Dolphin Cove

On November 16, 2017November 16, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I’m not normally one for ocean or jungle animals puzzles, although I’m not sure I could articulate why; they just aren’t my favorite. Still, it was a relaxing and wonderful quality puzzle – which I suppose is the point. Relaxing entertainment, right? I think I chose this one to assemble because I wasn’t feeling like my brain was working well enough to work a 1000 piece puzzle. Some days I just don’t feel like all the gray cells are firing properly. 😐

This image is bright and full of movement and color, an excellent image for puzzling. It took longer than I expected, but it wasn’t because of the image, it was my fault. Either I didn’t feel much like puzzling at the time, or I just wasn’t feeling well. Whichever was the culprit, it took me a couple of days to get this one done.

The fit was looser than normal for a Ravensburger, but it wasn’t too terrible. Although I usually take things like that with a grain of salt if it’s a thrift store purchase and I’m familiar with the brand. Good find though, and all pieces present and accounted for!

The Bug Collection

On November 14, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Very nice pieces on this 100 piece kid’s puzzle, and the fit was exceptional! Nice snug fit without being too tight. This is a perfect puzzle for a little one who loves bugs and creepy crawlies. My daughter was the one of my three children who loved bugs, worms, and everything that crawled, slithered, and flew. She would have enjoyed this puzzle when she was younger. 🙂

I enjoyed the puzzle itself, but the glow was a bit of a disappointment. With all the bugs it should make an excellent glow in the dark puzzle, but even after letting it sit in the sun for a few minutes to “charge it up” there was barely any glow. Perhaps it dims with age? I’ve done so many children’s puzzles that glow in the dark, but never one that didn’t really seem to have any glow left. Bummer!

Still, a nice puzzle with enough challenge that it won’t be boring for the younger puzzlers out there. And here’s hoping if you find this puzzle that it’s still got it’s glow mojo! 😉

Tudor Portraits

On November 11, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Portrait of an Unknown Lady (French School) – Past Times – 500 pieces

Isn’t this a lovely puzzle image? I think so, and there’s another image on the back; although he’s not as pretty as she is. Mom and I don’t usually do fine art puzzles, but this beauty spoke to me and I just had to assemble it on our puzzle/visit day. It seems as if there have been more double-sided puzzles in my orbit lately, and I’m really enjoying them. Plus, there’s the added bonus of being able to flip it over and use the opposite image for help with assembly. (When we got down to only black background on the Unknown Lady, we were able to flip it and use the wording along the edge of The Earl to help us finish! 😉 )

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester by Nicholas Hilliard

I loved assembling this puzzle with mom, we had a great time. The images are so different from what we normally puzzle, it made it a little more interesting for us. I still love my cartoon and collage puzzles, but there’s nothing wrong with switching things up every now and then to keep it fresh. I’ve learned from reviewing puzzles that I can’t always tell whether or not a puzzle will be an entertaining assembly. Many times I’m surprised by how much I enjoy puzzling an image that I would not normally choose for myself.

It was a bit of a challenge with all the darkness on both sides, but we got there in the end. The pieces were of a good thickness and fit together well. (It wasn’t difficult to lift and flip over) I’ve found it’s nice to have a friend to help when you’re working on a more challenging image, I’m less likely to give up or become frustrated if there’s someone sitting next to me working on it too. Plus, every piece they put in is one less you have to look through, right? And there’s no one better for me to assemble puzzles with than my mom – she’s the best!

My puzzle “dealer” always find the most interesting and different puzzles to feed our addiction. We’re very lucky to have so many thrift stores in our area, and even when there are slim pickings they usually have at least a puzzle or two that looks like fun. I try not to take it for granted, I know many places don’t have thrift stores/charity shops; we’re certainly fortunate to have so many close by!

Dear God, Friends are Forever

On November 8, 2017March 10, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This is an extremely adorable kid’s puzzle found at the thrift store. There were 3 there from the same series, we still have 2 of them to assemble. I love the artwork, but it makes for a much more challenging puzzle than it seems!

The quality was fair/average; the pieces were a little thin and there was some image lift. The fit was very nice, however, and the image reproduction was crisp and clear.

I’m looking forward to assembling the remaining 2 of these puzzles next time I’m hanging out at mom’s house. Although after putting this one together, we didn’t really want to do the next 2 right away; I think we got our egos a little bruised because it was more challenging than we thought! Some days we assemble all the kid’s puzzles she’s found so we can get them out of the house and donate them. We’ve done more than 5 puzzles in one day, sometimes including a 300 or 500 piece!

Flower Pot Friends

On November 7, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I enjoyed this puzzle very much! I found it to be excellent quality for a Mega Puzzle, and was delighted at the way they included the whimsies. All the other pieces actually had connectors; so even though the whimsies just fit into place, the surrounding pieces were all connected. Awesome!

I love puzzles with whimsy pieces, but I don’t love how they’re usually included with many other pieces that just sit next to each other. I know there has to be some of that when you include specially shaped pieces, but so often it seems that there is much more of it than is necessary. I admit to not really having any knowledge of how puzzles are made, but the pieces sitting together instead of fitting together makes me crazy!

This puzzle had none of that, the whimsies themselves didn’t connect, but all the rest of them did. Hooray! Someone finally did it my way! In addition to that, the pieces were very thick for a Mega Puzzle and fit together extremely well. All in all, not anything like other Mega Puzzles I have worked, much better quality.

I’m not really a cat person, I prefer dogs; and I don’t normally go for cat puzzles either. (I know, you think little old lady with her puzzles and cats, but that’s just not me – I’m a little old lady with her puzzles and her Boston Terrier!) Even though it’s a cat puzzle something about this image drew me in, and I really had a good time assembling it.

All the regular rules went out the window with this puzzle. I don’t normally do Mega Puzzles because I find they’re just too thin, not so with this puzzle. I don’t normally do cat puzzles, but I loved this image with the cats and had a great time with it. I usually have a tough time with dealing with the pieces of a puzzle with whimsies, but this one was done very well and I was impressed!