Tag: Jigsaw Puzzles

The Pinwheel Gator

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

The Pinwheel Gator by Alex Beard – Liberty – 512 pieces

How cool is this puzzle? I stared at it over and over when I was window shopping on the Liberty site and ended up telling myself that if it fascinated me that much that I needed to get it for myself – so I did!

There’s something so fun about the image, and it absolutely didn’t disappoint in the assembly either. It’ll be no surprise at all when I tell you that I loved it. REALLY loved it! 💜❤💛💚💙

Liberty Puzzles is one of my favorite current wooden puzzle makers. The design of the puzzle pieces, how they fit together, the number of whimsies in each puzzle, the artists they work with – it all fits together to make extraordinary puzzles that have never disappointed me. Ever. I once had an issue with a puzzle and their customer service was beyond exceptional. I love Liberty Puzzles. 🧩

The whimsies in this one reminded me of Mardi Gras, which is why I wanted to post this puzzle today, on Fat Tuesday. I’m not a Catholic, so I don’t really do Ash Wednesday or give things up for Lent, but pretty much everyone knows about Mardi Gras and the celebrations they have in New Orleans.

Specifically these whimsies made me think of Mardi Gras and the parades in New Orleans. Aren’t they fabulous?!

If you look closely you’ll see that the whimsies of people are marching all the way around the image along the edges; they’re on all four sides. It was such a fun assembly, and I always love to see great wooden puzzles from the back – the design of the pieces and how it all works together make this proud puzzle geek extremely happy. This was such a great puzzle!

I really did have such a fun time putting this one together, it was an absolute joy. 😊

Music Mania

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Music Mania by Marc Arundale – Wentworth – 40 pieces

With so many colors and so much going on, this little 40 piece puzzle was harder than it looks! Still, it was completely absorbing and for the few minutes it took me to put together I was absolutely focused only on the puzzle – it was fantastic meditation for someone like me who finds actual meditation difficult.

I’ve still got about six more mini puzzles from Wentworth here, and because my queue is basically empty I think you’ll be seeing them very soon. I’ve got to get myself back to a place where I have enough completed puzzles that I can leisurely work on whatever puzzle feels right without worrying about what to post next.

Love these musical whimsies! Wentworth is usually great about making the whimsy pieces fit the image; it’s always entertaining for me to look through the pieces to find the whimsies and see how they relate to the picture on the puzzle.

This image looks as though it would be fun in a larger piece count, there’s so much to see and it’s difficult to actually take it all in when the image is so small. Music Mania was really enjoyable!

Garden Shed*

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

Garden Shed* – Hua Cao Shu Mu – 300 pieces

Sorry to do this to you two days in a row, but I’ve got no puzzles left in my queue, and I did these two puzzles one right after the other. Wanna guess about the quality? Did you guess that it needed a very big straw? You are correct!

  • Image reproduction – horrible and blurry.
  • Fit – loose, pieces sometimes fit where they don’t belong
  • Piece shape – only one shape – BORING
  • Chipboard – thin with a tendency to peel apart
  • Backing – sharp white backing with letters on it to assist in assembly

I did not enjoy the assembly, it was just one I wanted to get it done to get this box of puzzles out of my sight.

If you see a puzzle box with the name Hua Cao Shu Mu on it, set it down and walk away. It isn’t worth the frustration.

Puzzler’s Desk

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

Puzzler’s Desk by Steve Read – Hua Cao Shu Mu – 300 pieces

Ugh. This puzzle sucked. I would enjoy doing this image put onto a quality puzzle, but on this crap-tastic thing wasn’t any fun at all.

I have a bad attitude about it, admittedly. But it is what it is, this is my blog and I’m expressing my feelings. Here they are – if you see puzzles that are so friggin’ cheap that you can hardly believe it, there’s a reason and you should run away. I didn’t purchase this new, it was bought second-hand at a thrift store, so at least this company didn’t get any of my hard-earned money, but it still ticks me off.

Also, I know for a fact that these companies steal these images and the artists get no compensation at all, which makes me even more upset. It shouldn’t be easy to get away with theft like this, but unfortunately it is. It’s depressing.

This puzzle sucked. End of story.

1980s Novels

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

1980s Novels – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

This puzzle went together so quickly once I actually started on the assembly. It was sorted the day before, but didn’t start assembly at all until the next morning. It began in the morning and was finished before I went to bed that night. It was so much fun – it was definitely the right puzzle to help lift my mood!

The quality was actually on the better side of an average Re-marks puzzle, I had no issues with the fit or the reproduction at all. It was a very good quality puzzle, which made me even happier. 😎

To be perfectly honest, the fact that this cover was in the collage is basically the reason I bought this puzzle. I picked it up in the store and my eye went to this book and I didn’t even look at the rest of the book covers; it had already been decided! Ready for a little reminiscing?

When I was in the 10th grade my English teacher gave us a list of about 150 or so books that she considered very good literature, and those were the books we were to pick from to do book reports or whatever it was she called them. I LOVED reading and I think I went through more of those books than any other of her students. I didn’t turn in papers on all of them, but I loved having that list and found books I thought I would like and just read them for myself. That’s how I found this book. I enjoyed it so much that I gave my library copy to mom to read – and she loved it too. It’s the first book in a series of six, and it’s set in prehistoric times when it’s possible that Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon humans were sharing the world. I know, it doesn’t sound that interesting, but mom and I loved it! She loved it so much that she got all the books on tape that were available from the library and we would listen to them in the car on our weekend trips with dad to softball tournaments.

I’ve re-read the entire series several times. I love the books, and now they also remind me of mom because we both loved them so much. 💕

I’m not sure how I found this book, but I recall being completely absorbed by it when I first read it. Plus, look at that cover – it’s gorgeous! This is one of the ones I picked out on the initial sorting, and it was so fun to put together.

Mom and I loved Fannie Flagg books; she found some of her novels from the early 2000’s and encouraged me to read them. Honestly I’ve never read Fried Green Tomatoes, but some of her other books I’ve read over and over and mom and I absolutely adored them. The workings of a small town and the hilarity that comes from just regular people being themselves made for such fun novels, and some of them were just heartbreakingly beautiful. Fannie Flagg books make me think of mom, and how we were very alike in the books that we enjoyed.

This puzzle was a joy to put together, and many of the books made me think of my beautiful momma, which was sad but also brought back sweet memories.

If you’re looking for a puzzle with good quality and a great image, I highly recommend this one. I adored it! 👍👍