Tag: Multipack Puzzles

Unicorns – Part 2

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments
Unicorns 2-1
Unicorns by Rose Catherine Khan- Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces

It’s day two of the fabulousness of the unicorns, and I absolutely adore this artwork! They’re funny, and silly, and beautiful, and outrageous all at once. A second set of unicorns certainly would be welcome…..that’s a hint for you Cra-Z-Art. 🦄

If you haven’t tried shaped puzzles before, these sets would be a great way to get your feet wet, so to speak. They’re small and well made, which is perfect for someone who isn’t used to the way shaped puzzles go together. Have you given them a try? I hope you do, if at all possible; they’re so entertaining!

Unicorns 2-2

They’re a little difficult to see, but there are peacock feathers at the back of this saddle – beautiful! I have named this beauty Prianna the Proud; she knows she’s fabulous and she is WORKING IT! Prianna enjoys prancing to her own drummer, preening herself, and providing beginner-level mane grooming classes for the Unicorn Beauty Academy. Her coloring skills are the best in the land!

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I’m not a big fan of this color scheme; but I do think the wings are lovely, and the “tattoos” are beautiful. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to Beulah the Blissful. She is a happy unicorn that loves John Hughes movies, memorizing quotes from her favorite philosophers, and karaoke with friends. Her voice is a bit like Edith Bunker (from All in the Family), but she sings with gusto and heart, and everyone enjoys her performances regardless. She’s the Florence Foster Jenkins of the unicorn world!

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This is Madame Stefania the Stern. Don’t get on her bad side! She is the ballet master of the Unicorn School of Movement, and she gets the best out of her dancers no matter what! Madame Stefania expects perfection from her students, and they know to always keep their hooves in line. She likes to relax with a trough of white wine and a hot bath – complete with candles – and has been known to spend her spare time tending her herb garden in her favorite pair of worn out overalls.

I hope you’re enjoying the unicorns – I know I am!

Unicorns – Part 1

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments
Unicorns 1-2
Unicorns by Rose Catherine Khan- Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces

This is puzzle 100 for the year! I’m so glad that it was one that I enjoyed so very much. I can’t even express how much I loved these unicorns! They’re all so beautiful and colorful and I had the best time with them. 💗

These new sets that I bought are from Cra-Z-Art only, none of them say Lafayette Puzzle Factory like the previous sets. In addition, the colored backing has changed slightly so that it’s less slippery/shiny and made it easier for me to get good pictures without each one sliding off my board. Otherwise the quality seems the same; the pieces are on the thinner side, but they are sturdy and fit together well but slightly loosely.

The unicorns are all designed by Rose Catherine Khan, a new artist to me. I love the detail, the colors, and the fantasy of it all. Although fantasy images are not my usual choice, I certainly hope to see more puzzles with her artwork, I had such a great time with this one!

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Purple and pink always make such a great combination! Is that because I grew up in the 80’s? Perhaps. Whatever. 😉 The colors of each of them are so beautiful! I’ve decided to name them all, because these unicorns with the long, flowing manes, gorgeous colors, and wonderful extras make me want to be silly and fun. The saddle on this one almost looks like a caterpillar on it’s body, and the longer hair at the hooves makes me think this is a female – so I have named her Cecilia, the Countess of Chrysalis. Cecilia was the runt of her litter, but she loves her shorter stature and thinks unicorns of every shape and size are beautiful no matter what. She likes to paraphrase Horton (he heard the Whos); “A unicorn’s a unicorn, no matter how small.”

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This one makes me think of My Little Pony, only much more grown up and much more striking. This unicorn seems quite strong and manly to me so I have named him Angus the Able-Bodied. He is fierce, but fabulous – with iridescent wings that keep him aloft so that he can survey and protect his home. He likes moonlit walks on the beach, underwater basket-weaving, working out 3 days a week, and taking a spa day every two weeks to keep his mane in check and get himself a much needed pedicure.

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This is my favorite of the three in this group, although I have to say that I think they’re all differing levels of fabulous. This unicorn also seems more masculine to me, and the long, fantastic mane has led me to name him Sampson the Stouthearted. The extra long hair/mane with what looks like strings of pearls is just amazingly gorgeous, and unfortunately also causes Sampson to be a little bit of a narcissist. He enjoys looking in the mirror, reading stories about himself in the newspaper, and spending time with his best friend Oliver the Owl. He’s a bit of a self-involved idiot, but he’s also brave and the first to stand up for those who are downtrodden. Mostly though, he’s lovely to look at.

I loved the artwork, I loved putting them together, I made myself laugh out loud at the silly stories I made up about them, and I adored each and every one of these shaped puzzles. Amazingly entertaining!

Building Facades

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments
Building Facades
Building Facades by Iralu – Cardinal – 500 pieces

Here we have another untitled image. Unfortunately, I was unable to come up with a catchy title and so I just gave it a descriptive one. What do you see here? Building facades. What should I call it? I guess…..Building Facades. *yawn* Sorry guys, my brain isn’t always firing on all cylinders.

This is one of twelves puzzles in one box from Cardinal. I knew when I purchased it that it wouldn’t be great quality – I’ve never seen one of these multipack puzzles with really good quality. Ever. But, I wanted these images; I love the artwork and decided that it would be worth muddling through the crappy quality to get to put these interesting and colorful images together.

I’ve now assembled puzzles of all three sizes from this multipack and I can report that the puzzles have differing levels of quality. The 150 pieces are the best of the bunch; the fit isn’t great, but it isn’t horrid either, and the piece thickness is fair. The 300 piece puzzles in this set are the middle range; thinner pieces than the 150 pcs., and the fit was about the same. The 500 pieces were the worst of the bunch; the fit was awful, the pieces were extremely thin, and the glare from the shiny finish was much more noticeable.

All of that said, I don’t regret buying this set. I knew it wouldn’t be great quality and I still look forward to assembling the rest of the images. Glutton for punishment? Perhaps. Puzzle addict and PADS sufferer? Definitely! 🧩💗

Balconies in Bloom

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments
Balconies
Balconies in Bloom by Iralu – Cardinal – 300 pieces

I’ve had this set of 12 puzzles in a multipack since way before the world stopped rotating, and I sometimes forget that it’s sitting under the puzzle table. I’m glad I decided to find myself a 300 piece puzzle to assemble, because this one was really fun to do.

I put the box away and assembled it without help from the image, and had a fantastic time. It makes me want to put together the rest of the puzzles in this multipack because I just love the artwork! There are still four 500 piece puzzles, two 150 pieces, and one more 300 piece. They aren’t the best quality, but I knew that before I purchased them; it was all about these images by Iralu. You don’t see artwork like this on puzzles usually, and I absolutely adore it. 😍

I decided to show each of the balconies separately, they’re all pretty cool looking…

Balconies 1

Each one is very detailed and deserving of it’s own picture. There is coffee, wine, and/or cigarettes on every table.

Balconies 2

Everyone smokes in this tableau. Perhaps these are French balconies?

Balconies 3

This is my favorite of the four. You know me, I love the colors – especially the purple chairs! And I’m great with coffee at all hours of the day, keep it coming! ☕

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Wine AND coffee. Hmmm. Not a good combo for me. I’d much rather put some whiskey in my coffee – I am partly Irish after all. I’m not allowed to drink with all the pain meds I’m on, but an Irish coffee sounds really good right about now. 😎

Cottages – Part 4

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments
Cottages 4-1
Cottages (4) by Kim Leo – Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces

And now we’ve come to the close of our trip down cottage lane, and wasn’t it fun? I hope you readers have enjoyed it as much as I have. I think each little piece of artwork deserves to be appreciated, and have had a great time showing them all!

For those of you wondering, the quality of these puzzles is pretty good. The pieces are on the thinner side, but they’re sturdy and have a very nice variety of shapes. They fit together well, if perhaps slightly loosely, and as you can see the image reproduction is lovely with bright colors, crisp lines, and no fuzziness or blurry areas. The added colored backing seems to make it so that the die doesn’t cut all the way through on every piece, and each little puzzle had several pieces still attached. It wasn’t too terrible though, and just a little tug was all that was needed to separate them.

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I’m calling this one Heart House, because there are hearts everywhere! From the weather vane at the top of the house to paving stones in the walkway – hearts, hearts, and more hearts! Some of them are easy to miss, did you see the heart on the trim boards at the top of the house? So sweet! How about the X’s and O’s hanging off the porch roof? Hugs and kisses for everyone. This is in my top 3 of the entire set, love it! 😍

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Here’s another one with an autumn look to it, the Butternut Bakery. I love the little seating area near the top of the building, and the birdhouse too. Did you notice the weather vane? It’s a rolling pin! The small details like that are adorable; I really do love the work of this artist – it makes me smile. 🙂

Cottages 4-4

And lastly is the Sea Breeze Inn, doesn’t this look like a wonderful place for a weekend at the beach? I’m not a fan of sand, so I don’t think I’d be doing much at the beach, but it looks like a lovely place to sit on the porch and relax. All they need is a table there so I could work on a puzzle or two – then it would be perfect! 🧩

Did you notice? This is the only cottage without a cat!