What If #3 Home Makeover

On April 13, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another fun puzzle where I won’t show the entire image. You have to puzzle it out for yourself!

This What If shows what actually happens when the family tries to do all the home improvements themselves. Not good. You can tell by the cat’s face that he certainly isn’t impressed! They’re hoping for a great new room, but what if they get something else altogether? 😉

This one seemed more difficult for me than the other What If puzzles I’ve worked, or it may just be that my brain hasn’t been working properly lately. That’s a distinct possibility! Whatever the reason, it took a little extra brain power from me but it was still a super fun assembly. I enjoy the puzzles where I don’t have a picture – it adds an extra challenge and I feel quite proud when I’m done.

Usual great Ravensburger quality, although I think this puzzle may have been near the end of the run, because the fit was looser than normal for a Ravensburger and the piece shapes stand out in the final image more. But I’ve seen that several times with many different companies, it happens. It doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the assembly much, and they still have great image reproduction, excellent artwork with clean lines, thick pieces – you know, the usual amazing Ravensburger puzzle. (I’m a fan, can you tell?)

I loved this puzzle and highly recommend it, even if it did require extra use of the brain cells. It’s always fun to figure out What If something else happened?!

Woodstock

On April 11, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles1 Comment

Love this image, but oh my was this time consuming and difficult!

When the picture is fun I don’t usually mind if all the pieces are ballerinas, but that is NOT true when there is just flat color everywhere! There are about 200 pieces that are just red. No different shades, nothing to break up the color, just red. Yikes. The same was true for the blue, white and green pieces, but in much smaller amounts.

I love having words to assemble, even larger ones – so that was fun. Even the guitar, hand and bird weren’t too terrible even though they were are flat color with no shading. But oh my the red background 😮 I refused to give up on it though and I got it finished!

I like the quality of Andrews & Blaine puzzles, but from now on if there is a lot of flat color in the image I won’t be attempting it. I’m proud and it wasn’t horrid, but it took so long and sometimes I thought I’d never get it done. The fit was looser than I’m used to with the Andrews & Blaine puzzles, so I had to take care and sometimes had to really look closely to be sure whether or not a piece fit. It made it a bit more challenging and took a lot of time. But just like with any puzzle, the more you whittle down the pieces you have to choose from the faster it goes. It got going faster and faster and that was exciting; plus all the pieces were there – bonus! I worry with the thrift store puzzles sometimes, but no need to worry on this one.

I love the image and the blocks of color but I’ve learned my lesson and unless there are different piece shapes I’m staying away from artwork like this one. This is one puzzle I’m super proud of completing though, that’s for sure. 😎

The Mouth of the River!

On April 6, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This Wasgij was fun, but more challenging that I thought! When I finished this one I was definitely proud of myself. As usual, I’m not showing the entire puzzle so as not to spoil the fun for anyone else who may do the puzzle. It’s so much more fun if you figure it out for yourself, and it feels like much more of an accomplishment!

Graham Thompson is one of my favorite artists and his Wasgij puzzles are amazing. The artwork was fun and funny, the quality of the puzzle itself is excellent and you have the added fun of not having a picture to work from. I think it adds fun, of course some people may not enjoy that.

With a Wasgij, depending on which type of puzzle you have, you have clues to what the end of the puzzle might look like. With the Wasgij original series you have to imagine the scene from the point of view of one of the characters on the box image. For this puzzle you have to puzzle the scene from the view of the man sitting on the back of the elephant.

You know you’ll have the boat, river, fish and bird his eye line at least. So you know generally what part of the puzzle should look like and you have to figure out the rest. And let me tell you, it is AMAZING what everyone is looking at! Of course it must be if even the birds and fish are shocked!

I highly recommend any of the Wasgij puzzles, I love the added challenge of figuring out what the picture is, and I love the high quality of the Jumbo puzzles. Give yourself a challenge and try a Wasgij puzzle if you have the chance, it’s so much fun!

Birdhouse Celebration

On April 4, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

My first shaped puzzle (other than a circle) than I’ve completed. I’ve started several shaped puzzles and for one reason or another I haven’t completed any of them. Perhaps I had a mental block about them and just thought a puzzle should be rectangular or square. Whatever the reason, I finally got an entire shaped puzzle completed! (Mom and I assembled this one together, I have to give her a shout out. Hi mom!)

It’s a beautiful image and mom and I enjoyed the assembly very much. It’s even got a little bird who’s coming to visit but didn’t quite make it into the puzzle. How cute! This puzzle would be great for the family around July 4th. Have everyone over for the holiday and you can have them help assemble a puzzle while you’re waiting for the fireworks!

This was the first Sunsout puzzle I assembled that I thought had very good quality. The previous ones I’ve worked I wasn’t pleased with the amount of cardboard backing that didn’t get cut all the way through or was hanging on the back, and the pieces that fit together too tightly so you actually have to work at attaching them.

This puzzle however, had neither of those issues and we enjoyed this puzzle quite a bit. It was nice to be able to pick out the pieces for a small section and work on it without having to refer to the box constantly. The pieces fit together very well and there was no excess cardboard or paper hanging off the back of the pieces. The colors were bold and beautiful and even though the piece shapes didn’t have much variety it was still a fun assembly. The quality of this puzzle was quite good to my surprise, and I’m glad! Sunsout isn’t a company I normally purchase from, but if we can check out the pieces at the thrift store first then I’m all for it.

Old Time Rockers!

On March 23, 2017May 19, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

This Wasgij was so much fun! I love the destiny puzzles where they show you a scene from long ago and you have to figure out how it looks now or how the characters have changed. As usual, I’m only showing a tiny bit of the puzzle because I don’t want to spoil the fun for anyone who hasn’t done the puzzle yet. That lady in the picture sure doesn’t look like an old time rocker, does she? 😉

Jumbo is one of the best jigsaw puzzle companies in my opinion, they’re right up there with Ravensburger! The pieces have a wonderful feel, an almost waxy coating, they fit together beautifully (sometimes better than Ravensburger), the piece thickness is excellent, and the it’s just an excellent assembly from beginning to end. Add excellent artists and a wonderful selection and they are right up there at the top!

The rockers in this puzzle were playing a large arena in the 70’s, so where are they now? Still playing large venues, or maybe something smaller? What does everyone look like 40 years later? In some cases, it ain’t pretty! And how has their audience changed? It makes for a fun AND funny puzzle that I highly recommend!