Soda Fountain

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Soda Fountain – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

What a fantastic thrift store find this was! Truly excellent quality with a great image that was very entertaining to assemble – couldn’t ask for more. ❤❤

This was the best fitting Buffalo puzzle I’ve put together in a while, and I have a theory as to why that is. Interested? No matter, I’m going to tell you anyway…

This puzzle is 14 years old, manufactured in 2010; and the box is different – bigger, to be exact it is taller than currently manufactured Buffalo puzzles. There is enough room for all the pieces with a little bit of extra space at the top. The extra space is key, because if a couple of pieces don’t come apart as they’re being put into the box there is enough room that they won’t be smashed against the sides or the top and bent. Puzzles made more recently have a shorter box that JUST fits all the pieces; if the puzzle fits too well they’ll be smashed against the box and bent all out of shape. The fit is looser these days to be sure they’ll come apart and fit in the smaller box. It doesn’t always work though, and I’ve had a few Buffalo puzzles lately with quite a few bent pieces because there was less room in the box.

*This is where my brain goes when I’m puzzling sometimes, off on tangents like this. 🤷‍♀️*

This is what the picture in my mind is of a typical boy from the 50’s; striped shirt, baseball hat, baseball glove. It’s probably from old tv shows and movies that I’ve seen and not based on actual kids, since I didn’t show up on the scene till the late 60’s. Once I was of an age to notice things like what people were wearing it was the 70’s. *shudder* Thankfully I was the third of three children so mom and dad don’t have many pictures of me, they were too busy taking care of their three girls to take a bunch of pictures of us wearing those HIDEOUS clothes. 😉

A 1000 piece Buffalo puzzle is quite large, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to take this picture, but I had to try – the fit was just too good. It worked! Happy dance 💃💃💃

Of course I still prefer Pepsi, but this Coca-Cola puzzle was so much fun!

Wonderland

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Wonderland by Bill Bell – Wentworth – 140 pieces

This artwork is so crammed full of characters and things to see that even at only 140 pieces it was a bit of a challenge! Alice in Wonderland seems to be quite a common theme for puzzles, I’ve probably done eight or nine Wonderland themed puzzles, they make for good fun if you ask me.

I’m not sure what possessed me to get this puzzle, it really isn’t an image I would normally go for – there’s just too much going on. Perhaps it was the colors, or the piece count, I’m not certain. Whatever it was, I’m glad I didn’t just go with the usual style of artwork that usually finds it’s way into my cart because even with the added difficulty it really was very enjoyable.

It wasn’t until I was almost finished with the assembly that I realized the caterpillar was even in the image! He sure does look exhausted, doesn’t he?

The Queen of Hearts certainly looks like a mean one, doesn’t she? When I was looking at the pieces I was sure those teeth were going to be on the Cheshire Cat. Wrong!

Such great whimsies; I didn’t read the books, so I’m not sure if there was an owl in the story, but they still are great whimsies for this image.

Even though it was difficult it was still lots of fun to put this little one together, and so much to see!

Almost In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

I’ve sorted my next puzzle, and started laying out the border pieces to put them together, but that’s as far as it went, unfortunately.

I lifted something I shouldn’t have lifted last week and completed messed up my back, and it’s really been difficult to deal with. Yesterday I started laying out the edge pieces and couldn’t even get them all on the board before I had to get up and lay myself down in bed.

Old age and stupidity aren’t a good mix; and I promise I won’t be so stupid as to be lifting much of anything anymore, I’ll find someone younger and stronger to do it for me.

The Alchemist’s Home

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

The Alchemist’s Home by Vasilisa Romanenko – eeBoo – 1000 pieces

I enjoyed this puzzle gifted to me by my daughter even more than anticipated; there were so many fun things to find and each little room was it’s own discovery. I worked without the image so as to make it more entertaining and interesting and it didn’t disappoint.

On the back of the box is a short poem about the image…

The substance of the world, we know,

Is more than what we think is so.

Things change, persist, and sometimes rhyme

As we pass through space and time.

When something’s gone, its echo lasts;

This home holds spectres from its past.

All the figures shown in blue are the spectres, and there are only four living people shown in the house. I thought it was a fantastic piece of artwork. 💜

It’s been a while since there’s been an eeBoo puzzle on my table, and the quality was quite good (other than the finish). There were a good variety of shapes, it was well cut, fit together nicely and had excellent reproduction. The finish was quite shiny though, and it was difficult for me at times to see what I was looking at without tilting my head to get rid of the shine from my overhead lighting.

The shelving and pictures on the wall in this sitting room were so interesting to assemble, but not easy. Doesn’t this look like a lovely place to sit and think, or read? There’s lots of floor space too, it would make a very nice puzzle room. 😎

In any home my favorite place is usually the kitchen. One can sit and talk, work together to make meals, or just gather with friends and loved ones. I always love to be in the kitchen.

Now you know I’d have to show you the living room, especially if there’s a picture of a doggo with a suit and tie! How cute is that?

I absolutely adored this image and the puzzle was great fun to put together, almost like a collage. And we know how much I love those!

Funnily enough, I was able to pick out two of my Christmas gifts (after the fact). Part of the problem of trying to gift puzzles to a puzzle geek like myself is that there are literally hundreds of puzzles that I’ve already assembled. There have been a few times when I’ve been gifted a puzzle I either currently own and haven’t assembled, or have already completed in years past. Both of those happened this year and though I hesitated to say anything my daughter always wants to know the truth; so I had to tell her.

Of the three puzzles I received two were not new to me – in my mind that shows that they know me well and know what I like, not just that I’ve done tons of puzzles. Anyway, two of the puzzles were returned and I received a facetime call from the store where I helped pick out the replacements, and this was one of them. It’s not easy trying to check out what the images look like over the phone, at least it wasn’t for me. I’m old! 👵

Ice Cream Social

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles5 Comments

Ice Cream Social by Lars Stewart – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

Such a fun and colorful image, I really had a good time putting this one together! This was a thrift store puzzle, and although it was pre-loved and had a few bent tabs it was good quality and all the pieces were there – what more could a PADS sufferer ask for?

The quality of this puzzle was better than anticipated. There were the bent tabs, but otherwise I was more than happy with every other category. There were a very good variety of piece shapes, the cut was nice, the fit was exceptional, the finish was matte and it had a nice hand feel.

Exceptional fit, you say? Hmmm. Is she gonna take another stupid standing up puzzle picture? Of course she is!

These pictures and standing up a puzzle really do make me happy. I have no explanation and I make no excuses. 😎