Scooby-Doo!

On May 24, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

The quality of this kids puzzle impressed me! I hadn’t heard of Pressman Toys puzzles before, perhaps because I don’t have children to buy toys for anymore. This image makes me smile, who doesn’t like Scooby-Doo?

The pieces were quite thick and you can see that the fit is excellent. There are a variety of piece shapes and they are squared off more than rounded which makes it a little more interesting. The colors are bright and fun, and the background has just enough going on so that it’s not bland. I enjoyed assembling this puzzle, and a time or two I had to stop and think, which is good! My feeling is it needs to be a little bit of a challenge or it will be too boring.

I enjoy working these 100 piece puzzles, it’s nice to sit for 5 minutes or so and work a puzzle from start to finish. And I’m not ashamed to say there have been one or two puzzles that were quite a bit of a challenge for me! This was an excellent quality puzzle, and if you have kids you’re buying puzzles for I would say the quality of Pressman Toys puzzles is very good. I’ve only worked this one, but what I’ve seen impressed me. 🙂

Not Enough Time or Boards

On May 23, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Went to mom’s yesterday after a doctor’s appointment to see what she’d found at the thrift stores last week. All I can say is I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME OR BOARDS! I knew when I saw what she’d found that I’d want to do one or more of them right away. I’ve got a Wasgij going on my smaller board (that’s where the clock above comes from), and a Bits and Pieces going on my white board (I use the white board when I’m working in my room lying down), but there are more I want to be working on!

Mom found a Springbok octagonal puzzle from the early 70’s, a Jigsaw Puzzle for Dummies, an awesome looking puzzle from a company we’ve never heard of – and more! A couple of them that she found look like so much fun that I left them at her house cause I want to do them with her. She says looking for puzzles at the thrift stores is like a treasure hunt, she never knows what awesome gem she’s going to find. She’s found amazing puzzles at amazing prices and I just don’t have enough time or boards to work them all! Have I told you she found a 4000 piece Educa puzzle for $1.99?!?

I brought 3 adult puzzles home and all of the kids puzzles (I think 4 or 5). Unless they haven’t been opened I work the kids puzzles to be sure all the pieces are accounted for before giving them to my “grandson”; and also because even 100 piece puzzles are fun!

On the bright side, I have lots of incentive to finish the puzzles I’m already working on so I can start the new ones. I’m super excited to start the puzzles from companies we haven’t tried before, I always love trying new ones!

The thing is, she’s doing it all over again this week. Tuesday is one of the days she’s goes to the thrift stores in the evening – there’ll be more to look at and more that jump into the queue. 👍

I hope it doesn’t seem as if I’m complaining, because I’m not. I’m truly thankful for all that I have and I try not to take things for granted. I know I’m lucky to have the too many puzzles “problem”. This post isn’t really complaining about having so many puzzles to choose from, what it’s really about is that I have what I’m calling Menopausal A.D.D. My aging brain jumps from one thing to another, from one puzzle to another and I love everything so much that I want to be able to work on all of them at the same time. Ooh! Look! There’s something shiny on that puzzle! 😮

Bears! Bears! Bears!

On May 20, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I had high hopes for this puzzle, but unfortunately the quality was lacking in my opinion. The previous cork-backed puzzle I assembled had excellent quality and was quite fun to assemble. This puzzle, while fun, was not of the same superior quality. The cork backing was coming off a large number of pieces and there was image lift on the top as well. Disappointing, I enjoyed the previous Ceaco puzzle with cork on the back and was hoping for another interesting Ceaco with exceptional quality. 😐

Ceaco has some great artists working with them and I love the images on some of their puzzles, but I wish the quality were better. Even just a little bit more thickness of the pieces would make a huge difference. Or perhaps a little more consistency would be welcome, how can the quality be so radically different between the two puzzles?

This image from Jane Wooster Scott is adorable, and the assembly was fun. You can see especially in the sky that there were whimsies in this puzzle – and there were a few where several pieces put together formed an animal or object. If you look at the lower left side of the house you can see where four pieces fit together to form a horse! Interesting to me as well was the fact that there were two different breeds of dog, you could easily tell each one; there was the distinctive silhouette of a poodle, and also a cocker spaniel which is easy to recognize.

I’ve enjoyed all the interesting puzzles mom has found at the thrift stores – there have been puzzles backed with cork or velvet, “talking” jigsaw puzzles, interesting 3D puzzles, new puzzle companies we’d never heard of before, puzzles made of foam, educational puzzles, etc. It’s always fun to try something new and see whether or not it’s enjoyable. I try to always give a new puzzle a chance, because you never know what awesome new experience could be around the next corner piece! 😉

Jungle Colors

On May 19, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This puzzle looked so cool that mom bought it from the thrift store knowing the quality wouldn’t be amazing. It is a stunning image and made for a challenging assembly at times, but we enjoyed it which is what matters most.

Alas, as sometimes happens with thrift store puzzles, a piece was missing. Bummer, but it was still a fun assembly even with the sameness of the pieces (they were all ballerinas) 😐 Oh well, a good time was had by all!

I’d love to find more puzzles with images from this artist. The colors she chooses are gorgeous and the fact that everything is outlined in white made for an extremely interesting assembly. They’re striking and would be good glued and framed as art, at least I think so.

3D Underwater Puzzle

On May 17, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This kid’s puzzle is very interesting! The puzzle itself is 21 pieces, but there are 14 extra pieces that you stick into the puzzle after it is assembled. I’ve never seen anything like it. The pieces themselves were very thick and sturdy, which is always a good thing for a child’s puzzle, and you can see from the picture the colors are bright and cheery.

It’s quite an interesting take on a 3D puzzle, I never would have thought of it. You assemble the puzzle first, and where a matching loose piece is to be inserted there is a small slit. Each animal is represented along with seashells, seaweed, and a treasure chest.

I’ll be very interested to see how my “grandson” feels about this puzzle and if he enjoys the concept and the extra pieces. Although I’m sure he will want to keep his younger brother away from them, because brother likes to walk around sucking on puzzle pieces. I think he knows how much it annoys his big brother!

This is another of mom’s interesting thrift store finds – 75 cents! The box it comes in is written entirely in German and I couldn’t find a manufacturer’s name anywhere; I searched on the internet and couldn’t find the puzzle itself either. It’s a mystery!