Beautiful and colorful, this one was a goldilocks assembly – not too hard, not too easy, just right. I couldn’t pass this bright beauty up when I went to the thrift store, it was too gorgeous to leave it sitting there on the shelf.

Great Ravensburger quality even though it’s been assembled many times. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten one of their puzzles from the thrift store that wasn’t in good shape; they hold up well in my opinion. Especially the smaller piece counts and images made for kids, they’ve always been great quality.

Obviously there was a missing piece, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a thrift store puzzle with a piece that’s gone AWOL. It’s a risk we take when buying second-hand, but it doesn’t bother me much at all.

As a friend told me, “Our job is to put all the pieces together until there are none left; even with missing pieces you can still complete your task and put them all together.”

Mission accomplished! 😎

Puppyness*

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Puppyness* – Re-marks – 100 pieces

A cute, quick, good quality puzzle that was a welcome break from larger piece counts. And I just couldn’t resist that adorable puppy face! Like many smaller puzzles this one had no title; I wasn’t feeling overly creative when I started typing up this post, so the name is just puppyness. That’s all I see when I look at this image, the sweet puppyness of that expression. 💖

I find that many smaller piece count puzzles are quite expensive to purchase new, so usually I get them from swaps with other puzzlers or thrift stores. I don’t mind spending a dollar or two for a 100 piece puzzle, but unless it’s a truly amazing image I don’t purchase them new. I’m a tightwad sometimes, and proud of it!

Dinosaur Alphabet

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Dinosaur Alphabet by Karen Rossi – Ravensburger – 60 pieces

This artwork isn’t my favorite color scheme, it’s slightly washed out and dull – but it was a fun little kids puzzle that went together quickly. As an added bonus I learned the names of a few dinosaurs that I’d never heard of before. I just love learning new things! 😁

It had a loose fit, but has also been a very well-loved puzzle that seems to have been assembled many times. The previous owners seem to have been quite organized too. There was an X written inside the box, and an X on every piece; if piece(s) got loose you would know which puzzle they belong to and which box to put them in – great idea for kids puzzles if you ask me.

The last three letters were dinosaurs I’d never heard of before. I’ve done my share of dinosaur puzzles and I don’t recall ever seeing these names. Very cool!

Many of the words that the letters represented were put into the image in the middle to pull it all together. Overall just a great puzzle for kids; the image, the information, and the quality.

Keepsakes

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles7 Comments

Keepsakes by Judy Koenig – Ceaco – 550 pieces

Eh. Not my favorite type of image, but I had hopes it would be entertaining. It was alright, that’s really all the endorsement I can give it.

The quality of the chipboard was good/fair, and for the most part so was the cutting. The variety of different piece shapes and the fit were good as well. There was a lot of image lift, but this puzzle is over 25 years old and it has been assembled more than a few times from the look of it. Overall, the quality was good/fair.

This was my favorite section – more cartoony and less painterly.

Many of the piece shapes were just a little bit off of what “regular” ones look like. In several places the hole where a prong would go was made up of the joining of two pieces; it made for a more interesting assembly.

I had higher hopes for this image, there was something about it made me want the puzzle even though it’s a Ceaco. My thought process was that because it was a thrift store purchase I wasn’t really giving the brand any of my money, and the picture looked as though it would be entertaining to assemble. It wasn’t as fun as I’d hoped, but I still got my money’s worth – it was only a couple of dollars and I worked on it for a couple of days.

Where else can you get that many hours of entertainment for such little investment?

Songbirds

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles9 Comments

Songbirds by Neiko Ng – Mudpuppy – 500 pieces

This is a cute image, but it really wasn’t as entertaining for me as I’d hoped. There’s nothing wrong with it, really, perhaps my mood wasn’t right. It just seemed like it would be more fun than it actually was. Just my own personal opinion.

The quality was good. In typical Mudpuppy fashion there is only one piece shape – what I call ballerinas – two prong/two hole pieces. Boring. The reproduction is good, but the finish is very shiny; and the backing is that “sharp” white backing that I do not care for. Overall it’s a good quality puzzle, it just wasn’t my pile of pieces.