Tag: Buffalo

Summer Books In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Vintage Summer Books by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Once again I’m working on a puzzle with an image by Aimee Stewart, and I can’t seem to keep myself away from it! It’s too much fun, and it keeps calling me back. 😊

This picture is only one small bit of the puzzle, because the only way to get a good picture of the whole thing without glare from the lights is to stand the board against the wall the way I do when I finish a puzzle. Taking off all my trays and containers of pieces wasn’t something I felt like doing this morning, so you just get to see one corner. I would apologize, but…I don’t want to.

Finishing up the sorting yesterday I kept having an argument with myself about whether or not this was the puzzle to assemble next. Watching all the pieces line up on the trays, seeing all those flowers and all that greenery – I kept thinking that it’ll be too difficult and maybe I should do something else. As you can see I decided to keep going (or I couldn’t decide whether or not to stop and got caught in a loop of indecision). 🤷‍♀️

There have been one or two puzzles with Aimee’s artwork that were full of flowers and vines and lots of green things; they were the most challenging puzzles of hers that I’ve done. It looks like this one might get difficult once all the books are done, but for now I’m REALLY enjoying myself!

What are you working on? Any fantastic images that I might want to see? Do tell!

Sweet Treats

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

Sweet Treats by Tatiana – Buffalo – 500 pieces

I had the best time working on this puzzle – the bright colors, the excellent reproduction, the wonderful fit – just a fantastic quality puzzle with such beautiful artwork!

This is a puzzle with hidden images in it, there is a list on the poster of ten things to find in the puzzle once you have completed it. Full disclosure, I only found 9 out of the 10 and had to use the answer key (also on the poster) to find the last one. Many of the things weren’t too difficult to find, but a few of them required a little more attention than others. The first one was shown on the cover of the box, can you find the kitten…

The puzzle on my board just before this one was a White Mountain of very poor quality, and even sorting this one was a joy comparatively. Working on this beautiful puzzle was like a breath of fresh air after slogging through one that was frustrating because of quality issues. Image reproduction was an big problem with my previous puzzle, but this one was stellar.

Everything is so crisp and clear that you can even read the words on this scale! Great quality puzzle from Buffalo, and the image was so bright and beautiful that it was a joy to put together.

💖Every 🧩Single 🧩Piece 💖

Crafty Cornucopia

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Crafty Cornucopia by Tiffany Pratt – Blanc Puzzles (Buffalo) – 500 pieces

This is such a fun image, and I was very excited to try a new(ish) brand. Blanc Puzzles is part of the Buffalo Games brand, and both the box and pieces are quite different from a regular Buffalo puzzle. It was an entertaining assembly, and in my opinion there are some pros and cons for this new offshoot of Buffalo.

Both the backing on the chipboard and the finish on the top of the puzzle have a different feel to them. On the back is the white “sharp” backing that I’m not a fan of. In addition, it’s printed with both the name of the brand and the signature of the artist…

All of the Blanc puzzles do not have this printing on the back; I have another of this brand here that I have since completed and it has just the plain white backing. This puzzle is part of a series with images by Tiffany Pratt, in addition to the backing the box is very different too – quite large for only 500 pieces with a clamshell lid and magnetic clasp.

The front of the puzzle has an almost slick, silky feel – it’s very nice. I absentmindedly rub my thumb over a piece I’m holding when thinking about it’s placement, and the hand feel of the finish is quite nice.

The fit seems more “sturdy” is the only way I can think to describe it. There’s an audible click when some pieces are connected, but not all. I was certain when I started the assembly and noticed the different fit that when completed the puzzle would definitely stand up for one of my “fit-so-tight-you-can-stand-it-on-it’s-edge” pictures. Surprisingly it wouldn’t. Well, that’s not true; it did, but in such a flimsy way that the whole thing was distorted, it wasn’t worth photographing.

The shapes of Buffalo pieces come to a point in many places, and with the sturdier chipboard the points were very sharp. Unfortunately, the points that some pieces come to are so sharp that it’s easy for them to catch on other pieces, clothing, or even just your skin – which in this puzzle seemed to cause both image lift and splitting/peeling of the chipboard.

On the positive side the the high quality printing of the image is stunning; the colors are beautiful, the lines are crisp, there is no blurriness – in short the image reproduction is gorgeous. In addition, the pieces come in the usual plastic bag you cut or rip open, but they also provide a sturdier zip-top bag to store the pieces in once you’ve completed and disassembled the puzzle.

This puzzle was extremely enjoyable and went together very quickly. The sharpness of the image made it so that even with all the pink and white areas it was never very difficult to find the correct piece. You could tell what went where if you were paying attention – very important in a puzzle, don’t you think?

Pixels & Pizza In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Pixels & Pizza by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Well, sort of in progress. I’m still sorting it – and that’s a start, right? 1000 piece puzzles take a lot longer for me to sort these days; I get so antsy to start assembling and want nothing more than to be done with sorting, so I take frequent breaks. In the back of my mind, I know that if I get the sorting done that I’ll be happier with the assembly so I keep slogging through it little bits at a time.

I’m very excited to start working on this image; there are SO MANY words, it’s got a fabulous 80s feel to it, and the colors are so bright and bold – it’s gonna be a great time – I can tell!

Fun Fair Food In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Fun Fair Food by Lars Stewart – Buffalo – 300 pieces

There were several 300 piece puzzles I considered before choosing this one, it was the colors that decided it for me. It’s a Lars Stewart, so most likely it’s because it seemed as familiar as an Aimee Stewart. Thank goodness we have digital artists like the Stewarts and Ciro Marchetti to make us such colorful and entertaining images to puzzle!

There hasn’t been much work on this, but it got started because I needed some “me time” doing an actual puzzle in between writing up all the posts of the puzzles that we did on vacation.

My family and I assembled eight puzzles during our holiday; all I did was take pictures when they were complete. I’ve spent the past couple days writing up posts so I don’t forget any of the little things about the assemblies – my memory isn’t what it used to be – if I don’t get things written down now there will absolutely be forgotten details. But in this midst of typing up all those posts I felt the need to put my hands on an actual puzzle and fit some pieces together. 🧩💚