Tag: 1000 pieces

Review: Santa’s Highway

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse. 
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Santa’s Highway by Jim Todd – Sunsout – 1000 pieces

Santa’s Highway is a great shaped puzzle from Sunsout. It was so much fun that it went together more quickly than normal for a 1000 piece puzzle. Another puzzle for Christmas in July! 🎅🤶

While I’m not a big fan of the way Sunsout rectangular puzzles fit together, their shaped puzzles are altogether different. The fit of their rectangular puzzles is very tight and you have to work at putting two pieces together – really press down on them. The shaped puzzles they produce fit together differently and I enjoy the fit much more. Sunsout has an excellent catalog of shaped puzzles, click the link above to see Sunsout puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse.

Sunsout quality is very good in my opinion. The pieces are thick and sturdy and fit together well with a random cut that gives you a wide variety of piece shapes. The image reproduction is excellent with a slightly shiny finish that can cause glare under lights. Their boxes are large and square with the name of the puzzle, artist, and manufacturer along with the piece count on all four sides – making it easy to shelve either vertically or horizontally.

The finished puzzle is 27 x 32 in. (68 x 81 cm) which is an impressive size! It’s one thing to read the number and have an idea in your head of how big it is, and it’s another thing to actually see it. It definitely makes a statement, and would look amazing framed – or even better, glued and mounted on foam backing that is cut to fit the shape. It would make more of a statement in it’s highway sign shape I think. This puzzle is part of The Highway Series by Jim Todd – gorgeous puzzles shaped like highway signs with scenes from along the route; they’d make a great wall hanging for a car enthusiast or frequent traveler! Click the link above to see all the Highway Series puzzles and others from this artist available at Puzzle Warehouse.

Santa’s Highway went together quickly as it was easy to pull out sections to assemble. Unlike rectangular puzzles it isn’t as easy to start a shaped puzzle with the edge. I started with the cactus and reindeer flying across the moon, then moved on to the map and pictures. One after another each section went into place quickly because it was so much fun to assemble that I couldn’t leave it alone! Also, I loved how the edge looks beveled; it makes the puzzle even more striking and distinctive. I had a great time with it and am now looking at getting Lincoln Highway from this series to assemble next – it has gorgeous scenes from Historic Pennsylvania Highway 30. Another one added to my wish list, which is getting quite large! 😉

This puzzle was a wonderfully entertaining assembly and I enjoyed it from start to finish! If you enjoy Christmas or shaped puzzles, or even want to give shaped puzzles a try I highly recommend Santa’s Highway. Two thumbs way up! 👍🎄👍

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review, all opinions are truthful and 100% my own.

 

Glen Canyon

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Glen Canyon – Bela Baliko (America’s Parks Collections) – 1000 pieces

Another new puzzle company we’ve tried! This isn’t our usual puzzle, mom and I prefer cartoon puzzles and collages, but this one was pretty, it was a thrift store purchase, and the pieces were so nice!

The Bela Baliko quality was good-ish. Beautiful image reproduction with nice, thick pieces and no hanging bits of paper or puzzle dust. On the downside, the fit was unusually loose, probably the loosest fit we’ve worked with. The slightest brush with your hand or arm and the pieces were upset. That seems to be happening a lot lately with the new companies we’ve tried. Perhaps it was just the end of the run, I’ve only worked the one puzzle from Bela Baliko so I can’t judge their entire catalog by this single puzzle. I’m just saying how this one was to assemble.

Mom and I assembled this puzzle over several days. It wasn’t too difficult, but could be tedious at times as there was quite a bit of rock that was the same color. Still, it makes for a lovely image and it was fun to try a new company. And you can’t beat the price – 69 cents! 😎

 

 

Antique World Map

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments
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Antique World Map – Ravensburger (Wood Finish) – 1000 pieces

I thought this wood finish would be cool when I ordered it. It wasn’t cool.  It was AWESOME!

I had probably assembled about 20 pieces of the edge when I texted my mom and told her I wanted every single wood finish puzzle that Ravensburger has. I absolutely love the way the pieces look and feel. Especially on this antique map, it gives it something extra and it looks amazing! I can’t stop running my fingers over the puzzle, it’s something special. Either that, or I really need to get out of the house more. Maybe a little of both? 😊

This wasn’t a easy puzzle, the entire map is very muted with very little bright color and lots of shades of brown. It took me 4 days to complete,  though some days I wasn’t able to work on it much. Still it was moderately difficult, but I would definitely recommend it! This is a gorgeous puzzle when complete and would be beautiful framed.

I love the look of antique map puzzles, I think most of them are beautiful and always exclaim over them when I’m puzzle shopping or browsing. But for some reason this is the first one I’ve actually purchased and assembled! Mom did find a 4000 piece Educa map at the thrift store, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. None of them look easy, but I just find them stunning to look at; I’m proud of myself for finally ordering and assembling one. 🙂

If you’re not intimidated by the difficulty of this puzzle I highly recommend it! The texture of the pieces is fabulous and the finished product is definitely frame-worthy!

 

 

 

Going To Church

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Going to Church by William H. Johnson – Mattel – 1000 pieces

This image jumped right out at me when Mom was showing me her latest thrift store haul, and it was the one I wanted to do first. Not only because the image is striking and interesting, but because the manufacturer was a new one for me, Mattel.

This artwork by William H. Johnson is compelling, and makes for an excellent jigsaw puzzle! It’s not as easy as it looks however, it was more difficult to assemble than I assumed. Surprisingly sturdy pieces with very nice image reproduction – I saw “Mattel” and thought they wouldn’t be very good quality (I was wrong, and shame on me). They weren’t as thick as Ravensburger, but the pieces were quite sturdy and there was a good variety of piece shapes.

The only issue I had with this puzzle was that the pieces fit together way too loosely. I work on a fabric board which helps stop pieces from sliding too much, but even with the fabric board the pieces were easily upset when bumped.

Although the puzzle wasn’t as easy as I’d assumed it was still great fun. I love working a thrift store puzzle that is something you wouldn’t necessarily choose and it ends up being more fun than you expected. It happens quite a bit, so I don’t know why I’m surprised every time. Thrift store puzzles rock! 😎

 

Review: Summer Hummer

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse. 
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Summer Hummer by Spencer Williams – Sunsout – 1000 pieces

Summer Hummer is a beautiful puzzle that would look amazing framed. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, and went together pretty quickly. It was a fun assembly, which I didn’t expect! 🙂

Sunsout is a puzzle manufacturer I don’t usually purchase. Not because of their quality, it’s just a matter of taste/opinion; I prefer puzzles with a different fit. Sunsout puzzles fit together quite snugly and it always makes me think I don’t have the correct piece if I have to really push it together. A lot of people prefer the tighter fit you get with Sunsout and Springbok puzzles and they are just as right in their opinion as I am in mine. 😎 Sunsout puzzles are made in the USA and eco-friendly using soy based inks and recycled cardboard. Thumbs up for that!

The pieces were undamaged and fully separated in the bag and there was a moderate amount of puzzle dust (might want to dump the pieces out on something other than your board first). The pieces are thick and sturdy and fit together quite tightly; you can easily move sections around without them falling apart and can even lift the entire puzzle once it’s completed. Most of pieces were ballerinas (2 prong/2 hole) but with a large variety of sizes and shapes. There was a small amount of hanging paper on the backs of some pieces – little bits of paper left from the cutting process. It isn’t too much to deal with but can be annoying. The image reproduction is very good – the colors are bright and the image matches the box cover exactly. The finish on the pieces is slightly glossy and can cause glare working under lights; it wasn’t too much of a problem with this puzzle as there aren’t many dark sections.

I was surprised at the size of this puzzle 26 x 26 inches (66 x 66 cm), it seems much bigger when you’ve finished it. The box is quite large for a 1000 piece puzzle, 12.5 inches square (31.75 cm) and the bottom section is thinner cardboard. All four sides have the puzzle and artist’s name, piece count, finished size and manufacturer. Three of the sides also have a smaller complete image making it easy to shelve either vertically or horizontally.

This puzzle took about 3 days to complete which is about average for me. I thought the background sections would be difficult and time consuming but they really weren’t. The larger hummingbird was easy enough to pick out but the smaller bird is green and the pieces were easy to overlook at first. Once the flowers and birds were complete you’re left with a lot of green. Many shades of green. But it wasn’t bad! Plenty of shading within the green and textures on the leaves made it easier.

This was my first puzzle by Spencer Williams, and I enjoyed the artwork very much. It makes for good puzzling and is a beautiful image. You can click here to see the other puzzle available by this artist at Puzzle Warehouse, it’s a lovely image of soaring eagles. Before completing this puzzle I would have thought it would be difficult with the background of the sky, but I think it would most likely be another fun assembly like this one.

Summer Hummer was enjoyable to assemble and the finished puzzle is gorgeous and would be excellent for framing! Even though the fit isn’t my cup of tea I have to say this is one of the most beautiful finished puzzles I’ve seen in quite a while. If you like a puzzle that fits together tightly and this image speaks to you, I definitely recommend this puzzle. 👍

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review, all thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.