Magical Jungle

On October 12, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I love this image, it’s bright and cartoony and makes for fun puzzling. I had a great time assembling this one, it was quick and easy and took my mind off of stressful things. I definitely needed that!

I like the work of Johanna Basford, and think it is excellent puzzle material; she is a Scottish illustrator who has published many adult coloring books. This image feels like a coloring book, perhaps that’s why I like it so much. Even though my brain isn’t working properly enough for me to articulate why it is that certain images are appealing to me, I still try. 🙂

This puzzle also comes with a black and white poster of the image for you to color. Don’t like the purple elephant? Why not make him bright pink? I haven’t finished coloring it, but I sit and work on it every now and then. I worry about my color choices sometimes, which makes absolutely no sense at all. It’s my picture, who am I trying to please other than myself? If I want to color a sloth bright green, so what?!

Walt Disney World

On October 7, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I had high hopes for this puzzle, but it was a letdown. I was thinking there’d be better quality from the Disney company. 😐 This was the first puzzle I’ve done from them, so I’m interested to find another to compare it with. Perhaps this was one that got by quality control?

I like the image, but the pieces were very thin and easily bent and did not fit together well in some places. The image reproduction was blurry and fuzzy in some places, but crisp and clear in others. There was image lift on several pieces, and lots of hanging paper on the back of many pieces as well. In addition to the quality issues, some fool donated this to a thrift store with 6 missing pieces! Annoying!

On the positive side, the colors were bright and beautiful and there was a nice variety of piece shapes. It was fun to count the number of Disney movies, short films, and tv shows represented – there were a lot! Even if there were pieces missing and it had less than optimal quality, I still enjoyed the image itself.

Alphabet

On September 28, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Time for another guest post. 🙂

*Black belt thrift store puzzle shopper here* (that’s my mom)

I find it nearly impossible to leave an unusual puzzle behind in the thrift store. Therefore, this puzzle came home with me, even though the package was in rough shape. This was from a company I had never done before, and for only 69 cents I more than got my money’s worth from it. A search for Hambly Studios, Inc. yielded a website for a maker of scrapbooking materials, rather than puzzles.

That said, I had a great time with the puzzle. It kept an old lady entertained and off the streets until well into the night. (Actually, till 1:00 AM, when I finally surrendered and went to bed.) Truth be told, I would have finished it if hubby had not come in and reminded me I had to get up early for church!

The fit was very loose, with just a slight jostle dislodging 4 or 5 pieces at a time. It was still a LOT OF FUN. Unfortunately it was missing 4 pieces. It would have been a keeper otherwise, in spite of the loose fit – I enjoyed it that much and would have done this puzzle again.

The packaging left a lot to be desired, as it was a clear plastic container; much like the throwaway packaging on a lot of items we buy these days. The advantage was that it was easy to see the quality of the pieces without having to open the container. Still, it was very flimsy and that may be how 4 pieces escaped.

All in all I enjoyed this puzzle very much, despite it’s quirks and missing pieces. It is still sitting on my board, as I can’t quite bring myself to throw it away just yet. Maybe tonight. When another puzzle calls my name and I need a place to work on it.

Grist Mill Stream

On September 21, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

A new puzzle company for me, and it was pretty good. It’s difficult to tell how the fit is, because there are so many whimsy pieces and not everything connects. The image is kind of bland for me, but it was interesting to work with all the different shapes.

The piece shapes are pretty obvious in the finished image, but I almost think that’s a good thing here because it’s cool to see all the different shapes of the whimsy pieces. There were the usual dog and cat, etc., but some were really different! There’s a grand piano, a peacock, several letters, and a faucet to name just a few. 🙂

The pieces are a good thickness and very sturdy. Again, I can’t say much about the fit other than to say that the pieces that did connect seemed to fit together well. The image reproduction seemed a bit fuzzy, but that may have been the artwork itself. It was a little difficult for me to tell for sure. I try to err on the side of positivity, so we’ll say that it was the artwork and not the reproduction that was fuzzy.

I enjoyed assembling this puzzle and would be happy to try more puzzles from this company. I think for me the whimsy pieces are a fun change of pace once in a while, but I wouldn’t want to do them all the time. I’m just not a fan of pieces that don’t connect, it seems as though you’re always having to adjust everything. Again, that’s just my personal preference – if you enjoy them, rock on!

Vintage Travel Guides

On September 17, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

What’s not to love about this puzzle? It’s a collage with plenty of words to put together, it’s a Ravensburger, and the artist is Aimee Stewart – that’s like the trifecta of awesome!

Mom and I assembled this together on an afternoon visit and we absolutely loved it! The colors are beautiful and work together amazingly well, it’s just an all around excellent image for puzzling. I have yet to find an Aimee Stewart puzzle that I haven’t liked, and there are still many more I’d love to own and assemble. There’s a puzzle of hers that is very similar to this one called The Christmas Library; it shows shelves of vintage Christmas books, is 1000 pieces and is absolutely stunning! It’s in my pile of puzzles to be done and I’m planning on assembling it a little closer to the holidays, if I’m able to hold out that long. 😉

Ravensburger is my favorite puzzle manufacturer, and the quality was excellent as usual. The pieces feel wonderful and fit together satisfyingly, and the image reproduction is crisp and extremely detailed. Aimee Stewart and Ravensburger are a heavenly combination in my opinion, and I always look forward to and enjoy working her puzzles.💖