Vintage Games

On October 15, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

I’ve had an odd relationship with this puzzle, it’s been in my home for well over 2 years I think and I’ve started to assemble it several times and ended up putting it away. I’m not sure why this time was a go, but I’m glad I finally got to it – it was very entertaining!

The worst part for me is the very beginning when you see all the pieces you have to sort through. Since my method is to lay the pieces out on trays, I try to decide on several areas to pull pieces for while I’m sorting and traying. I pull the pieces for quite a few different sections for a couple of reasons; 1) to reduce the number of pieces I have to lay out, and 2) to be able to start assembling something right away. Once I have the edge assembled it makes me happy to be able to grab a container of sorted pieces and start to work.

In the case of this puzzle the sections I pulled out were the 4 game boards in the corners, the pieces with words on them, the chinese checkerboard, and the dominoes. The game boards were the MOST fun to put together, the colors are bright and the patterns are interesting. There were many words strewn all around the inside of the puzzle image, and many were hard to complete because they weren’t always easy to find.

Vintage Games 1

I was intrigued by the playing cards with the cats. They all had different phrases on them; The Future, The Past, Love Matters, The Present – what game was this? Does anyone have a clue? Almost all of the vintage games were slightly self explanatory, board games, cards, word games, bingo, etc. The cards with the cats confused me though, were they some kind of kitty cat tarot cards? 🤨

Vintage Games 2

Scrabble tiles, they make me smile. I love playing Scrabble, though no one will play with me around here. I’m pretty good at it and it gets frustrating, apparently, for my family to constantly lose to me. I understand the feeling though, I won’t play strategy games with my husband because he consistently kicks my a** at them. We each have our strengths I suppose. 😉

I’m glad I finally took the plunge and assembled this puzzle. It was fun, the right amount of challenging, and had beautiful colors. I enjoyed it very much, and it is definitely recommended. The quality was excellent, although the fit was a little looser than normal for a Ravensburger; though the image was so compelling and fun that I didn’t mind too much about the fit.

Massive Munchies

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

I had a good time with this one, I usually don’t see collages by Ceaco. This was another puzzle that my daughter suggested I buy when we were puzzle shopping together. She seems to know better than I do what I’ll enjoy assembling; perhaps I’ll have to take her with me on my puzzle quests more often. 😉

Fair quality, but pieces were on the thin side. The image was fun enough though that I wasn’t deterred.

Massive Munchies 1

With all the chocolatey and sugary snacks and cereals in this image (and in the stores), this was one of my favorites when I was younger. Mom used to shop at a store we kids called the “used bread store”, they had quite a lot of Hostess products and she used to buy a lot of these pies. I loved them warmed up. I haven’t seen these in any stores in quite some time, but this one made me feel a bit nostalgic.

Pulitzer Prize

On September 10, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

I was a little disappointed with this puzzle – not only did I lose a piece (I seem to be very good at that lately), but there was serious problem with the image reproduction. You can see at the top of the puzzle it looks as if someone has poured a dark stain over it.

You can see on the left the puzzle itself, and on the right is the poster that came with the puzzle – there’s a huge difference. I contacted the company to let them know about the problem, and to their credit they got in touch with me the same day.

They wanted to see pictures of the problem, so that they could speak to their manufacturers – and that was the main reason I got in touch with them. All I’m looking for are great puzzles to do, and when I feel there’s something they need to hear about that could help them improve quality, I always want to let them know.

They also offered to send me a free puzzle, but I didn’t take them up on it. Even though there was a problem with the printing, it was only a small part of the puzzle; and even with the stain across the top I still enjoyed assembling the puzzle. In that way, I feel I got my money’s worth and don’t feel that I need to be reimbursed with a new puzzle. I love their collage puzzles, and this one problem won’t keep me from buying more in the future.

The piece shape is very obvious, which it seems to be in most of their puzzles. It doesn’t detract from the assembly for me, but it would matter if you planned on displaying it. The pieces are a good thickness and fit together well, and other than the image reproduction issue the quality was very good.

The assembly was entertaining and engrossing, and it went together very quickly for a 1000 piece. It was interesting to see which of the books I’ve read and to see all the ones I’ve never even heard of. I thought I was well read, but of all the Pulitzer Prize winning books shown I’ve only read seven of them. I guess I’m not as well read as I thought! Oh well, my family loves me and thinks I’m pretty awesome, that’s what truly matters.

Pop Culture

On May 4, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Ah…collages. I love them so much. I’ve said many many times why I like them, but reasoning aside they just make me happy when I assemble them. End of story.

White Mountain has the best catalog of collage puzzles around in my opinion. They have so many that it’s difficult for me to whittle down which ones I want. They’re not always the best quality – I’ve had problems with before with twinsy pieces still connected, too tight fit, and fuzzy images. Most of the time though, there aren’t major problems with the puzzles and I enjoy working with them.

Pop Culture 1

Any NCIS fans out there? It’s Ducky! I’m a little young to have watched The Man From U.N.C.L.E. on television, but I know that the actor who plays Ducky on NCIS (David McCallum) was a heart-throb back in the day because of that show. That makes me laugh for some reason. 😉

Pop Culture 2

MAD Magazine and Gumby – love them! I had a subscription back in ye olden times when people actually got magazines in the mail and read them. (It’s sort of like a papery kind of blog – if you’re a young’un and not clear on what magazines were) I’ve always been a fan of satire, improv, and standup comedy, even when I was younger. I think I had more comedy albums than musical ones; which might be a clue why this part of the puzzle made the smile. 😀

Dog Tales

On April 26, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

I had a great time with this collage – these are my favorite sorts of puzzles – lots of words, many colors, many textures, they are never dull!

The piece shape is quite obvious in the finished puzzle, which is annoying if you want to frame and hang it, but doesn’t really detract from the enjoyment of assembly as far as I’m concerned. Otherwise the quality was quite good; thick pieces, nice fit, and beautiful colors.

These are a few of my favorite bits… Dog Tales 1

This tiny puppy squaring off with a very big bear – how adorable is that? I don’t know the book or anything about it but the cover is fantastic.

Dog Tales 3

This poor guy looks like I feel sometimes, ugh. He makes me want to sit down next to him and give him a nice belly rub. 🙂

Dog Tales 2

And of course, any book cover with a Boston Terrier is gonna make me happy. My Buddy is a Boston so the breed itself is one of my favorites, and they have such wonderful expressive faces. So adorable! If that’s a French Bulldog, I don’t even care – it looks like my Buddy. 😉