Tag: 500 pieces

Review: Mandala Delight

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles9 Comments

Mandala Delight – Page Publications – 500 pieces

I pride myself on not making snap judgements about a brand after only working one of their puzzles. That ends now. Sssssnap! This brand is TERRIBLE, please do not waste any of your precious puzzle budget on any Page Publications puzzles.

Trying new brands always gets me excited, in the back of my brain I’m always hoping for a great quality puzzle that would add to the list of brands I can confidently buy any puzzle from. This was such a colossal disappointment – there aren’t enough words in the English language to tell you exactly how much.

Let me list the problems….

  • Extremely thin pieces
  • Flimsy chipboard that is easily bent and split
  • Fuzzy backing with a ton of puzzle dust
  • Too shiny finish that creates glare
  • No variety in shape at all, every piece fits everywhere
  • Horrid, extremely loose and spongy fit – even worse than Norman Rockwell
  • Doesn’t lay flat -not even close

My regular readers know that I normally try to find something positive about every puzzle. That just isn’t possible with this one; there’s nothing here that’s good in my opinion.

There have been quite a few new brands pop up in the last two years to take advantage of the increased demand for puzzles during the pandemic. This one is new, and from the looks of the puzzle I just assembled Page Publications doesn’t seem to be at all concerned about the quality of their product.

Look at how this puzzle lays; the fit is so bad that the pieces don’t really connect and lay flat together. Absolutely atrocious.

As with the Norman Rockwell puzzle, I got a bee in my bonnet about finishing this even with the ghastly quality. Perhaps it’s because I knew I would be giving it an awful review, and wanted to show you a finished puzzle. Perhaps it’s because Stacey is stubborn as a mule. Mostly, it’s just because my weird brain is in charge; sometimes I have to finish and I’m not sure why.

Please, if you love jigsaw puzzles do NOT purchase any of this brand. Ever. If you come across people handing out free Page Publications puzzles – eyes forward and keep walking, while chanting LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR CRAPPY PUZZLES!

We deserve better. So much better.

Details:

  • Title:                  Mandala Delight
  • Artist:                Unknown
  • Brand:               Page Publications
  • Piece count:     500 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 20 x 25 in. (51 x 64 cm)
  • Purchased:      New

Quality:

  • Board:               Poor
  • Cutting:             Poor
  • Image:               Fair
  • Box:                   Average
  • Fit:                     Poor
  • Puzzle Dust:     Large amount
  • Piece cut:          Grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   No variety, pieces fit everywhere
  • Finish:               Shiny finish, does not lay flat

Overall Rating:      Very poor quality, not recommended

Happy New Year Puzzle Giveaway

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous33 Comments

Fantasy Palace by Ciro Marchetti – Wentworth – 500 pieces

It’s been quite a while since I held a puzzle giveaway, so I’m starting 2022 by giving away some puzzle joy in the form of this beautiful, gently used 500 piece wooden puzzle from Wentworth. It’s a gorgeous image isn’t it? It could be yours!

It’s been nearly four years since I assembled this puzzle (you can click here to check out my original post) and there always seem to be new ones to do, so it’s only been assembled once. It was truly a pleasure to put together, and I’m feeling the need to share the wealth by sending it on to someone else who will enjoy it at least as much as I did.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post (if you need something to say, I’d love to hear if you have any puzzle goals for 2022). Each comment will be given a number and I will use a random number generator to determine the winner one week from today; Wednesday, January 19, 2022. This giveaway is open to all puzzle lovers, no matter where in the world you live.

Good luck everyone, and here’s to another year of happy puzzling!

Party Balloons

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

Party Balloons by Suzan Lind – Cobble Hill – 500 pieces

Isn’t this a great puzzle image? As soon as I saw it I knew I had to get it, it was just too beautiful to pass up! The colors and patterns made for such an entertaining assembly – I wish it were also available in 1000 pieces, that would be even more fun.

The quality of this particular puzzle wasn’t as good as Cobble Hill usually is. I know that with the pandemic and the huge increase in demand for puzzles, things have been crazy in the puzzle world with manufacturers doing their best to get puzzles out and into the hands of puzzlers as soon as they can. I have history with this brand, so I know that their quality is usually quite good; therefore, even though this puzzle had a few problems I know that it isn’t indicative of the brand’s normally excellent quality.

That said, I should tell you that this puzzle had a very loose fit; many pieces were slightly bent, and some pieces that had very thin necks (spaces in between holes) were bent almost to the point of being torn in half. Because of all the bent pieces the finished puzzle didn’t lie completely flat; making the puzzle massage at the end of assembly not nearly as satisfying as usual.

It was still fun to assemble though and the finished puzzle is gorgeous. It has been put in a box to send on to the next puzzler for them to enjoy!

Christmas Town – Day 4

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

These 500 piece puzzles by Cra-Z-Art are really some of my favorites to assemble. One of these times I should assemble them as a true 500 piece instead of separating them according to the colored backing. Maybe I’ll do that on one of the next ones. (Although I really do enjoy being able to just grab a pile of pieces and put a whole little image together in just a few minutes)

Some of these scenes seem a bit more modern than others, some have electric lights like this one, and more modern vehicles. You can see by the car and the clothes that this seems to be early 20th century. One of yesterday’s buildings had no lights and there were wagons being pulled by oxen and horses.

This looks like it could be the parsonage of a church. You can see a portion of a stained glass window from the building next door on the far left. I’m not crazy about the color palette for this one, but it’s incredibly detailed for such a small puzzle.

Rufus E. Dunclutter – now that’s a name! Too bad there aren’t any quilts that we can see, you know I love a puzzle with some quilts in it; unfortunately there is only a sign. Rufus seems to be a man who does whatever he can, he sells quilts, old books, antiques, and “what nots”. Go for it Rufus!

I love that there are two older men tipping their hats to each other in the foreground; it’s so old timey and polite. 🎩

The florist sells Christmas trees apparently, very cool! And there’s an enterprising young man with his shovel looking for driveways or sidewalks to clear – perhaps for some extra spending money for the holidays.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed our trip through Christmas Town, with all of it’s delightful buildings. I enjoyed putting every one together, they make for such fun little puzzles!

Christmas Town – Day 3

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Christmas Town by Joseph Holodook – Cra-Z-Art – approx. 125/500 pieces

Sorry the picture above doesn’t seem to be in focus, I don’t know why it went unnoticed – usually I check to be certain there is a good picture before I take any puzzle apart.

I hope you’re enjoying these little puzzles, they truly were enjoyable to assemble. They’re so detailed too, there must have been quite a bit of work that went into each one.

This image reminds me of reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her chapters about sugaring off the maple sap and this image remind me of how much work went into turning tree sap into syrup or sugar. Not only did you have to collect the sap, you had to boil it off; no electric burners either, you had to cut down trees and split the wood to make the fires to boil it down. It was hard work. If I had to put that much work into it you can be sure I’d be using the sugar and syrup sparingly; there would be no cavalier dumping of large amounts of syrup onto my pancakes!

Does anyone know what I mean, or is that just my weird brain again?

What a cute little bridge! This scene reminds me that I’m not an ice skater. I did try it once. Once. My poor ankles were just not strong enough for balancing on a single blade, there was a LOT of falling down involved. My friend suggested ankle supports for the next time, but there was no next time. (At least I gave it a try though, right?)

The outdoors has never been my thing – give me a heated or air conditioned room with a book or a puzzle anyday.

Isn’t this a perfect little Christmas image? Pretty. Not my style, but pretty.