Paw Patrol (1)

On March 20, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Mom found this box of 3 Paw Patrol puzzles, 49 pieces each at the thrift store. She cannot pass up a Ravensburger at the thrift store, I think it may be physically impossible for her. Since they’re going to be donated to the school my daughter works for we always assemble them to be sure no pieces are missing; all 3 puzzles were complete. 🙂

Ravensburger puzzles are premium quality and their kids puzzles are no exception. The pieces are thick and sturdy, fit together wonderfully, and the image reproduction is crisp and clean with bright, fun colors. With this box of 3 separate puzzles you also get posters of each of the images to help with assembly since the box top images are small. Also, the backing of each puzzle is different so that you can separate them easily; one is the traditional blue chipboard of a Ravensburger, and the other two have symbols added to each (triangles, circles).

The puzzles themselves are basic and easy to assemble, but it doesn’t matter to me – I love assembling puzzles no matter the size. I do have to confess that I’m always happy to put together a bunch of kids puzzles not only for the enjoyment; I can assemble a BUNCH of them in a day, so they’re helpful in making sure that I’ve always got a good backlog of puzzle posts for the blog. 😇

These puzzles are cute, fun to put together, and excellent quality. If you’ve got a little one in your life who loves Paw Patrol I highly recommend these puzzles. Two little old ladies had fun putting them together!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book Two

On March 15, 2018March 15, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is the second of these puzzles I’ve done, and they’re quite difficult! The line drawings and lack of color add to the challenge – you really have to pay attention to every piece.

Like the first one I assembled, the quality was very good but the finished puzzle doesn’t lie flat. This could be because we live in Florida and there’s a lot of humidity, if you don’t store a puzzle properly it could warp with all the moisture in the air. It could be that it’s been a well loved puzzle that’s been assembled many times. It’s hard to make judgments on quality when you’ve purchased second-hand; you have to rely on your prior knowledge of the brand as well as taking into account the amount of use the puzzle could have had.

This image is not one I would purchase new, monochromatic images aren’t ones that interest me. Still, it was an entertaining assembly and luckily it was only 200 pieces. With stick figures, line drawings, and no colors it takes plenty of concentration to get all the pieces placed properly.

It’s always interesting to assemble an image that isn’t your style, but most of the time I end up really having fun. That’s one of the great things about thrift stores, the price makes it difficult to pass up the puzzles and gives me to opportunity to work puzzles that I wouldn’t normally assemble. Give an unusual image a try, you just might like it!

Unicorns

On March 13, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

If the first puzzle ball we found at the thrift store hadn’t been complete I don’t think we’d have bought anymore. That first globe we assembled was lots of fun for us and all the pieces were there, now mom can’t seem to pass up a puzzle ball if she finds any at the thrift stores. 🙂

5 missing pieces from a 96 piece puzzle is a lot, and it makes assembling a ball quite difficult. Fortunately we were able to get a pretty picture without having to show the glaring holes. This was our first time putting together a kid’s puzzle ball, and the fit seemed a bit odd. The pieces didn’t seem to want to click or stay together as well as the other ones we’ve assembled, the finished image isn’t as smooth as you’d want a ball to be. I don’t know if that’s the puzzle itself or the fact that it’s been assembled before (perhaps many times); those are the chances you take purchasing from thrift stores I guess.

Other than the fit, the quality was excellent. The pieces are thick and plastic and are numbered on the back to assist with assembly. There is an arrow underneath the number to tell you in which direction the next piece will be placed, this is extremely helpful when you’re assembling it by the numbers. You don’t have to use them though, you can put it together using the image just like any other puzzle – it’s completely up to you.

I hate saying that the quality was good “other than the fit”, fit is pretty darned important with a puzzle! Although those of us who are hard core puzzle practitioners will sometimes put up with a lot to be able to get a fix of that sweet, sweet puzzle magic. At least I would. I’ve got a full-blown addiction going on here!

Snow Leopard

On March 8, 2018March 8, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles1 Comment

Here’s the last of the kid’s puzzles from the big assembly day I had a while ago. It’s an interesting picture, isn’t it?

This wasn’t an overly easy 100 piece puzzle, but I think that’s a good thing. Kid’s puzzles should have a little challenge to them; in my opinion if they’re too easy they become boring. Snow Leopard definitely wasn’t boring. In fact, I thought I was assembling a tiger the whole time! The title of the image was nowhere to be found on the box and I had to go searching around online to find the name. It can’t be that difficult to find a small amount of space on the box to give credit to the artist and the name of the work, can it?

This is a Ceaco puzzle, so the pieces were on the thin side. The box was my least favorite type, with a pull tap to open the top edge and tabs that fit into each other to re-close it (like a cereal box). That’s a great design for making sure pieces end up missing, thank goodness all the pieces were accounted for!

The pieces fit together well, and I think the image reproduction was very good. Normally I don’t care for Ceaco, but we do tend to buy their “special” puzzles at the thrift stores because they are usually a little better quality. This is a “Glow Zone” puzzle, and we thought it was a tiger, which is the reason for the purchase. My oldest son LOVES tigers. It was a relatively quick assembly, and I got a great glow picture too!

Ballet Lesson (2)

On March 3, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Ballet Lesson – Ravensburger – 100 pieces

This is the second Ravensburger puzzle with this title I’ve assembled, the first was only 35 pieces and not nearly as beautiful as this one. This puzzle is a lovely image enhanced with glitter – I loves me some glitter! How disappointing that it was missing a piece. 😦

The colors in this image are so pretty, and with the added fun of glitter it’s just an all around beautiful puzzle. Absent piece aside, the quality was excellent and to my surprise there wasn’t a ton of glitter loose in the box. A lot of times with a glitter puzzle much of it comes off and ends up in a pile underneath the pieces, not so with this puzzle. Yet another reason Ravensburger puzzles are my absolute favorite. I was hoping it would be complete so we could pass it on, but it’s glaringly obvious that a piece has escaped.

Missing pieces are the chance you take when you purchase puzzles used. I would say probably 90-95% of the puzzles we get from thrift stores are complete, and that’s a pretty good average. Sure, it’s a little disappointing when you find a missing piece, but you still got to assemble a puzzle. Well, most of it anyway. 😉