Tag: Jigsaw Puzzles

Candy

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Candy – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This little one took a long time; it was difficult but enjoyable. You might think with all those bright colors and different candies that it wouldn’t be that challenging at all – I know I thought that. I was wrong.

It proved to test my brain power a little bit, and although it took a while longer than expected it was still lots of fun. Finding where a small section went on my own without checking the picture was quite satisfying – you know what I mean. Figuring out where a certain part is placed in the puzzle with no help from the image at all gives me a small measure of self-satisfaction – I’m not explaining it well but I hope some of you understand.

Great little puzzle!

Tour the States

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Tour the States by Craighton Berman – Buffalo – 300 pieces

This puzzle was very quick for someone who knows the geography of the US, if you know where the state is you know where the piece goes. I’m certain if there was a map of another continent I don’t know as well as North America it wouldn’t have been as quick to go together. I loved the bright colors and excellent quality.

The northeast was the hardest to memorize when we were learning all the states in school, at least it was for me. All those little states up there took the most time to commit to memory.

Ok, I understand the gator and Louisiana, it’s swampy and perfect for alligators. But why in the world is it eating a banana? Am I missing something?

I’d never heard of the “hit” YouTube video until I put this puzzle together. Honestly, I haven’t looked it up to watch it either but it must have been quite popular to turn into an online store and have a puzzle made up from this image. Have any of you heard of this before?

Edward Gorey’s Book Covers

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Edward Gorey’s Book Covers – Pomegranate – 1000 pieces

I was disappointed by the new, less impressive quality from Pomegranate, but this was still a very enjoyable puzzle to assemble. Assembling the border was a challenge on the sides – with all maroon pieces – but it wasn’t horrible. Overall I loved the image, collages are my happy puzzle place.

As I discussed in my “in progress” post, the quality of this puzzle was not was I was expecting from Pomegranate. The pieces were thinner and the fit was much looser than previous puzzles from this brand. It was still good quality, much better than many brands out there, but not the premium quality puzzle I’m used to from them.

According to the box Edward Gorey designed book covers and dust jackets before his own books drew acclaim and acquired a dedicated following. He designed for books by Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot and more. I must admit I haven’t read a single book featured in this puzzle, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t thoroughly entertaining. Most of the puzzles I’ve seen with Edward Gorey’s work are very dark and lacking color, this is the brightest and most colorful one I’ve seen and therefore much more interesting to me.

Oddly, after I finished this puzzle but before I took pictures this book and cover were shown and discussed in a tv series that I’ve been binge watching on a streaming service; I took notice and decided to show a closeup here. Poetry isn’t really my thing, but it’s an interesting book cover.

I love the colors in this cover, and it was one of the few book names I actually knew. Most people have heard of this book, or the movie, or the “hoax” with the Orson Welles radio broadcast.

“No one wrote this book – these are the tape-recorded dreams of a man who talks in his sleep.” That really made me laugh.

I feel completely uneducated not having read any of these books – most of them I hadn’t even heard of! The Dream World of Dion McGregor? Not a clue.

Oh well. I’m happily stupid I suppose. 😉

You Wild Animal!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

You Wild Animal! by Mario Zucca – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

After completing a puzzle that was darker than I normally like, you’d think I would have chosen an image that was bright and colorful. Nope. This artwork isn’t bright or that colorful, but it was exactly what I was in the mood for. It was a bit of a challenge, but I loved it!

Great Ravensburger quality, and I especially loved the matte finish; it made working with the darker sections much easier to not have to deal with the glare.

Have you ever heard of an Umbrellabird? I certainly hadn’t!

The x-ray fish is also new to me, and I just couldn’t resist the sloth and the sea otter peeking out from the left – so cute!

The way the skunk is depicted just makes me smile. This was my first time with artwork by Mario Zucca, and it was fantastic to assemble. There were plenty of words (which always is a bonus for me), and each animal image was so interesting and fun.

Other puzzles with his art are mostly maps, but this one was very different; I don’t think I’d be interested in any of his map puzzles at the moment but I enjoyed his collection of animals very much. 💛

Isis

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles14 Comments

Isis by Kinuko Y. Craft – Ceaco – 550 pieces

My youngest asked me to do this puzzle when I was choosing what was next, and like the pushover that I am that’s exactly what I did. It was alright, much darker than it looks and just about as difficult as I’d imagined. Meh. It’s ok.

Typical Ceaco quality. Nothing horrid or fantastic, on the lower end of the quality scale in my opinion.

I’ve had this puzzle for at least 4 or 5 years, and it kept getting moved around in the shuffle of puzzles; I was never in the mood for it. At least it’ll be on it’s way to the thrift store now that it’s complete.

She’s got a beautiful face and the artwork is lovely – just a little dark around the edges for my taste. Kinuko Craft’s images make for beautiful but quite difficult puzzles. I’ve still got a few here, and they’re still being shuffled around because these days I’m usually not in the mood for that much challenge (unless my baby boy asks me to be 😉).