Tag: 500 pieces

Jungle Selfies – Day 1

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Jungle Selfies by Howard Robinson – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

Oh no! She’s back with more individual puzzles and silly names and backstories! Sorry (not sorry) guys. 😇

These sets of mini puzzles from Cra-Z-Art are perfect for me when I’m wanting to sit and do some jigsaw puzzling but don’t have the physical stamina to be at it for very long. Once they’re all sorted by their colored backing I can just grab a bunch of pieces and put together one or more little puzzles and feel as though I’ve accomplished something before I have to go back to bed to rest.

If I’m working on a larger piece count puzzle (1000 or 2000 pieces) it doesn’t always feel as though I’ve gotten much done if I’m unable to sit for long periods; these little ones help me to get the satisfaction of having completed something without too much physical or mental strain.

Without any further ado……bring on the ridiculousness!

Meet Wendel everyone; he’s an inquisitive guy who loves learning something new every day. Wendel is a professional student who’s been attending classes his entire adult life. His favorites have been Cryptozoology, Underwater Basket Weaving, The History of Surfing, and Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame. He’s currently courting a beautiful graduate student, and perhaps one day soon there will be thousands of little polliwogs swimming around with Wendel’s love of knowledge!

Alek is a phlebotomist at the Jungle Infirmary, and he’s always trying to make the patients feel better with his funny stories and wonderful bedside manner. He’s saving up to buy his own home so that he can finally move out of his parent’s basement. (Between you and me, I don’t think he’ll ever move out – he’s got it too good!)

Philimena is a makeup demonstrator at the local department store, and loves “beautifying the world” through her work. She fancies herself an up-and-coming instagram model, and is always trying to look her best. She spends hours in front of her many mirrors and never leaves the house without her hair and makeup looking perfect. Philimena has no hobbies other than making herself look good. She’s a vapid little twit.

Barbie Paris Fashion

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Barbie Paris Fashion – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

There was something extremely satisfying about this assembly; I’m not sure I could express to you why that was – but it was great fun and I absolutely loved it. 🧡

Excellent quality; slightly loose fitting but otherwise a great puzzle. The piece shapes are quite obvious in the finished image but I really don’t care – it was the process of the assembly that mattered.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Barbie dolls, but it may interest you to know that I am named after one of Barbie’s friends. Back in 1968 she got a cool new “mod” friend named Stacey, and my father liked the name so much that he convinced my mother to give me that name when I was born. The rest, as they say, is history. 😎

This was the first section that I put together, the fabric of the clothing was easy to pick out, and it’s also the only image with blue sky.

That long neck is crazy – it may be what fashion models wish they looked like, but I’m not sure it would look good on an actual person.

The wallpaper in the background is even Parisian – Eiffel Towers everywhere!

What I’m working on…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Typefaces by Hugo Maciel – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

This very interesting and challenging image just grabbed me when I first saw it, and it’s going together really well. The artwork is very different – it almost looks as though it was done with a crayon! Still, I love a challenge, and a puzzle that is outside of the norm as well. It oughta be fun. 😉

David Bowie in Outer Space

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles20 Comments

David Bowie in Outer Space (Where’s Bowie?) by Kev Gahan – Smith Street Gift – 500 pieces

This is another puzzle that was gifted to me and I cannot remember who gave it to me. My sincerest apologies. My brain is mush. 🤕 It was more fun than I thought it would be – normally a crowded image isn’t my pile of pieces but this one was quite enjoyable.

Smith Street Gift is a company based in Australia, and I was moderately impressed with the quality. The chipboard used was quite good, and it had very nice image reproduction. There was, unfortunately, no variety in piece shapes, and many pieces fit where they did not belong. Along the top where there is just dark sky I was unable to finish the border before I started on the interior of the puzzle because pieces seemed to fit in many places.

I’m afraid I’m not much of a Bowie fan, so I’m certain most of the “jokes” or images in this puzzle went way over my head. Still it was fun to assemble and that’s really what matters most.

It must be difficult to tell if you’re being looked at when the thing has ten eyes! It’s most certainly looking at them with at least one of them. 👁

Waldo, Wallie, and Walter perhaps? That red and white striped shirt stood out to me; of course I think that’s the point. 😉

If this is the cuisine in outer space….I’m good here. A protein pill on a bun doesn’t do much for me. Major Tom can keep all those “burgers” for himself. And maybe some for ground control.

Unusual Animals

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles14 Comments

Unusual Animals by Allison Strine – Buffalo – 500 pieces

This was absolutely my kind of puzzle image – bright colors, collage, interesting artwork, informative, great quality – it had it all!

Do you ever have a puzzle that you know you’re going to love? Before you even put two pieces together you know it’s gonna be great? This was one of those puzzles! It was as fun and beautiful as I knew it would be – isn’t it fantastic when that happens? 💖

Excellent quality, as per usual for Buffalo. Lately I’ve mostly been purchasing Ravensburger and Buffalo puzzles; I’m too cranky these days to deal with crappy quality. I know when I buy a Buffalo puzzle that they care about whether or not their puzzles are entertaining and well made, and it is most definitely appreciated.

The color of both the background and the spider jumped out at me while sorting, and this was the first section I assembled. I wouldn’t want a Black Widow spider anywhere near me in the real world, but don’t mind at all it showing up next to all the other unusual animals. 🕸

I love all the information provided for each animal. Who has heard of an axolotl before? If you check out some images online you’ll see that they have the cutest faces (but they’re not brightly colored at all). Very unusual indeed.

This one I’ve definitely heard of before – there’s a whole family story about this bird – and we talk about the Blue-Footed Booby when we think something going on is ridiculous, or a waste of time.

When I was young (probably around 10 or so) my father was watching a documentary on tv about this bird, and he made me and my sisters come downstairs and watch it with him. We absolutely did not want to. Mom and dad had a “discussion” about forcing us to watch it; dad said it was educational so we should “learn something” and mom said it was stupid to make us watch it if we didn’t want to.

I don’t really remember any actual information about this bird, just the situation of being made to watch a documentary we weren’t interested in – and of course the bird’s ridiculous sounding name. It’s funny what memories stick with you, isn’t it?

The artwork by Allison Strine was excellent for puzzling, and both interesting and educational. If there are more of her puzzles out there anything like this one – I want them.

If you see this puzzle out in the wild, and you’re so inclined, I highly recommend adopting it and bringing it home. I don’t regret it, and in fact loved every single piece. 💝