Disney Classics

On April 5, 2018April 5, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was a fun puzzle, but more challenging than it looks! Either that or I’m slowly losing my puzzle mojo – oh dear. 😐

This was the second Kohl’s puzzle we’ve found at the thrift stores, and I have to say I’m quite impressed with the quality. The pieces are thick, the colors are bright with crisp lines, and the fit is excellent. I was pretty bummed that 3 pieces were missing, the kids at my daughter’s school would have really loved this one.

I love a puzzle that’s easy to sort and this was definitely one of them. We started with the thick blue lines separating each section and the nameplate in the middle. I sometimes find putting together outlines first to be a bit difficult, luckily these were thick lines with words and they went together pretty fast. This is a “look and find” puzzle, so the words on the lines give you things to look for in each of the sections. Lots of fun for the little ones!

Jungle Book and Lion King weren’t as easy to sort, so I just put those pieces all on one tray and worked both of those sections at the same time. 101 Dalmatians and Dumbo were relatively easy to sort and put together and I had much more fun with this assembly than I thought I would. I’m just a big old kid at heart. 😁

The Sewing Box

On March 24, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles1 Comment

This was a super fun Springbok puzzle that mom and I assembled together. We love a collage and putting together each little compartment of the box made for a great afternoon. It was a little bit of a bummer that it was missing a piece, but c’est la vie – that’s life.

Springbok quality is sometimes hit or miss, thankfully this one was a hit. The pieces fit together well and didn’t require having to force connections; sometimes I find their fit is much too tight, but this one was just about perfect. The image reproduction was crisp and beautiful, and the image itself made for such a great puzzle!

I love our Fridays when mom and I spend the day together. We assemble puzzles, talk, laugh, and generally just enjoy each other’s company. When the hormones are raging and I can’t stand anyone, mom is the only one I want to be around; no matter how I’m feeling, spending time with mom is always good for me. Lately we’ve been doing smaller piece count puzzles, we are having more fun being able to do more than one puzzle per day.

I love a thrift store puzzle, there’s always a chance that it may be missing a piece but you can find such interesting, fun puzzles at deeply discounted prices. Yes, this puzzle had a piece missing – but it only cost us 99 cents. For less than a dollar we got to spend the afternoon together putting together a really entertaining puzzle – what a bargain!

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!

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. 😉

Vintage Signs (2)

On February 24, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Vintage Signs by Lois B. Sutton – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

I guess having this blog means I pay more attention to the names of the puzzles I do, I write about each one separately. This is the second time this month that I’ve had a duplicate name. One day when I assembled a bunch of kid’s puzzles there were two different ones with the same title; and this puzzle has the same title as a Re-marks collage I reviewed recently. I suppose with so many puzzles out there it’s bound to happen though. 🙂

I had a great time putting this one together. It seems more satisfying for me to work a collage, I think because there’s that gratifying sense of completion with each small section. Small little victories within the whole that, for me, bring smiles and satisfaction. Whatever the reason, I’m looking forward to more collages right now; mom has a bunch of them from White Mountain at her house that I’m going to borrow very soon!

White Mountain has one of the best catalogs of collages around; there’s something for everyone. Charlie Girard and Lois B. Sutton are a couple of my favorite artists in this genre, I particularly love her stamp collages – they are so pretty!

Unfortunately this thrift store puzzle is missing a piece, but it was still great fun to assemble and has me itching get my hands on more collages. I can’t wait to get to mom’s and pick out my next puzzle! 😎