Tag: Gibsons

Britain & Ireland

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Britain & Ireland by Mike Jupp – Gibsons (Jig-Map) – 150 pieces

This is the first kids puzzle I’ve purchased new; I don’t have an explanation why I wanted it so much, I just did. I love the idea of Mike Jupp’s artwork and humor added to a geography lesson in a high quality puzzle. I wasn’t disappointed!

This puzzle is a “Jig-Map” and has a “place name quiz”. There are 32 identically shaped pieces with the names of cities and towns in Britain and Ireland. Luckily you don’t have to know the geography to be able to complete the puzzle; the image behind each name will help you find it’s correct position. And as an added bonus it’s a lot of fun! Here are all the names…

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Here are all the places to find…

The fun part was the different images by each name. The Beatles were next to Liverpool, there were sheep and a sweater in Cardigan, Robin Hood and Friar Tuck were in Nottingham, etc. What a great tool for teaching geography, it’s a lot of fun. 🙂

The quality was excellent with thick pieces, wonderfully crisp image reproduction, an excellent variety of shapes, and a very nice fit. I do love when a puzzle manufacturer puts effort into their children’s puzzles; kids need good quality puzzles that will stand up to being assembled many times and rougher than normal handling. Also, how cool is it that they got such a great image from such a great artist?

I looked up Jig-Maps, and they were a series of shaped geography puzzles that also had a place name quiz produced by Waddington’s in the 60’s. They were basically exactly the same as this Gibsons Jig Map, and a very cool idea in my opinion. I plan on donating this puzzle to my adopted grandson, I’m pretty sure he’ll love it as much as I did!

 

Keep On Dancing

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments
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Keep On Dancing by Marcello Corti – Gibsons – 500 pieces

So I finally broke down and ordered myself some new puzzles – I haven’t bought any new ones for myself since I bought the giant Disney puzzle. They arrived a few days ago and I was so excited! It was like Christmas morning!

Something about this image made me happy, and it was the puzzle I wanted to assemble first. It was an excellent assembly! It was fun to pull out pieces for a specific dress and assemble them, and before I knew it all the beautiful dresses were done and the dance floor was full! This is one of those puzzles you can’t seem to walk away from and it’s done in no time at all. I love puzzles like that!

I’ve only ever done one Gibsons puzzle before, and it was a 1000 piece. I love the feel of the pieces; they’re thick and sturdy and make the puzzling a tactile experience that I can’t properly put into words. The quality is exceptional! I wasn’t aware when I ordered it that it was a 500 piece with the extra large pieces, so the finished puzzle was 27 x 19. A nice big puzzle that feels like quite an accomplishment. 🙂

There’s something about a large piece puzzle for me, I’m not sure what it is, but it seems like the assembly always goes much faster. Perhaps it’s a perception thing? “These pieces are really big, it shouldn’t take any time at all to finish this entire puzzle.” And then I prove myself right by staying with it until the assembly is complete. I’m not sure if that’s it, but I enjoy the large piece puzzles whatever the reason.

I had a great time with this assembly, the only downside is that it’s over already!

Also, I wanted to wish my puzzle “dealer” a very happy birthday! Thanks for all the thrift store shopping for great puzzles and great puzzle deals. Who else would have found a 4000 piece puzzle for $1.99? But most of all, thanks for working on puzzles with me and being the only person who actually wants to hear me talk about jigsaw puzzles as much as I do, and in general just being your awesome self. Love you mom! 😉