Movie Reel

On January 17, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

My youngest son gave me this puzzle for Christmas, so bright and fun and full of color! My daughter and I started it’s assembly on Christmas Day after we finished Retro Dogs, and I finished it a day or so later. I love the image, and it was mostly great Ravensburger quality but I was slightly disappointed in the image reproduction. Some of the smaller images were more fuzzy and indistinct than others; that’s not something I usually find with a Ravensburger.

The quality of the pieces themselves was excellent, as usual. The image reproduction, though, left a bit to be desired. Most of the image was crisp and clear, but some small sections were seemingly out of focus and slightly fuzzy. I haven’t had this problem with Ravensburger before, but it’s worth mentioning for this puzzle specifically.

I enjoyed this puzzle very much, I think the choice of these 3 Pixar movies was excellent, probably because I’ve seen all three of them and the kids and I loved them all. The bright colors and adorable characters made this wonderfully fun to assemble. The edges of the movies reels and the blue background gave it a bit of a challenge, but it wouldn’t be as much fun if it were too easy. 🙂

Even with the small quality issue, this was a great puzzle and I still recommend it. For me it brought back memories of watching these movies with my kids when they were younger; how in the world is Toy Story 23 years old?!

Review: Mickey & Minnie Forever

On October 27, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments

Mickey & Minnie Forever – Mega Puzzles – 300 pieces

Here’s another puzzle that mom and I did together. There’s something about this image, the colors, the silhouette of Mickey, the comic strips in the background – I can’t properly put it into words, but this image makes an excellent puzzle and makes me happy.

I haven’t done many Mega Puzzles brand, but this one seemed to have better quality than others I remember. The pieces were on the thin side, but very sturdy and fit together remarkably well. The image reproduction is a bit shiny, but detailed and clear. This is the second of this brand in the past month that I’ve worked that has larger pieces, it seems that the larger pieces are better quality than the average 1000 piece size. Hmm. Interesting.

The assembly was more difficult than I thought it would be, but it was no match for the 2 puzzle princesses who were working on it. 😉 I will give credit to mom though, she did more of the work than I did – she’s the best!

I’m slightly re-thinking my attitude towards Mega Puzzles. I’d like to find a regular 1000 piece and another with larger pieces so I can compare them side by side. I’ll let my thrift store sensei know what her next mission is. 🛒

Details:

Title: Mickey & Minnie Forever
Artist: Disney
Brand: Mega Puzzles
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 27 x 19 in. (69 x 48 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Good, somewhat thin but sturdy
Cutting: Good
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Somewhat shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Good, recommended

Walt Disney World

On October 7, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I had high hopes for this puzzle, but it was a letdown. I was thinking there’d be better quality from the Disney company. 😐 This was the first puzzle I’ve done from them, so I’m interested to find another to compare it with. Perhaps this was one that got by quality control?

I like the image, but the pieces were very thin and easily bent and did not fit together well in some places. The image reproduction was blurry and fuzzy in some places, but crisp and clear in others. There was image lift on several pieces, and lots of hanging paper on the back of many pieces as well. In addition to the quality issues, some fool donated this to a thrift store with 6 missing pieces! Annoying!

On the positive side, the colors were bright and beautiful and there was a nice variety of piece shapes. It was fun to count the number of Disney movies, short films, and tv shows represented – there were a lot! Even if there were pieces missing and it had less than optimal quality, I still enjoyed the image itself.

Disney Pixar Movies

On August 26, 2017August 26, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This assembly was definitely a family affair – fitting for all the family movies in this puzzle. My sister-in-law, 2 nieces, a nephew (in-law) and myself all worked on this puzzle. Whew!

I sent this puzzle to my sister-in-law as a hostess gift of sorts. My husband and I, along with his two brothers were going to be staying with her for a few days. As a gift for being so brave in putting up with all of us I sent her two puzzles – for a few reasons. One, she enjoys puzzles; and two, it’s nice to have a puzzle sitting out in the house, especially when you have guests. Also, I may have wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t have to go 5 whole days without working on a puzzle. 😇

It’s hard not to stop and look at a puzzle in progress, and you end up adding a piece or two if you can. Before you know it people are sitting and working on it together and having a great time. That’s exactly what happened here. This puzzle sat out for a couple of days and several family members stopped to look and to help assemble it. It takes a bit of pressure off of the host feeling that the guests need to be entertained, we were entertaining ourselves with the puzzle! 🙂

The image here was perfect for a puzzle many people were assembling, it wasn’t too difficult to pick out the pieces for one section to work on. So while one person was assembling A Bug’s Life, someone else was working on Monsters Inc. We all had a great time working on it and were pretty proud of ourselves when we finished it. Excellent Ravensburger quality, with an image both kids and adults could enjoy. Great puzzle!

Lion King

On August 15, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

Had to travel out of state for a family funeral, and stayed with my sister-in-law and her family; while we were there my niece and I finished this puzzle. It’s quite fitting, really – The Lion King, the circle of life – I didn’t even realize it until just now, while typing up this post. Life goes on.

We gather to celebrate new life, and we gather to celebrate and remember a life lived. We are all a piece in many puzzles, many lives, and when our puzzle is finished it is a beautiful picture of a life lived.

There may be dark areas, where our choices or actions weren’t the brightest or best, but they all combine to make the person and the life that was. Or there may be a dark valley in our puzzle; not because of choices or actions, but because of the difficulties or trials life throws our way. And how we blend that darkness back into the light makes for a stunning image of a life well lived and well loved.

Our puzzle may not be as ornate or as colorful as someone else’s, or the pieces may become frayed around the edges, but our puzzle is us and those we love and care for – therefore our puzzle is beautiful and unique and can never be duplicated.

I don’t normally wax philosophical about jigsaw puzzles, but the past week is still with me and I didn’t realize how much until I began typing today. Life, and puzzling, goes on. I will try to be a beautiful piece in the puzzles of those I love, but no matter how my piece, or my entire puzzle looks, it is a picture of me and the life I lived – dark spots and all.