The Ballet Class

On February 8, 2018February 8, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Very cute Ravensburger that we were hoping was complete, unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. Still Mom and I enjoyed ourselves assembling it, and isn’t that what counts the most?

I love working Ravensburger puzzles, they’re my favorite manufacturer. Their puzzles are excellent quality all around and are the best to work with in my opinion. And if I ever have a problem with one of their puzzles they have always made it right immediately with excellent customer service. The pieces are thick and feel good in your hand, there are always a nice variety of shapes to work with, the image reproduction is excellent, and they fit together very well. They’re the best in the biz!

Even with this puzzle being over 34 years old, it is still in excellent shape. I could tell by the condition of the box that it was a well loved puzzle, but I was pleased that the pieces themselves were still holding up wonderfully. If only all the pieces were there – bummer.

Still, it won’t deter us from continuing to shop at the thrift stores, there are too many fabulous puzzles there at such good prices. If you want to stop my mom from shopping the thrift stores you’re going to have to wrestle her car keys from her – good luck with that! 🙂

Yoshi

On November 18, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Look at this adorable guy – what a bummer that he seems to have had a nose job, and they took a bit too much off the top! I was really looking forward to assembling this puzzle, it’s so cute and it reminds me of when my kids were little.

Their pieces are a bit thin, but relatively sturdy, and their catalog has some excellent and unique puzzles! They’ve got tv show puzzles from Game of Thrones, Supernatural, Rick and Morty, and the Golden Girls to video games like Super Mario Bros, Fallout, Pokemon, Space Invaders, and The Legend of Zelda. They’ve also got some comic book art from The Walking Dead and Court of the Dead, they’ve got puzzles you won’t see anywhere else.

I enjoyed this assembly and wish Yoshi were all there, he would have looked great on my son’s bedroom door.

Dog Hammock

On October 16, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another adorable dog puzzle, look at that face! What a sweet, sweet puppy!

I wasn’t feeling great when I did this, and because it was only a 200 piece puzzle I was able to work on it lying down in bed. It doesn’t take up much room and fits easily on my white board even though it’s a larger piece puzzle. They’re large for Re-Marks, but not the largest I’ve worked with.

These pieces fit together very well, and it was a fun puzzle all around. It really was an excellent image for puzzling, the hammock, dog, and flower were easy to find and assemble. There wasn’t too much plain white space, but enough that the puzzle wasn’t too easy to complete. Excellent quality puzzle, with a truly adorable image. They have more in the series, including 2 more puzzles with dogs, a cat, a hamster, and a frog. They’re all very cute, and I would love to find and assemble them as well. 🙂

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book One

On September 19, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This was a challenging 200 piece puzzle; the line drawings along with the black and white palette made it pretty difficult. I enjoyed the challenge, but had to check the box lid more often than I normally do.

The quality of this puzzle was good, the pieces were thick and sturdy and fit together well. The only issue I had was that the finished puzzle didn’t lie flat. You can see in the picture above that the tabs seem to stick up. I’m not sure what the cause of that might be, but it was odd. We found two of these Wimpy Kid puzzles at the thrift store, so I’m curious to see if the second puzzle has this same issue. I’ve been impressed with the other puzzles by Pressman Toys that I’ve assembled, so I’m interested to see if I find this problem with other puzzles they’ve produced.

I thought this would be a quick assembly being only 200 pieces, but I had to work at it a bit more than I assumed I would have to. That’s not a bad thing, I enjoy being challenged and I’m always trying to exercise my brain to keep sharp. It doesn’t always work, but I keep on trying. 😉

Gormiti

On September 5, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Absolutely gorgeous colors and excellent pieces! I think this is my first 200 piece Ravensburger; quite a bummer that a piece was missing. 😒

I have found, through my extensive thrift store puzzle “research” that children’s puzzles seem much more likely to have missing pieces than adult puzzles. Children are usually a little more careless with their things – I know I certainly was as a child; it’s not really surprising when there’s a missing piece. Sometimes when the puzzle is such excellent quality it’s a bit of a downer, but those are the chances we take buying used.

I’m not familiar with the toy or tv series, but my children don’t usually watch cartoons anymore. Regardless, I loved this puzzle. Here’s hoping our next 200 piece Ravensburger has all of it’s parts. 🙂