Tag: Collage

Hot Cocoa

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Hot Cocoa by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This super quick and entertaining puzzle was part of a swap with my fellow puzzle junkie Penny. To be honest I wasn’t certain I’d enjoy it, but was quite glad to be wrong about how delightful it would be.

It was a very good quality White Mountain puzzle, perhaps the best fitting of this brand that I’ve ever done – and I’ve done a lot. It wasn’t the too tight fit that leaves your thumb feeling sore from pushing pieces together with lots of pressure; and it wasn’t too loose where two pieces fall apart when you pick them up to move them. I was happy with the all-around quality, which isn’t something you normally hear me say about this brand.

I’ve chosen three sections to show close up, they’re all much older advertisements. It’s funny how something is perceived when it’s new to the market; we would never characterize hot cocoa in these ways now.

The greatest invention of the age. That’s pretty dang funny to me, as is the name. Instantaneous Chocolate – not very appetizing is it?

Breakfast cocoa sounds pretty good to me! Of course you could say that all the froofy coffee drinks people consume these days might be more chocolate than coffee so I suppose it isn’t that big of a leap. As for myself, I’m a simple gal. I enjoy a cup of coffee-flavored coffee, or a cup of hot chocolate – “never shall the twain meet.”

This is the one that really caught me by surprise. “Drink hot chocolate before…during…and after the game!” I’m not sure professional basketball players would agree that it’s a good idea. Could you imagine a basketball player sitting on the bench with a cup of cocoa before he or she gets back into the game? 🤣

Great American Novels

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles14 Comments

Great American Novels – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

Not great quality – not bad either – but I had a good time regardless. To be honest I wish there had been less books and more pieces for each one – it would have made it more challenging, which is what I would have liked. Collages like this are almost like working on many mini puzzles all connected, and it would have been more entertaining for me if there had been more to each little mini puzzle.

This puzzle had a very loose fit, but thankfully it had the paper backing that I prefer – so that was a bonus. Re-marks has become another White Mountain for me, in that I am not always happy with the quality but I put up with it because of the great collage images to choose from.

This book was one of my favorites from my youth. I adored it and reread it several times.

My favorite book of all time, and I have read it too many times to count. Once I saw the movie, it became my favorite movie as well.

I consider myself an intelligent person, but out of the 50 Great American Novels shown here I’ve only read 13 of them. I’m not always a fan of the “classics” and don’t read books just because everyone else is reading them or some reviewer says I should. I like what I like.

Although a book may be a “classic” that doesn’t mean I’ll enjoy it, and if it feels like work slogging through reading them then it isn’t worth it. I’ve read my share of classics or great American novels, but it’s better if they’re read because they look interesting – not just because I’m supposed to want to read them.

Edward Gorey’s Book Covers

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Edward Gorey’s Book Covers – Pomegranate – 1000 pieces

I was disappointed by the new, less impressive quality from Pomegranate, but this was still a very enjoyable puzzle to assemble. Assembling the border was a challenge on the sides – with all maroon pieces – but it wasn’t horrible. Overall I loved the image, collages are my happy puzzle place.

As I discussed in my “in progress” post, the quality of this puzzle was not was I was expecting from Pomegranate. The pieces were thinner and the fit was much looser than previous puzzles from this brand. It was still good quality, much better than many brands out there, but not the premium quality puzzle I’m used to from them.

According to the box Edward Gorey designed book covers and dust jackets before his own books drew acclaim and acquired a dedicated following. He designed for books by Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot and more. I must admit I haven’t read a single book featured in this puzzle, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t thoroughly entertaining. Most of the puzzles I’ve seen with Edward Gorey’s work are very dark and lacking color, this is the brightest and most colorful one I’ve seen and therefore much more interesting to me.

Oddly, after I finished this puzzle but before I took pictures this book and cover were shown and discussed in a tv series that I’ve been binge watching on a streaming service; I took notice and decided to show a closeup here. Poetry isn’t really my thing, but it’s an interesting book cover.

I love the colors in this cover, and it was one of the few book names I actually knew. Most people have heard of this book, or the movie, or the “hoax” with the Orson Welles radio broadcast.

“No one wrote this book – these are the tape-recorded dreams of a man who talks in his sleep.” That really made me laugh.

I feel completely uneducated not having read any of these books – most of them I hadn’t even heard of! The Dream World of Dion McGregor? Not a clue.

Oh well. I’m happily stupid I suppose. 😉

You Wild Animal!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

You Wild Animal! by Mario Zucca – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

After completing a puzzle that was darker than I normally like, you’d think I would have chosen an image that was bright and colorful. Nope. This artwork isn’t bright or that colorful, but it was exactly what I was in the mood for. It was a bit of a challenge, but I loved it!

Great Ravensburger quality, and I especially loved the matte finish; it made working with the darker sections much easier to not have to deal with the glare.

Have you ever heard of an Umbrellabird? I certainly hadn’t!

The x-ray fish is also new to me, and I just couldn’t resist the sloth and the sea otter peeking out from the left – so cute!

The way the skunk is depicted just makes me smile. This was my first time with artwork by Mario Zucca, and it was fantastic to assemble. There were plenty of words (which always is a bonus for me), and each animal image was so interesting and fun.

Other puzzles with his art are mostly maps, but this one was very different; I don’t think I’d be interested in any of his map puzzles at the moment but I enjoyed his collection of animals very much. 💛

Words of Wisdom

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles20 Comments

Words of Wisdom by Steve Cameron – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This puzzle was a little too easy for my taste – the hardest part was laying out pieces. It was still fun though, and it was probably the perfect puzzle for me to attempt while dealing with hubby recovering from his very first surgery. My big tough Marine isn’t the easiest to deal with when he doesn’t feel well (if you know what I mean).

As far as White Mountain puzzles go this one was about the norm – quality was good/fair. The fit was slightly loose, which I have been noticing more often from this brand than I used to. It used to be that many of their puzzles had a fit so tight that I felt as if I were working on an exercise program for my arms and fingers; I haven’t run into that issue at all since the pandemic began.

Just an observation.

As far as the image goes, a lot of these words of wisdom are your average clichés, but some of them I’d never heard or read before. Regardless, it was entertaining and I enjoyed myself even if it was a little too quick to go together. (I think if it had been a little more challenging I would have been able to spend extra time and enjoy it even more). But honestly, finding the perfect puzzle image that is just the right amount of fun/difficulty is pretty rare; so I don’t hold it against anyone that this was a little too easy for me.

This was the first section I assembled; mostly because it’s bright color was extremely easy to pick out, and partly because that’s how I feel most days – like my brain is running Windows 95 and there are 17 tabs open. Yep. That about covers it.

This is a good reminder. Whatever style you like, take some time out to listen to music when you can; it’s helped me tremendously during the past couple of years and I highly recommend it.

As I’m typing this up I’m enjoying an eclectic mix of music from the 1940s to present. Most of it is from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but I like many different genres and delight in putting it all on shuffle and having fun with whatever song pops up next. Could be Mama Cass, could be an 80s hair band, could be Elvis or The Beatles, could be some classic rock or my favorite a capella group – you just never know. 🎼