House Sitting

On August 2, 2017September 28, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Really nice image, and not overly easy for a 100 piece puzzle – that’s good in my book! Another one from our small puzzle marathon; and another one that isn’t just for kids.

The quality on this one was lacking though, very thin pieces that were easily bent. The image reproduction is good and so is the fit, but the pieces themselves leave a lot to be desired. Still, if you’re not interested in collecting and would just like to assemble a puzzle, this brand wouldn’t be too bad. I’m not a fan, but what makes an ideal puzzle for me is different than what makes an ideal puzzle for you.

In my mind, kid’s puzzles should have the quality of a premium adult puzzle. Children are much rougher with toys and puzzles while they’re trying to develop their fine motor skills; a puzzle for a child should be extremely sturdy so it can withstand repeated assemblies and many attempts to place pieces. Again, just my opinion.

It’s a cute image, and maybe a good puzzle to donate to our local senior center. Puzzles are great for all ages – puzzle on, my friends! 🙂

Teddy Bear Christmas Tree

On July 31, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Our last Christmas in July puzzle – feeling that chilly winter air yet? Me neither. Oh well, at the very least there were some beautiful Christmas puzzles. I even reviewed a puzzle that had a Christmas tree in it, did you notice? Paris Opera House, in the center of the hall was a Christmas tree!

The day I started this puzzle I had the worst time trying to decide what puzzle to do next, I changed my mind at least 5 times before I settled on this one. Now that this one is done, I don’t know what to do next – again!

I’ve been impressed with Masterpieces puzzles lately, in my eyes their quality has gotten much better. This puzzle was very good quality and as an added bonus – glitter! You can see some of the glitter at the top of the puzzle; in the negative space is the silhouette of Santa and his team. That’s not all of it though, there’s glitter all throughout the puzzle; it just doesn’t photograph well. (Or I don’t do photographs well, who knows?)

The teddy bears are adorable and the image reproduction is excellent with bright, fun colors. The pieces fit together very well with what I guess I would call a semi-random cut. Fun assembly!

Here’s another question for you, did you notice that one of the pieces was chewed up? On the left border near the top. 😉

100 Elephants and a Mouse

On July 30, 2017February 5, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Ugh, this was the worst assembly for me in a while. Ceaco isn’t a favorite, but this was awful! I muddled through it because I like the image, and ended up with 2 missing pieces. 😐 Normally Ceaco isn’t that bad, perhaps this was the end of the run.

The fit of this puzzle was horrible, the best way I can describe it is “spongy”; you could place a piece and it felt almost soft and spongy going together. It was easy to place a piece incorrectly because the fit was so ambiguous. The image reproduction was sharp in some places, and in others it looked almost fuzzy, like a mimeographed picture from my elementary school days. (Yes, I’m old)

I picked this puzzle up several times to start it, liked the image so I pulled the pieces out of the box – then I put it back down because the pieces did not look great. It’s finally assembled so I won’t be having that argument with myself anymore!

I always try to find something positive; with this puzzle it’s making me think very hard. Um, we saved someone else from buying a puzzle with missing pieces, there were a nice variety of piece shapes, and I enjoyed the image very much. Oh, and I found the mouse! 🙂

To the Barns

On July 29, 2017July 29, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another nice thrift store find and fun to assemble. Alas, 3 missing pieces. Oh well. Mom did the majority of this one, I only helped bring it home. 🙂

Buffalo usually has very good quality, but with this puzzle there was image lift on many of the pieces. You can see at the top of the puzzle there are several pieces with the image raised up on the tabs. I’ve worked enough of this brand to know that this isn’t typical, Buffalo makes very good quality puzzles. Perhaps it was well-loved before someone donated most of it to the thrift store?

What’s funny was we were working on it together and there were about 7 or 8 pieces we were CERTAIN were missing. They were definitely not there. Definitely not. Except they were! We missed them – over and over again. Guess this July heat is boiling our brain cells!

We haven’t had good luck with thrift store puzzles lately, many have been missing pieces. But perhaps that means that we’re about to find a whole bunch of excellent puzzles with all pieces present and accounted for! No matter, this puzzle was a fun assembly, even more fun because we worked on it together. 😊

Merry Christmas Everyone!

On July 28, 2017July 28, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Adorable kid’s puzzle from the thrift store. Puzzles for my Christmas in July here on the blog seem to be falling in my lap. There are plenty of Christmas puzzles in the thrift stores lately, though I’m definitely not complaining.

This is a Springbok puzzle which has good quality with very thick pieces and nice image reproduction, the fit is what I’m not a fan of. Springbok puzzles usually have an extremely tight fit, so much so that you have to really press down to connect the pieces. This puzzle was so tightly fit that the finished puzzle curled up at the edges! I prefer a fit that doesn’t require upper body strength; to me, if I have to work that hard to connect two pieces it makes me question if they actually fit together. But that is my personal opinion, it’s really just a matter of taste. A lot of people prefer the tighter fit, isn’t it great that we’re all so different and there’s a puzzle out there for everyone? 🙂

This was a quick assembly that mom and I did after she finished showing me her latest finds from the thrift stores. We both enjoy putting together the kid’s puzzles – first we have to make sure all the pieces are there before I pass them along to my grandson. And second, we have both refused to grow up – so even though she’s in her 70’s and I’m in my late 40’s we are still little kids at heart who can still have a good time putting together a kid’s puzzle. 😎

Peppermint Patty was always my favorite of the Peanuts gang, because she had freckles and was a tomboy, just like me! I prefer hanging out indoors these days and there isn’t any running around since I was injured, but I’ve still got my freckles. 😉