United Plates of America

On January 19, 2017January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was a really fun puzzle for me. It was a thrift store purchase and well worth the 99 cents!

It’s by Bits and Pieces which seems like hit or miss quality to me. I’ve had great puzzles from them and really bad puzzles. So I guess I put them in the thrift store only category along with Sunsout; I have to be able to see and feel the pieces before I will purchase them. This puzzle I had no problem with the quality at all. You can see the pieces fit together well, the piece shape isn’t glaringly obvious in the finished puzzle and the image quality is very good.

Even with all the blue and the stripes of the flag it was only about medium difficulty, and wasn’t tedious for me at all. It was fun to assemble and I would definitely recommend it!

Can You See What I See?

On January 16, 2017January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Although I didn’t care much for the quality of this puzzle, the image was quite a challenge. An I Spy puzzle with randomness everywhere!

For some insane reason I decided that I was going to assemble this puzzle without the aid of looking at the picture on the box. I have no idea why I did that, but I did! Hubby helped me a lot with this puzzle and it took us 4 or 5 nights to get it done. It would have been much easier and taken much less time if I had used the box for reference, but I was stubborn and wanted to do it all with no help.

It took much longer than normal for a 1000 piece puzzle, but the extra challenge of having no reference made it feel like a real accomplishment when it was finished.

Give yourself a challenge every once in a while, it’s fun and you have no idea how proud you’ll be once you’ve accomplished it!

Celebration of Women – Tea Time

On January 13, 2017January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

My first Sure-Lox puzzle…..eh. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it either. The pieces were thin, not the thinnest I’ve worked with but thin. My main problem with this puzzle was that every piece was the same shape. There were slight variations, but every piece had two prongs and two holes. Boring. Momma needs more excitement in her life! More piece shapes please! 😉

On the plus side, the pieces fit together very well, well enough that you can lift the puzzle by one of the corners and it basically stayed together. I like when a puzzle fits together well, but not so tightly that you have to work on your biceps to put the pieces together. (I mean, I know I’m a woman in her 40’s and I have bingo wings, but I’m doing the best I can! Don’t make me work out doing a jigsaw puzzle!) And you can see that the piece shapes are not glaringly obvious in the finished puzzle, especially the darker sections. The image quality was quite good as well. It took me a while to get used to the artwork in this one, but I ended up loving the artwork and I think the finished puzzle is interesting and beautiful.

I can’t say whether or not I would buy another puzzle from this company. On the one hand the pieces are thin and there is only one piece shape, on the other hand the fit is excellent and the image quality is very good. I guess it would come down to how I felt about the image itself, maybe……maybe not.

Coffee Cafe

On January 9, 2017January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I love coffee and I love jigsaws, so put the two together and it’s a great combination. This was a thrift store purchase, and the first Remarks puzzle that I assembled.

The quality of the pieces was quite good, although as you can see the finish was somewhat shiny causing glare under lights. The piece shapes were random, not a plain grid cut which made for a nice variety of shapes and a fun assembly. The piece were about average thickness, but were compact and sturdy; and the image quality was excellent. There was also a poster included in the box – added bonus!

I always love getting a thrift store puzzle finished and seeing that all the pieces are present and accounted for. It’s even more satisfying when the assembly is enjoyable and you’ve only spent 99 cents!

Ethel The Gourmet

On December 26, 2016January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I enjoy Charles Wysocki’s puzzles and this one was no different. He has such a great sense of humor with the cat puzzles! I enjoy his Americana puzzles as well, there’s something about the symmetry and lines and colors that is just calming and beautiful.

The Buffalo puzzles fit together really well, and I always enjoy their special zig zag pieces. It’s nice to have interesting piece shapes every now and then. Buffalo as usually comes with a poster, which is quite nice when there are two people working – one can use the box and the other gets the poster.

I’m not sure why but hubby helped with almost all of this puzzle, he really seemed to enjoy it. Odd, because he is definitely NOT a cat person and he usually only helps near the end of puzzles. But he and I enjoyed working on this one, and it was a pleasure to put together!