Balconies in Bloom

On May 11, 2020May 10, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

I’ve had this set of 12 puzzles in a multipack since way before the world stopped rotating, and I sometimes forget that it’s sitting under the puzzle table. I’m glad I decided to find myself a 300 piece puzzle to assemble, because this one was really fun to do.

I put the box away and assembled it without help from the image, and had a fantastic time. It makes me want to put together the rest of the puzzles in this multipack because I just love the artwork! There are still four 500 piece puzzles, two 150 pieces, and one more 300 piece. They aren’t the best quality, but I knew that before I purchased them; it was all about these images by Iralu. You don’t see artwork like this on puzzles usually, and I absolutely adore it. 😍

I decided to show each of the balconies separately, they’re all pretty cool looking…

Balconies 1

Each one is very detailed and deserving of it’s own picture. There is coffee, wine, and/or cigarettes on every table.

Balconies 2

Everyone smokes in this tableau. Perhaps these are French balconies?

Balconies 3

This is my favorite of the four. You know me, I love the colors – especially the purple chairs! And I’m great with coffee at all hours of the day, keep it coming! ☕

Balconies 4

Wine AND coffee. Hmmm. Not a good combo for me. I’d much rather put some whiskey in my coffee – I am partly Irish after all. I’m not allowed to drink with all the pain meds I’m on, but an Irish coffee sounds really good right about now. 😎

Stranger Things

On April 22, 2020April 22, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Stranger Things was a fun but challenging puzzle, and even though the pieces were a little on the thin side, overall it wasn’t too bad in the quality department. The image reproduction was excellent, and it made for quite an entertaining puzzle – I loved putting together the fireworks!

Normally I find that Cardinal doesn’t have the best quality, they make many of the puzzles that you find in the dollar stores here in the US. It seems to me that quality is less important to them than quantity is. But this puzzle looked as though it was a special edition, and even the box was nicer than normal. The pieces were thinner than I’d have liked, but the fit and image reproduction were both excellent…

Stranger Things 1

The image was crisp and clear, even down to the very small sections. I was surprised at how detailed these faces were and how clearly you could see them, considering this is only a few pieces out of 300.

I haven’t kept up with the show; I started watching it in 2016 (the year it was released) and watched a few episodes of that first season. I enjoyed it, but things got in the way and I just haven’t gotten back to it. Therefore, I have no idea what’s going on in this image. Apparently there’s a monster, and things are happening at the mall – sounds like the plot of an 80’s movie to me. 😉

Even though I have no clue what’s happening in this image it was still an entertaining and challenging assembly; and in these times of puzzle shortages, with prices going up, almost any puzzle will do if you’re running low. (I’m not even close to being close to running low, but you get what I”m saying.)

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

On April 13, 2020April 13, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This Vegas puzzle was purchased on one of the last puzzle shopping trips before everything shut down; there were a few 300 piece puzzles with images by Charles Fazzino, and this one jumped right out at me. It’s quite busy and full of detail, and I’m happy to report the quality was excellent.

It was very good quality for a TCG puzzle; nice thick pieces, with excellent fit and image reproduction. There was only one piece shape, which is a bit disappointing, but the image is so detailed that it didn’t make putting it together any less engrossing. The assembly was entertaining, and as someone who’s been to Las Vegas I found it great fun to see the representations of some of the Vegas landmarks and hot spots.

Fabulous Las Vegas 1

Motel with waterbeds, porno movies, 24 hour drive up weddings, slot machines – where else could you be but Vegas? 😉

Fabulous Las Vegas 2 And if you want to get out of town you can go see the Hoover Dam, or visit the Chicken Ranch – two VERY different sights to see. If you haven’t heard about The Chicken Ranch, um…. it’s a place where some “ladies of the evening” work.

Fabulous Las Vegas 3

I have a special place in my heart for Circus Circus. Mom and Dad went to Vegas when I was younger, and she talked about it a lot and told us how much fun it was. She thought it was the best place in Vegas (at least for her), and my memories of her stories still make me smile. 🙂 When I went there about 10 years ago, we stayed across the street at the Riviera, and I couldn’t wait to go to Circus Circus and see what she was talking about. It was a pretty fun place, and they had great buffets too!

Fabulous Las Vegas 4

My only problem with this puzzle was this bit at the top, where the image was ripped. It’s just an anomaly, one of those things that happens. I’m not mad or wanting my money back; it didn’t make the assembly any less fun, I still had a great time!

Skate Night

On April 1, 2020March 31, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles9 Comments

Man, this puzzle was so much fun! It was truly over too quickly, even though I put the box away to make it last a little longer. I would love to have this in a much larger piece count, either 1000 or 2000 pieces. It would be heavenly to assemble this again with more pieces. 💗

It’s no secret that Aimee Stewart is my favorite jigsaw puzzle artist, and this puzzle is a perfect example of why that is. The use of colors is brilliant, and the overall feeling of this image just makes you smile. I adore it, and I’m so pleased to have been able to assemble it.

Ah, the memories of the roller rink when I was in middle school and junior high. I always hated it when they called for a “backwards” or “reverse” skate, because I was never good enough on roller skates to figure out how to skate backwards without broken limbs or a cracked skull – or causing mass casualties within the people skating around me. We lived on a dirt road, with a dirt driveway, there was no place for me to practice; and to be fair, I also was a major klutz as a child.

Mom would be upset with me if I didn’t share this rollerskating story from my youth; she loved to tell this story about raising a wild child like me, so here goes. I broke my foot in 5th grade and spent several months in a cast. My class had a field trip planned for the local roller rink, of course while I was still in a cast. Even though I was on crutches (no walking cast for me), I decided that shouldn’t keep me from having a good time, so I got one skate and used my broken foot to Fred Flintstone myself around the rink – I used my cast to push myself forward. Sheesh. With that kind of ridiculous decision making it’s a miracle that I survived my youth. Honestly.

Skate Night 2 — Can you do this with your puzzles?

The quality of this Buffalo puzzle was exceptional – from the thick chipboard to the fit and image reproduction. When the fit is exceptional I always like to stand them up, for some reason I can’t explain it makes me very, very happy.

In general, this puzzle made me very, very happy on every level. My only complaint was that it is only available in a 300 piece puzzle and no larger piece counts. Please Buffalo, hear our plea; give us this puzzle in 1000 or 2000 pieces – we will absolutely buy it. In fact it will be a bestseller. I guarantee it.

Butterfly Garden

On March 16, 2020March 16, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Butterfly Garden is my free puzzle from Ceaco that I received as a “we’re sorry for our terrible quality 1200 piece puzzle you bought”. I’d like to say I was completely impartial while I assembled this and judged it’s quality, but that would be a lie. I had an attitude when I was putting this puzzle together; about the brand, the image, the quality – everything. Sorry, I’m human.

I was going to review this puzzle, but as I previously stated I found that I wasn’t going into the assembly with anything resembling a fair-minded attitude. I may not be happy with Ceaco presently, but it wouldn’t be proper for me to review this knowing I wasn’t pleased with the puzzle before I had even started the assembly.

This was way easier than I thought it would be, and I didn’t have a particularly good time with it. I’m not a fan of the artwork, it’s very dark and not as pretty as one would hope a butterfly garden would be. It’s nothing against the artist really, it just isn’t my taste. I wasn’t given a choice as to which puzzle I would be getting, and I was unhappy with both the piece count and the image, obviously.

Butterfly Garden 1

This was the hardest part of the puzzle for me, and it was only around 10-12 pieces. Didn’t take me long.

This whole fiasco with the 12 days of Christmas puzzles was an eye-opener for me, and to be honest I’m still a bit perturbed about it. There is still a Ceaco ban in place for me, I will not be buying any of their puzzles. My daughter and I were puzzle shopping after the holidays to spend a gift card, and she found a really cute Charlie Brown family puzzle that I actually loved the look of. Unfortunately it was a Ceaco and I made her put it back on the shelf. They will not be getting any of my money any time soon.

I realize one person’s boycott is a drop in the bucket, and they obviously couldn’t care less about whether or not I’m buying their puzzles; but it makes me feel better to spend my puzzle budget on companies that care about the quality of their product and the satisfaction of their customers. Unfortunately in my experience Ceaco is definitely NOT one of those companies.