My Space

On January 12, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Absolutely gorgeous puzzle, but much more challenging than I’d assumed! The water in the background was easy enough to find and assemble, but the rest of the pieces took much more focus and attention. I was planning on this little 300 piece puzzle only taking an hour or so. Wrong!

The quality of this puzzle was fair. The finish was fairly shiny and caused glare even on the lighter color pieces, and the tabs were very easily bent, and all the pieces were ballerinas (2 prong/2 hole). On the plus side, you can see that besides the shine the image reproduction is beautiful, and the pieces fit together very well. It still shocks me sometimes how each piece with blobs of smudgy colors fits together to make such a lovely image. Taking the picture gives you a completely different look at the finished image, and it’s surprising how a slightly different perspective changes things.

I didn’t enjoy this puzzle as much as I’d hoped, but I still had fun with the assembly. Most of it was done in bed because it was a bad day for me and sitting wasn’t possible for more than a few minutes at a time. I’m glad I still have my old white board that I can use in bed for assembly – it comes in very handy!

Summer Teatime

On January 5, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This puzzle made me stop and think. It isn’t an image I would choose to purchase new, but having gotten it from a thrift store I’m more willing to assemble it; it’s a lovely scene, but it isn’t an image that grabs me (hope this makes sense). I assembled it one morning because I wanted a smaller piece count puzzle, and oddly enough, once it was assembled the image seems more attractive to me. I had to stop and think why this was.

I suppose it’s a combination of things. First, the puzzle was EXCELLENT quality. Extremely thick, sturdy pieces that fit together wonderfully. The image reproduction is good, if a bit shiny; even with lighter colors a shiny finish causes glare when you’re working under artificial lights. (I have no natural light in my puzzle area) The pieces are EZ grasp, which added to the thickness of the board made for a wonderful tactile experience. Second, the entire assembly was quite fun and I enjoyed placing every single piece. The image makes for a good puzzle with some areas of a single color and some busier areas with flowers and berries.

Having worked with the excellent quality pieces which helped to make the assembly so fun, I took a picture and the image seemed more attractive to me. I was happy about finishing the puzzle and seeing the image assembled I thought “What a pretty picture!”. That isn’t what I thought when I first saw the puzzle box. I didn’t hate it, it just wasn’t a picture that made me suck in my breath and say “ooooh!” You know what I mean, you’ve most likely done it when you saw a puzzle that you loved.

I’ve become a bit less judgy since I’ve started doing reviews because many times a puzzle that was chosen for me to assemble isn’t one I would have chosen for myself. And almost every time I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the assembly and ended up seeing the image differently once I’d completed it. The same goes for thrift store purchases, mom buys puzzles that aren’t always ones that we’d normally purchase, but getting a puzzle at 95% off changes your perspective. 😉

If you get a chance to work a puzzle that might not ordinarily grab your attention, give it a try (especially a thrift store or swapped puzzle). It’s a nice change and you just may be surprised at how much you enjoy it!

The Physical Impossibility of Sadness in the Mind of the Befriended

On December 31, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

That is quite the title! But let me tell you, this less than 300 piece puzzle is worthy of such a great big name. What a wonderful treat it was to assemble, it’s bright colorful image and interesting and challenging piece shapes made it a delight to put together.

Since the wooden puzzle experiment I can’t seem to stop myself from spending lots of time on the websites for Liberty, Artifact, Peaceful, and Wentworth puzzles; there are so many fabulous images and interesting piece shapes to look at! While looking through the Artifact website I found this puzzle with the most wonderful shaped pieces and I couldn’t help myself. In my defense, I was left unsupervised. 😇

They call this piece cut “split tendrils”, I call it amazing! It took a few minutes to wrap my brain around how the pieces fit together; it makes for a more challenging puzzle but it’s the best kind of challenging! The whimsies are so adorable and they fit in with the piece shapes rather seamlessly. I can’t recommend this company enough, they have so many different types of cuts to choose from!

This artwork shows a creature sitting at the table having a bowl of cereal with a wall full of memories of adventures with his friend. It’s so sweet, and I love the picture as much as I love the piece cut. It’s just a great puzzle all around and I’m sure it will be assembled many more times. Amazingly entertaining!

With the obvious piece shapes it’s a bit easier to see the image from farther away, so to speak. Adorable artwork, amazing pieces – so much fun!

I’ve never really made New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m going to do my best to treat myself to more awesome wooden puzzles in 2018! I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year’s Eve, and may the next year be filled with love, laughter, kindness, and many, many fun puzzles! 🎇🎉🎇

Ninety-Nine Butterflies

On November 25, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is a beautiful puzzle and it was just what I needed at the time; a smaller puzzle that was the right amount of challenging to keep my brain occupied. It’s not too difficult, but it ain’t easy either!

This was the best quality Bits and Pieces puzzle I’ve ever done. The finish made it look like a china plate – just lovely! The pieces were a good thickness and the fit was excellent. I’ve had several Bits and Pieces puzzles that were extremely loose or that had many pieces that just sit next to each other – or both! Thankfully that wasn’t an issue with this puzzle, it was a pleasure to work with. 🙂

Such a pretty picture, and it was the perfect distraction to keep my nerves in check and help lower my stress level on a very rough day. Thank goodness for jigsaw puzzles!

Review: My Sister’s Closet

On November 22, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

My Sister’s Closet by Tricia Reilly-Matthews – Sunsout – 300 pieces

I liked the quality and the image of this puzzle very much. Sunsout is hit or miss for me sometimes. We all have different things that are important to us in a puzzle, and sometimes the fit of Sunsout is too tight and (for me) it takes away from the enjoyment of puzzling. This 300 piece puzzle though, was a great fit and such a sweet image. 🙂

I don’t believe I’ve worked a puzzle by this artist before, she seems to capture the essence of children. I don’t know another way to explain it, you can tell looking at the little girls in this picture that the artist knows and loves children. Once I looked her up it all made sense, Tricia Reilly-Matthews teaches art to children from kindergarten to 5th grade – of course she paints children so well!

It’s amazing how tastes seem different depending on how much you have to spend on something. This image is very cute, but I don’t think I’d purchase it if I had to pay full price. It’s just not the type of image I’m most drawn to. But ask me to only pay 69 cents for it, and I’m there! Absolutely I’d love to do this puzzle! I wonder if that speaks more to my puzzle addiction, or to my tendency to be a tightwad/cheapskate?

Whichever is the answer, I’m glad mom found this puzzle to do, I enjoyed it very much!

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