Tag: Jigsaw Puzzles

Unusual Animals

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles14 Comments

Unusual Animals by Allison Strine – Buffalo – 500 pieces

This was absolutely my kind of puzzle image – bright colors, collage, interesting artwork, informative, great quality – it had it all!

Do you ever have a puzzle that you know you’re going to love? Before you even put two pieces together you know it’s gonna be great? This was one of those puzzles! It was as fun and beautiful as I knew it would be – isn’t it fantastic when that happens? 💖

Excellent quality, as per usual for Buffalo. Lately I’ve mostly been purchasing Ravensburger and Buffalo puzzles; I’m too cranky these days to deal with crappy quality. I know when I buy a Buffalo puzzle that they care about whether or not their puzzles are entertaining and well made, and it is most definitely appreciated.

The color of both the background and the spider jumped out at me while sorting, and this was the first section I assembled. I wouldn’t want a Black Widow spider anywhere near me in the real world, but don’t mind at all it showing up next to all the other unusual animals. 🕸

I love all the information provided for each animal. Who has heard of an axolotl before? If you check out some images online you’ll see that they have the cutest faces (but they’re not brightly colored at all). Very unusual indeed.

This one I’ve definitely heard of before – there’s a whole family story about this bird – and we talk about the Blue-Footed Booby when we think something going on is ridiculous, or a waste of time.

When I was young (probably around 10 or so) my father was watching a documentary on tv about this bird, and he made me and my sisters come downstairs and watch it with him. We absolutely did not want to. Mom and dad had a “discussion” about forcing us to watch it; dad said it was educational so we should “learn something” and mom said it was stupid to make us watch it if we didn’t want to.

I don’t really remember any actual information about this bird, just the situation of being made to watch a documentary we weren’t interested in – and of course the bird’s ridiculous sounding name. It’s funny what memories stick with you, isn’t it?

The artwork by Allison Strine was excellent for puzzling, and both interesting and educational. If there are more of her puzzles out there anything like this one – I want them.

If you see this puzzle out in the wild, and you’re so inclined, I highly recommend adopting it and bringing it home. I don’t regret it, and in fact loved every single piece. 💝

More Spots!*

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

More Spots!* – Brother/Sister Design Studio – 100 pieces

When I see this puzzle I imagine the little guy was trying to add more spots, so that’s what I named it. Sometimes when puzzles aren’t titled I try to give them titles that are funny, silly, ironic, or just nonsensical – this time it was just accurate – my creativity didn’t seem to be flowing well that day.

All the puzzles I’ve assembled from the Brother/Sister Design Studio (Hobby Lobby’s brand) have been very good quality; thick pieces, nice fit, good variety of shapes, and a nice matte finish.

I don’t think I’ve been in one of their stores for almost a decade now, but am sent some of their puzzles from time to time by a friend. They’re very nice puzzles, it’s just not a place I spend my money.

Keepsakes

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

Keepsakes by Judy Koenig – Ceaco – 550 pieces

Eh. Not my favorite type of image, but I had hopes it would be entertaining. It was alright, that’s really all the endorsement I can give it.

The quality of the chipboard was good/fair, and for the most part so was the cutting. The variety of different piece shapes and the fit were good as well. There was a lot of image lift, but this puzzle is over 25 years old and it has been assembled more than a few times from the look of it. Overall, the quality was good/fair.

This was my favorite section – more cartoony and less painterly.

Many of the piece shapes were just a little bit off of what “regular” ones look like. In several places the hole where a prong would go was made up of the joining of two pieces; it made for a more interesting assembly.

I had higher hopes for this image, there was something about it made me want the puzzle even though it’s a Ceaco. My thought process was that because it was a thrift store purchase I wasn’t really giving the brand any of my money, and the picture looked as though it would be entertaining to assemble. It wasn’t as fun as I’d hoped, but I still got my money’s worth – it was only a couple of dollars and I worked on it for a couple of days.

Where else can you get that many hours of entertainment for such little investment?

Songbirds

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles9 Comments

Songbirds by Neiko Ng – Mudpuppy – 500 pieces

This is a cute image, but it really wasn’t as entertaining for me as I’d hoped. There’s nothing wrong with it, really, perhaps my mood wasn’t right. It just seemed like it would be more fun than it actually was. Just my own personal opinion.

The quality was good. In typical Mudpuppy fashion there is only one piece shape – what I call ballerinas – two prong/two hole pieces. Boring. The reproduction is good, but the finish is very shiny; and the backing is that “sharp” white backing that I do not care for. Overall it’s a good quality puzzle, it just wasn’t my pile of pieces.

Skate Night (1000)

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Skate Night by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Happily, this puzzle was even more fun than the 300 pieces of this image that I completed a couple of years ago. I’m so glad it was finally released in a larger piece count!

Excellent quality all around, Buffalo puzzles have a great fit, nice variety of shapes, excellent reproduction, and a great cut. I haven’t been disappointed by any of their puzzles lately that I can recall. Sometimes there’s a bit of puzzle dust – but that’s par for the course and unless it’s excessive it doesn’t really bother me at all.

I didn’t really notice this the first time around, this is a ticket for the roller derby!

The words and image here for the “super skater” were the most challenging pieces for me to find. I’d go through once and be certain I’d found them all. Then I’d assemble the pieces and see that I was missing SO MANY. It’s always interesting to me when you are absolutely sure that you know exactly what you’re looking for, and when you end up with the right piece it isn’t nearly what you thought.

Becoming familiar with the pieces, and the way your perception of them changes as you work on a puzzle is part of the enjoyment for me. You start off looking through them, and unless it’s a simple image it takes time to get to know them – and get to know the whole of the image you’re working on. What seems like a bunch of random splotches of color or figures seems difficult at first. Then you realize what belongs with what, and you start to see the differences in each color or each piece of a larger image; for me it’s remarkably rewarding and satisfying.

Aimee Stewart’s digital artwork almost always makes me smile, her use of color is absolutely beautiful and her puzzles are such great fun for me to assemble. She’s number one on my list of puzzle artists and I’m always happy to have an Aimee Stewart puzzle to put together.