Kiki’s Delivery Service

On May 18, 2023May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Kiki’s Delivery Service – 126 pieces – Artcrystal Jigsaw?

If you’re wondering, the reason for the question mark after the brand of puzzle is because almost the entire box was written in Japanese, and the only English wording that looked like it might be a brand said Artcrystal Jigsaw. I’m hoping that’s the brand, but I can’t be certain without further information gathering – which I have to tell you I’m just feeling too lazy to do at the moment.

Worked on this with my oldest son and his girlfriend at her housewarming party at the new apartment. If you’re happy I’m finally back to puzzling you have my gently nagging puzzle buddy Penny and these two crazy kids to thank for having a small puzzle sitting on the table at the party that we could work on together. 😎

That’s my baby boy and his new girlfriend, and my hand is reaching in from the bottom left. It’s a tiny little plastic puzzle, but it’s sort of translucent, and wasn’t an easy assembly.

I think she’s planning on hanging it in one of the windows. If you ask me, it’ll be very pretty in the west window with the setting sun. ☀

Arcane Shelfie

On June 15, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

About a week before Mother’s Day my daughter said that she wanted to start working on puzzles again, but she didn’t have the space for it at the moment; so I decided to get her a small wooden puzzle for Mother’s Day. She IS the “mom” of my grandpuppies after all! I bought her this puzzle, and she brought it over to my house the next weekend so we could assemble it together, I chose well – we loved it!

The design of the pieces for this puzzle drew me in, and the image itself is so adorable it was calling to me from the computer screen. Artifact Puzzles have some of the most interesting piece cuts I’ve ever seen, their designers are extraordinary! This puzzle is quite small, at 5.5 x 16.5 inches (approx. 14 x 42 cm) it doesn’t take up much room, and the pieces are so delightful and unique it makes for quite an entertaining and challenging assembly.

There are a LOT of straight edges in this puzzle which made putting it together more difficult than I had assumed. The pipe-styled connectors and the pieces they fit into are interesting to work with and give your brain quite a workout! Of course this is a plus in my book, time spent puzzling with such an interesting image and wonderful pieces is very much time well spent. Plus I got to assemble it with my daughter, which was even more wonderful. 💕

I bought another interestingly shaped Artifact puzzle for my mom’s Mother’s Day present. They’re great to give as gifts – and when I give them to family who live close by that means I get to assemble them too. Bonus! I’m looking forward to assembling mom’s puzzle too, but she hasn’t finished it herself yet. Hurry up mom! Or better yet, bring it over here and we can assemble it together. 😁

Irises

On May 9, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This is another very small piece puzzle that mom found somewhere. The image is only the top of Van Gogh’s Irises, but it was lovely and challenging and I had the best time putting it together!

The two puzzles we have from this series were truly the best quality smaller piece puzzles that I’ve worked with. The pieces are thick and fit together extremely well, there is no wondering if you have placed the piece correctly or not. The image reproduction is very good, but seems a bit darker than the original artwork (from my non-artist point of view anyway). If mom finds any Andrews + Blaine small piece puzzles at the thrift store we’re definitely getting them!

The whole puzzle fit on a cookie sheet, and I assembled the entire thing while in bed. I haven’t been able to sit at my puzzle table for well over a week now, so all the puzzles I’m doing have to fit on my white board or something smaller so that I can do them while lying down or propped up. There’s another advantage of the tiny puzzle! 😉

I was actually a little afraid of this puzzle for a while, the image is a bit difficult. I found it to be quite calming to assemble though; and even if I had to sit and stare at them for a bit, I could find and place the pieces correctly. In the end though, I’ve discovered that I’m much braver about difficult images if there aren’t many pieces. I don’t think I’ll ever attempt Starry Night in 1000 or even 500 pieces; but I didn’t have a problem putting it together as a 40 piece wooden puzzle. If it’s super challenging my courage is directly related to piece count. 300 pieces or less? Sure! More than that? Probably not. Maybe 500 tops – maybe.

I really enjoyed this puzzle much more than I anticipated, just as much as the first one I assembled – Fairgrounds. You can’t really tell how small they are until you see the tiny little box they come in. I took a great picture of the puzzle box next to my coffee cup in that post!

It doesn’t look like these small puzzles are being produced by A + B anymore, but if you happen across one in a thrift store, go for it! It’s a nice change from larger piece counts, and just may be more fun than you think. 👍

Fairgrounds

On December 5, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

After attempting Winter Aspen, I consciously stayed away from very small piece puzzles. It took a while for my bruised ego to recover from my defeat, but eventually I decided to give them another try. I’m not sure where they came from, but mom had two 126 piece puzzles in clear plastic boxes. The completed puzzle measures approximately 3.9 x 11.8 inches (10 x 30 cm) They’re so cute and tiny, you could take them anywhere!

The image of this one looked fun (and decidedly easier than the other – Van Gogh’s Irises), so Fairground was it. The assembly was pretty quick and straightforward; it was a bit more challenging than the average 100 piece children’s puzzle, but it was very enjoyable. The pieces were very nice, thicker than other small puzzles that I’ve worked. They were sturdy and fit together quite well. The image reproduction is clear and bright; I was impressed with the quality of the entire puzzle.

To be honest, I didn’t even realize until I was finished that the two “towers” on either side of the image were made of doughnuts! 🍩 Once I saw the doughnut towers I realized it was artwork by Eric Joyner. I’d seen a few puzzles with his artwork from Artifact Puzzles when I was trying to decide on the image for my first wooden puzzle. I love the whimsy of the works, and the silliness – not to mention the bright, fun colors. There are even a few of his puzzles on my wish list of Artifact Puzzles.

I think I’ve gotten over my inability to complete Winter Aspen, and if there’s a world’s smallest puzzle that looks like fun I’ll probably attempt it. I still have Van Gogh’s Irises, same clear plastic box, same piece count – but it’s going to be a tad more of a challenge. Perhaps I’ll attempt it on a day when it feels like all the brain cells are firing at maximum capacity. Today – it ain’t that day. 🤨

We’re Cruisin’

On August 12, 2017August 12, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This puzzle is almost 30 years old! It’s showing some age spots, but it’s exceptional quality. I guess back in the late 80’s Ceaco was making some really nice, thick kid’s puzzles.

The pieces of this puzzle are so thick and dense it almost feels like wood. I’ve never seen a Ceaco puzzle like this one before, I wish they still made puzzles like this! Another thrift store find, of course – this one is from the year I got married. How in the world is 1988 that long ago? Yikes!

An adorable puzzle, and a nice easy assembly with wonderfully thick pieces that are all present and accounted for. Can’t get much better than that. My thrift store purchasing guru needs to find us some more cool puzzles please. This one was so nice!