Little Feminist

On October 27, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This colorful puzzle was completely entertaining and quick to go together. Only one piece shape, but the little sections were relatively easy to pick out and assemble even without a variety in the piece shape.

I love the catalog of Mudpuppy puzzles, but they’re another brand that only has the one piece shape. Perhaps I’m getting to be a crochety old lady who complains too much, but I’m a bit annoyed by how many brands have just the one piece shape. I’ve assembled a few of their puzzles before, so at least I knew going in that they would all be the same shape.

This is my kind of image though; I love a collage and I love cartoon puzzles too. It went together very quickly because it was hard to walk away. Each section lead to the next, and they were all fun to assemble.

This is another puzzle that my daughter found for me in the clearance section at Barnes & Noble when we were trying to find a particular book. I can never go into a store without checking to see if there are any puzzles for me to look through. It’s a sickness, one I believe I discovered – PADS. I’m severely afflicted and loving it! 💖

Pet Portraits

On September 13, 2019September 13, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

My daughter found me a bunch of clearance puzzles at Barnes and Noble, and she was very insistent that I get this one. Of course, it has a Boston Terrier in it! She loves my Buddy, and we all love Boston Terriers, they are not only adorable dogs, but they’re so wonderfully sweet – especially our Buddy.

Of course it was our favorite portrait in the puzzle…

Pet Portraits 1

That frozen look, especially when we’re playing with our little guy, is what we lovingly call “crazy eyes”. Bostons love to play, and when we’re getting ready to throw a toy he freezes and looks at us with the crazy eyes, it’s because he’s just so excited!

Pet Portraits 2

I love the demure look on the bird’s face – how cute is that? It’s like she knows she’s cute and is posing for a picture. Adorable! I’m not a fan of birds as pets, only because I very much enjoy peace and quiet, and I find that birds are always making noise – no thank you. I’d much rather assemble a puzzle with birds. 😉

The puzzle itself was good quality, but I’ve had quite a few puzzles with just the one piece shape lately and they’re a bit boring. I enjoy figuring out which piece shape I’m looking for, and I find it’s also very helpful when you have a large area of one color. I’m choosing what to puzzle next right now, and if I open the box and see only one piece shape I close it right back up and keep looking for a more interesting one with a variety of shapes.

Ocean Life

On December 27, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This was one of those thrift store puzzles that almost breaks my heart. We love finding fantastic quality kids puzzles, assembling them, and then donating them. When we find one of such excellent quality that’s missing a piece it’s so much more of a disappointment than regular missing pieces to me.

This Mudpuppy puzzle was one of the best quality kids puzzles I’ve seen in quite some time. Extremely thick pieces, beautiful colors, excellent fit – and it even had a little extra something – a search and find aspect. All the pictures around the edges are also shown in the main image and they’re not all easy to find.

What a bummer that it’s missing a piece! It makes me sad, as a lover of puzzles, that they aren’t taken care of. (But I do remember childhood too, vaguely, so I also understand.) But for some strange reason these missing pieces makes me wish that I could go back to my childhood and take MUCH better care of all of my toys and things. If I had, not only would they be worth some big time cash right now, I’d still have some of the things I loved to play with as a child. How awfully sweet and uncharacteristically sentimental of me, right? I know!

Review: Ah-Ha to Zig-Zag

On May 4, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment

This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.

Ah-Ha to Zig-Zag by Maira Kalman – Mudpuppy – 300 pieces

Ah-Ha to Zig-Zag is a fantastic collage that I had the best time assembling! It’s quite a different image – it’s based on the illustrated book featuring 31 interesting objects from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. I couldn’t resist it, you know how much I love a collage!

This is my first puzzle from Mudpuppy, and I liked the quality very much. The pieces are a good thickness, and they are made from extremely sturdy board that does not bend or flake easily – no puzzle dust at all! The fit and image reproduction is very good as well, and overall I was impressed with the quality. I do wish that there was more variety in the piece shape, as all the pieces are what I call “ballerinas” (2 prong/2 hole standard puzzle shape). It’s not too much of a problem when you have a colorful interesting image like this one, but can be difficult when the image has large areas of color like the sky or water. Click the link above to see all of their puzzles currently in stock at Puzzle Warehouse.

I’ve been doing a lot of 300 and 500 piece puzzles lately, and have come to enjoy them very much. They’re a great palate cleanser after a larger puzzle, or just fun on their own when you don’t have the time or space for a puzzle of 1000 pieces or more. If you normally only work 1000 piece or larger puzzles, I recommend giving a smaller one a try every once in a while. They’re great fun, and can give you a boost of confidence – I finished that puzzle so fast, I must be becoming a puzzle master! 😎

Collages are my favorite type of puzzle images, it’s like having many mini puzzles to assemble. Even if I only have a few minutes to puzzle I can still find and assemble a small section and feel as though I’ve accomplished something. Click here to see all the interesting collages from many different companies available at Puzzle Warehouse – there are so many to choose from that there’s something for everyone.

This puzzle was a joy from start to finish. The border of the image made the edge pieces easy to find, but it wasn’t too thick which can sometimes make it very challenging to assemble. The blocks of color helped with the sorting as well, and even though it was a relatively easy assembly I was never bored. Mudpuppy puzzles are a little on the pricey side, but the quality is very good and they have many unique images that you won’t find with other companies. And aren’t we worth it? I think we are! 😉

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