Tag: Jigsaw Puzzles

Carnival Costumes

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Carnival Costumes by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

This gorgeous thing was on my board for almost four days, but it didn’t matter how long it took because it was so much fun from start to finish!

It was the typical Buffalo quality, very good. Thank goodness my favorite puzzle artist has chosen to work with companies that actually give a crap about the quality of their products, I don’t think I could bear it if her work was only found on Ceaco puzzles, or something even worse. Luckily though, she works with Buffalo in the US, Schmidt and Ravensburger internationally, and probably more. In fact, I’ve got a package on the way to my house from the UK (as I’m writing this, by the time you read this the package will have arrived) with three Aimee Stewart puzzles from Schmidt that I wasn’t able to find in the US from Buffalo.

Usually Aimee Stewart images are chock full of little things you don’t really notice until you’re putting the puzzle together, but this image is very different. It’s costumes, and only costumes – what you see is what you get. They all look so glamorous from far away, but actually when you look at them close up some of them are kind of ugly! Each different outfit was fun to assemble, and the way the colors work together is absolutely stunning.

I loved this image the first time I saw it, and I still love it now. Fantastic puzzle with a fantastic image that made for a quite a few days of fantastic puzzling. 💖

Liberty Leading the People

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Liberty Leading the People by Eug̩ne Delacroix РProfessor Puzzle Р50 pieces

While my daughter and I were loitering around the bookstore she found this little 50 piece puzzle in a tiny little box, how could I not give it a try for only $3.99? It’s another of those fine art puzzles where the only way I would ever assemble it is in a mini puzzle; I can’t imagine how difficult this very dark and indistinct image would be to assemble in a larger piece count like 500 or 1000 pieces.

I know I’ve seen the image before, but honestly I didn’t know the name of the image or the artist. I wish I’d looked around where my daughter found this little guy to see if they were any more fine art images to choose from. There’s a blurb on the back of the box that tells about the artwork. A key figure in French Romanticism, Eugéne Delacroix painted Liberty Leading the People to commemorate the July Revolution of 1830, which dethroned King Charles X. The painting suggests that the people of all classes came together to rally against royalist oppression and fight for a better society.

It’s a great quality puzzle for one so small, and I love that it isn’t all ballerina pieces like many mini puzzles. The main shapes are these…

Other than the edge pieces these are the only shapes there are to work with. I found it interesting, and even though these were the only shapes it wasn’t boring to put this puzzle together. They were a good thickness, very sturdy, and fit together well. Although the backing was the sharp, white paper that I don’t care for, with only 50 pieces it wasn’t too bad to work with. The image reproduction is lovely, as far as I can tell with such a dark image. Overall I was impressed with the quality of this little puzzle, and would love to find all the rest of the mini fine art puzzles in this series.

Momma always told me when a puzzle is very big or very small that you have to give perspective, to place something next to the puzzle to let you really appreciate the size. It’s a small puzzle, that comes in a very small box. Isn’t it a cute little thing?

The Golden Trio

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

The Golden Trio – Wentworth – 225 pieces

This was an excellent assembly that made me very happy indeed. I wish they included the name of the artist on this one, but I couldn’t find it anywhere, the artwork is so beautiful – it made for an interesting and enjoyable build.

Wentworth puzzles are excellent quality, and I’ve never had an issue with them at all. The pieces always come in a cloth bag, but this wasn’t the usual burgundy cloth bag that their puzzles come in…

This of course is the crest for Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with the official school motto – Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus, which I’m sure everyone knows is Latin for “Never tickle a sleeping dragon”. I love that all the Harry Potter puzzles have this bag to keep all the pieces safe and sound.

Plenty of great whimsies in this puzzle; Harry, Ron, and Hermione of course, along with Crookshanks, Hedwig, Scabbers, and Fawkes. A golden snitch, a time-turner, and a potion too, along with some beautiful flowers. They really went above and beyond for these whimsy pieces. I can’t wait to see if the other puzzles have different figures, and if so, what will they be?

I took my time with this puzzle and let it come together naturally over a few days. There was no sorting at all on this one, as the irregularly shaped edge would have made it next to impossible to start with the border. I turned all the pieces over and just started assembling, sometimes the chaos of pieces all over the board is just what I need. Most of the time I enjoy order and sorting helps with that, but every once in a while I just dump out the pieces and get going – that can be a fun change of pace for me.

I absolutely adored this puzzle with it’s beautiful artwork, the intricately cut whimsies, and the challenging cut of the pieces. It was a wonderful assembly and I’m certain I’ll be doing it again.

Jungle Guardian

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles14 Comments

Jungle Guardian by Jim Salvati – Mega Puzzles (Multipack) – 500 pieces

Without having completed all the puzzles in this multipack I can confidently say this is by far the most difficult of the bunch! All these muted colors, brush strokes, and lack of variety in piece shape made for quite a challenge. Good thing the Puzzle Goddess hasn’t lost too much of her mojo. 🧩👑

I was actually looking for a challenge when I chose this puzzle, and boy did I find it. It was harder than I expected, and I expected it to be quite hard. I wasn’t counting on those brush strokes, they made it quite a formidable solve.

It was my mistake thinking this would be like the other Disney puzzles in this box, a computer generated image – this one and the other 500 piece puzzle both have artwork done by actual people and that makes them much more of a task in my opinion. I’m not a fan of fine art puzzles mostly for this reason, the brush strokes make each piece seem like just a blob of color and my poor old eyes just can’t quite see the image in there anymore.

One of the reasons this was so difficult was the piece shapes; this puzzle only had ballerinas in two shapes, one was taller and fatter, one longer and thinner. But they weren’t as easy to distinguish from one another as I would have liked. I separated them by those shapes, and there were quite a few I missed or just plain ‘ol got wrong because the shapes were so similar. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it would have been better if they’d been more like the shapes in a Puzzlebug puzzle; the taller, fatter ones could never get mixed up with their longer, skinnier ones – that would have helped a bit with this puzzle.

Even though it was tough I still enjoyed the challenge of it – and I can’t tell you how happy I was when I finally finished Bagheera, he was the hardest part of the whole thing! The rush of dopamine it sent my brain was amazing, I was so proud.

Favorite Cereals

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Favorite Cereals by Doug Banks – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

Bright colors, cartoons, collage, relatively good quality – just what was needed for a fun puzzle experience for me. I took it slowly and enjoyed every single piece, I even enjoyed the sorting!

This White Mountain puzzle was pretty good quality other than a slightly loose fit. The image reproduction is excellent, even with closeup images, the piece shapes are the usual WM shapes, and the entire puzzle was joy to put together. Those of us who grew up in the US should be quite familiar with most of these cereals, but they may not be as readily available in the rest of the world. Whether you know the cereals or not though, the image itself makes for a great puzzle.

Has anyone ever seen this cereal out in the wild? I’ve never even heard of it before. My son looked it up for me and apparently she’s a sister cereal to FrankenBerry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula. She’s a monster, obviously, not sure what kind though. Her cereal is a caramel apple flavor with the usual dehydrated marshmallows. I’m not sure how appetizing that sounds to you, but to me – not so much. I love caramel apples, but if you add milk and marshmallows I’m not sure that adds up to something I’d like to eat. How about you?

Of course I know Cookie Crisp cereal, but I haven’t seen this mascot before. Apparently his name is Chip and he’s the current mascot of the brand and has been since 2005. That tells me how much streaming has taken over my viewing habits. I almost never watch actual television channels anymore, and I certainly don’t have to sit through commercials if I do record something on the dvr. Basically what I’m saying is that I haven’t seen a commercial for this cereal in many years and had no idea that Chip is their current spokes-animal. He’s kinda cute.

This is a great puzzle and even with the slightly loose fit it was fun to put together. It would be a great for a beginning puzzler, or someone who wants to move up to 1000 piece puzzles but is hesitant or thinks they won’t be able to get it done. The bright colors and many small sections could help alleviate any anxiety one might have about a larger piece count. Even so, as an extremely experienced puzzler it was still completely enjoyable, and not always as easy as you might think. This one is definitely recommended.