Yarn Party

On February 12, 2017December 28, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Another thrift store puzzle, this one hadn’t even been opened yet! This was my first puzzle from Karmin. Although I’ve seen the name before, hadn’t worked a puzzle from them.

I enjoyed this puzzle, even though I was unimpressed with the quality of the pieces. They were quite thin and easily bent, there was a large amount of puzzle dust both in the bag and in the box itself, and there was quite a bit of glare from the coating on the pieces. Luckily the puzzle wasn’t overly large and I was able to carry it on the board to a place in the room where I could take a picture of it without all the glare bouncing off of it.

That being said, still enjoyed myself. The image was cute, the piece shapes were interesting and not everything has to be perfect all the time. Even though the pieces were thin I still had fun putting the puzzle together and found that I enjoyed the assembly in spite of the quality! Sometimes I’m too in my head and I should just relax and have fun, right?

Confection Street

On February 5, 2017December 28, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Today is my Grama’s birthday. Since she’s been on my mind, especially since last week’s National Puzzle Day post I decided to do a post on this puzzle. It belonged to Gram. My mom decided to keep this puzzle of hers to assemble and glue. Mom did most of the assembly, but I did help and I glued and helped frame it.

Charles Wysocki’s artwork is a favorite, so this was an obvious choice to keep and it is a mosaic puzzle which was interesting to us, we’ve never seen that before. This is a Milton Bradley puzzle made in the 70’s. While doing research to find the name of this image I found that Milton Bradley made a few of these mosaic puzzles. I can’t imagine they were popular or a good seller, because OH MY GOODNESS was it horrible to work!

The pieces are in square shapes as you can see from the picture above, and nothing clicks together. This may seem like a good idea in theory, it looks like a mosaic tile work, how fun! NOPE. Every piece just lays next to the adjacent piece and heaven forbid you bump the table or the puzzle itself! We had to be extremely careful, and even the gluing was a chore and required both of us.

While we enjoyed the artwork and the pieces were thick enough, those were the only good things about this puzzle. A mosaic puzzle is not a good idea in my opinion, there needs to be some way to attach the pieces together or it just becomes a chore and is not fun at all. Fun is the reason we do puzzles in the first place!

This was a puzzle that belonged to Grama though, and that’s why we assembled it. My mother and I both love puzzles because of her, what a great gift! Thanks Gram, Happy Birthday!

Sanctuary

On February 1, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was one of those puzzles that came in a “10 puzzles in 1 box” deal. I really liked this image, and one of the others which I did and took pictures of, but we didn’t keep the box or any of the puzzles. They went back to Goodwill. Not great quality. 😐 But even when we are not happy with a thrift store puzzle, we didn’t pay that much for it – $1.99 is the most we ever pay, so we’re not upset.

That being said, I still love the image in this puzzle. The colors are muted but pretty, the clothing on the fairy is fun and interesting, I just liked everything about it. It took me quite a while to find the artist and title of this image online, I had nothing to go on other than it was in a 10 in 1 box, that’s all I knew! I’m glad I could find it though to give credit to the artist for her beautiful artwork, Sheila Wolk this is a gorgeous image!

The pieces were very thin, there was no diversity in the piece shapes as they were all 2 hole 2 prong types. Boring. The pieces fit together well, which was a plus, but otherwise it was all about the picture for me. I liked the image so much I did it anyway! I’m glad I have the picture, because I still enjoy looking at it. It’s so pretty!

Rue L’Amour

On January 31, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles7 Comments

This was another thrift store purchase, and I really loved this one! It’s just a gorgeous street in Paris with a bridal store and it reminds me of a friend who got married just over a year ago. The whole time I was assembling it I was thinking about her wedding preparations (the fun AND the stress) and it just reminded me of her.

This was the I think only the 2nd Cobble Hill puzzle I had assembled at the time, and I liked it more than the 1st one. Some of the pieces seem quite dark, but honestly it wasn’t difficult to assemble at all, and the pieces didn’t seem dark when I was working the puzzle. I love the feel of the Cobble Hill puzzles with the linen finish, and even the boxes have a linen finish on them and feel luxurious! The pieces fit together quite well, and the piece shape isn’t overly visible in the completed image.

I love it when a thrift store purchase ends up being fun and challenging, and all the pieces are there too! This is a beautiful image and a great puzzle.

Offering of the Coral Plants to the Emperor

On January 30, 2017February 25, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Whew! What a title! This was another amazing thrift store find, and here’s the best part – it’s a vintage puzzle from 1965 in the original and amazingly non-beat up box with no missing pieces!

I have to say I had an AWESOME time assembling this puzzle and it tested my brain power! I’ve mainly been working grid-cut puzzles for several months and having to rethink and use your brain differently on a random cut like this was a challenge and super fun! And since I assembled almost the entire thing on January 29th (National Puzzle Day), I wanted some family help – so one of my sons, my husband and my mom helped me with this one. 🙂

I’m honestly amazed at how well taken care of this puzzle was. The box is almost pristine, the puzzle has no image lift, seemingly no wear at all – and it was produced in 1965, the year my parents got married! Holy guacamole! They made some quality stuff that was built to last in the 60’s! I was made in the 60’s. 😉

Springbok is not a puzzle company I usually assemble, it’s one of those that seems hit or miss for me so I would rather see and feel the pieces before I buy. But these pieces were gorgeous, cut well and didn’t require upper body strength to fit them together. Excellent quality on this puzzle!

The image is an adaptation of a Chinese porcelain plate decoration from the early 1700’s. The finish on the puzzle looks almost porcelain as well! It’s a beautiful image, an excellent quality puzzle, and my family and I had a great time assembling it. If you’re lucky enough to find a good copy of this one, go for it!