Cinque Terre

On March 10, 2017May 19, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was a fun, quick puzzle that I did in one afternoon. It was so nice to start and finish a puzzle in one day rather than taking a couple of weeks!

Thrift store puzzle – 59 cents! How awesome is that? Gave me a fun afternoon, you can’t beat that for less than a dollar. Plus mom still gets to assemble it at her house. 🙂

I enjoy the larger piece Buffalo puzzles – they fit together quite well, have a nice variety of piece shapes and are the same great Buffalo quality as their puzzles with a larger piece count. The vivid collection has excellent image reproduction and are beautiful when assembled. I’m looking forward to finding more 300 piece puzzles at the thrift stores, it’s a wonderful palate cleanser after working on a large piece count puzzle!

Creepy Crawlies!

On March 1, 2017May 19, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles3 Comments

I know, another 100 piece puzzle. So what? All puzzles are fun if you ask me, so why not write about them? Well, I can because this blog belongs to me. 😎

This is another thrift store puzzle we bought for my friend’s son that I put together to be sure all the pieces were there. Isn’t this the perfect puzzle for little boys? Bugs are cool! Best part about the picture is that I did the puzzle on a drafting table and the color of the table makes it look like the bug in the top left corner is actually crawling off the puzzle! It makes me laugh every time I look at it. (And thanks to mom for pointing that out to me 🤗)

As an added bonus, it glows in the dark. Wanna see?

I love that the background is what glows, and that there are hidden words you can’t see till it glows. I know, I’m way too excited about this puzzle. Oh well. 🙂

Never heard of Creative Edge, but then I don’t usually do kids puzzles. The pieces are thin, but somewhat sturdy for how thin they are. The image reproduction is quite good, the colors are crisp, and there was no image lift on any of the pieces. Piece shape variety wasn’t bad either. Good to fair quality I would say, but I’m not complaining at all – I had fun assembling it and I’m sure my honorary grandson will have fun too!

Underwater World

On February 21, 2017December 28, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Ok, it’s a 100 piece puzzle, what on earth am I putting this on the blog for? Cause I want to! Mom got this at the thrift store for a friend’s son, and we put it together to make sure all the pieces were there. So I figured, why not put it on the blog? I did it, and just because it’s only 100 pieces doesn’t mean it can’t be a cool puzzle that’s fun to do!

It was pretty fun, but I had to be careful at the top with the sky. The pieces are only two shapes, and they all pretty much fit together. I was surprised at how much we had to pay attention and how many pieces we had to move when assembling the sky! We had fun though, and put it together pretty quickly.

I’d never heard of Janod before, the quality was exceptional! The pieces are extremely thick and sturdy and they almost feel like wood. They fit together well and I was able to pick the puzzle up by the corner and flip it over without anything falling apart. It’s pricey, about $20 for a 100 piece puzzle – but you never know, you might find one at a thrift store and only pay $2! Or if price is no object, go for it, really great quality. 🙂

Witches’ Wardrobe

On February 20, 2017December 28, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This puzzle was so much fun!!!! Started it in the morning with coffee, and had it finished before dinner. 😮 It’s one of those puzzles where one section leads to another and then to another and before you know it the whole thing is done!

My first puzzle from Andrews + Blaine, and I have to say I love the quality. The image and colors are gorgeous, the pieces fit together beautifully and are thick and sturdy. The only drawback for me was that the finish was glossy and caused some glare. The piece shapes were mostly 2 prong 2 hole, but to be honest I loved the image so much and had so much fun with the assembly I really didn’t care about the shapes. It has to do with the overall quality of the puzzle, I think, and how entertaining the image is to assemble. For me, that is. That’s all I can come up with. Sometimes the lack of diversity in piece shape is SO ANNOYING to me, and sometimes it’s “eh who cares? – it was fun!” (I never said I’m sane, or that I always make sense) 😉

This image by Kathy Weller is just adorable! I love everything about it, and it was so much fun to assemble that I was swept away and before I knew it the whole thing was finished. I’m definitely going to look up her artwork and check the Andrews + Blaine website to see if there are more puzzles by her. Definitely recommend this puzzle! Fun, fun, fun!!

September Gold

On February 18, 2017December 28, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was another puzzle from a 10 in 1 box. Love quilts and Americana puzzles, so this was one I really wanted to do even though the quality was less than stellar.

Admittedly I don’t know all the ins and out of puzzle manufacturing, but can it be THAT much more difficult to make a die with more than one piece shape? And if it is, wouldn’t it be better to spend a little more time making a puzzle with interesting pieces than to have one with only one boring shape?

Anyway, I very much enjoyed the artwork by Diane Phalen, which is the main reason I completed this puzzle. The quilts and storefront, the flowers and apples, the woods and sky all made for a great image. If only the puzzle itself were as well made as the art. 😐