Bearsville

On May 29, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles5 Comments

This was a quick, fun puzzle that I put together one afternoon when I needed a puzzle fix in between larger piece count puzzles. It’s part of Ceaco’s Home Sweet Home series by artist Roger Nannini. I found I enjoyed the artwork very much!

Ceaco puzzles aren’t my favorite brand, but to be honest my opinion of them has gone up quite a bit after working with a brand that was much, much worse. Of the 25 puzzles I have assembled this month from 14 different brands, the Ceaco puzzles have been the best fitting of all of them. Shocked? Me too!

It’s interesting to me how a much lesser quality puzzle boosted my impression of Ceaco. Perhaps it just caused me to re-assess what I would and would not put up with in a puzzle. The fit is amazingly important to me – too loose is extremely annoying and frustrating. Too tight is the same way; if it takes upper body strength to smash the pieces together I always second guess if the pieces actually fit together (and it hurts my thumb!)

The pieces are on the thin side, with a good variety of piece shapes – made from multi-layered board that tends to split easily – but the fit is excellent. The image reproduction is good, with beautiful colors and crisp lines. This puzzle has been assembled many times, there is documentation on the side indicating each time it was put together. From what I’m reading it’s been put together at least 11 times before me. You can see in the picture above that many of the pieces were either split or bent and the finished puzzle didn’t lie flat. I don’t feel I can comment negatively on the quality of this specific puzzle if it’s been assembled so many times; I have no idea what it was like when it was new. That said, I actually think it’s held up well.

I enjoyed this puzzle very much, the artwork was interesting and made for a great afternoon of puzzling. I suppose I have more puzzles to choose from now that I’ve re-thought my stance on Ceaco. 😏

Mr. Potato Head

On May 10, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is a cute 48 piece puzzle of Mr. Potato Head that comes with 20 clings that you can mix and match to create different faces. And to think that in the early 1950’s when the toy was first produced it was just separate plastic body parts with pushpins that you used on a real potato! What?!

I think the idea for this puzzle is excellent, but I was pretty disappointed with the quality. I really wanted to like this one too! The pieces were thin and easily bent, what I consider to be not sturdy enough for repeated play. If the object is to assemble and play with this multiple times I don’t think the pieces will hold up well. As you can see in the image above, the puzzle also doesn’t lay completely flat – not great. The clings themselves seem like good enough quality, but to comment on them specifically I would want to spend more time with them. All in all I was hoping for better from this puzzle, we found it new and unopened at the thrift store.

I wanted to make at least 2 different faces to show some of the clings that come with the puzzle. I had a good time choosing and trying to make a funny face. 🤓

Perhaps if this puzzle is something your little one would really enjoy you could glue it once it was assembled to keep the pieces from bending and wearing out from repeated use? I don’t have an answer. It’s a great idea, but not as well executed as I’d hoped for. This puzzle is unfortunately not recommended.

Irises

On May 9, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This is another very small piece puzzle that mom found somewhere. The image is only the top of Van Gogh’s Irises, but it was lovely and challenging and I had the best time putting it together!

The two puzzles we have from this series were truly the best quality smaller piece puzzles that I’ve worked with. The pieces are thick and fit together extremely well, there is no wondering if you have placed the piece correctly or not. The image reproduction is very good, but seems a bit darker than the original artwork (from my non-artist point of view anyway). If mom finds any Andrews + Blaine small piece puzzles at the thrift store we’re definitely getting them!

The whole puzzle fit on a cookie sheet, and I assembled the entire thing while in bed. I haven’t been able to sit at my puzzle table for well over a week now, so all the puzzles I’m doing have to fit on my white board or something smaller so that I can do them while lying down or propped up. There’s another advantage of the tiny puzzle! 😉

I was actually a little afraid of this puzzle for a while, the image is a bit difficult. I found it to be quite calming to assemble though; and even if I had to sit and stare at them for a bit, I could find and place the pieces correctly. In the end though, I’ve discovered that I’m much braver about difficult images if there aren’t many pieces. I don’t think I’ll ever attempt Starry Night in 1000 or even 500 pieces; but I didn’t have a problem putting it together as a 40 piece wooden puzzle. If it’s super challenging my courage is directly related to piece count. 300 pieces or less? Sure! More than that? Probably not. Maybe 500 tops – maybe.

I really enjoyed this puzzle much more than I anticipated, just as much as the first one I assembled – Fairgrounds. You can’t really tell how small they are until you see the tiny little box they come in. I took a great picture of the puzzle box next to my coffee cup in that post!

It doesn’t look like these small puzzles are being produced by A + B anymore, but if you happen across one in a thrift store, go for it! It’s a nice change from larger piece counts, and just may be more fun than you think. 👍

Mountain Grazing

On May 3, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Mom and I worked this puzzle together, though it isn’t the usual image we prefer; brighter colors and sharper lines are what we usually go for. But since I’ve mostly been doing smaller piece count puzzles lately we decided to give it a go. It was a lot of fun to assemble. ☺

Bits and Pieces puzzles aren’t our favorites, the pieces are usually good but I can’t say the same thing about the fit. I’ve had puzzles where in multiple spots you could just pull the pieces away, but I’ve also had nice fitting ones that I enjoyed assembling. It’s so much more about the fit and the image for me, but I know others have different preferences – we all know what works for us.

This puzzle was pretty darn good quality though, and although the artwork isn’t what we’d typically choose we enjoyed ourselves anyway. (That may have more to do with the quality of my puzzle posse than the puzzle company though. 👵)

Fly Away Home

On May 1, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

I love the bright colors in this puzzle, and the artwork is quite interesting. Mom and I assembled this together, and although the fit was terrible we had a good time with it. Everything doesn’t always have to be perfect, we can be entertained and appreciate the time spent together puzzling even if it’s quality was sub par.

MasterPieces puzzles have fluctuating quality at times, I’ve had excellent puzzles from them and also really bad ones. It seems as if different series are manufactured at different places, the quality is so varied. The pieces of this puzzle are grid cut and more elongated than most other MasterPieces puzzles I’ve assembled. The image reproduction is very good, as is the piece thickness and variety; but the fit was extremely loose and difficult to work with.

The image is perfect for puzzles and I found it very unique and fun – the colors and patterns made for just the right amount of challenging that day. The artist, Hayley Gillespie, has a delightful point of view and the artwork made the puzzle worth assembling even with the fit problems. I’d love to find more of her puzzles.

Mom is away this week and I won’t be visiting or puzzling with her on Friday. 😪 When real life gets in the way of my puzzle happiness it is such a bummer! Come home soon momma, I miss you already.