Petrified Wood Mosaic

On September 5, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles5 Comments

This image is so different and interesting; mom and I both loved it as soon as we saw it. I opened the box several times when I was looking for my next puzzle, but always put it back because it looked so difficult and it wasn’t the right time (also I wanted to work on it with mom and she wasn’t always able to come play puzzle with me).

It had great quality, thick pieces, and a nice fit too. The only minus was that there was only one piece shape, it seems that there are quite a few puzzles out there with just the one shape, and personally I would love it if they branched out a bit and added more interesting, or even just “other” shapes.

The box for this one said Fitting Reminder, but there was also a notation that it was from American Greetings Corporation. There was no date on the box, but it looks quite old. I’m guessing it’s most likely from the 80’s. It was a very cool puzzle!

There were so many darkish muddled looking pieces that it was a bit difficult. But once I got going I enjoyed the challenge and it was hard for me to get up and walk away from it. It’s so very different than most puzzle images, and I got sucked into “just one more piece” over and over again.

This puzzle very much makes me think of mom, and I ended up taping the back of it so that I could keep it. It makes me extremely sad that we didn’t have a chance to work on it together, we would have had a great time; and there would have been a quite a bit of little old lady cussing too, I’m sure. 👵

There are so many puzzles here that mom found for us and that we were both looking forward to assembling together. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been wanting new puzzles lately, the older ones all have memories attached – and all those memories are primarily of my mom. I guess I’m trying to hold on to those as long as I can.

Coral Reef (The Moving Puzzle)

On August 30, 2019August 30, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This is a VERY interesting puzzle that I found in the trunk of my mom’s car. She bought it at the thrift store, but didn’t have a chance to show it to me before she went into the hospital. It was extremely entertaining, and she would have loved working on it with me; I would have loved working on it with her too.

It’s called The Moving Puzzle, and is made by the Great American Puzzle Factory. On the box it says “The never-ending, always moving jigsaw puzzle!!” On the back of the box it tells you that there are two ways to approach this tricky image. You can assemble the picture so that it matches the image on the box top, then change your picture by moving the pieces from top to bottom, left to right and so on. Or, you can pick any piece and build your puzzle from it, all the pieces will fit together and the image will grow in all directions, it doesn’t have to be a rectangular puzzle.

I assembled it the first way to begin with. The picture above is the puzzle assembled as it is on the box top; then I started moving things around…

Coral Reef 1

Then I moved many things around and changed the puzzle to be rectangular again, I’m showing it next to the original way it was assembled so that it’s easier to see the differences…

Coral Reef by Lambert and Samborski – Great American Puzzle Factory – 294 pieces

It’s a pretty cool concept, and it was fun to move things around and make the image change. I will say though that everything doesn’t always line up exactly right. If you assemble it to look like the box top the image is fine. When you see where things can move and start changing the puzzle the image doesn’t always line up perfectly. (Just an observation from a puzzle nerd who looks closely at those things 🤓)

At only 294 pieces, it would be great for kids too. This one will end up at the school my daughter works for, and I hope those children enjoy it as much as I did.

It’s a great quality puzzle; the pieces are extremely thick and the colors are lovely with very nice image reproduction. There is only one piece shape, and I cant really comment on the fit because they really only snug up next to each other, they don’t interlock. It wasn’t much of a problem for me because my puzzle board is covered with fabric, but if you work on a slippery surface it would most likely be quite frustrating.

Mom always found the most interesting puzzles when she went thrift store shopping. If you find a Moving Puzzle, give it a try – it’s a different puzzle experience, that’s for sure.

Farm

On August 29, 2019August 29, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Another from the big box of 24 piece educational kids puzzles, I’m learning things I didn’t know before, or perhaps I knew and just forgot! 😉

This time I assembled one side, then scrambled up the pieces again and reassembled the other. I’m giving myself 48 pieces on my count for the year on this one.

Farm 1

My dad used to call the disk ripper something else, but I don’t remember what. We had a John Deere tractor when I was growing up, but we didn’t grow crops. He used the tractor for many things, and we were always glad it was available to pull people out of the ditch in the winter. (We lived on a dirt road, and many people go too fast on back roads in the winter and end up in the ditch).

My sisters and I all knew how to drive the tractor well before we could legally drive; and we used it to mow our giant lawn, help split wood for the woodstove, clear the snow out of the driveway, etc. I loved that tractor, and anytime dad asked if I wanted to go with him when he was doing something with it I would always say yes and end up having fun with him.

Sorry for the trip down memory lane, this puzzle makes me think of my dad and that’s just where my mind went. 🙂

Horses

On August 24, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

I’m loving these 24 piece puzzles; both the cute picture side and the informational side. They’re great when I want to complete something quickly, which is usually right after I finish a larger sized adult puzzle. These puzzles are excellent quality too; that’s not always the case with children’s puzzles and I appreciate it when we find great quality.

Horses 1.JPG

I learned about the differences between an English and Western saddle, and the different types of bits – I didn’t know any of that before – obviously I’m not a horse person. I have nothing against them, they’re beautiful animals, I just haven’t been around them all that much.

I still have about 5 or 6 puzzles from this box to assemble, and I’m looking forward to finishing them all. I’m trying to space them out because a bunch of kids puzzles in a row would probably be boring to read about, but I also want to get them finished and send them off to school with my daughter. The kids love puzzles, and my daughter tells me they’re needing some new ones.

Ready for a Drive

On August 20, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Despite this being a thrift store puzzle with slightly poor quality that had obviously been assembled several times, I still had a good time putting it together. 🙂

There were a lot of bent tabs with image lift, and the image was more challenging than I’d assumed. Those are the chances you take with used puzzle, but most of time even with a poorer quality puzzle I still enjoy the assembly. White Mountain puzzles can be hit or miss; and even though this puzzle seemed slightly the worse for wear, it wasn’t too bad to work with.

Mom and I both really liked the image when we first got this puzzle (quite some time ago), but I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to assembling it. Sometimes I have to be in the right mood for a particular puzzle; but I’m glad I finally got to it.

It took longer than expected to complete, but I kept at it and eventually got it finished. It could be in part that this puzzle makes me think of mom. Perhaps I didn’t want to be done with it, because when I look at it I think of her. Not because anything in the image reminds me of her, but because of the image as a whole and how much we both loved it and thought it would be an entertaining puzzle. It was, and I’m sad that we didn’t get to work on it together.

Ready for a Drive 1

I think the little girl in the blue dress is my favorite person in this image – she reminds me of myself – a little cranky, in an adorable way. Mom called me cute all the time, but she was probably a bit biased.