A Cranky Camper

On January 19, 2020January 19, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

This is another puzzle from the multipack of 12 puzzles with artwork by Iralu, puzzles by Cardinal. I was surprised at the difference in quality between the 300 piece that I’d already assembled and this one; the 300 piece was much better quality than this 150 piece. Interesting.

I knew when I purchased it that the puzzles would most likely be of lesser quality; I find that the puzzles in most multipacks are made with thinner chipboard and as a result don’t usually fit together well – that was certainly the case with this puzzle. The fit on the edges was especially terrible and I found that the pieces seemed to fit where they didn’t belong. The top and bottom edges were assembled at the beginning, but the sides weren’t completed until the interior of the puzzle was assembled; the top and bottom edges had color on almost every piece and I could be certain that I got the assembly correct.

Each of the 150 piece puzzles in this pack are similar to this image, they are all of trucks or some sort of vehicle; I don’t dislike them, but they aren’t my favorites. The 500 and 300 piece puzzle images are the ones I really like in the box, but the 150 piece puzzles are perfect to put onto a tray and work while I’m resting in bed.

Even with the questionable quality this was an enjoyable puzzle to assemble (except for the edges), and it went together pretty quickly. It’s nice to have some very small puzzles available that I can work on my trays in bed when I’m not feeling well enough to sit at the puzzle table. 🙂

Momma’s Me Mood*

On January 17, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

I started this early in the morning before leaving to spend some time with family on New Year’s Day, and finished in the late afternoon when we got home. First day of the year, two puzzles completed; they were only small ones, but they were both entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I did something I NEVER do and bought one of those multipacks of puzzles. Usually I find the quality is really awful when you have many puzzles in one box, but I couldn’t help it – the artwork was so interesting, colorful, and completely different from what you normally see. I had to brave the questionable quality of 12 puzzles in one box from Cardinal, I just couldn’t pass them up; artwork like this is not something you normally find in a multipack.

The asterisk by the title is because although the artwork is by Iralu, the title is by my daughter. I couldn’t find the real title online (I’m not great at web searches to be honest), so I asked for some help in giving this image a name. I think it’s a perfect name for this puzzle, and I hope she’s feeling creative because none of the puzzles in this multipack have titles. 😉

I was surprised at the quality of this 300 piece puzzle, it was better than I thought it would be – at least as far as the chipboard goes. It was thicker than I’d assumed and fit together quite well. It may not be the same for the other piece counts in the box, but at least the four 300 piece puzzles are fair/good quality. In my book that’s a bonus!

Star Wars Finn

On January 16, 2020January 15, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I wanted the first puzzle of the year to be a thrift store puzzle, for mom. 💚 I went to the thrift store on New Year’s Eve, and was lucky enough to find a few kids puzzles that looked as though they might be entertaining. It’s always nice to start out a new month with a finished puzzle on day one, and kids puzzles are perfect when I haven’t timed it right to have a larger puzzle ready to be completed.

My sons both love Star Wars, so I thought this was a good choice for the first puzzle of the year. It was missing a piece, but I honestly didn’t mind. It’s the chance you take buying second hand, and I still enjoyed putting it together.

My youngest had to tell me the name of this character; I haven’t seen any of the newer Star Wars movies, so I had no idea who this was. His name is Finn, and he was a storm trooper, and lots of other information that I didn’t really grasp or process. I got the whole, long storyline for Finn from my son, and all I asked for was the name of the character!

These Cardinal puzzles for children aren’t the greatest quality, the pieces are thin and easily bent (and perhaps easy to lose too). But they’re perfect for a thrift store find; once the kids have played with them enough they find their way to me or some other puzzle junkie who enjoys assembling puzzles of all shapes and sizes. 😉

Jumanji

On November 17, 2019November 16, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I love the look of this, it’s quite striking compared to the fuzzy, soft, sweetened Christmas puzzles I’ve been seeing everywhere; I much prefer the look of this to be honest. I loved the movies too, both of them, which is why I bought it. I’m glad I did. 💗

It’s only a 300 piece puzzle, but don’t be fooled, this was way harder than it looks! It isn’t the best quality puzzle I’ve done lately, but it wasn’t too terrible. At the very least the colors are quite nice. The thickness of the pieces was fair, as was the fit. But it’s one of those puzzles where the image is so cool or entertaining that I can overlook it’s shortcomings.

Even if it wasn’t as easy as I’d assumed and wasn’t premium quality I still very much enjoyed this puzzle. The colors are both subdued and bright at the same time, and it was great fun figuring out which of the corner vignettes I was working on or what letter in Jumanji I was assembling.

300 pieces of entertainment and looking at the picture of it still makes me smile. Lovely!

Herb Farm Friends

On April 10, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This is a beautiful puzzle, but the flowers were such a PAIN! I knew they would be going in, and at times had to do a little internal cheerleading to keep myself going. When it was all said and done it’s a pretty image that was both entertaining and highly frustrating. 😉

This Cardinal puzzle actually had some whimsies, but they were awful to work with on my white board – they kept sliding around and making me crazy. My fabric covered board was occupied with another puzzle, perhaps I should have waited to assemble this one on the fabric board. Hmm.

Herb Farm Friends whimsies

I appreciate that extra work that goes in to making whimsies in a cardboard jigsaw puzzle, but these whimsy pieces added to the frustration if I’m being honest. The pieces that surrounded them almost never connected until you got 2 layers out, and there was much accidental touching of the pieces that made everything come apart. I’ve worked some cardboard puzzles with whimsy pieces that connect around the figural piece to keep things together, it would have been nice if these had been designed that way as well.

I’d love to tell you this was a fun puzzle, but although I enjoyed parts of it, the majority of my time was spent being frustrated with both the image and the whimsies. 😐