Follow Your Nose

On January 8, 2020January 8, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

Follow Your Nose is chock full of delightful doggie faces and it made for a truly entertaining assembly. It didn’t take long to put together, and I would love to assemble it in a larger piece count as well, it would make for a fabulous 1000 piece puzzle!

Many times I’ve said that, “It would make a great 1000 piece puzzle”, and almost every time I’ve never seen that image in a larger count. It makes me wonder why so many images are only in a certain piece count; wouldn’t it be advantageous to make each one into different piece counts to reach a larger number of consumers? Honestly, I have no idea how licensing works; when you sell artwork to a puzzle company is it only for use once, on one puzzle? Or does licensing have nothing to do with it, and it’s the puzzle companies who makes all of these decisions?

I have emailed the VP of Sales, Marketing, and Product Development at Buffalo Games to hopefully get answers to these questions, just for my own “piece” of mind. Stay tuned to see if I can get this information for all of us puzzle nerds. 🤓

Back to today’s puzzle! My daughter bought me four Buffalo 300 piece puzzles a few weeks ago, and I’ve enjoyed every single one – from Doug the Pug to this gorgeous collage. I always feel better when I have a few smaller piece count puzzles around, it lessens my anxiety. It means I’m not surrounded by only 1000 piece or larger puzzles, and that if I need to get my puzzle on there are plenty of little ones around to feed my habit without the stress of opening and sorting a larger one.

Nose 1

While all of the puppers in this puzzle were cute, these two were my favorites, and they were right next to each other. Both of my sons love Corgis, so I’m a little biased towards them – if my boys like them, then I do too 😉 And the German Shepherd (hopefully I got the breed right) is just so sweet with the adorable puppy dog eyes and that nose; he’s off the charts on the cuteness scale!

These 300 piece Buffalo puzzles were all great quality: thick pieces that fit together well, a good variety of piece shapes, and excellent image reproduction – I highly recommend every one! They made me smile, relieved some stress, gave me lots to do when I couldn’t sleep, and helped me deal with my extremely severe case of PADS.

Although, these puzzles make me want to stock up with many more, so perhaps the PADS is flaring up again. Win some, lose some 🤷‍♀️

C. S. Lewis

On January 5, 2020January 5, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This puzzle was great fun! I had such a good time that I could barely walk away from it, every piece put in lead me to another and so on; it went together much more quickly than most 1000 piece puzzles do for me because I was having such a good time. Collages are the best!

Sometimes I’m torn between keeping at it because I’m having so much fun, and slowing down to make it last longer. Usually I choose to keep at it; because – why put a damper on my puzzle fun? But sometimes I choose to walk away for a bit or just slow down putting in the pieces to really savor the assembly. This was one of those that I chose to keep on puzzling, it was extremely enjoyable.

The quality was a bit disappointing though; the fit was loose and spongy, and the piece shapes are very obvious in the finished image. Most likely my particular copy of this puzzle was produced at the end of the run when the die was duller. It happens with every puzzle brand, and it doesn’t mean the brand has poor quality. The assembly was delightful, but the overall the fit made it slightly less satisfying.

My first thought when I saw the puzzle was that I had no idea C. S. Lewis was so prolific, but a closer look showed that there are many books shown multiple times with different covers. Both The Screwtape Letters, and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe are shown with five different covers!

CS Lewis 1

This was my favorite of The Screwtape Letters covers. I’m not sure why; usually I go for lots of color, but there’s something about this one, maybe it’s the pointillism – it’s quite striking. And believe it or not this was one of the easier covers to assemble. It just looks so cool. 😎

I had a great time assembling this puzzle even though I was somewhat frustrated with the quality. I’m recommending it as it was so entertaining, but am cautioning about the quality – specifically the fit. For me, the fact that putting it together was so absorbing outweighs the annoyance of the loose fit; but ultimately it’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.

*I’m fully aware that my thoughts about this puzzle are all over the place; and I have no excuse other than to say that they are factual. Collages make me truly happy when I assemble them, and unless the quality is completely horrid I will enjoy myself. But I also feel a responsibility to let my readers know if there are quality problems, even small ones. If there is a problem with the fit, the cut, the chipboard, or anything else I need to let you know. So even though I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I still have to let you about any issues I found. (This paragraph made sense in my head, I hope it translated well enough to be somewhat understandable. 😉 )

Keepsake Memories

On December 27, 2019December 27, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

What? Another Christmas puzzle? I know, but I had three of them already assembled and waiting in my queue before I purchased the Terrible, Rotten, No Good, Very Bad Advent Calendar. So you’ll just have to put up with this and two more holiday puzzles before they are all done for the year.

Although the image is fun and interesting, the fit of this puzzle was not at all to my liking. It has the super tight fit that some Springbok puzzles have, where you have to use some upper body strength to press the pieces into place. It also makes for a puzzle that doesn’t always lay completely flat, because it’s so tight that it curls up in places. I know that some people prefer this very tight fit, but it’s just not for me.

Gnarly fit aside, the assembly was still engrossing and relaxing. Each of the fabrics/textures in the background were easy to pick out and assemble, and at the end it was just a matter of filling in each ornament. Calming, absorbing, entertaining, and all together lovely.

Keepsake 1

This was my favorite of the sections; Santa after work with his honeydew list of chores. I was able to read some of them, and he certainly has his work cut out for him! Fix the landing beacon, tune the glockenspiel, insulate the attic, and several other things that I wasn’t able to read. That ought to keep him busy and out of Mrs. Claus’ hair for a little while. 🔨🎅

How adorable are these two? Mom has chocolate dipped strawberries for feet, and dad has a licorice scarf and a peanut butter cup hat! Too cute!

Even though the fit was too tight for me, this puzzle still made me happy and provided me with several hours of alone time early in the mornings – peaceful quiet and puzzling. Lovely.

This puzzle is part of a batch of puzzles I’ve brought over from mom’s house. She loved this type of puzzle, especially with the Hallmark ornaments, and grama loved them too. Collages are my favorite type of puzzle, and these Springbok collages with the fabric backgrounds are so fun to assemble – that makes three generations of women who loved to puzzle, and loved this type of puzzle as well – and I assembled it this year in loving memory of the two women whom I deeply loved and learned my love of puzzling from. 💖

Follow Your Nose In Progress

On December 11, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling10 Comments

Nose IP — Follow Your Nose – Buffalo – 300 pieces

So there was another puzzle sitting on my board waiting to be sorted and assembled, but I just wasn’t feeling it yesterday or this morning. So, back to the pile it went to wait for another day – and now I’ve got this adorable little 300 piece on the board that makes me extremely happy to look at, and I hope happy to assemble too!

Sometimes I’m just not in the mood for certain puzzles, and I’m trying to listen to my brain when I feel that way. I put pressure on myself occasionally to assemble a puzzle that “the readers will like”, forgetting that this blog is about the puzzles I choose to assemble. It’s ridiculous, I know, but I’m trying to do better. If I feel like putting together a bunch of very small piece count puzzles that’s what should show up here, even if many of my readers only put together larger puzzles.

Onward to a lot of adorable doggie faces! There’s quite a bit of fur along with lots of tongues and noses, but it is exactly the puzzle I want to be assembling right now. Even if it’s a little bit difficult it’ll be entertaining, and that’s what I’m looking for today. 🐶🐾🐕

Frosty Treats

On December 7, 2019December 7, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This 300 piece puzzle was great fun, more difficult and time consuming than expected, but still entertaining and beautiful to look at.

When my daughter found the Doug the Pug puzzles, she also brought me this and another 300 piece collage of dogs. She really is an enabler, and she’s quite good at it too! Do I have an awesome daughter or what!? I’ve only got the dog collage left, and my supply of smaller piece count puzzles is dwindling quite low. I may have to send her out on a puzzle finding mission very soon, she seems to know what puzzles I’ll enjoy even better than I do. 😎

Buffalo does a good job with their 300 piece puzzles, these were all excellent quality. The pieces are thick, the images are gorgeous and sharp, and the fit is very, very good. The colors on this puzzle are amazing and make for some delicious looking popsicles. They look absolutely luscious.

It makes me hungry for some frozen treats, we old ladies with hot flashes love frosty treats! When my inner child is playing with matches I’d love to dive headfirst into the freezer and cover myself with anything that would cool me down – but it’s nice to eat popsicles too I suppose.

Frosty Treats 1

Perhaps I need to get out more; I’ve never seen popsicles with kiwi or oranges in them! The colors are beautiful, and it looks like they would taste lovely. Mmmm. 🍧