T’s General Store

On April 16, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles15 Comments

This puzzle is called Trump’s General Store on the box, but I didn’t want that title on my blog – I’m sure you understand. I don’t talk politics on this blog, we’re all about jigsaw puzzles and puzzle people here – that’s it. For my purposes I’ve renamed the puzzle, and apparently so has Ceaco; it’s available for purchase now under the name “General Store”.

This was such a fun image to assemble, and it was fascinating how the tiny look-alikes were made for the photograph. A quick look at the image makes you think it’s just the inside of an old general store; but a more detailed inspection reveals that not much is what it seems to be at all.

There are 156 common items that fool the eye in this image: playing cards are ceiling tiles, checkerboards are floor tiles, bathtub stoppers are light fixtures, etc. To be honest I didn’t try to find them all, but it was fun to find things as it was being assembled that I hadn’t seen at first. I’d absolutely love to find more of Joan Steiner’s “Can You Find?” puzzles like this one. ❤ Here are my favorite look-alikes…

Cut crayons are substituted for deli meats, and the front of the deli case is a light switch cover…

T's General Store 1

A razor, paper fasteners and nail clippers as vacuums…

T's General Store 2

Grenade as a fireplace, cinnamon sticks as logs…

T's General Store 3

It’s an average Ceaco puzzle, not terrible but not great either. This puzzle was all about the image and seeing each element close up as you assemble it. I had a great time! Sometimes we find the most interesting puzzles at the thrift stores. 🙂

Yellow and White Labs

On April 13, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

I absolutely adore this image, but the puzzle itself was not good quality at all. I enjoyed the assembly though, even with the questionable quality. When the image is entertaining enough I can forgive quite a bit.

It’s the chance we take when we buy puzzles from the thrift stores, they could be poor quality, missing pieces, or both – like this one. But how could I pass up those beautiful labradors?

Kitten Play

On March 28, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles11 Comments

Sorry about the wonky picture again, I’m having a tough time lately for some reason, I really should check the pic on my computer before I break the puzzle down; but I’m always so excited to get going on the next puzzle!

Kitten Play 3

I always start with the edges if I can, and luckily with Ceaco puzzles it’s easy to pick them out, there aren’t any fake edge pieces or ones you aren’t sure of.

Kitten Play 4

The pieces for the flowers, blanket, curtains, wall and wicker/baskets were pulled out on the initial sorting. I start with the pieces that “jump out” at me when I’m sorting. Sometimes by looking at the picture you’d think pieces for a certain area would be easy to find and pull, but it’s not always the case. I usually have a rough idea of what areas I’d like to start with, but it sometimes changes when I actually see the pieces.

Kitten Play 5

Being only 550 pieces (and also being relatively good at sorting 😉 ) I was able to assemble the majority of the puzzle from the pieces I sorted at the beginning.

The two portraits are too cute, and this the sweetest kitten face – I think it’s the blue eyes. 🙂

Norcross Love Affair

On March 11, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

There’s something about the simplicity of this image, it made for an excellent puzzle experience!

Luckily this was one of those Sunsout puzzles with a regular fit (not one where you get a blister from having to smash pieces together because the fit is too tight). The image reproduction is excellent, but there was quite a bit of shine on the finish. Overall a very nice quality puzzle – extremely pleasant to put together.

The large amount of sky seemed a little daunting at first, but it wasn’t too bad at all; the clouds, varying shades of blue, and the variety of piece shapes helped to keep it from being monotonous. And I loved the young and old couples….

Perhaps Norcross Love Affair shows the joy and wonder of young love, and also that even when you’re older you can still be madly, romantically in love with each other. The older couple is so adorable! If my husband had hair we might look like them someday – although we’d both probably be wearing something much more comfortable. 😉

As usual, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed assembling this image. Normally when it’s time for a new puzzle I look at the image and open the box to take a look at the pieces. If when I seem them I’m “not feeling it”, the lid goes back on and the search continues until I find one I’m ready to assemble.

Lately though, I’ve been giving myself a pep talk when I open the box. If the image on the box made me open it to see the pieces then I should do it. Most of the time I enjoy them more than I thought I would, so why not just give up the search for the perfect puzzle at the perfect time and just grab one that looks good and go? That’s what I’ve been trying to do anyways – and most of the time, like with this puzzle, they are great fun and I’m happy having assembled it. 😎

Knightingale

On January 25, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

Knightingale was a fun image with beautiful colors and interesting artwork; unfortunately it also had poor quality too. There was a great deal of image lift which robbed me of the joy I get when running my hands over the completed puzzle – there were too many tabs sticking up and I didn’t want my puzzle massage to tear any of them off. Still it was a great find at the thrift store, I got several hours of enjoyable puzzle time for only 69 cents!

The artist may have been inspired by Picasso – or this scene is set somewhere near a leaking nuclear reactor. Fun characters with interesting colors, I’d love to find more puzzles with her artwork – it was even more fun to assemble than I’d hoped. 🙂