Review: Feeling a Little Blue

On January 2, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews9 Comments

This puzzle was quite a challenge, but the image is so adorable that I knew it would be completely worth it – thankfully I was right!

StandOut Puzzles are a new brand to me, and I enjoyed this one very much. The quality is very much like Cobble Hill puzzles; linen finished randomly cut pieces that are pleasantly thick and fit together well, if somewhat loosely. They only produce 750 piece puzzles, and showcase “standout artwork from standout artists”. Their catalog is lovely, with images that you haven’t seen before – they stand out! And just for kicks and giggles they add a packet of “standouts” in every puzzle….

Feeling Blue 4

In case you were wondering, I wasn’t feeling particularly daring. Ralphie wasn’t around to triple-dog-dare me. 😋

I think the two little birds on the left are trying their best to cheer up the bear who’s feeling a little blue. The two on the right, though, are having their own discussion – I think the male bird was out too late eating fermented berries the night before; he seems to be getting quite a talking to!

Feeling Blue 3

What is it about a grumpy face that’s so cute? Or is it just me? It makes me smile every time I look at him!

Although much of the image was quite dark, I found the assembly to be entertaining and the overall puzzle to be of excellent quality. They’re on the pricey side, but I believe in supporting smaller companies with great products; their production and shipping costs are different for smaller batches and result in higher prices. (You can find them through retailers at a lesser cost than from the StandOut website, that’s where I purchased mine)

Great puzzle with great quality and an adorably beautiful image!

Details:

Title: Feeling a Little Blue
Artist: Denyse Klette
Brand: StandOut Puzzles
Piece count: 750 pieces
Size: Approx. 24 x 18 in. (61 x 46 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Sturdy cardboard tube
Fit: Good, somewhat loose
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Jazz Dance

On May 26, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

There’s something about the look of magazine cover puzzles that I absolutely love. The vintage covers are interesting and beautiful and make for a nice change from landscapes and other “usual” puzzle images.

This is my first NY Puzzle Company puzzle, and I enjoyed it very much. There was a large amount of puzzle dust, but otherwise I found the quality to be quite good. The random cut made it challenging and fun, the pieces were thick and fit together well, and the matte finish helped make sure that the darker areas weren’t too difficult to assemble under lights.

The Vogue covers by William Bolin are striking and beautiful, and any of them would make some challenging and wonderful puzzles. Here are a few of my favorite Vogue covers of his from the 1920’s and 1930’s – they’re stunning!

william-bolin-vogue-cover-october-1926_u-l-peql4i0

vogue-magazine-cover-featuring-a-woman-wearing-william-bolin

2-a-vintage-vogue-magazine-cover-of-a-woman-william-bolin

I had a great time with this assembly; the blocks of color, musical score, and darker areas made for a great balance of ease and challenge. The cut was much more random than some brands, and made for some excellent gray cell exercise. Many times you think you’re looking for a certain shape, and it turns out that you’re actually looking for 2 smaller pieces that are not shaped how you thought at all. It keeps you on your toes!

I’m looking forward to working more puzzles from this brand, this one was good quality – and a good time. What else could I ask for?

Art Nouveau Poster Collage

On February 25, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

This is an amazingly beautiful collage that mom picked out for us. I thought it would be as difficult as the Santa Collage from Wentworth that we did, but it went together a little bit easier. The colors and artwork are absolutely lovely, and it was so much fun!

The smaller 500 piece Santa collage was quite a challenge, and we thought this one would be too. Don’t get me wrong, it was a challenge, but we were also surprised that it went together as quickly as it did. We enjoyed ourselves very much; we always do when working with wooden puzzles, they’re such great quality and so much fun to work with.

We always start by picking out all the whimsy pieces and seeing all the clever shapes. So many interesting shapes from all over the world – Christ the Redeemer, Sydney Opera House (I think), The Statue of Liberty, The Thinker, a can-can girl, and so many more…

Such lovely whimsies were a perfect compliment to such a lovely puzzle. The vintage art nouveau posters made an excellent collage that was a joy to assemble. The colors were wonderful to work with and mom and I loved placing every single piece!

If you haven’t worked a wooden puzzle, it takes a little getting used to. The pieces don’t fit together like your average cardboard puzzle, the fit is much looser and it takes some time to get the hang of it. I find it’s easier to work with wooden puzzles on my fabric covered board, the fabric makes it a little more difficult for the pieces to move too much. The loose fit of the pieces and the more obvious piece shapes showing in the finished image are the two major drawbacks of wooden puzzles that I’ve found. I don’t find them much of a problem at all actually, and as long as I could afford it I would never hesitate to get myself another wooden puzzle.

I always end my posts about wooden puzzles by telling my readers that if they are able to they should think about treating themselves to a wooden puzzle. I’ll end this one the same way, maybe take a few dollars from your tax refund this year (if you get one) to reward yourself with a beautiful wooden puzzle!

Flower Pot Friends

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

I enjoyed this puzzle very much! I found it to be excellent quality for a Mega Puzzle, and was delighted at the way they included the whimsies. All the other pieces actually had connectors; so even though the whimsies just fit into place, the surrounding pieces were all connected. Awesome!

I love puzzles with whimsy pieces, but I don’t love how they’re usually included with many other pieces that just sit next to each other. I know there has to be some of that when you include specially shaped pieces, but so often it seems that there is much more of it than is necessary. I admit to not really having any knowledge of how puzzles are made, but the pieces sitting together instead of fitting together makes me crazy!

This puzzle had none of that, the whimsies themselves didn’t connect, but all the rest of them did. Hooray! Someone finally did it my way! In addition to that, the pieces were very thick for a Mega Puzzle and fit together extremely well. All in all, not anything like other Mega Puzzles I have worked, much better quality.

I’m not really a cat person, I prefer dogs; and I don’t normally go for cat puzzles either. (I know, you think little old lady with her puzzles and cats, but that’s just not me – I’m a little old lady with her puzzles and her Boston Terrier!) Even though it’s a cat puzzle something about this image drew me in, and I really had a good time assembling it.

All the regular rules went out the window with this puzzle. I don’t normally do Mega Puzzles because I find they’re just too thin, not so with this puzzle. I don’t normally do cat puzzles, but I loved this image with the cats and had a great time with it. I usually have a tough time with dealing with the pieces of a puzzle with whimsies, but this one was done very well and I was impressed!

Barn Sale

On November 2, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, I think I was having flashbacks of the last Bits and Pieces shaped puzzle that I’d done. This one seemed to be much better quality, or perhaps a better cut? I’m not sure which, but it was much easier to deal with – the pieces all fit together!

I try not to be overly judgmental about certain brands, but I’m not always successful. Just because the last shaped puzzle from this company was a disappointment doesn’t mean they all will be. But when you’ve had a bad experience it sticks with you, at least it does for me. But sometimes one of the puzzles calls to me from the “to do” pile, and I just have to do that one next, even if it may be one with questionable quality.

I’m glad I decided to ignore my judgy brain and assemble this puzzle anyway. It really was much better quality than I’d assumed, and it was quite fun to assemble as well. I love a puzzle with quilts, so that was even more incentive for me; there’s something so entertaining for me in putting a jigsaw quilt together, I love it! All around I would say this was a very good quality puzzle that I would definitely recommend. 👍