Apple Calendar

On August 19, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

It was a New Perspectives puzzle that got us started back up puzzling a couple of years ago. Thanksgiving Day my boys were sitting on the front porch of my parent’s house waiting for dinner to be ready and they both started helping us assemble a puzzle. This was a minor miracle in itself because they are both autistic and don’t have much to do with each other, so having them work together on something was amazing! We all had a great time assembling that puzzle together and from that point on mom and I have been back into puzzles, and we’re still going strong. 🙂

This was a quick assembly with mom and I working together, we managed to get 3 puzzles assembled in one day!

Ceaco isn’t a favorite brand, the pieces are too thin for my liking and sometimes the fit is odd. But they do have an excellent catalog and very reasonable prices. If you’re not a collector and just someone who likes to put together puzzles that don’t always have to be premium quality then Ceaco could be a good way to go.

If the image is something we really love, we sometimes purchase a Ceaco at the thrift stores. We do not, however, purchase them new. That’s just how we roll, but if Ceaco is a brand you like, you should definitely go for it – they really do have some excellent images! 😎

Pirate’s Landing

On August 18, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is one of three puzzles mom and I finished in one day. 🙂 This was another thrift store find that had never been opened. I keep wondering how that happens!

It’s a Ceaco puzzle, so it had thin pieces and a lot of puzzle dust; but the image reproduction is very nice and the pieces fit together well. This would be a nice puzzle to donate to a senior center – the very bright colors and large pieces would make for a nice activity. Perhaps that is where this puzzle will find a new home. 🙂

This is from a puzzle series by Ceaco and photographer Ulrike Schneiders called Bear Necessities. They feature toy bears; the pictures are cute and fun, and make for excellent puzzling.

It’s a charming image, and the assembly was a nice distraction from a very stressful day. Even when it’s not a premium quality puzzle I can still turn off my brain and dive headfirst into a puzzle where all I have to do is find the next piece. Thank goodness for the thrift store puzzles that keep our costs down – there’s a lot more stress than cash these days! 😐

Lion King

On August 15, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

Had to travel out of state for a family funeral, and stayed with my sister-in-law and her family; while we were there my niece and I finished this puzzle. It’s quite fitting, really – The Lion King, the circle of life – I didn’t even realize it until just now, while typing up this post. Life goes on.

We gather to celebrate new life, and we gather to celebrate and remember a life lived. We are all a piece in many puzzles, many lives, and when our puzzle is finished it is a beautiful picture of a life lived.

There may be dark areas, where our choices or actions weren’t the brightest or best, but they all combine to make the person and the life that was. Or there may be a dark valley in our puzzle; not because of choices or actions, but because of the difficulties or trials life throws our way. And how we blend that darkness back into the light makes for a stunning image of a life well lived and well loved.

Our puzzle may not be as ornate or as colorful as someone else’s, or the pieces may become frayed around the edges, but our puzzle is us and those we love and care for – therefore our puzzle is beautiful and unique and can never be duplicated.

I don’t normally wax philosophical about jigsaw puzzles, but the past week is still with me and I didn’t realize how much until I began typing today. Life, and puzzling, goes on. I will try to be a beautiful piece in the puzzles of those I love, but no matter how my piece, or my entire puzzle looks, it is a picture of me and the life I lived – dark spots and all.

We’re Cruisin’

On August 12, 2017August 12, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This puzzle is almost 30 years old! It’s showing some age spots, but it’s exceptional quality. I guess back in the late 80’s Ceaco was making some really nice, thick kid’s puzzles.

The pieces of this puzzle are so thick and dense it almost feels like wood. I’ve never seen a Ceaco puzzle like this one before, I wish they still made puzzles like this! Another thrift store find, of course – this one is from the year I got married. How in the world is 1988 that long ago? Yikes!

An adorable puzzle, and a nice easy assembly with wonderfully thick pieces that are all present and accounted for. Can’t get much better than that. My thrift store purchasing guru needs to find us some more cool puzzles please. This one was so nice!

100 Elephants and a Mouse

On July 30, 2017February 5, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Ugh, this was the worst assembly for me in a while. Ceaco isn’t a favorite, but this was awful! I muddled through it because I like the image, and ended up with 2 missing pieces. 😐 Normally Ceaco isn’t that bad, perhaps this was the end of the run.

The fit of this puzzle was horrible, the best way I can describe it is “spongy”; you could place a piece and it felt almost soft and spongy going together. It was easy to place a piece incorrectly because the fit was so ambiguous. The image reproduction was sharp in some places, and in others it looked almost fuzzy, like a mimeographed picture from my elementary school days. (Yes, I’m old)

I picked this puzzle up several times to start it, liked the image so I pulled the pieces out of the box – then I put it back down because the pieces did not look great. It’s finally assembled so I won’t be having that argument with myself anymore!

I always try to find something positive; with this puzzle it’s making me think very hard. Um, we saved someone else from buying a puzzle with missing pieces, there were a nice variety of piece shapes, and I enjoyed the image very much. Oh, and I found the mouse! 🙂