The Puzzle that Froze Christmas

On July 3, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

This is one of the “extra difficult” cuts, and although I didn’t find it that challenging in the micro puzzle, I can see how it would be a bear in a larger piece count. This was also produced as a 280 piece puzzle, YIKES! That one would have challenged both my patience and my sanity. 😱

You can see below that there are very few different shapes to work with, which can be daunting – but as long as you pay close attention to the image as you assemble it you’ll get there.

The repeating pattern of the reindeer is so fun, and to me it even looks amazing from the back – I would display it either way!

I started by separating piece shapes – that seems the easiest way to work these difficult cuts with challenging images. That’s true for this puzzle especially because the color scheme is only black and white. There are left-facing reindeer, right-facing reindeer, and pieces that go in between and on the edges. From there I started with the darkest part of the fence and worked outward. Patience and attention to the image are all that is required. I had a great time with this one!

I still have a bunch of these Christmas and winter themed micro puzzles to show this month, I hope everyone doesn’t get tired of them. There are a couple more “extra difficult” cut puzzles, but the majority of them are regular images with the regular Wentworth cuts. They’re so entertaining to put together, and my hope is that they’re entertaining to see and read about as well.

Spongebob Squarepants

On July 2, 2018July 2, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another quick kids puzzle that fit together well, but both the box and the pieces were less than ideal. I guess the fit is one of the most important things, but for me I’d like both the pieces and the box to be more sturdy.

Kids aren’t always careful or gentle with their toys, the boxes especially. I think puzzles are important for children to play with – of course I’m most likely a bit biased. Still, if the boxes are sturdy and not easily broken then there is less chance of losing pieces. When you have a box that just opens like a cereal box there is a greater chance of losing pieces; once you lose pieces you also lose the desire to assemble that puzzle – at least that’s true for me.

It’s a fun puzzle to assemble, with bright colors and a fun picture – especially if you’re a Spongebob fan. It didn’t take long to put together, but was a nice change of pace since I hadn’t had any kids puzzles to assemble for a while. For me a puzzle is a puzzle, no matter the piece count. I try to enjoy them all! 🙂

Winter in the City

On July 1, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I thought I’d start off “Christmas in July” on the blog with a Wentworth micro puzzle. I’m not that much of a fan of Christmas puzzles, most of the images seem so similar, and they’re just not my taste. I do love a wooden puzzle though, and if the puzzle is well made I could assemble just about any image. 😉

Winter in the City was great fun to assemble, I love grabbing one of Wentworth’s micro puzzles and spending a few minutes putting together such a wonderfully crafted and intricate puzzle. The cut looks simple, but they are more difficult than they seem; it’s so interesting to me that while most of the pieces are “average” looking, they’re more of a challenge than you might think. I love it!

The whimsy pieces are very “Christmasy” – Santa, a wreath, a snowman, an ornament, and an angel. The pieces are so detailed! Each of the regular micro puzzles has 5 whimsies, one in each corner and one in the center; unless it’s one with an extra difficult cut that has repetitive or tessellating pieces. I have a few of these extra difficult ones for this month, they’re pretty darn fun too!

All of the puzzles this month won’t be Christmas themed, but there will be quite a few of them. If you’re a fan, enjoy! If you’re not, there will be plenty of regular images too; as long as I can assemble enough to keep up! 🎄

Hummingbirds and Fuschia

On June 30, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I have to be honest, I was a little scared of this one. There’s so much green! Even the hummingbirds are green! But it seems I should have given myself more credit, I didn’t find it as difficult as I’d assumed it would be, and the finished image is beautiful. 😍

Buffalo 300 and 500 piece puzzles are my favorite size, I find their cut on 1000 piece puzzles to be too much the same size and I just prefer the smaller piece counts from this brand. (I’m not even sure if it’s the size, there’s just something about them I’m not a huge fan of.) This 300 piece puzzle was excellent quality; piece thickness, shape variety, fit, and image reproduction were wonderful.

Obviously I started with all of the not green colors; pink, red, and white. There weren’t as many of those pieces as I’d hoped and they went together very quickly. All that was left was green. Many shades of green. Luckily there were many things within the green to work with – blades of grass, hanging stems, feathers, etc. There weren’t many plain colored pieces, and even the ones that had only color usually had shades or fading to assist in the assembly. It went together more easily than I thought it would and it was quite an enjoyable puzzle – much more than I’d hoped.

This was a thrift store puzzle and doesn’t look like it’s being produced anymore. It’s a pity; it really was great fun and I highly recommend it if you can find it for a reasonable price. 🌺

Sunset Glory

On June 29, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This is a beautiful puzzle, but not one I would normally choose. I don’t usually gravitate towards sea life puzzles, I’m not sure why, they’re just not images I normally go for. Luckily I disregarded my prejudice and assembled this puzzle anyway; it was almost a meditative experience for me and I enjoyed it very much.

It’s a Ravensburger, and the quality was top notch. The pieces fit together beautifully, and the image reproduction was stellar. I think it was the colors that attracted to me to this puzzle, especially the colors in the sky. They’re just gorgeous!

Other than the sky, the fish were the most fun for me to assemble. They aren’t very big, but the bright colors and the number of small fish made them very entertaining. I zoned out when I was assembling this puzzle, I just let my brain do all the work. It was almost like meditating (or what I think meditating must be like). I enjoyed this puzzle even more than I thought I would – I love it when that happens. 🙂

You’d think I’d learn after putting together so many different puzzles that you never really know how entertaining an image will be until you actually assemble it. I still have my preferences, but I’m trying to do better about giving certain puzzles and images a chance. I’m usually wrong about how much fun a puzzle will or will not be – so I should give all of them a chance, right? Of course right!