Tag: 500 pieces

Love Stamps 2 In Progress…and Happy Father’s Day!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

Love Stamps 2 by Lois B. Sutton – White Mountain – 500 pieces

It’s Father’s Day here in the United States, so I just wanted to give a shout out all the dads out there – Happy Father’s Day! My own dad has been in the hospital twice already this year and he’s almost 80, which has emphasized to me that there are a finite number of days we have left together. Even though I tell him I love him every time we see each other I wanted to take the time today to let him (and everyone out there in blog-land) know how much I love him and that I appreciate him more than he knows. I’m proud to be his daughter; he’s a wonderful man and a great dad and I love him to the moon and back. 💗🌙💗

I chose this puzzle as my next one and had already started sorting it when I finally really looked at the image on the box and saw the “Love you Dad” stamp – could it be more perfect for Father’s Day? Honestly, I didn’t pick this puzzle because of that stamp, it was just a happy little accident, as Bob Ross used to say. 🎨🖼

Literally this stamp and the border is all I have accomplished so far, but I can tell this is going to be an excellent assembly. The fit is lovely, the image reproduction is sharp and clear and it’s just fun to work with. Because today is Father’s Day this is the only stamp that was important to get finished (or nearly so) before I give myself a break to go and rest.

Dads, I hope you have a great Father’s Day today – we appreciate you! Hopefully you’ll have some time to yourself to puzzle, golf, fish, watch sports, scratch all those places that need it, or whatever it is that makes you happy. And… without moms there would be no dads, so Happy Father’s Day to all you moms out there as well. 😉

If it isn’t Father’s Day where you are – Happy Sunday my friends, and happy puzzling!

Rainbow Cake (Circle of Colors)

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Rainbow Cake (Circle of Colors) by Inna Markova – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This beauty was so much more fun than I anticipated – love, love, loved it! Why did it take me so long to do a Ravensburger puzzle once I came back to the puzzle table? No idea, but I’m so glad this one was available, I had the best time. 😍

Ravensburger puzzles are my go to, I love their quality. Of course, no company is perfect and sometimes I’ve had an issue here or there but it has always been resolved quickly and to my satisfaction. When I was working on the behemoth 40,320 piece Disney puzzle I found a piece that was mangled with most of the image torn off; and even though the puzzle wasn’t yet for sale in the US at the time, the company happily replaced the entire section of the puzzle for me. Excellent customer service.

I found myself constantly running my hands over the completed sections of the puzzle the entire time I was working on it, I just couldn’t help myself. I do love a puzzle massage at the end of an assembly, but there’s something about how this brand feels – it’s fantastic! From the sorting in the beginning to the very last connection I kept running my fingers over a piece I was holding or even small assembled sections, it was a tactile joy.

The quality of this puzzle was excellent in every way. The fit was wonderful, great variety of piece shapes, and excellent image reproduction. The only drawback was the amount of puzz fuzz (puzzle dust) in the bag, but that’s easily remedied by dumping out the pieces into a colander and shaking it out; and it didn’t detract from the assembly in any way.

The border was a bit time consuming, but it wasn’t too horribly difficult. After that I worked on the whiter section that goes just inside the edge pieces. I didn’t work the rest of the puzzle from the outside in though, I went from the center outward. Started with the pinks and purples in the center and then to each successive color. It was completely enjoyable for me, and I tried to keep myself in check to make the assembly last, but as usual it was just too much fun and I couldn’t help myself.

No self-control at all. 😇

Oh well, self-control or not I enjoyed this puzzle very much and if you’re of a mind to give it a try it is most definitely recommended.

Orphaned Puzzles!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments
Transit Graphics – Galison – 1000 pieces

After I finished reading through the entire blog recently, I decided to also read through all the completed puzzle pages for each year – just to see my shortened comments about each of the puzzles – it was very interesting for me. While I was there I found three orphaned puzzles that were shown on a completed page for a certain year but for whatever reason they never made it to a blog post of their own. Oh dear! They won’t each get their own post, but I’ve decided to show them here all together.

The first puzzle, shown above, was completed in August of 2016. As you can tell by the awful picture this was a puzzle that was assembled before this blog even started. My mother and I used to text each other pictures of our finished puzzles, and this was a quick picture just to send over text to show her it was complete; and I’ve rounded it off so you don’t see as much of my bed. Even though it’s been almost 10 years, I still remember this one if you can believe it. It was quite easy for me, and according to my little blurb it was started one day after my husband had left for work and was finished before he got home that night. Not bad for a 1000 pieces!

Krispy Kreme – Gibsons – 500 pieces

This puzzle was completed in December of 2017. The blog was well established by then, so I’m not certain why a full post was never done. Thankfully it’s a much better picture than the previous puzzle; by this time my puzzle boards had been made for me by my sweet hubby and I had figured out how to take a picture that doesn’t look like I was in the process of falling down when the photo was shot.

Unlike the Transit Graphics puzzle, I have no memory of this one. At all. According to the completed puzzles page this one made me hungry, but I was a bit disappointed in the quality. Apparently I had higher hopes for this brand but it didn’t measure up. Thankfully it was still entertaining, and that’s what it’s all about (and I do love a Krispy Kreme donut 🍩).

Victorian Letters – Springbok – 500 pieces

Victorian Letters was also completed in December of 2017. It must have been a crazy month for me to somehow forget to give these puzzles each a post of their own. Oh well, it’s being rectified now – better late than never, right?

It won’t surprise you to hear that I don’t remember this puzzle assembly either. It’s a very pretty image though, and it makes me wish I had typed up a full post. Apparently this was one of Springbok’s very tight fitting puzzles, and at the end my thumb was hurting from smashing together pieces that fit together much too snugly.

I enjoyed reading through all the pages to see all the puzzles completed and how I described them – it was a very entertaining exercise. I’ve read through the blog before, but never through all the completed puzzles pages. I enjoyed myself more than I though I would. 😎

*ps* It also made my OCD a little crazy, so I went back through and edited all the pages so that they should all have the right size images and there is a now a running total of puzzles completed, pieces assembled, and brands worked with for each month. It needed to be done so the part of my brain that craves order would calm the $@!% down!

Cozy Fireplace

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Cozy Fireplace by Olivia Gibbs – Playview Brands (Hugge collection) – 500 pieces

A new puzzle brand to try out, too bad it was a bit of a disappointment; I hadn’t seen the “Hugge” puzzles before and I was hoping they were good quality. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either – for myself that means I won’t be getting another of these puzzles unless I find them at the thrift store.

According to the box Hugge is a Danish term that describes a quality of coziness that makes a person feel content and comfortable. It’s also often used as an adjective meaning “cozy or comfortable”. There are also instructions on How to Hugge: get comfy and relax, create a cozy atmosphere, appreciate your surroundings, be present, light a candle and do a puzzle! Each puzzle comes with a candle to help you get cozy; the candle in my puzzle was wood sage and sea salt scented. Honestly, it doesn’t smell like much to me, but I’m not as interested in the candle as I am the puzzle itself.

Overall, the puzzle quality reminds me of some White Mountain puzzles – the kind that aren’t the best quality. I’ve had some great quality from WM and some questionable quality as well; this brand reminds me of the latter. The piece shapes even remind me of White Mountain puzzles, almost exactly the same shapes. Unfortunately there were extra hanging bits of backing paper on many pieces (what I lovingly call “hanging chads”), a spongy type of fit that isn’t always pleasant to work with, an extremely shiny finish, and some image lift on many tabs so that running your hands over the finished puzzle isn’t advised. In general it was disappointing.

Many of the edge pieces had an extra 1/8 of an inch or so of the blue backing paper which doesn’t sound like much of a big deal, but removing it without damaging the piece wasn’t easy and I had to use a razor blade to get rid of it. Probably around 25 pieces or so had this extra paper and it was a pain to deal with. Nothing life altering but an annoyance nonetheless.

I wish I had good things to say about this puzzle but I really don’t. The artwork by Olivia Gibbs is adorable, and made for a great puzzle image, but that’s about it for me on the positive side.

The Missing Will

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

The Missing Will (Murder Most Puzzling) – Chronicle Books – 500 pieces

So this is another mystery puzzle where you don’t have the complete image until you assemble it (or if you wanna “cheat” there’s a picture of it in the clue envelope that comes with the puzzle – but honestly there isn’t a way to cheat a puzzle, whatever works for you is best). Therefore, I am only showing you the small image featured on the box, not the entire finished puzzle. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.

I have no idea what possessed me to start this puzzle, it has been my experience that “murder mystery” puzzles are usually not the best quality. HOWEVER, this one was a pleasant surprise! The pieces were a good thickness, very sturdy, and the fit was lovely. A group of 10 or 15 assembled pieces could be picked up and moved with no problems, nothing fell apart. For the most part the image was bright and easy to pick out words, sections, etc. This puzzle made me very happy. 😁

Usually a company that doesn’t normally make jigsaw puzzles isn’t the best in the quality department. I was happy to find that for at least this puzzle it was a pleasure to assemble. To be honest I don’t even remember where I got this puzzle, but it was loads of fun to put together and I found myself wanting to get back into the puzzle room (even when I was resting in bed and feeling horrible); there were more sections to assemble and connections to make and I wanted to see the finished image.

With this mystery you learn that Uncle Gregory has died and no one can find his will; basically the number combination to the safe is in plain sight in the room, and you have to figure it out. I’m going to show you the answer, because in my mind it’s extremely clever. But here’s a warning, spoiler ahead. If you have this puzzle and don’t want it to be spoiled for you, stop reading now and have a great day.

If you want to see the answer, scroll down a bit…

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If you read these words aloud, you’ll have the combination…04790423. Admittedly I didn’t figure it out myself and had to open up the clue envelope, but I thought it was so clever that I had to share it.