Tag: MasterPieces

Sophia’s Doll House

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments
Sophia's Doll House
Sophia’s Doll House by Eduard – MasterPieces – 1000 pieces

Sophia’s Doll House was the puzzle that jumped out at me while mom was showing off her latest thrift store haul. The beautiful colors and interesting scene looked like so much fun, and luckily it was!

It’s been a while since I’ve assembled a MasterPieces puzzle, and I had forgotten how enjoyable the extremely random cut of the pieces is. It always takes me a few minutes for my brain to get into “random gear”, especially if I’ve just finished working a grid cut puzzle. It can be frustrating for some, and it is sometimes for me too; but once I figure it out and everything starts coming together it makes for such an entertaining assembly.

Although it’s not really a collage, the many rooms of the dollhouse made the assembly seem as though it was. It was the best of both worlds for me; a collage of dollhouse rooms, and just a regular domestic scene from a playroom around the edges. I loved it!

These were my favorite 3 rooms to assemble. They’re so adorable, and the interesting wallpaper in the many rooms made for an easy sort. There are framed pictures of dolls in almost every room, and the pretty frames around them were fun to put together.

If you don’t mind a random cut, I highly recommend this puzzle. I had the best time with it, and it didn’t scare me (that much) that it was 1000 pieces. The fit was lovely and the entire scene makes for a wonderful assembly. 👍

Review: Reese’s

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
Reese's
Reese’s – MasterPieces – 500 pieces

Reese’s was an excellent quality, entertaining to assemble puzzle that surprised me. It was better quality than I was expecting, and not nearly as difficult as I’d anticipated. It made for a fun couple of days, and for some reason it also made me extremely hungry for peanut butter cups. 😏

I enjoy MasterPieces puzzles, they have a great catalog of diverse images to choose from, with very good quality and even better value. They have both grid cut and random cut puzzles, so there’s something for everyone. The quality of the chipboard is very good with thick pieces that fit together extremely well. Sometimes the fit can be a bit loose, but with this puzzle the pieces fit together snugly – so much so that I could lift the puzzle by one piece and nothing came apart!

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I thought perhaps the image would end up being quite difficult with all the repetition of packages, but I found it to be much easier than I’d assumed. That doesn’t mean that it was an easy puzzle; it took just the right amount of concentration, but not so much that it became frustrating. I enjoyed diving in to all of that yummy chocolate and peanut butter!

The image reproduction was spot on, and the bright colors made it fun to work with. You just have to decide where you’re going to start and jump right in. After assembling the edge I started with the white packages (which I would NEVER do in real life, “white chocolate” isn’t chocolate!), but they were the easiest pieces to pick out. Then I went with the largest logo in the center, those pieces stood out as well…

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I had a great time with this puzzle, I find shaped puzzles to be a lot of fun and they end up looking amazing when you’re finished. Check out some of the amazing shaped puzzles at Puzzle Warehouse, there are so many to choose from!

If you’re looking for a yummy puzzle to get you revved up for Halloween (best candy holiday there is), I highly recommend Reese’s. It’s wonderful quality, a great image, and was extremely entertaining to assemble.

I’m hungry for some reason…maybe some peanut butter and chocolate…🥜🍫

Details:

  • Title:                  Reese’s
  • Artist:                MasterPieces
  • Brand:               MasterPieces
  • Piece count:     500 pieces
  • Size:                  Approx. 22 x 22 in. (56 x 56 cm)
  • Purchased:      N/A, sent for review

Quality:

  • Board:               Very good
  • Cutting:             Very good
  • Image:               Excellent
  • Box:                   Rounded box with flat bottom
  • Fit:                     Excellent
  • Puzzle Dust:     Very small amount
  • Piece cut:          Random/rounded grid cut
  • Piece shapes:   Very good variety
  • Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Very good, highly recommended

 

I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Beauty and the Beast

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment
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Beauty and the Beast by Steve Crisp – MasterPieces – 300 pieces

This beautiful image was fun to assemble, but it was the first time I’ve been disappointed in a MasterPieces puzzle in quite a while. 😒

My experience with this brand has mostly been very good. The image reproduction has always been excellent in my opinion, as are the variety of piece shapes. They are a good thickness and fit together well. I’ve heard that others have found the fit to be quite loose, but that hasn’t been my experience at all. That doesn’t discount their experience; there have been many times where people with the exact same puzzle have had much different levels of quality – a lot of the time it all depends on where in the run your puzzle was produced. Beginning of the run may give you a tighter fit, end of the run can be much looser.

My problem with this puzzle wasn’t the fit at all, it was the bent pieces. I can’t be sure if it was because of the box (book shaped and somewhat small for 300 large pieces) or if it was another reason. The pieces were almost jammed in the box, and up into the spine of the “book”. Whatever it was, there were many bent pieces and the puzzle didn’t lay flat when complete, which was disappointing.

Otherwise I enjoyed the assembly very much, and found the image itself to be absolutely stunning. Steve Crisp’s artwork is beautiful, the colors are perfect for the scene, and it made for a captivating puzzle.

The random cut helped with keeping my focus as well, you couldn’t rely on the edges of the pieces to help you find what exact shape you were looking for. You have to rely more on patterns and shades of color because you may think you’re looking for a certain shape and it could end up that 2 pieces fit where you thought only 1 should go. I love it when a puzzle keeps me on my toes. 🙂

The bent pieces were a bummer, but I enjoyed it anyway – it’s a beautiful puzzle!

American Angel

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments
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American Angel by Dona Gelsinger – MasterPieces – 550 pieces

Happy Independence Day! Luckily mom found this beauty at a thrift store in time for the holiday. It was a bit of a challenge, but an enjoyable one – and it’s a gorgeous puzzle!

The quality was good, with thick pieces that fit together well and beautiful colors. The random cut kept me on my toes and made for an interesting assembly. The finished puzzle didn’t lay completely flat, with some tabs and edges sticking up; but with a used puzzle I don’t blame that on the manufacturer. The missing piece was disappointing, but again that’s something that happens with a thrift store puzzle.

The flag was harder to put together than I thought it would be, you’d think the bright red and blue colors wouldn’t be too much of a challenge, but they definitely were. The red sections especially took more time than I thought. The clouds at the bottom were the most challenging part, but the random cut made it interesting and difficult to walk away from. The entire assembly was great fun!

I always enjoy puzzles like this though, taking a color or section (like the red and blue flag sections) and figuring out how it all fits together is extremely satisfying. That’s the fun of a puzzle for most people; but there’s something about taking the pieces for a smaller section and putting it all together without the help of adjoining pieces. Perhaps that’s the reason I enjoy collage puzzles so much. With a collage, the whole assembly is putting together small sections. I love it!

The Petting Zoo

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment
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The Petting Zoo by Art Poulin – MasterPieces – 300 pieces

This was a quick puzzle that I decided to put together without looking at the box; I guess I needed a little bit of extra challenge. There were plenty of animals and little details to help out with the assembly, and lots of words to put together too!

The quality of this puzzle was quite good; the pieces were very thick and the fit was exceptional. I’ve found that the large EZ grip puzzles from MasterPieces have much better quality than their regular puzzles, the chipboard they use is thicker and more dense and makes for an excellent tactile experience. The cut is random, which makes for interesting piece shapes and also makes you look more closely at the pieces and colors to find what you’re looking for.

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I really enjoyed all the little details of this image, all the horse’s stalls have their names above them, and each of the pens had signs on them as well.

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I love the art of Art Poulin, I’ve done several of his puzzles and enjoy the Americana/Folk images he produces. They bring to mind images of simpler times, when none of the kids had cell phones or tablets and were happy to spend time at the petting zoo interacting with the animals and being in nature.

It seems as if I’m becoming one of those little old ladies talking about how great things used to be – and I haven’t even turned 50 yet! 👵