Halloween Town

On April 7, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

My first puzzle from Vermont Christmas Company – thumbs up! I bought this for Christmas last year because I needed to buy enough puzzles to get free shipping on the Christmas present I bought for mom. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 😎

I like the quality of this company very much. The pieces are thick, and the cut is super interesting! I’m not sure you can call it a grid cut, but it isn’t completely random either. Whatever it’s called, I like it! The fit is quite nice and the pieces lie flat; the image quality is bright and colorful and I enjoyed the whole puzzle from start to finish. The coating on the pieces is somewhat shiny and can cause glare on the darker pieces when working under lights, but I don’t consider that too much of a problem at all.

I’m not sure why I decided that spring is the time to assemble this puzzle, but there ya go. I just follow my weird mind and do whatever puzzle I’m feeling at the moment. Halloween is my favorite holiday so this puzzle makes me happy no matter what time of year it is! It’s cute without being overly childish and all the spooky favorites are there – kids trick or treating, ghosts, pumpkins, spider and bats, etc. This was a great puzzle and I’m looking forward to working more!

The Mouth of the River!

On April 6, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This Wasgij was fun, but more challenging that I thought! When I finished this one I was definitely proud of myself. As usual, I’m not showing the entire puzzle so as not to spoil the fun for anyone else who may do the puzzle. It’s so much more fun if you figure it out for yourself, and it feels like much more of an accomplishment!

Graham Thompson is one of my favorite artists and his Wasgij puzzles are amazing. The artwork was fun and funny, the quality of the puzzle itself is excellent and you have the added fun of not having a picture to work from. I think it adds fun, of course some people may not enjoy that.

With a Wasgij, depending on which type of puzzle you have, you have clues to what the end of the puzzle might look like. With the Wasgij original series you have to imagine the scene from the point of view of one of the characters on the box image. For this puzzle you have to puzzle the scene from the view of the man sitting on the back of the elephant.

You know you’ll have the boat, river, fish and bird his eye line at least. So you know generally what part of the puzzle should look like and you have to figure out the rest. And let me tell you, it is AMAZING what everyone is looking at! Of course it must be if even the birds and fish are shocked!

I highly recommend any of the Wasgij puzzles, I love the added challenge of figuring out what the picture is, and I love the high quality of the Jumbo puzzles. Give yourself a challenge and try a Wasgij puzzle if you have the chance, it’s so much fun!

Catch of the Day

On April 5, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another new puzzle company, who knew that there were so many? Puzzle Makers International – not too shabby. 🙂

The pieces were mostly what mom and I call “ballerina” pieces. Two prongs and two holes = two/two = tutu = ballerina! See how my “interesting” mind works? Anyway, even though almost all the pieces were ballerinas it was still a fun puzzle to assemble. The pieces were quite thick which is always a good sign, they fit together very well and the image quality was very nice!

The artwork by Roseanne Kaloustian is an adorable image of a boy fishing with his trusty dog by his side. I can’t define what it is, but something about this picture made me want to do the puzzle right away. I have no idea why – or I can’t verbalize it properly. Needless to say, we got going on this one immediately!

It was quite an enjoyable assembly and mom and I got it done in one afternoon. Those Friday visits are excellent for puzzling. We were both impressed with the quality of the puzzle and look forward to finding more new puzzle companies to try. Especially when we find them at the thrift store! 😎

Birdhouse Celebration

On April 4, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

My first shaped puzzle (other than a circle) than I’ve completed. I’ve started several shaped puzzles and for one reason or another I haven’t completed any of them. Perhaps I had a mental block about them and just thought a puzzle should be rectangular or square. Whatever the reason, I finally got an entire shaped puzzle completed! (Mom and I assembled this one together, I have to give her a shout out. Hi mom!)

It’s a beautiful image and mom and I enjoyed the assembly very much. It’s even got a little bird who’s coming to visit but didn’t quite make it into the puzzle. How cute! This puzzle would be great for the family around July 4th. Have everyone over for the holiday and you can have them help assemble a puzzle while you’re waiting for the fireworks!

This was the first Sunsout puzzle I assembled that I thought had very good quality. The previous ones I’ve worked I wasn’t pleased with the amount of cardboard backing that didn’t get cut all the way through or was hanging on the back, and the pieces that fit together too tightly so you actually have to work at attaching them.

This puzzle however, had neither of those issues and we enjoyed this puzzle quite a bit. It was nice to be able to pick out the pieces for a small section and work on it without having to refer to the box constantly. The pieces fit together very well and there was no excess cardboard or paper hanging off the back of the pieces. The colors were bold and beautiful and even though the piece shapes didn’t have much variety it was still a fun assembly. The quality of this puzzle was quite good to my surprise, and I’m glad! Sunsout isn’t a company I normally purchase from, but if we can check out the pieces at the thrift store first then I’m all for it.

Follow Your Nose

On April 3, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This puzzle is adorable and was quite fun to do even though the quality wasn’t stellar. I’ve found that sometimes if the puzzle image is something that you really like or connect with that even a poorer quality puzzle is a fun assembly. The pieces of this puzzle were very thin and they were easily upset if you accidentally bumped up against them.

Although the quality left something to be desired, mom and I still had lots of fun working on this puzzle together. It was well worth the 69 cents we paid for it at the thrift store!