Dinosaur Alphabet

On April 27, 2022April 26, 2022 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Dinosaur Alphabet by Karen Rossi – Ravensburger – 60 pieces

This artwork isn’t my favorite color scheme, it’s slightly washed out and dull – but it was a fun little kids puzzle that went together quickly. As an added bonus I learned the names of a few dinosaurs that I’d never heard of before. I just love learning new things! 😁

It had a loose fit, but has also been a very well-loved puzzle that seems to have been assembled many times. The previous owners seem to have been quite organized too. There was an X written inside the box, and an X on every piece; if piece(s) got loose you would know which puzzle they belong to and which box to put them in – great idea for kids puzzles if you ask me.

The last three letters were dinosaurs I’d never heard of before. I’ve done my share of dinosaur puzzles and I don’t recall ever seeing these names. Very cool!

Many of the words that the letters represented were put into the image in the middle to pull it all together. Overall just a great puzzle for kids; the image, the information, and the quality.

Hey There

On April 15, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Such a ridiculous pose for a dog made me think of those soft focus “pretty” pictures people used to take. “Hey there big boy”. LOL

Super quick kids puzzle that made me happy to assemble it, what more can you ask for?

Ocean Life

On December 27, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This was one of those thrift store puzzles that almost breaks my heart. We love finding fantastic quality kids puzzles, assembling them, and then donating them. When we find one of such excellent quality that’s missing a piece it’s so much more of a disappointment than regular missing pieces to me.

This Mudpuppy puzzle was one of the best quality kids puzzles I’ve seen in quite some time. Extremely thick pieces, beautiful colors, excellent fit – and it even had a little extra something – a search and find aspect. All the pictures around the edges are also shown in the main image and they’re not all easy to find.

What a bummer that it’s missing a piece! It makes me sad, as a lover of puzzles, that they aren’t taken care of. (But I do remember childhood too, vaguely, so I also understand.) But for some strange reason these missing pieces makes me wish that I could go back to my childhood and take MUCH better care of all of my toys and things. If I had, not only would they be worth some big time cash right now, I’d still have some of the things I loved to play with as a child. How awfully sweet and uncharacteristically sentimental of me, right? I know!

Happy Nautilus World

On November 29, 2018November 28, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is one of the Peapod puzzles from the children’s line at Zen Art & Design. I wanted to try some new wooden puzzle companies, ended up buying this one because it was on sale and I thought I’d compare it to an “adult” puzzle from Zen. I really love the silky feel of the pieces, but I do wish they were more interestingly shaped.

The pieces weren’t as large as I expected for a children’s puzzle, they’re about the same size (or smaller) than some Liberty pieces. Still, I think it’s great to have such lovely puzzles for kids. And the whimsies came in a small mesh bag – very cool; but why do the kids get more whimsies than the adults do? The 50 piece adult puzzle I assembled only had one whimsy. No fair.

Happy Nautilus World whimsies

It was a fun puzzle! 🙂

Wolf Rider

On August 14, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I was cruising my favorite wooden puzzle websites (as one does) and found this interesting image for only $14! How in the world do they expect me to pass something like that up? I’m a jigsaw puzzle junkie who was left unattended with access to my own debit card, so of course I had to buy it – and in order to get free shipping I had to buy another puzzle. Guess who got free shipping? 😇

At only 58 pieces this one didn’t take long to put together, but it was very entertaining! Mom actually did most of the work; she came over to see the new puzzles the day they were delivered and couldn’t leave before we assembled this one. It’s so small, why not put it together right away?

We started with the blue dress, the male rider, and the wolf. The flowers on the right side were next, which then left mostly dark pieces. Although it wasn’t easy, it wasn’t too difficult either – it was Goldilocks – the difficulty level was just right!

As usual, the quality is excellent. The pieces are made of 1/4 inch wood and are laser cut. The fit is loose, as laser cut puzzles tend to be, but I don’t mind it much because the rest of the puzzle’s quality is so good. The whimsy pieces are extremely detailed and make for interesting adjoining pieces as well. Artifact puzzles are quite reasonable – especially compared to many other wooden puzzle manufacturers.

It was a fun assembly from start to finish, although mom did most of the work. We enjoyed the quality, the image, the pieces, and how they all worked together.