Jungle Guardian

On August 21, 2026June 30, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles5 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.

Chosen One

On August 3, 2026June 17, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Chosen One – Mega Puzzles (Multipack) – 150 pieces

Here’s another fun puzzle from my multipack I found at the thrift store. I’m not in love with all of the images included, but this movie has a special place in my heart and I like the look of this one. It was pretty awful quality, but still was fun to assemble. It’s so nice for me to work on a smaller piece count after finishing a larger puzzle, it feels like a palate cleanser.

Many of the pieces had this problem; the die didn’t cut all the way through, and when someone separated the pieces the paper gets torn. Once it’s torn it can leave paper sticking up like this which makes the piece lift up off of the board. Annoying.

This is another puzzle where I documented the assembly as I went along, with a smaller puzzle it’s over so quickly and the puzzle doesn’t really need closeups to show you certain parts of the image. It’s more fun to just see how it came together – at least I think it is.

Of course it got started with the words, they’re almost always my favorite part.

Sorry about the glare, I didn’t check the picture before I continued on with the assembly – and I should have. I’ll get better at it if I start doing more in progress assembly pictures. Although you can’t see him well Buzz is mostly finished here.

After Buzz was done I just grabbed all the pieces with blue/purple of the little green men/squeeze toy aliens; it’s just fun to go where the pieces take you, especially on a smaller puzzle. This one was really enjoyable.

Even though this was missing a piece it was still great fun to put together and I enjoyed it. This puzzle came from a multipack, so it may be that the wandering piece found it’s way into a small bag with a different puzzle – or it could be long gone. You never know. Still even with a missing piece this was entertaining and made me smile. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Princess of the Sea

On June 23, 2026June 23, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Princess of the Sea – Mega Puzzles (Multipack) – 300 pieces

Isn’t she beautiful? Of all the puzzles in this multipack of eight Disney images this one is my favorite. Almost all of the other ones are bright and colorful and very “Disney”, but this artwork of Ariel in the style of Alphonse Mucha really stood out to me. It wasn’t the easiest 300 piece puzzle I’ve ever done, but I think it’s stunning.

I know when I purchase puzzles in a multipack that they most likely won’t be the best quality, but if the artwork is something that I love it doesn’t matter, I’ll always take the chance. I’m enjoying this multipack so far, this is the second of the puzzles I’ve done and even though the pieces are VERY thin and the fit isn’t great they’ve been entertaining. I don’t usually do Mega Puzzles as the quality is less than optimal, but with a multipack I know that going in and am almost never surprised.

*There is one image from this pack that I haven’t decided whether or not to assemble. It’s an image called Dapper Dandies, and I assembled it seven years ago. It was also the Mega Puzzles brand, but in a different piece count. I may do it again as the one in this pack is 500 pieces and the previous one was only 300 pieces. I still haven’t decided yet. Thoughts?

I documented the assembly as I went along. The first picture shows everything that I pulled out on the initial sorting, all the words and the curlicues. It was much harder than I anticipated – perhaps that’s why I’ve never done a Mucha image – they look pretty difficult! The second picture is after Ariel’s top half was assembled with all that hair; luckily that section was little easier for me. After that I just did that thing where I stare at the pieces and put them in here and there until finally it was finished.

The artwork made this one so entertaining, and I love that it isn’t your typical Disney image. If there was a multipack of Disney princesses done in this style I would snap them up in a minute! (Unless they were Ceaco, of course 😈)

This puzzle was not great quality, but that didn’t matter to me at all. The image was excellent and it was enjoyable from start to finish.

She’s gorgeous and I love her.🧜‍♀️💚

Minnie Mouse

On May 31, 2026May 28, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

Minnie Mouse – Mega Puzzles (Multipack) – 150 pieces

This is another thrift store purchase that I got the other day, ain’t she cute? I thought so too. The quality was pretty awful, but I knew going in that it most likely would be, so it wasn’t a surprise. Puzzles from a multipack usually aren’t premium quality, but 8 Disney puzzles for $4.99 with adorable images was just too good a bargain for me to pass up.

I documented my progress with this one, as I knew it would go together quickly. It didn’t start the way most of my puzzles do, there was no sorting at all. All the pieces were laid out on my board and the edges were separated…

Once the edge was assembled I smushed all the pieces a little closer together so I wouldn’t have to lean or reach for any of the pieces…

Then the assembly really began. I started with the words in the yellow bubble in the corner, and as many pieces of the faces of Minnie that I could find. She’s coming together and looking adorable isn’t she?

At only 150 pieces this one was started and finished quickly, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable. Even with the questionable quality it was fun and entertaining and has me looking forward to working with the other cute images in this box of 8 puzzles.

I am most definitely a puzzle snob who prefers a premium puzzle like Ravensburger, Pomegranate, or Jumbo to name a few, but I also don’t limit myself to only the very best of puzzles. I enjoy expensive puzzles and cheap ones alike; there’s nothing like finding an amazing deal at the thrift store. I still have hopes of finding a Stave puzzle at a thrift store, although I doubt it will ever happen!

Thoughts of mom had me going out of my way to get to a thrift store that has always had a very good jigsaw puzzle selection this week after I went in for a mammogram. (Ain’t it great being a lady? *sigh* It definitely isn’t much fun, but it is necessary – take care of your ta-tas ladies!)

I’m glad I took the time. I feel the teeniest bit closer to mom when I’m working a puzzle from the thrift store, and now I have quite a few of them here to choose from.

Sunny Palms

On April 27, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

This puzzle was not fun, the image didn’t make for entertaining assembly at all. The fit wasn’t great either and it was an all-around pain in my behind until I was able to finish it and get it off my table.

Mega Puzzles aren’t a premium brand, and I knew that going in, but this one was the worst quality of theirs that I’ve found. I usually don’t have a problem with them for the most part, but this was a bad picture mixed with bad chipboard and it didn’t add up to entertainment.

Sunny Palms 1