1980’s

On November 27, 2019November 27, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you won’t be surprised by this – I absolutely loved this puzzle! Even though it’s 1500 pieces there was zero anxiety about starting it; it’s a collage puzzle about the 1980’s, what’s not to love? I remember every single thing shown, and even if I wasn’t a fan of The Police or never watched an episode of 21 Jump Street that doesn’t mean I didn’t love putting every single piece of this puzzle together. Many sections brought back memories that put a smile on my face, and even just looking at this picture of the puzzle makes me happy. 🙂

Since the last Re-marks puzzle I assembled had a stain over the image, I’m happy to report that this puzzle had no problems. The pieces were a good thickness and fit together well, and the reproduction had no issues other than being slightly shiny. There was only one piece shape, but it didn’t bother me much because there weren’t any large areas of one color (and most likely because I enjoyed the image so much). 1500 pieces with all one shape would normally be quite annoying for me, but it’s all relative; with a great image on the puzzle and good quality otherwise it wasn’t much of a bother at all.

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My family loved The Muppet Show, and never failed to watch it every week. This was back in the time of only three tv channels – yes youngsters, you heard that right – only three! There was cable tv, but that was basically just HBO (and they didn’t make tv shows or movies, they only showed movies that had once been in the theaters). So on Saturday or Sunday nights we had only 3 choices, it definitely made deciding what to watch much easier that’s for sure! My dad loved Statler and Waldorf, mom loved Kermit, and I loved The Swedish Chef and Beaker (odd choice, I know, but I was an odd child). The show was fun and funny, and sometimes a little bit raunchy, and thinking of it brings a smile to my face.

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These are two more things I loved. Spirograph kept me entertained for hours and hours and I used to make cards and gifts for my family with it when I was young. Mom used to get out her colored pencils and help me color the images in sometimes to make the “artwork” even more beautiful. Sometimes she would take a spirograph picture she really liked to work and make copies for us to color over and over.

As for Clue, we found the board game boring for the most part, but we absolutely loved the movie! Back in 1985 there weren’t DVD’s, but we did have a video cassette player and as soon as we were able to find the movie on VHS we most definitely had a copy. I’m sure the statute of limitations has run out, so I can tell you that we rented the movie and made a copy of it. 😇 The movie was so unusual with it’s many different endings, and we were a family that loved a great comedy. (How awesome were Madeline Kahn, Tim Curry, and Michael McKean? Just an awesome cast in general, and we adored this movie)

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This was another great action/comedy movie, and we all loved it. I can’t see anything about this movie without saying “Hey you guuuys!” in my head, and sometimes out loud. My kids loved it too when they were younger, it’s just a great all around family movie. (Well, it was PG, so there were some not so family friendly moments, but in 1985 my sisters and I were teenagers, and I didn’t show it to my kids until they were ready 😉 )

If I were to reminisce about every section of this puzzle it would be a very, very long post indeed. There are things I would have to explain to the younger generations, and most of the explanations would draw blank stares and looks of disbelief. How in the world would you explain Max Headroom, or the popularity of the Trapper Keeper?! Ah, the 80’s. What a decade! It made for a thoroughly entertaining puzzle though. I’m giving it two pairs of Calvin Kleins, standing way, way up! 👖👖

The 20th Party Parade

On November 26, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

20th Parade — The 20th Party Parade by James Alexander – Jumbo (Wasgij) – 1000 pieces

I love being able to show an entire Wasgij puzzle without having to worry about spoiling anything. Normally I have to make sure I’m photographing the correct person from the finished puzzle, and I have to crop it so I don’t show anything extra. This time I didn’t have any worries at all, this is the box image bonus puzzle and there are no spoilers here. It was a very busy image, but it made for a fun puzzle.

This was definitely not an easy assembly, the image is so detailed and all the boxes everywhere gave me quite a challenge. Most of the boxes in the foreground were pretty easy, but the ones in the background were much more difficult. There were so many in the store that all the smaller boxes looked alike. I saved them for last, but they were still a bit of a challenge. Overall though, I enjoyed it very much.

20th Parade 1

The intricacy of this illustration is amazing, it’s only about 15 pieces out of 1000 but it’s so incredibly detailed. I’ve actually assembled the Wasgij Mystery Puzzle #13, and this is exactly what the box looks like. I’m sure computers helped out quite a bit, but still, this entire image must have been a LOT of work!

I haven’t put together the actual Wasgij yet, this one is from the perspective of the priest, I wonder what everyone is looking at. I guess I’ll find out soon enough. 🙂

Afternoon Visitor

On November 24, 2019November 23, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This image is gorgeous, and I would definitely want to do this one in 1000 pieces. Look at the dogs sleeping by the fire – how sweet are they? Steve Read’s images aren’t always ones that speak to me, but this one was a joy to put together at 40 pieces, and I can see how it would make a great puzzle in any size.

Afternoon Visitor whimsies

Great whimsies, I love the silverware/flatware, the detail Wentworth puts onto their whimsies makes all the difference. You can’t always tell what some of them are by shape alone, it’s the extra cuts that clarify exactly what each one is. I don’t always like the look of the extra lines on the front of the puzzle, but it doesn’t usually detract too much.

This was the last of my regular micro puzzles; all I have left now are four Christmas/winter themed ones. According to my family’s tradition, no Christmas anything is allowed until after the Thanksgiving meal. So Santa and all his helpers are just going to have to wait until after next Thursday before assaulting me with holiday everything. (Yes, I’m feeling a little “Bah Humbug” this year).

I do wish I had a few more everyday image micro puzzles though, I could use them to pad my queue – I’m running out of puzzles for the blog again! Anyone out there feeling like writing up a guest post? Done any fun or fabulous puzzles lately? 😁

Chocolate Milkshake

On November 23, 2019November 22, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This was a fantastic quality Ravensburger puzzle with a new matte finish. The artwork is wonderfully fun and made for the exact right amount of challenge. I just love this image!

The dancing cows, the chocolate and treats flying around and everything in the background made for quite an easy assembly. I did the cows last, as they were the most difficult part, but even then they weren’t too bad at all. And they’re so cute!

Milkshake 1

You can see the difference in the finish here; on the right are pieces from a 1000 piece Ravensburger with the usual finish, the ones I’m used to seeing. On the left is this puzzle with the matte finish. You can’t tell as much from the picture, but the difference was quite evident to someone who has assembled many, many Ravensburger puzzles. I noticed right away, and was quite happy with the look of it.

I would love to find some more puzzles like this one, it was lots of fun. 🐄🐄🐄

Hair Gossip

On November 21, 2019November 21, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This is another puzzle my daughter insisted I buy. I seem to be buying puzzles that SHE likes when we’re together, but I’ve completely enjoyed all of her choices so I’m definitely not complaining. She has excellent taste in puzzles, and knows what her momma likes. 🙂

After the assembly of the previous Sure Lox 300 piece in the newer boxes, I felt a little more confident purchasing this one. Again it had very good quality – which my fingers definitely didn’t want to type in regards to a Sure Lox puzzle. But it’s true, the new boxes contain much better quality puzzles than I’ve worked previously. The pieces are thicker and fit together very well; the image reproduction is quite good too. There is only the one piece shape, but that’s my only criticism.

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This is the new box design. I’ve only tried their 300 piece puzzles so far, but the two that I’ve assembled have been very good quality. I was brave and also got myself a 500 piece with the new box, so I’ll let you know once I assemble it if the larger piece counts also have improved quality.

I love that Sure Lox has improved their quality, and I’m loving their “Giggles” images featuring the photography of John Lund. I don’t usually go for photographic images, but the adorable animals in silly situations are too cute to pass up. 😍🐶