Hershey’s Puzzle In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Hershey’s Moments – MasterPieces – 1000 pieces

I’m having a great time with this puzzle, it’s exactly what I need at exactly the right time. I’m working on the more difficult sections first – like all the large Hershey’s bars and darker areas. When sorting it I could tell it would be harder than it looks, and so I decided to get the more challenging stuff out of the way early. Now when it’s closer to being completed the sections that are brighter and more entertaining will be what’s left. My strategy may change the further into it I go, but that’s where I am for now.

Life is unbelievably stressful right now, and even if it wasn’t, my brain seems to think anxiety is always the way to go – even when things are calmer. Sometimes I just need to go and sit in front of my puzzle board and get away from almost everything; I put on my headphones, turn the music WAY up and only think about shapes, colors, text, and fitting pieces together.

If I didn’t have puzzles I fear life would be much darker for me. Thank God for puzzles!

The OG

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

The OG – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

Beautiful puzzle of the original Spilsbury “dissected map” from 1767 owned by MicroPuzzles. It was way too difficult to assemble in the usual place, there just isn’t adequate lighting in our powder room. After having it in there for a couple of weeks and struggling to get it assembled, I finally gave in and finished it in the puzzle room.

When you see the image on it’s own without all the piece shapes it looks as if it would probably be pretty easy to assemble – especially because there are only 150 pieces. It wasn’t. At least not for me. It’s almost monochromatic and without proper lighting to see what was what I found it quite difficult.

I still enjoyed it though, it wasn’t one of those difficult puzzles that makes you question whether or not it’s worth doing. And when I got nearer the end, it got more and more fun with each piece. 😉

Barbie Paris Fashion

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Barbie Paris Fashion – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

There was something extremely satisfying about this assembly; I’m not sure I could express to you why that was – but it was great fun and I absolutely loved it. 🧡

Excellent quality; slightly loose fitting but otherwise a great puzzle. The piece shapes are quite obvious in the finished image but I really don’t care – it was the process of the assembly that mattered.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Barbie dolls, but it may interest you to know that I am named after one of Barbie’s friends. Back in 1968 she got a cool new “mod” friend named Stacey, and my father liked the name so much that he convinced my mother to give me that name when I was born. The rest, as they say, is history. 😎

This was the first section that I put together, the fabric of the clothing was easy to pick out, and it’s also the only image with blue sky.

That long neck is crazy – it may be what fashion models wish they looked like, but I’m not sure it would look good on an actual person.

The wallpaper in the background is even Parisian – Eiffel Towers everywhere!

What I’m working on…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Typefaces by Hugo Maciel – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This very interesting and challenging image just grabbed me when I first saw it, and it’s going together really well. The artwork is very different – it almost looks as though it was done with a crayon! Still, I love a challenge, and a puzzle that is outside of the norm as well. It oughta be fun. 😉

Retro

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Retro by Lois B. Sutton – White Mountain – 550 pieces

So much fun! As with most collages this one went together quickly and I enjoyed each and every section. There’s just something about these images (and collages in general) that ticks the box for me; assembling them makes me happy.

This was a pretty good quality White Mountain puzzle, with my only concern being a little bit of a loose fit. The reproduction was the best I’ve seen from this brand for a while, I was impressed.

Ah, 8 track tapes. Boy do I have plenty of memories of these! If you’re a young’un you may not know about these – they were like cassette tapes that you cannot rewind. We had an 8 track player in our vehicle when I was young, and listening to Disney movies or songs on them is a treasured childhood memory for me.

8 tracks also remind me of a toy I received for Christmas one year, a 2XL “robot”. It was basically an 8 track player dressed up like a robot that asked you trivia questions and you answered by choosing which “track” was the correct answer. It was sort of like those make your own stories books, you choose where to go with your answers. I know my explanation doesn’t make much sense, but that was the toy and I remember it fondly.

Here’s another thing you may not know about if you’re younger – the test pattern that would come on television at the end of the broadcast day. Where I lived they used to play the national anthem and then a test pattern like this (or others) would be the only thing you could find on tv. Round-the-clock programming was not a thing; and after the late night shows there was literally nothing on tv.

Hi-yo Silver – away! I cannot think about The Lone Ranger without thinking of my dad and watching this show with him on Sunday mornings. It always seemed so stupid to me that the mask over his eyes made it so that no one recognized him; his voice never changed nor did the bottom half of his face. It was a thrilling show at the time, but my memories are mostly enjoying watching tv with my dad. 💗

About the title – it’s funny to me that “retro” means different things to different people. What’s retro to me is NOT the same for another generation. The 80s may seem retro to some, but to me it’s the time when I was coming of age – not retro.

Retro is relative, you might say.