Happy Almost Birthday To Me!

On October 27, 2021October 27, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous4 Comments

It’s not quite my birthday yet, but there are early presents coming my way today! According to the delivery website/app a big box of puzzles that were ordered what seems like forever ago will be delivered today! I’m so excited that the use of exclamation marks is getting out of control!

I ordered a metric crap-ton (technical term) of micro puzzles from Wentworth, along with a 200 piece Christmas puzzle. You’re shocked, right? That’s fair. Regular readers know that Christmas/holiday puzzles are just not my pile of pieces, but this one is very different and looks like it’ll be really fun to put together.

You’ll be even more shocked that quite a few of the micro puzzles are holiday/winter themed as well. But, they are all very different than the average holiday images and full of cuteness, silliness, and just plain prettiness. There are three that are just winter puzzles, and those can wait until after the holidays to be assembled. With this delivery, and the puzzles that are already here, there will be lots more holiday puzzles than usual on the blog this year. Looking forward to it? I am!

It doesn’t matter if they’re Christmas images or not, there’s going to be a delivery today (if all goes as planned) of a big box of puzzles for me. Wooooo hooooo!

The PADS is flaring up today with expectation and excitement! Happy dance! 💃🎶💃

Fuyune

On July 22, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

The artwork of Haruyo Morita is so beautiful, and I love Asian art – so when I was looking through my micro puzzles to find one to put together, this one popped out and screamed “Assemble Me!”. 😍

A few years ago, near Christmas, Wentworth had a big sale on micro puzzles; I blacked out and in my fugue state I may have ordered every single one they had on sale. Perhaps. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

That’s the reason this beautiful work of art seems to have whimsy pieces that make no sense whatsoever in regards to the image. It was a Christmas sale, and so the whimsies are Christmas themed.

Fuyune whimsies

The penguin is my favorite, but I also like the detail in Santa’s beard. This puzzle (and one other) are all I’m doing for Christmas in July this year. My regular readers know that Christmas puzzles aren’t my favorite, and although I usually try to do some of that theme in July I just don’t have it in me this year. (You’d think I would though, my Christmas tree is still up! LOL)

I always enjoy putting together a micro puzzle from Wentworth; they’re so well made and sometimes they’re a little more difficult than they look. This one was no exception, it’s such a beautiful image and I enjoyed the few minutes it took me to assemble. Even just a few minutes of jigsaw puzzling makes my heart happy and calms my racing brain. 💖🧩

Mixed Flowers in an Earthenware Pot

On June 20, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This puzzle is one of my large collection of micro puzzles from Wentworth, and the image is one that spoke to me recently. It reminds me of my mom, it’s beautiful, and it is also one that I absolutely would not like to assemble in a larger size.

There are quite a few images that I have in a small size particularly and especially because I enjoy the artwork but would never want to assemble them in a 1000 or even a 500 piece count. I put this image in that category, along with Starry Night by Van Gogh; there’s no way I’d be assembling either one in a larger count, it would be too frustrating for me.

That’s part of the reason I love these small puzzles from Wentworth; not only are they relatively inexpensive, they have many images that would be too tedious, difficult, or frustrating for me in a large piece count and the micro puzzles are the only way you’d find me assembling such difficult images.

Mixed Flowers whimsies

I’m not sure exactly how these whimsies tie in with the artwork, these seem more suited to an outdoor scene. But then again I don’t know for sure what whimsies would be best – other than just flowers.

I love my micro puzzles collection from Wentworth, and it’s nice to be able to revisit them. 💖

The North Pole

On December 28, 2019December 28, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

I love the look of this image, it reminds me of an Americana puzzle. It’s very different than the typical Christmas puzzle images that you normally see, and that’s what I love about it. If you look at the middle of the puzzle you’ll see that there’s a nativity scene – that’s something new, especially with this being the North Pole and Santa flying away to do his Christmas Eve work.

North Pole 1

The detail makes all the difference, I love the way they’ve cut that Santa whimsy! Wentworth whimsies make me happy, and one of the best parts of their puzzles is opening it up and searching through the pieces to see what shapes they’ve chosen and looking at the detail – at least it is for me.

I don’t get out much, and I have PADS, so my emotions are definitely linked to puzzles. 😉

The Puzzle that Broke the Ice

On December 12, 2019December 12, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

The Puzzle that Broke the Ice – Wentworth – 40 pieces

I did it! I think. Okay, I’m 97.5 percent sure that I did it! You can see why this puzzle reminded me of Winter Aspen – so much snow and trees. *shudder* It truly was the most challenging Wentworth puzzle that I’ve ever assembled, and it was only 40 pieces! Can you imagine getting any of the larger versions? This also comes in 252 and 510 pieces. I’m not sure if more pieces would make it easier or more difficult, but I definitely won’t be finding out.

I started by turning all the pieces upside down to sort them by shapes, it’s easier if you don’t see the image and just look at the specific shape.

Ice 1

After the sorting the real work begins. Obviously. A close look at the image on the box showed the irregular edge, and that there would be the top of stars and tree trunks along the edge. I started with the darkest and thickest trunk in the image on the far left. From there it was trial and error and a LOT of squinting to be certain each piece I added matched up with all the tree trunks and branches.

It was difficult as there was snow obscuring some parts of certain trees, but as I said I’m 97.5 percent sure I put this one together properly. 😎

One more holiday puzzle down! I’m pretty proud of myself for finishing this one and not putting it off any longer, I was truly dreading it (because I had tried before to assemble it and failed – my brain is being cooked from the inside by hot flashes and isn’t as sharp as it used to be). But as difficult as it was, it was still pretty awesome, completely absorbing, and looks very festive!

Wentworth has some extremely difficult holiday images like this one with repetitive shaped pieces and they all have fabulous names like The Puzzle that Burnt the Turkey, and The Puzzle that Ruined Christmas. The silly names make me laugh, but these little puzzles are no joke! They’re the typical excellent quality that the “regular” puzzles are, and even if they take me a little bit more brain power I really do enjoy the added challenge. I’m giving this one a difficulty rating of four out of five ice cubes. 😉

Brrr! 🧊🧊🧊🧊