In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment
Cow Parade in progress
Cow Parade in progress

So I’m working on another 1000 piece puzzle, but wasn’t feeling well enough to go sit in the puzzle room at the big board. But because it’s such a cool collage, I was able to start working on it in bed, on cookie sheets. This is what I’ve done so far on the trays. The cows are so fun, aren’t they?

This puzzle is a collection of some of the cows designed and decorated by artists all over the globe for CowParade, the world’s largest and most successful public art event. Over $20 million dollars have been raised by charitable organizations all over the world by the auctioning of the cows. Wow!

I absolutely love the look of this puzzle, each of the cows is so interesting and beautifully decorated. Some are funny, some are cute, and some are just cool. They have some awesome names, too! It isn’t shown in this picture, but one of them is named Jacques Moosteau – I bet you can’t wait to see him. 🐮

I’ve finally gotten myself out of bed if only for a little bit, and am working this on my big puzzle board. It’s going well; even though the edge was a bit of a cowtastrophe 😉 at first, and I’m having quite a good time!

Engineering

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Engineering – Professor Puzzle – 150 pieces

I love the idea of these puzzles, four small piece puzzles each highlighting an area of STEM education – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. I found all four of them when mom and I went shopping together. They were all very entertaining, and even though they’re very tiny hubby and I had a lot of fun with them. 🙂

These are the first jigsaw puzzles I’ve done from this brand, although I did review a set of their brain teaser puzzles last year. I was very impressed with the quality of this puzzle! It has been my experience that it’s difficult to get good quality with such small pieces, but Professor Puzzle seems to have worked it out. The pieces are a very good thickness, and fit together well. There is no variety in piece shape, but with only 150 pieces to work with it didn’t bother me much at all. The image reproduction is good, with sharp lines and a matte finish.

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As you can see, I wasn’t kidding about the very, very small pieces. I laid them all out on a paper-lined cookie sheet and put it in the master bathroom. Hubby enjoys having something constructive to do, and he gets very involved in the puzzles when I leave them for him to work on. (He got so involved with this one he said he sat there until his leg fell asleep! 😉 )

Each puzzle comes in it’s own test tube, with a small poster that also serves as a label on one side, with an engineering quiz on the back…

We found them at Barnes & Noble, and I have to say they were great fun! Hubby enjoyed every one, and was a little bummed when we finished the last of the four. If you’re looking for a challenge, just like the look of them, or if the small pieces intrigue you – I highly recommend any of these puzzles. 👍

Stay tuned for the remaining 3 – they were all entertaining but Mathematics was my favorite; hubby preferred this one, Engineering.

Hollywood Newsstand

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Hollywood Newsstand by Ken Keeley – Ceaco – 1000 pieces

My daughter gave me this to assemble after she had done it, she said it was kinda tough and was pretty proud of herself for getting it done. It was a bit of a challenge, so way to go for both of us! Not great quality, but the image is fun – and how could I refuse to assemble a puzzle she gave me?

Review: Donut

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews1 Comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Donut – Ceaco – 300 pieces

Technically this puzzle doesn’t have a name, according to the box – I have named it Donut. It came in a multipack called Sweet & Salty. I think this is without a doubt the most challenging 300 piece puzzle I have ever assembled. It looks amazing though, doesn’t it? I’m not one for sprinkles, but a chocolate frosted donut sounds so good right now! 🍩

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this puzzle, especially since it was in a multipack. My experience with many puzzles in one box has been that the quality was quite poor. This is the first one from this box that I’ve assembled, but the quality of this particular puzzle was better than expected.

The pieces were thicker than I remember from other Ceaco puzzles I’ve assembled, and the fit was excellent. There was a good variety of piece shapes, and the image reproduction was very good as well. The cutting leaves a bit to be desired, as all the pieces weren’t cut completely through; and although the thickness was better than I remember there was still some fanning of the chipboard on some pieces. Still, overall, I found the quality to be good. Click the link above to see all the Ceaco puzzles currently in stock at Puzzle Warehouse.

The obvious place to start was with the edges and the center, and they went together pretty quickly. I don’t normally work this way, but I separated the pieces by shape and worked from center to edge all the way around. The image is pretty challenging, but I enjoyed it anyway and the finished product is very cool looking!

Although Ceaco isn’t a premium brand, getting 8 puzzles for $16.99 is a pretty good bargain in my opinion. And even though the chipboard isn’t the thickest around, they have beautiful images and an excellent fit. I enjoyed this first puzzle very much – keep an eye out for the remaining 7 puzzles, I hope they’re as much fun as this one was.

Details:

  • Title:                  Donut
  • Artist:                iStock
  • Brand:               Ceaco
  • Piece count:     300 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 14 in. (36 cm)
  • Purchased:      N/A, sent for review

Quality:

  • Board:               Good
  • Cutting:             Good
  • Image:               Very good
  • Box:                   Average, 8 puzzles in 1 box
  • Fit:                     Excellent
  • Puzzle Dust:     Small amount
  • Piece cut:          Grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   Good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Good, recommended

 

I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

 

Beauty and the Beast

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Beauty and the Beast by Steve Crisp – MasterPieces – 300 pieces

This beautiful image was fun to assemble, but it was the first time I’ve been disappointed in a MasterPieces puzzle in quite a while. 😒

My experience with this brand has mostly been very good. The image reproduction has always been excellent in my opinion, as are the variety of piece shapes. They are a good thickness and fit together well. I’ve heard that others have found the fit to be quite loose, but that hasn’t been my experience at all. That doesn’t discount their experience; there have been many times where people with the exact same puzzle have had much different levels of quality – a lot of the time it all depends on where in the run your puzzle was produced. Beginning of the run may give you a tighter fit, end of the run can be much looser.

My problem with this puzzle wasn’t the fit at all, it was the bent pieces. I can’t be sure if it was because of the box (book shaped and somewhat small for 300 large pieces) or if it was another reason. The pieces were almost jammed in the box, and up into the spine of the “book”. Whatever it was, there were many bent pieces and the puzzle didn’t lay flat when complete, which was disappointing.

Otherwise I enjoyed the assembly very much, and found the image itself to be absolutely stunning. Steve Crisp’s artwork is beautiful, the colors are perfect for the scene, and it made for a captivating puzzle.

The random cut helped with keeping my focus as well, you couldn’t rely on the edges of the pieces to help you find what exact shape you were looking for. You have to rely more on patterns and shades of color because you may think you’re looking for a certain shape and it could end up that 2 pieces fit where you thought only 1 should go. I love it when a puzzle keeps me on my toes. 🙂

The bent pieces were a bummer, but I enjoyed it anyway – it’s a beautiful puzzle!