The Wedding

On April 23, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Got my hands on another old wooden puzzle, are you surprised? It’s a lovely image, but there were so many missing pieces! I went into this knowing there were only 499 pieces, but I mistakenly assumed that meant there was only one missing piece. I was wrong of course. This puzzle apparently started out with 510 pieces, not 500. Still, mom and I had a good time putting it together and that’s what counts. The Wedding 1

There is such beautiful detail in the artwork, the hands seem almost photo quality. It was a beautiful puzzle and mom and I enjoyed it even with the many missing pieces.

The Wedding 2

EBL 1920 – I wish I knew if that was in reference to the date the puzzle was cut or if it’s when the image was painted. It could be both, actually.

I’ve got one more old puzzle yet to assemble and one more in the queue, but unless I find something amazing I’m done with the vintage/antique puzzles. Not because this one had lots of missing pieces, but because either fortunately or unfortunately (I’m not sure which), the municipal building puzzle was so amazing, and such fantastic quality that I feel that everything else is a bit of a letdown. Even if it’s great quality it still isn’t as good. I was so lucky to find that puzzle; it’s a one of a kind, exceptionally well made, and mom and I enjoyed the journey of putting it together so much – it just can’t be matched or duplicated. Nothing even really comes close.

I’ve told hubby to stop sneakily buying these old puzzles on eBay. He purchased a few for me as a surprise, it’s very sweet but I’d prefer it if he didn’t do that anymore. I think I’d rather be happy we had the experience and fun of assembling a very rare and wonderful antique than be let down by the not up to snuff quality of lesser (but still lovely) puzzles.

Travel America

On April 22, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles10 Comments

No, the “smoky” look isn’t the picture, it’s the actual puzzle. It had very odd coloring in my opinion, but I’ve seen a lot of odd things in puzzles in my time. 😉

This puzzle wasn’t as entertaining as I’d hoped, but they can’t all be fantastic. The quality was fair; the pieces were thick enough and fit together extremely well. But the image reproduction was fuzzy and smoky and altogether weird. I’ve never really come across a puzzle like this from any brand. Interesting.

Travel America 1

The artwork made for quite a challenge, everything was so muted and smushed together.

Travel America 2

There were a lot of blue pieces, but luckily there were plenty of things to break up the monotony. The grid cut was offset, so you couldn’t rely on piece size to see if they lined up, which made the ocean sections a bit more challenging.

I’ve never worked a puzzle with this odd coloration before, it was….something.

A Drive in the Country

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

A new company for me to try out always makes me happy, and luckily this one had a beautiful image, gorgeous colors, and great quality. I’ve tried many, many different companies and from my experience finding great quality isn’t the norm. I was very pleasantly surprised. 🙂

Of course I can only speak for this particular puzzle, having only assembled one puzzle from this brand. Usually I prefer to try at least 3 different puzzles before making a final judgement, so I’d love to try another from this brand, hopefully a larger piece count. I’ve found that some companies that have excellent quality 300 piece puzzles don’t have the same quality for larger piece counts. I don’t know why this is, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me; but I have definitely found it to be true. I’m hoping to run into a larger puzzle from The Jigsaw Puzzle Factory to see what the quality is like and if it compares to the great experience I had with this one.

The pieces were nice and thick, fit together extremely well, and there were a very good variety of shapes. The quality of the image reproduction was excellent, though the finish was a little bit shiny. Overall the quality of the puzzle was impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed the assembly.

I love the tiny little details and the quality of the artwork by Carol Lawson; it was great fun to assemble. It reminded me of my youth for some reason I can’t explain, I just loved the softness and sweet quality of the teddy bears.

At only 300 pieces this went together quickly, but it made me happy and that’s the part that matters most. 💗

Something Fishy

On April 19, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

This has beautiful colors, but wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped; I’m not a big fan of underwater images. Isn’t it interesting how I love bright colors in a puzzle, but if they’re fish or a scene under the ocean it isn’t as entertaining? My brain is so odd!

That isn’t to say that it wasn’t fun to assemble at all, because it was. It just wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped. Who’s to say why some images make us happy and some don’t, we like what we like. The best pictures don’t always make the best puzzles, and sometimes images look like they’ll be fun, but for some reason we can’t explain they just aren’t.

Unfortunately this had a missing piece so it ended up in the recycle bin instead of being given back to goodwill, but those are the chances we take. It’s a tiny bit disappointing, but I still got to put the puzzle together; I can’t be unhappy with that. 🙂

Want a Ride?

On April 18, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

Another silly title by me for a puzzle with no title shown on the box. How intense are these puppy/kitty looks? Pretty intense. Would you want a lift from a car full of these darlings? I definitely would!

Fair quality kids puzzles from Milton Bradley. The fit was good, the pieces were on the thinner side, and the finish was a bit shiny. Not too bad for a thrift store purchase, I got 3 silly puzzles to assemble for a dollar – not bad at all! 🙂