Tag: Jigsaw Puzzles

Review: Remember When

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Remember When by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

Remember When is another fun collage from White Mountain. How many of these things do you remember? I remember many of them, and most of the rest I have some knowledge of. I was a little old when Cabbage Patch dolls were all the rage, but I do remember signing the birth certificate for my friend’s younger sister. Is that a hideous green AMC Gremlin? Oh my!

White Mountain Puzzles really do have the best catalog of collages around, there’s something for just about everyone. Beer, wine, cereal, neon signs, stamps, etc.; there’s a bunch of entertaining collages to choose from. They don’t just have collages though, they have fine art, educational maps, historical works, and much more. White Mountain puzzles are good quality. The pieces are a good thickness with a nice variety of piece shapes, and they fit together well. Sometimes there can be an issue with image lift if a piece is placed wrong and has to be removed, but it isn’t too much of a problem in my opinion – a touch of super glue and the piece is fine. The image reproduction is very good, with excellent colors. Click the link above to see all the White Mountain puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse.

There was a moderate amount of puzzle dust in the bag, with a few slightly bent pieces. The pieces were a good thickness and fit together very well. The image reproduction was bright and colorful with no fuzziness. The finished image is larger than the average 1000 piece puzzle at 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76 cm), be sure you have enough work space before you begin. The box is about the average size for a 1000 piece puzzle with the name of the title, artist, manufacturer, and piece count on all 4 sides. 2 sides have a smaller complete image of the puzzle, and 2 sides have a small partial image, making it suitable for shelving either vertically or horizontally.

Part of the reason collages are so much fun for me is that you can pick out the pieces for a small section and assemble it easily, usually without having to look at the box much. One section leads to another and another and it goes quickly and is very entertaining. This puzzle was even more fun because I remembered many of the people and things. There are plenty of words too, which I always enjoy – after the edges I usually begin with the words. For this puzzle, once you’ve assembled all the words you’re already at least 30% done and it’s easy to build off of them to start filling in.

Charlie Girard has become one of my favorite puzzle artists; his collages make me happy and there are so many to choose from. If you’re a fan of collages click here to check out all of Charlie’s puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse. The first page alone has 4 or 5 puzzles I would love to do!

Remember When brings back memories for me, although I don’t recall seeing any signs instructing hippies to use the back door. 😉 The image is colorful and fun and makes for a great puzzle. It’s no surprise that I’m giving two thumbs up to this collage – definitely recommended! 👍👍

 

I received this product at no cost to facilitate this review, all thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

 

 

Vintage Travel Guides

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Vintage Travel Guides by Aimee Stewart – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

What’s not to love about this puzzle? It’s a collage with plenty of words to put together, it’s a Ravensburger, and the artist is Aimee Stewart – that’s like the trifecta of awesome!

Mom and I assembled this together on an afternoon visit and we absolutely loved it! The colors are beautiful and work together amazingly well, it’s just an all around excellent image for puzzling. I have yet to find an Aimee Stewart puzzle that I haven’t liked, and there are still many more I’d love to own and assemble. There’s a puzzle of hers that is very similar to this one called The Christmas Library; it shows shelves of vintage Christmas books, is 1000 pieces and is absolutely stunning! It’s in my pile of puzzles to be done and I’m planning on assembling it a little closer to the holidays, if I’m able to hold out that long. 😉

Ravensburger is my favorite puzzle manufacturer, and the quality was excellent as usual. The pieces feel wonderful and fit together satisfyingly, and the image reproduction is crisp and extremely detailed. Aimee Stewart and Ravensburger are a heavenly combination in my opinion, and I always look forward to and enjoy working her puzzles.💖

Review: Sugar Skull Cookies

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews2 Comments
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Sugar Skull Cookies – Cobble Hill – 1000 pieces

I REALLY like sugar skulls! Though sugar skulls are used to decorate gravestones for The Day of the Dead in Mexico, they’ve become a popular image in western culture, especially for Halloween decorations. I love them because they’re beautiful and interesting, and represent a holiday that celebrates the lives of friends and loved ones instead of mourning them.  So – did I want to review this puzzle? Absolutely!

Sugar Skull Cookies was extremely enjoyable to assemble; I loved that it wasn’t too easy and had a great time working color by color and seeing all the cookies take shape. Surprisingly it didn’t make me hungry for cookies!

Cobble Hill puzzles are excellent quality and I never hesitate when buying one. The pieces are thick and linen covered which provides a great feel in your hand, and they fit together well with a random cut that makes for an interesting assembly. Their image reproduction is beautiful, and they have a great catalog of puzzles to choose from. Click the link above to see all the Cobble Hill puzzles in stock now at Puzzle Warehouse.

There was a bit of puzzle dust in the bag, and a few pieces still connected or with bits of paper hanging off the back. It wasn’t too bad, but can be annoying when you’re trying to sort, etc. The box says that the puzzle is random cut, but it seemed more grid cut to me – there were some odd shapes – perhaps it’s semi-random? Anyway, a good variety of piece shapes and they fit together very well. The image reproduction is detailed and beautiful with a gorgeous matte linen finish that feels good in your hand. The box is about average size for a 1000 piece puzzle with the name of the puzzle, manufacturer, piece count on all 4 sides; 2 sides have a small complete image and 2 sides have a small partial image making it easy to shelve either way for collectors.

This was about a medium difficulty puzzle. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for anything too simple or too challenging, this puzzle falls right about in the middle. I started with the pink, red, green, and blue cookies, working them one color at a time. I hadn’t worked a Cobble Hill puzzle in a while and it was nice to work with such lovely pieces on such a fun image.

These cookies are so beautifully decorated that I don’t know if I’d be able to eat them. Looking at all the sweets/candy puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse, there are so many puzzles that look both deliciously fun and just plain delicious! Every time I review a puzzle I look at similar puzzles and end up adding several of them to my wishlist – the total cost of my wishlist right now is over $600! 😮 I’ve added several sweets puzzles today, including another cookie collage from Cobble Hill called Ugly Xmas Sweaters that looks like so much fun!

Sugar Skull Cookies was an excellent quality puzzle with an image that made for an extremely fun assembly. It wasn’t too easy or too difficult; it was Goldilocks – just right! If this image is one you like, it’s definitely recommended. 👍

 

I received this puzzle at no cost to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Church

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Church by Joseph Burgess – Milton Bradley – 1000 pieces

This is another of the premium Milton Bradley puzzles that we’ve found. Previously I assembled Train Station, Eden Central by Thelma Winter and enjoyed it very much. Click the link above to see that post. I was thrilled that mom was able to find another puzzle from this series, but a little bummed that it’s missing one piece. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun to assemble!

This was the first puzzle with artwork by Joseph Burgess that I’ve assembled, and I have to say his artwork is beautiful and makes for an excellent puzzle; I’d love to work more of his puzzles. I’ve looked through the puzzles with his artwork available at Puzzle Warehouse, and I recognize several that I’ve noticed before and had already added to my online wishlist (and the wishlist I keep in my head 🙂 )

The quality of these premium puzzles is excellent, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed assembling them. The images are gorgeous and make for great puzzles; the pieces feel almost soft, fit together very well, and have a beautiful matte finish. The series has 3 puzzles each from several artists including Royce McClure and Dominic Davison. I’m hoping we find more of them, I love the quality and the pictures are attractive and calming and make me happy while I’m puzzling them.

Vibrant Puzzle Calendar Kit Puzzles 1 & 2

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments
Butterflies 100 pieces
Puzzle with calendar
Flower Shop 100 pieces

Super interesting puzzles mom found at the thrift store! There are six 100 piece double sided puzzles to assemble and glue for use with a dry erase board calendar; a different image for each month.

The brand is Mega Puzzles, but they are much thicker than any Mega Puzzles I’ve done before. And the most amazing part? This is from the thrift store and everything is still inside the box! All puzzles (I’m hoping all the pieces are accounted for), the calendar, the dry erase marker, glue and a spreader to use with the glue. Wow!

The puzzles are thicker than the normal Mega Puzzle, but one side has an odd finish. I don’t know how to describe it, but you can tell which side of the puzzle you’re working on which I suppose is the reason for it. In my opinion one side looks better than the other, but it isn’t too bad. I enjoyed assembling the first puzzle (well, 2 puzzles) and have shown each side above along with the calendar. I haven’t glued the puzzles, but just placed it carefully so you can see what it looks like. Actually, pretty cool idea!

There are two different editions of this calendar kit that I was able to find online. Mega Puzzles aren’t a brand I would normally seek out, but this one is pretty neat and I wouldn’t mind finding the other edition to try. 🙂 I loved working on a 100 piece puzzle that had a more adult image; stay tuned for the other 5 puzzles!