Christmas at Hogwarts by Mary GrandPre – New York Puzzle Company – 1000 pieces
Drumroll please, the random number generator has spoken and the winner of the Christmas at Hogwarts jigsaw puzzle is…
Lucky entry #5……….Penny. Congratulations!
I’ve sent you an email, and hopefully will be able to get your puzzle out to you very soon. Here’s hoping it’s as much fun as it looks!
Thank you to everyone who entered and commented, I enjoy holding these giveaways very much. Thanks also to everyone who stops by here at My Jigsaw Journal, you are always welcome and appreciated.
Be on the lookout for another giveaway soon. We all need something fun to look forward to! 🧩💝
The Bookshop by Aimee Stewart – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces
This gorgeous puzzle is an Aimee Stewart – I had no idea! I don’t really check who the artist is most of the time before I start working a puzzle; I just knew the image spoke to me, and thought it would be fun, if a bit challenging to assemble. Well, of course it was – it’s an Aimee Stewart! I put together the entire puzzle and didn’t know until I started writing up this post that it was by my favorite artist.
The quality was fantastic, as per usual for a Ravensburger. Just feeling the weight and finish of the pieces makes me smile; I think I could tell a Ravensburger piece from all others at 20 paces. (Well, maybe 2 paces, these eyes are getting older every day). Holding a piece while contemplating it’s placement and rubbing my thumb across the top of it gives me a quiet kind of happiness, it’s like meditation.
This was a little more challenging than your average Aimee Stewart puzzle; the colors are much more muted, and the scene itself was more difficult. The flowers below the sign and the ivy around the edges were the hardest for me. The books everywhere were less difficult than I’d assumed, even though there are so many of them!
This little girl in her pretty purple frock is so sweet, and it’s such a pretty color.
All those books in the window? You can read the titles, and look at the detail! I should have known who the artist was. I can’t believe I didn’t. I’m hanging my head in shame.
I’d seen this image several times before I finally took the plunge and got it for myself, and am I ever glad I did. Have you been thinking of buying this? Go for it, this puzzle is highly recommended. 👍👍
I ADORED this puzzle – it was so much fun! Cobble Hill quality is excellent, and I enjoyed the random cut of the pieces and the beautiful colors. The fabrics were so interesting too, a lot of them would make ugly clothes but they do make lovely quilt blocks. 😉
Cobble Hill has such a great catalog of puzzle images, after assembling this one the PADS is flaring up and I want to get a whole bunch more of their puzzles. I love the feel of the pieces and the way they fit together – just a great quality puzzle all around. Someone needs to take my credit cards for a day or two, I’m feeling the need for some new puzzles!
Great name to go with a great fabric pattern. I loved that all the quilt block patterns have names, and I found that it helped quite a bit with the assembly.
And of course I loved these two patterns because they had the word puzzle in their names! Old Maid’s Puzzle and Dutchman’s Puzzle, obviously they are my favorites. 😁
And now I have this burning desire to find and assemble every single quilt block puzzle there is – and I know there are quite a few. I enjoyed this one so much that it leaves me wanting more. Quilts and quilt blocks make for highly entertaining puzzles, at least they do for me. Perhaps it’s the neat, orderly rows and the fact that they’re put in some kind of order; it may be soothing for my OCD.
Whatever the reason, I’d love to get my hands on some more quilt block puzzles. I highly recommend you give this one a try, it was too much fun! 💝
With the Coronavirus taking hold across the globe, people around the world are finding that they have much more time on their hands. With “shelter in place” orders, people being encouraged to work from home if possible, needing to care for children who are no longer in school, and people being asked to quarantine themselves at home – we all seem to have more time than we normally do for more sedentary pursuits.
It will be no surprise that I’m encouraging everyone to try working on jigsaw puzzles with some of their extra time; you might find that not only is it an extremely enjoyable pastime, but that it also helps to relieve some of the stress and anxiety that most of us are feeling these days. My regular readers know that I’m constantly emphasizing that jigsaw puzzles are not only entertaining, but actually good for both your physical and mental well-being.
Did you know that assembling jigsaw puzzles can help lower your blood pressure, relieve anxiety and stress, improve your mood, help you to deal with chronic pain, and even increase your IQ? These are just a few of the health benefits one gets from puzzling – there are many, many more. Most important of all in these troubled times is that puzzles can take our minds off of the day-to-day burdens and worries that we are all carrying and allow us to relax. Couldn’t we all use a bit more relaxation, stress relief, and improved health these days?
To that end I’ve moved up the timing of my next puzzle giveaway. It was just last month that My Jigsaw Journal gave away a lovely 500 piece Milton Bradley puzzle, and the plan was to hold another giveaway for Mother’s Day at the beginning of May. We all could use some cheering up, so instead of a few months down the road I am holding a new giveaway right now. 🙂
Christmas at Hogwarts by Mary GrandPre – New York Puzzle Company – 1000 pieces
Christmas at Hogwarts is a 1000 piece puzzle by the New York Puzzle Company with artwork by Mary GrandPre, unopened and still shrink-wrapped. It looks colorful and fun, but a little bit challenging too! Would you like a chance to win this puzzle? Wouldn’t it be nice to spend some of your free time at home assembling this beautiful image?
This giveaway is open to everyone, and all you have to do is leave a comment on today’s post to be entered. Every comment/entry will be given a number, a random number generator will choose the winner and the results will be posted one week from today, Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
Stay home, stay healthy, and stay safe my friends. 💖
Vintage Tin Toys by Lewis T. Johnson – Milton Bradley – 1000 pieces
My beautiful daughter bought me this puzzle for no reason other than she saw it at the store and thought I would love it. She was right – and sweeter than sugar!
It was a pretty challenging assembly, but I absolutely adored it. Such bright colors and interesting toys, not to mention an excellent quality puzzle. The fit was a bit loose, but otherwise the pieces were thick with varied shapes, and the image reproduction was beautiful! I haven’t done many 1000 piece Milton Bradley puzzles, but I was happily surprised at the quality of this one. If we find more amazing images like this one, I hope to be doing more of them very soon!
Umm…..a bartender?
Wow, they certainly didn’t mind unconventional toys back in the day, huh? A bartender toy for a child? This actually made me laugh out loud! I wonder what the mechanism made the little tin bartender do? A toy that pours and serves little drinks? Wow. Just, wow.
This is silly, a tin chicken – but I suppose who am I to judge right? I didn’t even realize this was in the puzzle because the stupid people who designed the puzzle box decided to put a banner over this portion of it. When I realized what the pieces were and set them aside, I couldn’t wait to see what it looked like all put together. A silly chicken!
Ventriloquist dummies must have been all the rage, I love how fun and silly these toys are! Perhaps a young boy or girl wouldn’t care what it said on the side of it, they would most likely be happy with any toy car. Still, this one gave me a chuckle.
Sometimes it amazes me that a box full of hundreds of pieces of cut up cardboard or wood pictures could bring me so much joy – but they absolutely do. But it isn’t only joy – serenity, smiles, laughs, concentration, fixation, obsession, happiness, sadness, exhilaration, peace, victory, pride, and too many more to name. Puzzles are a gift to ourselves and our minds, and I, for one, intend to keep on giving. 🧩💖
