Celebration of Women – Tea Time

On January 13, 2017January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

My first Sure-Lox puzzle…..eh. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t love it either. The pieces were thin, not the thinnest I’ve worked with but thin. My main problem with this puzzle was that every piece was the same shape. There were slight variations, but every piece had two prongs and two holes. Boring. Momma needs more excitement in her life! More piece shapes please! 😉

On the plus side, the pieces fit together very well, well enough that you can lift the puzzle by one of the corners and it basically stayed together. I like when a puzzle fits together well, but not so tightly that you have to work on your biceps to put the pieces together. (I mean, I know I’m a woman in her 40’s and I have bingo wings, but I’m doing the best I can! Don’t make me work out doing a jigsaw puzzle!) And you can see that the piece shapes are not glaringly obvious in the finished puzzle, especially the darker sections. The image quality was quite good as well. It took me a while to get used to the artwork in this one, but I ended up loving the artwork and I think the finished puzzle is interesting and beautiful.

I can’t say whether or not I would buy another puzzle from this company. On the one hand the pieces are thin and there is only one piece shape, on the other hand the fit is excellent and the image quality is very good. I guess it would come down to how I felt about the image itself, maybe……maybe not.

Model & The Muse

On January 2, 2017February 25, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

img_2512-2 — Model & The Muse – Get Your Jig On – 513 pieces

Get Your Jig On is a young puzzle company whose CEO contacted me to see if I would be interested in doing one of their puzzles. After checking out their website, and loving their message of diversity, sexual empowerment and freedom of expression – I said absolutely! I don’t actually “review” jigsaw puzzles here, I just write about puzzles I am doing or have done, but I give my honest opinion about their quality, images, and whether or not I enjoyed doing them.

I enjoyed this puzzle very much! The image isn’t overly graphic, it is tasteful and artistic and was a fun challenge to assemble. The only editing I did to the picture was to slightly blur the breast, otherwise the image is as shown. Right now the company has only 3 images to choose from, but I am told they have more shoots scheduled this month and will be adding to their catalog.

The pieces are quite thick (about the same thickness as Ravensburger) and have a slightly waxy finish. There are a good range of piece shapes and they fit together wonderfully without being too tight which is always nice. I prefer puzzles that you don’t have to force together. There were 1 or 2 pieces where the cardboard backing was slightly split and there was a little bit of puzzle dust, but the overall quality is very good, and the puzzle is made in the USA. 🙂

The puzzle comes with a letter of authenticity, a picture of the puzzle image, a statement about why the image was chosen, and a short bio of all participants. If you’re conservative the box fits into a bookshelf and has a side that looks like a book sleeve.

It was more difficult than I expected, but a fun challenge nonetheless – and of course hubby wanted to help with this puzzle! 😉 It took me a couple of days, but I enjoyed the assembly and actually kind of fell in love with the artwork in the background as well. LOVE the skull painting on the right side of the picture!

In short I loved the image, the puzzle assembly was fun and challenging, the quality was better than I expected, and as an added bonus I really love what the company stands for!

Sunbonnet Quilt Shop

On December 15, 2016January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This puzzle was so much fun to put together. I love all the different fabrics on the clothing and the quilts, I love the symmetrical quality of the quilts and the shelves in the shop – it was just a treat to assemble! I don’t know if I can explain why I enjoyed it so much, but I really had a great time!

Mom and I don’t usually buy Mega Puzzles, but this was another thrift store purchase and we just loved the image. Sometimes we put our jigsaw snobbery aside and buy a puzzle solely for the image even if it’s made by a company we don’t usually purchase. We are puzzle snobs, unashamedly so – but not so much that we wouldn’t do a puzzle just because it isn’t our usual brand. We’re always on the lookout for fun puzzles, wherever they come from!

You can see from the picture that there is basically only one piece shape – 2 prongs 2 holes. Not the most interesting pieces to say the least, and they were also on the thin side. The image quality was quite good though, and the artwork was beautifully drawn and perfect for puzzling.

Birthday Party

On December 5, 2016January 30, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles1 Comment

Thrift store purchase. The quality was, uh, not up to snuff. Yikes. There were only 2 different piece styles and the thickness of the pieces was extremely thin. The finish of the image was shiny and gave off quite a bit of glare.

Looking back on it, I’m surprised I even finished this puzzle. The image isn’t one I would normally choose, and the quality was quite poor. If someone gave it to me now I don’t think I would even start it.

Once it was completed we gave it away – lesson learned. I am now a jigsaw puzzle snob (according to my mother) and this isn’t a brand I like or recommend.

Songbird Garden

On November 20, 2016June 7, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles3 Comments

Started and finished this puzzle today. I love the colors, and it’s been a while since I’ve done a 500 piece puzzle. It seemed unbelievably easy compared to the puzzle I’m currently working on 😉

I enjoy Buffalo Games puzzles, the fit is always very good, and there’s no guesswork as to whether a piece fits or not. They also have the unique zig zag shape that I haven’t seen in any other puzzles. It was very nice to be able to pull a bunch of pieces for a small section and be able to finish it quickly without having to look at the box or picture for assistance.

I apologize for the picture, the photo editor on my computer got upgraded, and the crop feature isn’t working properly (or more likely I don’t know how to work it properly) I wanted to crop and straighten it, but it keeps cutting off the top of the puzzle. Grrrr!

Very nice puzzle, with lovely artwork. I haven’t come across this artist before, and I enjoyed the image and colors. Fun, easy puzzle – it’s nice to do something quick and easy for a change. I’ve been kinda snobby about 500 piece puzzles, I prefer 1000 or more pieces. But I’ve changed my tune. It’s nice to work on a smaller puzzle that you can just enjoy and put together leisurely. I’ve already started my next 500 piece puzzle, a shaped Wizard of Oz puzzle. Hope to have a completed picture for it soon!