Cats Around the World

On January 28, 2020January 28, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles7 Comments

We were sorting through some of mom’s puzzles, and my daughter said to me “here’s one with a lot of cats”. My response was “Ugh, no thanks”, but then she said it was funny, so I had to take a look at it. I’m glad I did because this is not only a funny image, but was an entertaining assembly too.

I haven’t done a Dowdle puzzle in quite a long time, when did they start using just the one piece shape? And why in the world are so many companies using only one shape? It’s really frustrating, do they think that’s what we like or want? News flash puzzle companies – we like variety in shapes even if it’s only within a ribbon or grid cut – only one piece shape is BORING to work with.

This puzzle came with a legend that names all the cats and tells where they’re from…

Cats 1

Starting at the bottom in the middle and going around clockwise…

Sheriff “Cat” Masterson – Dodge City, Kansas
Audrey Hep-PURR-n – Belgium
Trojan Mouse – Greece
Fat Cat – Wall Street, New York

Cats 2

Starting at the top left and continuing clockwise…

“Mew”-stafa – Egypt
Mr. “Meow”-gi – Japan
MVP (Most Valuable Pussycat) “Go Kitty Wampus!!!”
“Feline” Nightingale – England
Yassir Ara-“cat” – Saudia Arabia

Cats 3

Starting at the top left again, clockwise…

Guillermo del “Gato (gato is Spanish for cat) – Mexico
Maurice “Chat”-velier (chat [pronounced shot] is French for cat) – France
Bat Cat – Gotham City
Coot Cat – Magnum P.C. (Pussy Cat) – Hawaii, USA

Cats 4

Starting at the top in the middle and continuing clockwise…

Captain Cat Sparrow – England
Lady Lib-PURR-ty – a gift from France to the United States
Big Lou – known for his cat calls – New York City
Chaim “khah-Tool”-evsky (khah-Tool is Hebrew for Cat) – Israel

Just for clarification, the explanations of the words for cat in different languages were part of the legend, and I copied them exactly.

While I was disappointed in the lack of variety in piece shape, I still enjoyed the puzzle and especially the names and silly faces of the cats. Chaim khah-Tool-evesky makes me laugh every time I look at him, that grumpy face is hysterical! Feline Nightingale’s cranky face is pretty funny too – the ones that make me laugh made this puzzle completely worth it. Just looking at the picture of the puzzle makes me smile. 🙂

Dog’s Life

On January 20, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles9 Comments

Is that not the cutest puzzle? It’s so adorable!!! My darlin daughter gave me this one for Christmas, and I couldn’t wait to get at it. It’s truly a dog’s life in this puzzle, and if you have dogs or have had them in the past you will relate.

It’s not the best quality, and if you ask me Eurographics is backsliding in the quality department. They used to be very good quality randomly cut puzzles, but this one piece shape with terrible cutting leaves a lot to be desired. The finish is super shiny and there is glare no matter if you’re working with dark pieces or light.

Dog's Life 1

This is basically dog ownership in a nutshell. Always looking at you for food as if they’ve never eaten a meal in their lives; that’s how Buddy looks at us anyway.

We only have one dog, just Buddy, but he certainly enjoys a ride in the car, and there is plenty of hanging out the window going on! And more than any other little vignette in this puzzle, the one on the right definitely shows how Buddy gets comfy in bed with my husband and me. He takes the middle – all of the middle!

My youngest son surprised me by coming in at the end of this puzzle when I was finishing the middle, there were about 7 or 8 pieces left, and he just grabbed one and put it in. He NEVER wants to do puzzles with me, so it was a bit of a shock, but a very happy one. He kept on going and I let him place all of the final pieces. He stopped at the last one and looked to me, knowing that putting in the very last piece makes a hard-core puzzler like me very happy, but I told him to go ahead and finish it. It was so lovely and I was truly pleased that he came in and wanted to be with me in my puzzle room working on one of my puzzles – even if it was only for a couple of minutes! He’s so sweet, and I love that he helped me put in the last few pieces. 💖

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. 💖