12 Days of Christmas Puzzles Day 4

On December 17, 2019December 17, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

12 Days - 4 — Knitting Snowmen – Ceaco – 100 pieces

Yes, puzzle friends, your eyes are not deceiving you, another puzzle with a missing piece. I am very disappointed and have contacted Ceaco.

I’m not one of those people who thinks a puzzle with a missing piece is the end of the world, and contacts the company to demand a replacement for every puzzle with a missing piece. In fact, the few times I have contacted companies I have refused replacements, my purpose was only to let them know about a manufacturing issue that they needed to address.

For me, once I’ve assembled the puzzle I have no need of a replacement. Even when there are missing pieces I still got enjoyment putting the puzzle together; and I feel that asking for a free puzzle because of a missing piece is ridiculous. There is no way to guarantee that a missing piece is a manufacturing problem or if it’s the result of “user error”. People swear up and down that they have looked “everywhere” and it must be the company’s fault. Sometimes it is, to be sure; but I believe most of the time it is not. (These are my just opinions, and in no way am I passing judgement on anyone else.)

My purpose in contacting Ceaco was to let them know that there does seem to be a manufacturing problem with these puzzles. I have had 2 puzzles with missing pieces out of only 4 that I have assembled, and Penny has had an extra piece in one of her puzzles from the same set. These puzzles were assembled in one sitting, the pieces were dumped out onto a tray, and I am certain the missing ones just weren’t in the bag. It’s been my experience that Ceaco usually does a good job with their special editions, like this one; unfortunately, this advent calendar seems to have issues.

I did not ask for a replacement, because frankly I don’t wish to do these holiday puzzles again after the holidays. They should be made aware of problems though, and I wanted to express my disappointment. I made a special trip to the store for these puzzles, and that’s a big deal for someone with my physical problems. The advent calendar of puzzles made this PADS sufferer very happy and I was so excited to get it and start assembling a puzzle each day. Having missing pieces in 50% of the puzzles I’ve put together so far is quite frustrating, and I felt Ceaco needed to hear about it.

Anyway, that’s about 400 words written about a kids puzzle with a missing piece. Yikes. Sorry for the rant guys, but thanks for listening.

The snowmen were cute.

12 Days of Christmas Puzzles Day 3

On December 16, 2019December 16, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

12 Days - 3 — Penguin – Ceaco – 100 pieces

Mr. Penguin here was pretty easy to assemble, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable. He’d be especially fun to put together with children, if you have any of those around the house. I don’t have little ones anymore, but that never stops me from enjoying a kids puzzle. 😉

I’ve been assembling these puzzles on the day they’re posted, and I would recommend assembling them that way – one every day. Even if you’re a badass puzzler who only assembles 1000 piece puzzles, sometimes the holiday rush and stress doesn’t leave us any time for our favorite hobby. These puzzles only take 5 minutes or so depending on your skill level, and there’s usually a small space on a table or the counter to put a small puzzle like this together.

Yesterday I assembled the Day 2 puzzle in the morning, then I had to go out to a baby shower for one of my very best friends. It was difficult for me, and when I got home I spent the rest of the day in bed. The 100 piece puzzle I assembled in the morning was my only chance to puzzle during a rushed and stressful day, and I’m glad I had the chance to puzzle at all – even if it did have a missing piece. 🧩

Christmas is only 9 days away, and Hanukkah is in 7 days – things are getting busy and many of us are caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. There isn’t always time to sit down and lay out a larger puzzle and these little advent calendar puzzles are perfect for just a few minutes of puzzling in an otherwise very busy day.

Of course, who am I to tell anyone how to puzzle? If you want to do all of them in one sitting that’s perfectly alright as well. As for me though, I’m enjoying doing them one by one. Sometimes there’s a puzzle with an image that doesn’t strike my fancy, but it’s only 100 pieces, and tomorrow’s puzzle might be lots of fun!

12 Days of Christmas Puzzles Day 2

On December 15, 2019December 16, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

12 Days - 2 — Full Mailbox – Ceaco – 100 pieces

I know, the picture is cockeyed. Normally I would fiddle with it until it looks better, but I literally just finished putting it together and I’m a little miffed that there’s a missing piece. These things happen, and it isn’t the end of the world, but it’s annoying.

The image, once assembled, doesn’t look that difficult at all – it’s deceiving. It was a bit of a challenge for a 100 piece puzzle, and all the greenery, ribbons, and fence posts looked the same to me. Still, I am a puzzle goddess (according to my daughter who loves me) and in the end this little puzzle was all put back together, almost.

A missing piece!

It’s a little funny because last night Penny was putting together the puzzle for day 6, and she had an extra piece! I know the piece isn’t anywhere here because I opened the bag, dumped the pieces on a tray, and never left the room while I was assembling it. It isn’t stuck to my arms, or on the floor, it’s almost certainly in someone else’s bag of pieces.

Ah well. Life goes on.

The image isn’t one I would normally choose for a puzzle, it’s honestly the type of Christmas image that I don’t really care for. But in 100 pieces I can assemble just about any image. For me, this is the one I have to get through in order to assemble the images that look more fun – it’s the brussel sprouts of this advent calendar. 🤢

12 Days of Christmas Puzzles Day 1

On December 14, 2019December 16, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

My puzzle pal Penny bought this collection for herself this past week, and when she sent me a text showing a picture of the box I just fell in love. My faithful tens of readers know that I’m not a huge fan of Christmas puzzles, but these are all only 100 pieces and the images (most of them) made me smile. I can’t tell you the exact reasons why, but I just had to have these. So the next day I enlisted my ever patient father to drive me to the store to find this box – and find it we did!

The image of each day’s puzzle is shown on the box both opposite the numbers and also through the numbers themselves – I like that! You can see that the cute Santa image for day one is shown completely on the left, and his little face is peeking through the number 1 on the right.

12 Days - 1 — Day 1 – Cute Santa with Gifts

Cute Santa was assembling in bed this morning on a cookie sheet. These are Ceaco puzzles, and the quality is good/fair. The fit is somewhat loose but not too much so, and the pieces are a good thickness. Santa went together pretty quickly, and he was lots of fun to assemble. I’m giving him four out of five on the Mrs. Claus advent calendar scale – mostly for cuteness!

🤶🤶🤶🤶

There’s just something about these puzzles, I’m looking forward to each and every one. It’s weird for me to say that, as I am just not a fan of the usual Christmas images, but this collection makes me smile. I don’t know if I want to post only 100 piece puzzles here every day until Christmas (and I have yet to make a decision), but no matter what you’ll be seeing all of them eventually.

Kiss Me

On December 10, 2019December 10, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles7 Comments

I wanted to start the month with a completed puzzle on the first day – so this was assembled December 1st. I’ve been saving this puzzle since very early in the year; mom bought it for 69 cents at the thrift store, and although it was cute I thought it should be saved until the holiday season.

This is my kind of holiday puzzle, I love images that aren’t the typical Christmas themes. I think that’s why I don’t care for Christmas puzzles much, they all seem to look alike to me and I prefer to assemble images that are different and interesting. Just my opinion of course. 🙂

It wasn’t the best quality, the fit was slightly loose and there quite a bit of image lift, but both of those things could be because it was purchased secondhand. It may have been well loved and assembled many times – you never can tell. Still, I don’t expect perfection from any puzzle, let alone one from the local Goodwill store.

If you look closely, you’ll see that all the snowflakes are made up of Minions, how adorable is that?

Kiss Me 1

This puzzle makes me think of mom, knowing she bought it specifically for my “adopted” grandson who loves puzzles more than anything. Whenever she found a kids puzzle she would always buy it for him, especially if they were boy-themed or something a young boy would enjoy. She always brought them to me to assemble first because 1) we needed to be sure whether or not it was complete before it was passed on to the kiddo, and 2) because I love putting together kids puzzles perhaps more than the kids do. 😎

I’ll be giving this to my “grandson” soon, so he’ll be able to enjoy it for this holiday season. It’s the last puzzle mom was able to buy for him; he’s too young to appreciate the significance of that, but I’m not. Miss you momma. 💝