Apple Calendar

On August 19, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

It was a New Perspectives puzzle that got us started back up puzzling a couple of years ago. Thanksgiving Day my boys were sitting on the front porch of my parent’s house waiting for dinner to be ready and they both started helping us assemble a puzzle. This was a minor miracle in itself because they are both autistic and don’t have much to do with each other, so having them work together on something was amazing! We all had a great time assembling that puzzle together and from that point on mom and I have been back into puzzles, and we’re still going strong. 🙂

This was a quick assembly with mom and I working together, we managed to get 3 puzzles assembled in one day!

Ceaco isn’t a favorite brand, the pieces are too thin for my liking and sometimes the fit is odd. But they do have an excellent catalog and very reasonable prices. If you’re not a collector and just someone who likes to put together puzzles that don’t always have to be premium quality then Ceaco could be a good way to go.

If the image is something we really love, we sometimes purchase a Ceaco at the thrift stores. We do not, however, purchase them new. That’s just how we roll, but if Ceaco is a brand you like, you should definitely go for it – they really do have some excellent images! 😎

Pirate’s Landing

On August 18, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is one of three puzzles mom and I finished in one day. 🙂 This was another thrift store find that had never been opened. I keep wondering how that happens!

It’s a Ceaco puzzle, so it had thin pieces and a lot of puzzle dust; but the image reproduction is very nice and the pieces fit together well. This would be a nice puzzle to donate to a senior center – the very bright colors and large pieces would make for a nice activity. Perhaps that is where this puzzle will find a new home. 🙂

This is from a puzzle series by Ceaco and photographer Ulrike Schneiders called Bear Necessities. They feature toy bears; the pictures are cute and fun, and make for excellent puzzling.

It’s a charming image, and the assembly was a nice distraction from a very stressful day. Even when it’s not a premium quality puzzle I can still turn off my brain and dive headfirst into a puzzle where all I have to do is find the next piece. Thank goodness for the thrift store puzzles that keep our costs down – there’s a lot more stress than cash these days! 😐

Road Trip USA

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

This was a quick assembly that was more fun than I thought it would be, and I love these kinds of puzzles!

This was a large piece puzzle by Buffalo, though the pieces were not quite as large as most other brands with “large pieces”. By Buffalo standards they are large, compared to their normal size pieces. I have said pieces so many times in this paragraph already that the word has ceased to make sense! 😐

I’ve lived in Michigan and Florida, and neither of those plates is familiar to me, they must be quite old. But they all work together to make a really nice image for puzzling, and it’s an entertaining assembly. The background isn’t too difficult to assemble, but enough of a challenge to make it fun. Click here to see this puzzle at Puzzle Warehouse. *I don’t get anything for you clicking or buying, they’re just my favorite puzzle store.

Definitely recommended, especially for those who need puzzles with larger pieces. The bright colors and large pieces would be great for anyone with aging eyes or fine motor issues. Great puzzle from Buffalo!

Tulips

On August 16, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Interesting puzzle! It was a fun assembly though and didn’t take very long at all. This is the first Hasbro I’ve done with the EZ Grasp extra thick pieces. Impressive!

I looked over every inch of the box and could not find a title for this puzzle at all. I have named it Tulips. I’m almost positive that isn’t the name, but it’s all my coffee starved brain could come up with this morning.

It was easy to separate these pieces while sorting, no second guessing needed. Red, yellow, green, building, and sky. It was a nice assembly for me, especially after having completed a 1000 piece puzzle that took several days. This one can be finished the same day, and is a nice change from the larger piece counts.

This is an excellent puzzle for anyone who needs larger pieces, they are easy to hold and extremely thick. There was a good variety of piece shapes and they fit together quite well; the finished image is seamless and beautiful. If all the Hasbro EZ Grasp puzzles are of this quality I would definitely recommend them. They’d be great for kids moving up from 100 piece puzzles too. 🙂

Lion King

On August 15, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

Had to travel out of state for a family funeral, and stayed with my sister-in-law and her family; while we were there my niece and I finished this puzzle. It’s quite fitting, really – The Lion King, the circle of life – I didn’t even realize it until just now, while typing up this post. Life goes on.

We gather to celebrate new life, and we gather to celebrate and remember a life lived. We are all a piece in many puzzles, many lives, and when our puzzle is finished it is a beautiful picture of a life lived.

There may be dark areas, where our choices or actions weren’t the brightest or best, but they all combine to make the person and the life that was. Or there may be a dark valley in our puzzle; not because of choices or actions, but because of the difficulties or trials life throws our way. And how we blend that darkness back into the light makes for a stunning image of a life well lived and well loved.

Our puzzle may not be as ornate or as colorful as someone else’s, or the pieces may become frayed around the edges, but our puzzle is us and those we love and care for – therefore our puzzle is beautiful and unique and can never be duplicated.

I don’t normally wax philosophical about jigsaw puzzles, but the past week is still with me and I didn’t realize how much until I began typing today. Life, and puzzling, goes on. I will try to be a beautiful piece in the puzzles of those I love, but no matter how my piece, or my entire puzzle looks, it is a picture of me and the life I lived – dark spots and all.