Lapping Up the Luau

On June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is one of those untitled puzzles where, here at My Jigsaw Journal, I get to choose a title that is silly, or ridiculous, or just one that makes me laugh. These usually require some thought, or a complete disregard of thought that has me coming up with an enigmatic or ludicrous title that doesn’t even make sense with the image (those are the really fun ones). In this case though, I decided to go along with the image and just choose a fun and slightly silly title that made me laugh….Lapping Up the Luau.

I mean, look at this little pupper with his/her lei and cool sunglasses; and the rubber ducky is too cute! Even if you’re not a dog person you have to see this image and smile, you just can’t help it. Lap up that luau little one, you deserve a fun day at the beach! 🕶⛱

These small boxes with 100 piece puzzles from Re-marks are just what a gal like me needs to cleanse the palate after a large puzzle, or to jump back in to puzzling when you’ve had a sustained break from it. They’re well made, good quality puzzles with adorable images that are truly entertaining to put together. I don’t know what else I could ask for!

With puzzles that are such a small piece count I always put away the box and just work the puzzle with my only clues coming from the pieces themselves. I think it’s not only entertaining, but it keeps my mind sharp so I don’t have to re-hone the puzzle skills later on with a larger puzzle that perhaps might frustrate me.

Unfortunately I think there’s only one of these left here that I haven’t assembled, which makes me a little sad to be honest. They’re so much fun to do!

Review: Paws Gone Wild

On June 19, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments

Paws Gone Wild is a wonderful puzzle for children, and it has fantastic quality! Such great quality is hard to come by in puzzles geared towards children; I find that most of them aren’t as sturdy as they need to be, but this one was a delightfully sturdy surprise!

Vermont Christmas Company has one of the largest catalogs of puzzles for children that I’ve seen; there are plenty of puzzles for holidays, but regular images too. The pieces are wonderfully thick, have a great variety of shapes, fit together well, and have absolutely gorgeous image reproduction. They are in the top two brands for children’s puzzles that I’ve ever worked with, and I’m very picky about puzzles for kids.

I always give puzzles as gifts to younger children, they are not only entertaining and great for getting kids away from all the screens in their lives (phones, tablets, tv, etc.), they help developing brains learn essential skills that they will use the rest of their lives. Problem solving skills, spatial awareness, fine motor skills, dexterity, concentration, patience, setting goals, and soooo much more. And in my humble puzzle-nerdy opinion, kids need to do more jigsaw puzzles – puzzles are the best!

Paws Gone Wild 1

Ok, we all know I’m not a cat person, but this is adorably cute. Kittens are just so sweet. Those tiny little paws and the innocent look on that face – awwww!

Paws Gone Wild 2

I mean, come on! That face! Part of the reason I took this closeup is to show the detail in the reproduction – you can read this paper! The overall image is bright and colorful with clean lines and no fuzziness unless it’s part of the image. I was delighted with the quality of the puzzle, most especially the image. (The other reason I took this closeup is…..that sweet face!)

Paws Gone Wild is one of the best kids puzzles I’ve put together in quite a long time, and I’m happily looking forward to assembling another very soon. The quality is wonderful, the image is fun, and I highly recommend it. Two thumbs and four paws way up! 👍👍🐾🐾

Details:

Title: Paws Gone Wild
Artist: Sergio
Brand: Vermont Christmas Company
Piece count: 100 pieces
Size: Approx. 19 x 13 in. (48 x 33 cm)
Purchased: Swap/Used

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Good
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: None
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

Boston Cowboy

On June 11, 2020October 20, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

I love this image, it’s just freakin’ adorable! If you’ve been a long-time reader of this blog you know that unlike many puzzlers I prefer puzzles with images of dogs much more than those with cats. From my viewpoint there are many more “cat puzzles” out there than “dog puzzles”; but you see more with images of dogs here at My Jigsaw Journal because I seek them out.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with cats, or puzzles with images of cats on them. So many puzzles out there have unbelievably adorable cat artwork or images, they just aren’t my taste – that’s all. I’ve done many a cat puzzle, but I’m a dog person so my preference is cute puppy puzzles instead of ones with kitty cats.

This cute-beyond-words puzzle of only 100 pieces was a gift from a dear friend who shares my love of Boston Terriers and knows how much I enjoy a small piece count puzzle. It used to be that puzzles with small piece counts were all cartoonish or childish in some way, but I’m seeing more and more options out there for adults who enjoy smaller puzzles. Thank goodness!

I put this one together around midnight one evening, in the living room in front of the television. That’s one of the great things about small puzzles, you don’t need a lot of room or a special place to put them together. At only 100 pieces this adorable puzzle can be assembled just about anywhere!

Buddy was sleeping on the couch when I finished it, and I couldn’t help myself but take an extra picture. The fit of this puzzle was so good that I was able to walk around with the assembled puzzle and stand it up next to my little man on the couch!

Boston Cowboy 1

How adorable is this? I truly wish I’d had a red bandana that I could have laid across his neck, wouldn’t that have been cute? My Boston boy next to the Boston Cowboy, so very sweet!

What’s a Fancy Girl to Do?

On May 27, 2020May 27, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

I love me some Fancy Nancy, and what girl can resist some glitter? Not me! Even though this is a thrift store puzzle that I knew had been WELL LOVED, it was still entertaining for me to assemble it.

As you can see there are many tabs where the image is lifting, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the puzzle. And despite the delamination of the image I found the fit to be excellent. Even with this thrift store puzzle obviously having been assembled many times it still had a great fit. So much so that I was able to do one of my favorite things – stand it up…

Fancy Nancy 1

Even though it shows even more plainly the poor condition of this puzzle, this picture makes me happy. Fancy Nancy makes me happy. She’s a girl who doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her, she just wants to be who she is – she is me!

Lucky Charms

On April 26, 2020April 26, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

So now we’ve come to the end of the set of cereal mini puzzles, and the last of them is my favorite of the six cereals – Lucky Charms. For a sugar-hungry kid like I was, how could the cereal with dehydrated squeaky marshmallows not be my favorite?

I’m sad that this multipack set is over. Having some 100 piece puzzles around to assemble in between larger ones was nice, and now the smallest puzzles I have are 300 pieces. Not that they aren’t entertaining, because they most definitely are; but the 100 piece mini puzzles are great for when you only have a few minutes to puzzle and don’t want to sort and start something larger.

Lucky Charms have been around longer than I have, and I still remember the commercials from long ago. The marshmallows have changed over the years, but I still remember the roster as Lucky the Leprechaun used to say in the commercials, “Pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, green clovers – and new blue diamonds!”🎶Frosted Lucky Charms, they’re magically delicious!🎶

My mom always said that I was never really interested in tv shows when I was young, but as soon as the commercial break started I would stop what I was doing and run into the room to watch every single commercial. Then apparently when we went grocery shopping I would walk down the aisles next to her cart and perform the commercials for the products on the shelves. That must be why, almost 50 years later, I can remember the order of the marshmallows.

I was a weird little kid. 🤪