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.

Islands of Life

On July 16, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

IMG_E4795 — Islands of Life by APAK – Artifact Puzzles – 165 pieces

I bought this puzzle for mom for Mother’s Day – I hope she forgives me, cause this one was a bear!

We finally got around to assembling this one on the 4th of July. Mom and I did most of the puzzle, but my daughter helped here and there. It was quite difficult, especially that border, holy smokes! It isn’t as dark as it looks in the picture, it’s actually quite greenish – dark green.

I got quite frustrated with it at times, it was the border that kept giving me fits; I kept trying to find the pieces that those tree root looking pieces fit into. There were only 165 pieces, but it was very challenging. I even apologized to Mom for giving it to her! Even though it was hard, I don’t really feel bad about giving it to her. Although it was frustrating and demanding, we had a good time working on the puzzle and working together again. The Puzzle Posse is back!

There were some interesting looking buildings on one of the floating islands in space, and I loved the scene of the strange little people having a picnic on the main island. Those were some of the easiest parts to assemble besides the big tall thing with a window. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a building or a plant of some kind; whatever it was, it was fun to put together – in a “test your puzzle abilities” kind of way.

You can also see in the smaller images above the wonderfully unique shapes of some of the pieces, they gave our gray cells quite a workout! Luckily, mom and I are pretty smart (at least we’re good at puzzles) and we got it done. 😁

Just like with Alice in Wonderland I forgot to take a picture of the whimsy pieces, although with this one there weren’t very many of them. Even so, I didn’t separate them out for a pre-assembly picture. Unfortunately the puzzle belongs to mom, so it isn’t here for me to go through and get a picture of the cool pieces. Sorry about that guys, I promise to do better.

Rosso Angelo

On June 18, 2018June 18, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

IMG_E4704 — Rosso Angelo by Ross Fiorentino – Artifact Puzzles – 228 pieces

This puzzle was really fun to assemble, and not nearly as difficult as I thought it might be. I was worried that the darker places would be tedious and very hard to complete, but thankfully I was wrong. It was a wonderful assembly all around. 🙂

Artifact Puzzles are having a sale at the moment, while supplies last, and I just couldn’t resist 50% off! I bought this and another puzzle because I knew if it were “while supplies last” that the puzzles would eventually be out of stock and gone. And at these great sale prices how on earth could I resist? They’re still having that sale, if you are so inclined there are still quite a few beautiful puzzles to choose from. (If I had unlimited funds I would get every single one of them!)

Once I started working on this puzzle, it was difficult to stop. I started with the mandolin (or whatever the instrument is), and from there went up the angel’s arm and into the wings. One section led to another and it went very quickly. For some reason the angel’s nose is located in the center of the circular end of a mandolin shaped whimsy piece. It looks odd, and my eye jumps to that section every time I look at the picture. To me, it almost looks like a clown nose.

The whimsies for this puzzle are all “angelic” There are several cherubs and mandolins, along with a harp, a violin, and one piece shaped like Italy. This image is from the Italian Renaissance after all, so the piece shaped like Italy is a perfect fit.

I’m currently working on the other puzzle I bought from this sale, it’s a secondary one I’ve been working on for well over a week now. I only put in a piece or two here and there, it isn’t the primary puzzle that I’m working on. It’s going to take a while, it’s much more difficult than I bargained for and will take plenty of patience. I don’t mind though, to me time spent puzzling is never wasted – it’s always worthwhile. Especially with a wooden puzzle! 😉

Arcane Shelfie

On June 15, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

About a week before Mother’s Day my daughter said that she wanted to start working on puzzles again, but she didn’t have the space for it at the moment; so I decided to get her a small wooden puzzle for Mother’s Day. She IS the “mom” of my grandpuppies after all! I bought her this puzzle, and she brought it over to my house the next weekend so we could assemble it together, I chose well – we loved it!

The design of the pieces for this puzzle drew me in, and the image itself is so adorable it was calling to me from the computer screen. Artifact Puzzles have some of the most interesting piece cuts I’ve ever seen, their designers are extraordinary! This puzzle is quite small, at 5.5 x 16.5 inches (approx. 14 x 42 cm) it doesn’t take up much room, and the pieces are so delightful and unique it makes for quite an entertaining and challenging assembly.

There are a LOT of straight edges in this puzzle which made putting it together more difficult than I had assumed. The pipe-styled connectors and the pieces they fit into are interesting to work with and give your brain quite a workout! Of course this is a plus in my book, time spent puzzling with such an interesting image and wonderful pieces is very much time well spent. Plus I got to assemble it with my daughter, which was even more wonderful. 💕

I bought another interestingly shaped Artifact puzzle for my mom’s Mother’s Day present. They’re great to give as gifts – and when I give them to family who live close by that means I get to assemble them too. Bonus! I’m looking forward to assembling mom’s puzzle too, but she hasn’t finished it herself yet. Hurry up mom! Or better yet, bring it over here and we can assemble it together. 😁

Flower Still Life

On February 5, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

This was a very dark, very challenging wooden puzzle. I bought this for mom for Christmas last year and we finally got around to assembling it. Isn’t it gorgeous? She picked it out herself.

The background color was a little too dark for my taste, but it was still a fun puzzle to assemble, especially since mom and I worked it together. 🙂 They were pretty tricky not to include a picture on the box of the irregular edge, so we had to figure that out for ourselves. It was quite the brain teaser, but we older ladies still have our wits about us (most of the time) and we were able to get it done.

Artifact Puzzles are excellent quality with a wonderfully diverse catalog to choose from. They have many different puzzle designers who come up with amazingly intricate and complex piece cuts. I love that you’re able to see pictures of the cuts for each puzzle, so you have that information before you buy. The puzzles are made from plywood and are laser cut; they are beautifully made!

There were almost no whimsies but the cut was excellent and you can see the pieces formed a beautiful symmetrical pattern….

Mom and I really enjoyed this assembly; it was quite a challenge and we even said that it was “deviously cut” a couple of times. Still, it helps keep the brain cells firing and even if it takes more time than we’d planned on we enjoy the extra time spent together.

I’ve done several Wentworths and a couple of Artifact puzzles in the past couple of months, so I’m hoping to get my hands on a new Liberty puzzle soon. If I don’t, no worries – I can spend an afternoon re-assembling the Dr. Suess puzzle I bought myself last year. 🙂