Mathematics

On October 9, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Unfortunately we’ve come to the end of our STEM puzzles, or as hubby and I like to call them, “bathroom puzzles”. They’re such tiny pieces that they all fit onto a paper-lined cookie sheet and I put it in the master bathroom for hubby to work on while he’s spending lots of time in there.

I didn’t get to work on this one as much as I’d hoped, although it looked like a lot of fun. Hubby did most of the work during the night when he couldn’t sleep; I woke up to an almost complete puzzle. I was pretty bummed, because Math was the one I was looking forward to the most -those blocks of color looked like so much fun! Of course I didn’t tell him that; I’m not only an excellent puzzler, I’m a wonderful wife too. 😉

This was the last of the four we assembled, and he didn’t tell me until it was finished that he’d like for me to glue them and put them all in one frame and hang them up at his work (he writes programs to run machines, so he uses Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math every day at his job). Now he’s got to put together the other 3 all over again – although I don’t think he’ll mind at all, he really had a good time with them!

I’d love for Professor Puzzle to come out with more of these mini jigsaw puzzles, whatever the subject matter may be. They’re extremely well made – the best quality I’ve ever seen on such small pieces. The piece shape is very obvious in the finished image, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the assembly for me; and once they’re glued that will lessen quite a bit.

If you enjoy mini puzzles or mini pieces, these test tube puzzles may be just the thing for you. We found them at Barnes & Noble in the US, and hubby and I enjoyed them very much! Looks like we’ll be enjoying them once more, we have to re-assemble them so I can get them glued and framed. 🖼

Technology

On October 6, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is the 3rd of the mini STEM puzzles (although if I’d done them in order this should have been the second – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). My husband and I had a great time assembling them all, and I highly recommend them.

There are only 150 pieces each, and they come in a test tube. The label serves as both a poster showing what the finished puzzle will look like, and it has a quiz on the back relating to the subject… (click on the photos twice to see a larger image)

If you enjoy working with very small pieces, or would just like to give them a try, they are definitely recommended. We had a great time with all 4 puzzles; only 1 more to go!

Science

On September 29, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is the second of four mini puzzles that hubby and I did together. He had so much fun with this one that he took it into the living room and almost did the entire puzzle by himself! I had to tell him to let me at least put in a few pieces, if I don’t help in the assembly I can’t post it on the blog. 😉

There’s something about the very small pieces that is so engrossing and entertaining – as long as they’re good quality. You start to put a few pieces together and you just can’t put it down; although that could be just me. I wouldn’t want to work with the teeny tiny pieces all the time, but once in a while is pretty darn fun.

This image is very busy, and with the piece shapes in the finished image it’s hard to see all of the line drawings. Honestly, it was my least favorite of the 4, but still fun to put together. You can see the image a little better on the poster below…

Science Poster

It’s so detailed that I wanted to enlarge the poster to show all the drawings. It was tough to work with all the black and white lines, especially because the pieces are so small. The quiz on the back is fun to read through as well…

Science Quiz

These puzzles are a lot of fun, and if you want a challenge I highly recommend them! Stay tuned in the next few weeks for Technology and Mathematics. 👩‍🎓

Engineering

On September 16, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I love the idea of these puzzles, four small piece puzzles each highlighting an area of STEM education – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. I found all four of them when mom and I went shopping together. They were all very entertaining, and even though they’re very tiny hubby and I had a lot of fun with them. 🙂

These are the first jigsaw puzzles I’ve done from this brand, although I did review a set of their brain teaser puzzles last year. I was very impressed with the quality of this puzzle! It has been my experience that it’s difficult to get good quality with such small pieces, but Professor Puzzle seems to have worked it out. The pieces are a very good thickness, and fit together well. There is no variety in piece shape, but with only 150 pieces to work with it didn’t bother me much at all. The image reproduction is good, with sharp lines and a matte finish.

As you can see, I wasn’t kidding about the very, very small pieces. I laid them all out on a paper-lined cookie sheet and put it in the master bathroom. Hubby enjoys having something constructive to do, and he gets very involved in the puzzles when I leave them for him to work on. (He got so involved with this one he said he sat there until his leg fell asleep! 😉 )

Each puzzle comes in it’s own test tube, with a small poster that also serves as a label on one side, with an engineering quiz on the back…

We found them at Barnes & Noble, and I have to say they were great fun! Hubby enjoyed every one, and was a little bummed when we finished the last of the four. If you’re looking for a challenge, just like the look of them, or if the small pieces intrigue you – I highly recommend any of these puzzles. 👍

Stay tuned for the remaining 3 – they were all entertaining but Mathematics was my favorite; hubby preferred this one, Engineering.

Islands of Life

On July 16, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

IMG_E4795 — Islands of Life by APAK – Artifact Puzzles – 165 pieces

I bought this puzzle for mom for Mother’s Day – I hope she forgives me, cause this one was a bear!

We finally got around to assembling this one on the 4th of July. Mom and I did most of the puzzle, but my daughter helped here and there. It was quite difficult, especially that border, holy smokes! It isn’t as dark as it looks in the picture, it’s actually quite greenish – dark green.

I got quite frustrated with it at times, it was the border that kept giving me fits; I kept trying to find the pieces that those tree root looking pieces fit into. There were only 165 pieces, but it was very challenging. I even apologized to Mom for giving it to her! Even though it was hard, I don’t really feel bad about giving it to her. Although it was frustrating and demanding, we had a good time working on the puzzle and working together again. The Puzzle Posse is back!

There were some interesting looking buildings on one of the floating islands in space, and I loved the scene of the strange little people having a picnic on the main island. Those were some of the easiest parts to assemble besides the big tall thing with a window. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a building or a plant of some kind; whatever it was, it was fun to put together – in a “test your puzzle abilities” kind of way.

You can also see in the smaller images above the wonderfully unique shapes of some of the pieces, they gave our gray cells quite a workout! Luckily, mom and I are pretty smart (at least we’re good at puzzles) and we got it done. 😁

Just like with Alice in Wonderland I forgot to take a picture of the whimsy pieces, although with this one there weren’t very many of them. Even so, I didn’t separate them out for a pre-assembly picture. Unfortunately the puzzle belongs to mom, so it isn’t here for me to go through and get a picture of the cool pieces. Sorry about that guys, I promise to do better.