Kellogg’s Fun Pack

On January 18, 2022January 18, 2022 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles16 Comments

Kellogg’s Fun Pack – Spin Master Games – 600 pieces (100 pieces each)

Another six-pack of cereal puzzles, but instead of General Mills cereals this time we have Kellogg’s. It’s been quite a while since I did the first set (by White Mountain), and although last time each little puzzle got it’s own post I don’t think it’ll be that way this time around. There are way too many puzzles in the queue to add 6 more all at once!

As far as I know this is my first Spin Master puzzle, and the quality was impressive. The pieces were on the thinner side, but not too much so; excellent reproduction, good fit, and nice variety of shapes too. The pieces are on the larger side, and each finished puzzle was approximately 9 x 13 inches – pretty big for only 100 pieces. All around they are a good quality set of puzzles, and were extremely fun to put together.

Ready for some cereal memories and critiques?

These used to be called Sugar Smacks when I was young, but nowadays we wouldn’t want anyone to think we’re feeding our little ones anything less than healthy. Changing the name but keeping the food inside the same doesn’t do much if you ask me. Oh well. Corporations. Whatchya gonna do?

I don’t recall ever having these, they never really appealed to me or my sisters; or maybe we did have them and I’m just too old to remember things accurately. 🤔

Here’s another one that I never cared for. Fruity and chocolatey cereals weren’t my thing as a child – and they still aren’t.

Ah, my old friend Toucan Sam; I enjoyed his commercials very much, but not his cereal. Again, not a fan of the fruity tastes. They all tasted the same to me – boring.

Now we’re getting to the good stuff if you ask me. Of the six cereals in this pack, this is really the only one I actually liked. It’s like Corn Flakes, but without the hassle of having to transfer the sugar bowl into cereal bowl to make it palatable. Every once in a while I get a craving for these and buy myself a box, but that doesn’t happen very often, and usually before the box is gone I’ve become bored with them.

Corn Pops were ok, in a pinch – they were sweeter than Kix, and the texture was slightly less like cardboard; but overall I’d rather have almost anything else (except Grape Nuts). If memory serves they were just puffs of squeaky cereal without much flavor. No thank you.

Rice Krispies are BORING as a cereal in my humble opinion, but excellent for making tasty treats with melted marshmallows and a little butter.

These little puzzles were lots of fun, and if you’re in the mood for some sweetened cereals without all the calories I can definitely recommend this pack of puzzles. 🥣

And tomorrow is the announcement of the winner of the Happy New Year Puzzle Giveaway – if you haven’t entered yet this is your last chance!

African Afternoon

On November 8, 2021November 8, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

African Afternoon by Gerold Como – Ravensburger – 100 pieces

I do so love when a thrift store puzzle is not only from a company with really great quality, but it is also complete. And if it’s a kids puzzle – even better. I can “check” it to be sure all the pieces are present, and then send it on to a child or school where it’ll be used and loved like puzzles are supposed to be.

This isn’t a scene I would choose to puzzle in a larger piece count, it just isn’t my pile of pieces (or cup of tea as it were). But with only 100 pieces the muted colors and subject matter weren’t a problem to deal with. As an added bonus, once it’s been assembled and if it’s all there my “grandson” gets to have it. He’s gonna love this one.😀

This little guy with his parents is just too adorable for words. I love that brush cut he’s got going on!

I can relate to this cat, the African plains are just too hot. It’s better to spend the day lounging around in a tree. And, if some unsuspecting prey wanders underneath and makes themselves available to jump down onto – even better. 🐆

Peanuts – Linus

On October 28, 2021March 13, 2022 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Peanuts – Vista Puzzles – 100 pieces

Retail therapy isn’t something that I do, ever. But Monday the 11th was the worst day I’ve had all year, so I decided to give it a go and ended up with this puzzle. Shopping to feel better didn’t work for me, but at least I got a few puzzles out of it.

I thought I’d never done any puzzles from Vista before, but I was wrong. A quick search of my blog tells me that I’ve assembled 3 children’s puzzles from them before. It was about three and half years ago, so I’m giving myself a bit of a break that I didn’t remember. 😁

Anyway, this Vista Puzzle was good quality, although I was a little disappointed that some of the pieces were slightly warped. Not much, but enough that when you run your hands across the finished puzzle you come across several corners sticking up. (I do love the puzzle massage after that last piece goes in). It doesn’t detract from the enjoyment putting the puzzle together, it’s just a quality issue I feel obligated to let you know about. The pieces are a good thickness for a child’s puzzle, and the fit was very good.

Also, I don’t usually comment on boxes unless they’re quite bad or very cool; this one fits in the latter category. It’s a round metal container that reminds me of a thermos that we used to get in our metal lunchboxes back when that was a thing. It’s extremely sturdy and the top doesn’t come off easily, you have to be really trying to open it to get it off – perfect for a kid’s puzzle, it will be more difficult to lose the pieces, they won’t just fall out of the container.

How cute is Linus sitting there? To be honest, I wish there was one featuring Pigpen, as he’s the Peanuts character I identified with as a child. Being a tomboy, I was ALWAYS dirty or had stained my clothes no matter how I tried to keep clean. I wasn’t a big fan of baths either. 👎🛁

I’m intrigued by the text here, it makes me wish the entire set of panels for this strip were in the image. It looks like it would be a good one!

Anyway, I started and finished a puzzle in one sitting. I think I can hear the angels singing. Or maybe it’s Elton John…….

THE B*TCH IS BACK! 😎

Laundry Day

On October 20, 2021October 20, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

Laundry Day by Adrian Chesterman – Vermont Christmas Co. – 100 pieces

Forgot about this one; my “grandson” and I put it together when I visited him in July once everyone was vaccinated and safe. I had to do a little research to find the title and artist, cause I left the puzzle with him. Oops!

It’s on the October page, it seems silly to make a “July” page just for this one puzzle.

Also, please excuse the bad photo, I had to take the picture on the kitchen table at someone else’s house. I did my best.

*edit* While re-reading through my blog this past weekend I came across another puzzle with the same title by the same artist but a different puzzle company. It looks as if some of the characters are exactly the same, with some changes. Check it out here. I wonder if the artist gives them license to muck around with the image, or if they change things themselves and sell the image again to a different company. It’s probably the latter.

In all my years of puzzling I’m not sure I’ve run across this before; or perhaps I have, but just didn’t notice. I probably wouldn’t have noticed this time if both puzzles didn’t have the exact same name.

Play Room

On August 7, 2020August 7, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This puzzle has beautiful artwork and exceptional quality. If you’re looking to buy a puzzle for a child, this brand is highly recommended.

Play Room 1

Reminds me of my youngest son, he adored trains when he was little. As a child with autism, he loved lining things up – which is easy to do with the cars of a train. Then he’d lay his head on the floor and move the train to watch the wheels turn. I cannot count the number of hours he spent doing that. This brings back a lot of mommy memories. And smiles.

Play Room 2

This is one thing that was NEVER allowed in the playroom/bedroom! No paints without momma supervising. Ever. And when they weren’t being used, they were in mom’s bedroom on a high shelf. The last thing we needed was bright colors stained into the carpeting.