Review: Skates

On December 20, 2017December 20, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

IMG_E4027 — Skates by Amy Rosenberg – Bits and Pieces – 500 pieces

This was a fun puzzle that mom and I assembled together. I haven’t seen very many Bits and Pieces puzzles that are grid cut, in my experience they’re usually random cut; it was a nice change.

This was a good quality Bits and Pieces puzzle that was quite a joy to assemble. It was a bit more challenging then we’d assumed, but still fun. The pieces fit together very well and the image itself is cute, and perfect for more than one person to work at a time. Mom started on the left side with the white ice skates and I started on the right with the scarves. We met in the middle to work on the chair and dog. Lots of fun!

Bits and Pieces quality seems hit or miss. Sometimes the fit is way too loose and floppy, and other times it’s just right. I would prefer it if the quality were consistent; that’s why we only buy this brand second hand from the thrift stores. It’s too disappointing when you pay full price for a puzzle that has quality issues.

This is a nice wintry image that has me wishing for cooler weather. It’s supposed to be 82 degrees here today! 🌞

Details:

Title: Skates
Artist: Amy Rosenberg
Brand: Bits and Pieces
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Approx. 16 x 20 in. (41 x 51 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Good, some hanging bits of paper
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Spider-Man 3

On December 19, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was purchased from the thrift store the day mom spent the morning “Driving Miss Stacey”. I thought my younger son would enjoy it as he is a Spider-Man fan so we decided to take a chance. This puzzle is made of foam and the package said it fits together so well you don’t need glue, you can just hang it up when you’re done. While this is true, unfortunately I wasn’t impressed.

The fit of this puzzle is weird, and although it’s true that you can pick up the entire puzzle without glue I don’t think it would make a good hanging decoration. The pieces will not lay flat, not even close to flat. I tried to adjust them all so that it wouldn’t be so noticeable, but you can tell in the picture above that I was unsuccessful. Even if all the pieces had been there this isn’t a puzzle I would have kept.

Milton Bradley in my experience usually has good quality puzzles, but this one just didn’t pass muster. I will still enjoy their more traditional cardboard puzzles, but I don’t think we’ll be purchasing any more puzzles made of foam. It was fun to try out a new type of puzzle though. 🙂

Blind as a Bat

On December 18, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is the third puzzle in the Party Animals collection from All Jigsaw Puzzles that I’ve assembled. I was a bit worried about all the snow in this one, thought it might be difficult. It wasn’t of course, it was the perfect amount of challenging, and a lot of fun!

The quality of these puzzles has been very good, but there was a bit of an issue with this one. There were quite a few pieces still connected and many pieces with hanging bits of paper on the back. I must have gotten one from the end of the run. The first two puzzles in this series that I did had no problems at all.

I love these Party Animals by Mike Jupp, they’re so fun and adorable; glad I bought all four. The artwork is incredibly detailed and beautiful and the humor is right up my alley. I’m hoping that my quality issue with this puzzle is just a manufacturing mistake – All Jigsaw Puzzles have so many great looking images that are very tempting! 😉

Chocolate Artistry

On December 17, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Excellent thrift store find, it was so much fun! This one was unusual in that mom completed it first, and then I did; typically it’s the other way around. We both enjoyed it very much, it was absolutely worth the 99 cents we bought it for. 😎

The fit was tight, but not in the extreme which was good. Sometimes the Springbok puzzles are so tight the edges curl up! I’m not a fan of the super tight fit and was glad that wasn’t the case here. The image is perfect for puzzling, especially for someone who enjoys collages. I love being able to grab a bunch of pieces for a small section and put them together without having to look at the box image. I think that’s why I’m not a fan of the super busy images; I dislike having to stare at the box trying to figure out what I’m actually assembling or where it goes.

I had a very good time with this puzzle, it was hard to walk away from working on it and was completely entertaining. Excellent quality puzzle with an awesome image; if you come across one new or used I would definitely recommend it – 2 chocolate bars way up! 🍫🍫

Festive Fir & Festive Gingerbread House

On December 16, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Festive Fir – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 30 pieces

These are a couple of the Christmas micro puzzles from Wentworth Wooden Puzzles. I went a little insane and ordered MANY of these 30-40 piece puzzles when there was a free shipping special. I don’t regret it, I’m worth it, and they make me happy. Besides, they’re so cute and fun to assemble they will be done many more times – no doubt about it!

The festive fir was a challenging cut, but even the more difficult ones aren’t too bad when there are only 30-40 pieces. It’s lovely to sit and assemble a puzzle in the time it takes to have a cup of coffee. A fellow jigsaw puzzle blogger from Russia calls these “one coffee puzzles”; they are small piece count puzzles you can finish in one quick sitting. I love the name and have started using it too.

I’m not really a collector, so puzzle boxes aren’t really that important to me. I do take note when they’re interesting or really well done. The boxes for these Christmas micro puzzles are so adorable I had to give them a mention. They’re shaped like Christmas crackers! You twist open one of the ends, and the pieces are inside in a gold mesh bag.

It won’t be as easy to shelve these as it would for regular boxes, but they’re just too cute not to show you. They’re a little more expensive than the regular micro puzzles, but oh well. 😎

IMG_E4051 — Festive Gingerbread House – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 36 pieces

A completely adorable gingerbread house! I’m glad I splurged and bought all of these micro puzzles – mom and I absolutely love them. This one was also a little bit of a challenging cut, but it was a joy to put together.

My wonderful husband has never said a negative word about any of my puzzle purchases, in fact he thinks I should spend money on myself more often! So there’s really no problem with all these purchases, right? Of course right! 😁 (Sometimes I have to keep reminding myself of that, it’s still pretty new to me spending money on things I don’t really need, and at times I feel a little buyer’s remorse)