Life’s a Beach

On January 23, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

IMG_E4145 — Life’s a Beach – Red Farm Studio – 100 pieces

This was not an easy 100 piece puzzle – excellent timing, difficult is good when you’ve got lots of time to kill. New company that I’ve never heard of before, and it was in an interesting box as well with a handle and a flip up top. Very cool. 🙂

Mom went to the thrift store specifically to find smaller puzzles that would work for me on the small bedside table and she found a couple of really good ones. We always love trying out new companies, and there are so many out there!

I assembled this puzzle with mom’s help while she was visiting and we had to focus a little more than normal. The wood grain both made it difficult and also helped in the assembly. It’s really a pretty puzzle, and would look good framed even though it’s small. I’m not someone who frames many puzzles, sometimes I purchase them specifically for framing but normally they get taken apart. Some get sent to mom’s for her to assemble, some are donated to the school my daughter works for, and the others are donated to the local senior center.

The quality of this puzzle was good. They were a good thickness, perhaps only slightly thinner than normal and they fit together very well. The image reproduction was very nice, and the interesting box was an added bonus. A quick search online didn’t come up with many Red Farm Studio puzzles, perhaps they’re not still being produced – I’m not sure, and I’m not sure how to find out either. (My caffeine intake has been limited, so my poor gray cells are struggling to keep up!)

It’s always fun to try new brands and find puzzles with interesting images. Luckily, living in what seems like the thrift store capital of the world makes it relatively easy to find puzzles of all shapes and sizes. We still haven’t started the brand new, unopened 6000 piece Schmidt puzzle she found – for $1.99!

Vibrant Puzzle Calendar Kit Puzzles 11 & 12

On January 11, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Potted Plants – 100 pieces

Cottage – 100 pieces

I’ve assembled all 6 puzzles (12 images), and I have to say I really enjoyed them, even much more than I thought I would! I think these two images are my favorite out of all of them, why did I save this one for last?

There’s not much left to say about these one coffee puzzles; I had a great time assembling them, and it’s so nice to sit down and work a puzzle from start to finish in just a few minutes. If you haven’t seen the rest of the images, follow the links below.

Puzzles 1 & 2 Flower shop & Butterflies

Puzzles 3 & 4 Bouquet & Window Box

Puzzles 5 & 6 Gourds & Bird

Puzzles 7 & 8 Aspens & Heart

Puzzles 9 & 10 Ladybug & Ivy

I’d love for us to find the other calendar kit they produced, because I loved this one. It’s going to mom’s house next, and I’m sure she’ll enjoy it as well. We absolutely got our 99 cents worth from this purchase! 🙂

Vibrant Puzzle Calendar Kit Puzzles 9 & 10

On January 9, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles1 Comment

Ladybug – 100 pieces

Ivy – 100 pieces

I wanted to start off the new year by keeping track of the number of puzzles and pieces assembled, so I started the year with a one coffee puzzle. There’s only one left after this one! Very pretty images, but I choose poorly – I hadn’t yet finished my first cup of coffee and both of the sides of this puzzle were a little bit of a challenge for my pre-caffeinated brain.

I assembled the edges on the ladybug side first, but seeing the pieces left I decided to flip the puzzle over to assemble it, my poor brain wasn’t awake enough yet to handle those red flowers! The other side was a little less difficult, but I have to say that it took me much longer than it should have. I’m going to say that the reason is not enough sleep – that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! 😉

I’ve really enjoyed these small piece count puzzles partly because they’re quick and fun to assemble, and partly because they’re not childish pictures. It’s nice to assemble a puzzle in just a few minutes and for it to be a more mature image. One more to go!

Arctic Kiss

On January 6, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This was a cute kids puzzle that I only assembled because I wanted to see how it glows. Unfortunately there wasn’t much as far as glow was concerned, so I wasn’t able to get a good “glow picture”. Oh well, it’s still a cute image.

The puzzle wasn’t the greatest quality, it’s a Ceaco puzzle, but we had hopes that because it was a specialty (Glow Zone) that it might be a little better quality. We’ve worked several special Ceaco puzzles with really nice quality – some with cork backing, one with velvet backing, and some with long strips of pieces instead of the average piece. The odd ones seem to have much better quality than the average Ceaco puzzles – at least that’s been our experience so far.

This puzzle, even though it was a glow zone puzzle, was about average Ceaco quality. The pieces are thinner, and although they fit together well the finished puzzle doesn’t lie completely flat. You can see in the picture above that some of the pieces stick up a bit. Still, the image is nice, and even though it’s not a premium quality puzzle, it was still entertaining to assemble.

I used to say I didn’t want to do any puzzles under 1000 pieces, and was pretty snobby about the brands of puzzles I would buy. I don’t buy new puzzles from companies whose quality isn’t up to my standards, but used puzzles are a whole different story. Now, as long as I can assemble the puzzle and enjoy myself doing it – that’s what counts. Who cares if the quality isn’t perfect? If we can buy 20 puzzles for the price of 1 at the thrift store, and we can enjoy ourselves assembling them, isn’t that what’s really important? I think so.

Dear God, You Thought of Everything!

On January 3, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This is the last of 3 Dear God kids puzzles mom got at the thrift store. They were all complete, and all much more difficult than we bargained for. The line drawing quality of the artwork makes this puzzle a bit of a challenge. All 3 tested us a bit, and all 3 were completely adorable!

The pieces were a little thin and there was some image lift, but they fit together well and were relatively sturdy. We enjoyed these puzzles very much, and laughed at how difficult they were for us. We put together 2000 piece puzzles, how does a little 100 piece kids puzzle give us such grief?

It’s much more fun working on a difficult puzzle with someone, well I think so anyway. You can talk and laugh and help each other out, and even if it’s challenging you’re not as frustrated because there’s someone else to take off some of the pressure. That’s been my experience anyway. I love assembling puzzles with my mom, there’s lots of laughing and teasing – even some cussing, which is adorable coming from a “little old lady’s” mouth! We know how the other assembles puzzles and we’re used to working together. It’s the best!