Tag: Collage

Review: I Remember Those!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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I Remember Those! by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 300 EZ Hold pieces

I know I sound like a broken record, but when you give me collages to review, 99 times out of 100 I’m going to love it. I Remember Those! was great fun, and had me feeling a little old. 👵 I had many of those toys as a child, and what I wouldn’t give to have them back now. Although it’s probably a good idea that I didn’t have the “Atomic Energy Lab” with over 150 experiments you can perform. I was a tomboy and a teeny bit destructive, what mayhem I could have caused with that!

White Mountain has the best selection of collages in the industry (according to me) and they’re always great fun to assemble. It’s like having a bunch of smaller puzzles in one, and it’s hard for me to walk away from them. Click the link above to see some awesome collages and all the puzzles available from White Mountain at Puzzle Warehouse.

The finished image is 18 x 24 inches (approx. 46 x 61 cm). There was a small amount of puzzle dust in the bag, but all the pieces were separated with no damage. The pieces are a good thickness with a good variety of piece shapes and fit together very well. The image reproduction is bright and colorful with a matte finish to prevent glare. The box is large, about the same size as one for a 1000 piece puzzle. The name of the puzzle, manufacturer, piece count and a portion of the image is on all 4 sides.

This was an easy assembly, but completely entertaining. I started with the words, which gave me approximate position for most of the toys and then started filling in from there. It was interesting to see all the toys that were before my time – Mr. Potato Head was for use on a real potato! It also says you can use it on any fruit or vegetable to make a funny face. Wow! It’s fun to see all the older packaging and the language they used. Just an all around excellent image and assembly.

Charlie Girard has done many a wonderful puzzle for White Mountain, his collages always make me smile. The vintage and nostalgic collages always have me remembering the good old days, and wanting to buy more of his puzzles! Click the link above to see all the puzzles currently available from this artist at Puzzle Warehouse.

I Remember Those! is definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys collages, toys, or board games – or just enjoys putting together a great puzzle image. Two thumbs up! 👍👍

 

I received this product at no charge in return for a honest review, all thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

 

 

 

Review: What’s For Breakfast?

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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What’s For Breakfast? – White Mountain (Family Time Puzzle) – 400 pieces

What’s For Breakfast? was such a fun puzzle! This was my first Family Time Puzzle from White Mountain, and it was very entertaining. I love a collage puzzle anyway, but it added a little something to have pieces of 3 different sizes. Large pieces for the kids or seniors, medium pieces for those in between, and smaller pieces for adults. Each size had about 1/3 of the puzzle, I loved it. It was fun by myself, and would be even more fun with the family. 🙂

White Mountain puzzles have good quality. Their pieces are a bit bigger than average, which makes for a larger finished puzzle – it looks like a big accomplishment when you’re done! They have an excellent catalog, and I think the best collages in the business. Click here to see all the puzzles available from White Mountain at Puzzle Warehouse. There are so many great puzzles to choose from I can never decide on just one or two! (I ordered 5 last time 😮)

The finished puzzle is 18 x 24 inches ( 45 x 61 cm). The pieces of this puzzle seem different than older White Mountain puzzles I have assembled, the chipboard seems tighter, more compressed. I like it! There were a few pieces that weren’t cut all the way through and had to be separated, but 99% of them were just fine. There was little to no puzzle dust in the bag and no hanging bits of paper on the pieces; this again is an improvement over older WM puzzles I’ve assembled, looks like they’re improving their quality! There were a good variety of piece shapes and they fit together quite well. The image reproduction was excellent, with all the bright colors I remember from the cereals I ate as a child, and a matte finish to prevent glare. Excellent quality! The boxes are large and colorful and have the name of the puzzle, piece count, manufacturer and a partial image on all four sides, perfect for shelving either vertically or horizontally.

The assembly was speedy and fun and took me back to my youth. There are a couple cereals there I don’t remember, like Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy, but for the most part I remember them all. I can’t believe the difference in the Trix rabbit; look at the Trix box in the top row, he’s certainly very different there than he looks now!

It was easy to pick out all the large pieces and assemble that side of the puzzle, then transition to the medium and then the small. It made for an interesting assembly as someone working alone, but would be lots of fun for a family to assemble in an evening. Wouldn’t it be great to turn off the tv and put the phones down for a night and spend some time together working on a family puzzle?

Collage puzzles are my favorites to assemble, it’s like getting many little puzzles in one❣ White Mountain has an excellent catalog of collage puzzles to choose from, or click the link above to see all the collage puzzles currently available at Puzzle Warehouse.

What’s For Breakfast? is an excellent collage puzzle that the whole family can enjoy and assemble together, or that you could do on your own. The different piece sizes make it easy for all age groups to work together or for an interesting assembly for just one person. Definitely recommended. 👍👍

 

I received this product at no cost to facilitate this review, all thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Roadside Attractions

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Roadside Attractions by Gil Elvgren – Cobble Hill – 1000 pieces

Gorgeous puzzle from Cobble Hill, excellent quality too – this one is getting glued and framed for my hubby, who loves old pinup girls. What an awesome wife I am! 😉

Cobble Hill makes excellent puzzles, their quality is very good. The linen on the pieces gives you a nice feel, and even the boxes feel luxurious. The fit is good, about average I’d say – neither too loose or too tight. The random cut makes for an interesting assembly, and they have a wonderfully varied catalog. I love their collages, and the new color series they’ve put out looks fun – but challenging!

The little ladies on the sides went together quite quickly, and were fun to put together. The lovely lady in the middle and her car took a bit more time, but still an entertaining assembly. There’s another pinup collage by the same artist called Seaside Attractions from Cobble Hill, looks like just as much fun as this one! I don’t know that I’ll get it for my husband, I seem to be running out of wall space. 😮

Road Trip USA

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Road Trip USA – Buffalo – 300 pieces

This was a quick assembly that was more fun than I thought it would be, and I love these kinds of puzzles!

This was a large piece puzzle by Buffalo, though the pieces were not quite as large as most other brands with “large pieces”. By Buffalo standards they are large, compared to their normal size pieces. I have said pieces so many times in this paragraph already that the word has ceased to make sense! 😐

I’ve lived in Michigan and Florida, and neither of those plates is familiar to me, they must be quite old. But they all work together to make a really nice image for puzzling, and it’s an entertaining assembly. The background isn’t too difficult to assemble, but enough of a challenge to make it fun. Click here to see this puzzle at Puzzle Warehouse. *I don’t get anything for you clicking or buying, they’re just my favorite puzzle store.

Definitely recommended, especially for those who need puzzles with larger pieces. The bright colors and large pieces would be great for anyone with aging eyes or fine motor issues. Great puzzle from Buffalo!

Route 66

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Route 66 by Kate Ward Thacker – Buffalo – 500 pieces

Here’s another one mom did the majority of, but she insisted that I take a picture of it for the blog anyway.

Mom and I had just finished a 1000 piece puzzle, and were looking for the next puzzle to start. We were both in the same kind of mood apparently because we looked at many different puzzles and we were both feeling the same way about all of them; it was sort of a blah thing where nothing looked like it would be fun that day. Mom had to take a phone call and so I continued the search and ended up on this one. I started sorting the edge pieces and putting everything on trays while she was on the phone and when she was done and came over to the puzzle table she was a bit wary and asked “What puzzle is that?” When I showed her the box she smiled and said “Nice choice!” We were definitely in the same weird mood. 😎

Buffalo puzzles are always good quality and it’s nice after working a loose fitting puzzle to work one that fits together well like Buffalo does. And it was also nice to work on a collage, I enjoy them very much! Somehow a collage puzzle, even if it’s a large piece count doesn’t feel overwhelming. You can work on just a small portion at a time and eventually connect them all together and then it seems like quite the accomplishment! When I’m in the “blah” mood where no puzzle seems to be the right one, the answer is usually a collage.

There’s something about Route 66 that lends itself well to a collage puzzle, this is actually the second one I’ve done – the previous one was a Ravensburger. The old postcards and maps give it a nostalgic feel and it’s interesting to see all the roadside attractions that used to make Route 66 a place to “get your kicks”. 🙂