American Angel

On July 4, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Happy Independence Day! Luckily mom found this beauty at a thrift store in time for the holiday. It was a bit of a challenge, but an enjoyable one – and it’s a gorgeous puzzle!

The quality was good, with thick pieces that fit together well and beautiful colors. The random cut kept me on my toes and made for an interesting assembly. The finished puzzle didn’t lay completely flat, with some tabs and edges sticking up; but with a used puzzle I don’t blame that on the manufacturer. The missing piece was disappointing, but again that’s something that happens with a thrift store puzzle.

The flag was harder to put together than I thought it would be, you’d think the bright red and blue colors wouldn’t be too much of a challenge, but they definitely were. The red sections especially took more time than I thought. The clouds at the bottom were the most challenging part, but the random cut made it interesting and difficult to walk away from. The entire assembly was great fun!

I always enjoy puzzles like this though, taking a color or section (like the red and blue flag sections) and figuring out how it all fits together is extremely satisfying. That’s the fun of a puzzle for most people; but there’s something about taking the pieces for a smaller section and putting it all together without the help of adjoining pieces. Perhaps that’s the reason I enjoy collage puzzles so much. With a collage, the whole assembly is putting together small sections. I love it!

Spongebob Squarepants

On July 2, 2018July 2, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another quick kids puzzle that fit together well, but both the box and the pieces were less than ideal. I guess the fit is one of the most important things, but for me I’d like both the pieces and the box to be more sturdy.

Kids aren’t always careful or gentle with their toys, the boxes especially. I think puzzles are important for children to play with – of course I’m most likely a bit biased. Still, if the boxes are sturdy and not easily broken then there is less chance of losing pieces. When you have a box that just opens like a cereal box there is a greater chance of losing pieces; once you lose pieces you also lose the desire to assemble that puzzle – at least that’s true for me.

It’s a fun puzzle to assemble, with bright colors and a fun picture – especially if you’re a Spongebob fan. It didn’t take long to put together, but was a nice change of pace since I hadn’t had any kids puzzles to assemble for a while. For me a puzzle is a puzzle, no matter the piece count. I try to enjoy them all! 🙂

Hummingbirds and Fuschia

On June 30, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I have to be honest, I was a little scared of this one. There’s so much green! Even the hummingbirds are green! But it seems I should have given myself more credit, I didn’t find it as difficult as I’d assumed it would be, and the finished image is beautiful. 😍

Buffalo 300 and 500 piece puzzles are my favorite size, I find their cut on 1000 piece puzzles to be too much the same size and I just prefer the smaller piece counts from this brand. (I’m not even sure if it’s the size, there’s just something about them I’m not a huge fan of.) This 300 piece puzzle was excellent quality; piece thickness, shape variety, fit, and image reproduction were wonderful.

Obviously I started with all of the not green colors; pink, red, and white. There weren’t as many of those pieces as I’d hoped and they went together very quickly. All that was left was green. Many shades of green. Luckily there were many things within the green to work with – blades of grass, hanging stems, feathers, etc. There weren’t many plain colored pieces, and even the ones that had only color usually had shades or fading to assist in the assembly. It went together more easily than I thought it would and it was quite an enjoyable puzzle – much more than I’d hoped.

This was a thrift store puzzle and doesn’t look like it’s being produced anymore. It’s a pity; it really was great fun and I highly recommend it if you can find it for a reasonable price. 🌺

Review: Seams Likely

On June 28, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

When mom first showed me this puzzle I was very excited, doesn’t it look like fun? It was! The bright colors and big numbers made this an excellent assembly; I enjoyed it very much. 🙂

This was a very good quality Springbok puzzle, although the fit was somewhat tight. You know I’m not a fan of the super tight fit; this one wasn’t too bad, but it was tight. The pieces are thick, the image reproduction is bright and beautiful, and the random cut gives a very good variety of piece shapes. Overall the quality was very good, and I enjoyed the assembly.

I started with the red thread, and then moved on to the yellow spool. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens with a thrift store puzzle, one of the pieces was damaged…

Someone’s child, pet, or maybe even a vacuum cleaner got hold of one of the pieces. I’m glad they included it in the puzzle and didn’t throw it away; technically all the pieces were there.

The rest of the puzzle wasn’t too difficult to assemble, all the measuring tapes weren’t as difficult as I thought they might be. It was just as much fun as I’d hoped and I really enjoyed the assembly. Mom has a knack for finding awesome puzzles at the thrift stores, and I’m the beneficiary of her amazing talent.

This is a discontinued puzzle and no longer available from puzzle sellers, but if you find a copy somewhere I highly recommend it – it’s a quick, fun puzzle and the end result would be great framed in a sewing or craft room. 👍

Details:

Title: Seams Likely
Artist: Allied Products
Brand: Springbok
Piece count: 350 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Average
Fit: Good, somewhat tight
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays mostly flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Cute Bunny

On June 26, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This puzzle has been in my house for a long time, I found it the other day and thought it was the perfect time to assemble it. It’s a quick, fun puzzle that’s pretty darn cute!

The quality was good, but not great. The pieces were a medium thickness, but not overly sturdy and easily bent. There were a nice variety of shapes and the fit was very good. The image reproduction was slightly fuzzy in some areas too. It’s interesting to me the diversity in quality within the same brand. I’ve had some Hasbro puzzles that have been excellent quality and some not so much. I wonder why it isn’t more consistent.

There was no title of the puzzle anywhere on the box, so I’ve named it “Cute Bunny” because that’s what I think of when I see the picture. It was a cute image and a nice diversion for a little while.

Kids puzzles are pretty fun, especially when I’m trying to decide which larger piece puzzle I’m going to assemble next. It’s nice to have a small puzzle lying around that I can pick up and put together pretty quickly; it feeds my puzzle addiction and makes me very happy!