Tag: Puzzle Warehouse

A Christmas Story Leg Lamp

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment
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A Christmas Story Leg Lamp – USAopoly – 500 pieces

During one of my sleepless nights I was of course looking at puzzles online – you’re shocked aren’t you? Of course you are, I’m so level-headed I would never go on a late-night puzzle shopping extravaganza! 😇 I saw on Puzzle Warehouse that this puzzle was discontinued, they have a few left but I didn’t want to miss out so …. surprise! I ordered it!

I had so much fun assembling this puzzle, I smiled all day. We love A Christmas Story at our house, and especially love watching it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day when the marathon is on tv. Pretty much the whole family says the dialog along with the movie and we all laugh and have a great time; it’s one of only a few movies that everyone in the family enjoys. Of course I had to get a leg lamp puzzle!

The assembly was quick and fun and I highly recommend this puzzle. The white border helped identify edge pieces so it was easy to start there and work inwards; that’s not always easy to do with a shaped puzzle. Not a lot of sorting necessary either – it was just a pleasure to assemble.

USAopoly has some great pop culture puzzles; and their quality isn’t bad either. There are a nice variety of piece shapes, the pieces are on the thin side but they are sturdy and fit together very well. The image reproduction is good, with a shiny finish, and they have some very fun images to choose from.

It’s pretty tall, 3 feet high (91cm) so make sure you’ve got a big enough work space. After I let mom assemble it I’m going to glue it and turn it into a Christmas decoration. Wouldn’t it be great to drive down the street during the holidays and see leg lamps or leg lamp puzzles in people’s windows? It’s putting a smile on my face right now. 😁

I know, I’m weird – but weird is awesome, and I embrace it!

If you would like to make an awesome window piece for your holiday decorations this year (or just think this would be a fun puzzle) you can find it at Puzzle Warehouse by clicking here. (I don’t get anything if you click or buy from them, they’re just my favorite puzzle store) They even have another leg lamp puzzle from a different company that’s double-sided, it has scenes from the movie on the back of it, 600 pieces. Too much fun – and it’s a major award! 😉

Review: Spirit of Coca Cola

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Spirit of Coca Cola by Pamela Renfroe – Springbok – 1000 pieces

Spirit of Coca Cola was a fun but quite challenging puzzle. I like the image, it makes me think of my dad who always has and always will drink Coca Cola!

Springbok puzzles are good quality with nice thick pieces that fit together very snugly and excellent image reproduction. I’m not sure if you would call the cut random or semi-random, but it did make for an interesting assembly. If you read this blog regularly you know I’m not a fan of the super tight fit, but many people are; to each his own. It does make it easy to assemble a smaller section and then pick it up and move it – that’s one good thing about a very tight fit. There’s always a positive to be found, so I always try to find it. 🙂 Springbok has a varied catalog; there are so many interesting puzzles to choose from – nature, animals, sweets, holidays, and many others including more Coca Cola images! Click the link above to see all the puzzles from Springbok available at Puzzle Warehouse.

There was a fair amount of puzzle dust in the bag, but the pieces were all separated and undamaged; the fit was tight and required some effort to connect pieces. The image reproduction was beautiful with a slightly shiny finish. It was a bit difficult to work the darker areas of the puzzle for me, my puzzle area only has artificial lights so there was glare to deal with. The finished puzzle is on the large side for 1000 pieces 24 x 30 inches (61 x 76 cm) so be sure you have a large enough work space. The box has the name of the puzzle, manufacturer and piece count along with a small image on 3 sides so that you could store it vertically or horizontally.

The assembly was relatively easy at first, the bottom half of the puzzle was easy to pick out pieces to assemble the plane, all the people and signs, etc. Once the building and everything below it was complete the challenge was turned up a notch! There is a fair amount of blue sky to put together and an even larger amount of tree line. This section was more time consuming and slightly tedious for me; the trees were more difficult than the sky and took the most time. This wasn’t my favorite assembly, but it wasn’t too bad and I sure was proud when I finished it. 🙂

The artwork by Pamela Renfroe feels retro/nostalgic and makes me think of “simpler times”. I love the feeling of family in this image, and it made me look through the vintage puzzles at Puzzle Warehouse and add several of them to my ever growing, insanely long wish list. 😮 There are a bunch of wonderful collage puzzles that I would love to get my hands on!

Spirit of Coca Cola is no longer available at Puzzle Warehouse, but don’t worry, Coca Cola is a popular theme for puzzles and there are a surprising number of them to choose from. Click here to see all the Coca Cola puzzles available from Puzzle Warehouse from several different puzzle manufacturers. I especially love Santa’s Coca Cola Christmas – such beautiful artwork! The Coca Cola puzzles make me smile and some of them definitely seem like a fun challenge to take on!

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

 

Review: Albuquerque Balloons

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Albuquerque Balloons – Masterpieces (Masters of Photography) – 500 pieces

Albuquerque Balloons went together very quickly and was easier to do than I imagined. The last of the space saver puzzles for review. To my surprise it was a fun assembly and the image was excellent for puzzling, just enough challenge, but not too easy.

I can report after having done 3 space saver puzzles that the quality is quite good. The pieces are thick and feel good in your hand; they fit together well with a random cut that makes for an interesting assembly. They have a slightly shiny finish which can cause glare, but otherwise the image reproduction is beautiful. Two out of the three puzzles I assembled had obvious piece shapes showing in the finished puzzle; and while it isn’t ideal, it doesn’t really detract from enjoyment of the assembly.  Click here to see all the space saver puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse.

I’ve been pretty impressed with the Masterpieces puzzles I’ve done lately, the quality is quite good. They have a nice catalog to choose from and their puzzles are extremely reasonably priced – which is good for a tightwad like me! Check out all their puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse by clicking the link above – all Masterpieces puzzles are on sale at Puzzle Warehouse now through August 15, 2017 – 25% off, no coupon required!

I have actively been avoiding all hot air balloon puzzles for quite some time; it just seems so overdone – every company seems to have one or more puzzles of hot air balloons. I hate following the crowd and doing a thing just because other people are doing it – I’m a bit of a rebel. Turns out, I’m a rebel without a cause – at least where balloon puzzles are concerned! I enjoyed the puzzle in spite of myself and found that it was a superb image for puzzling. Will I ever learn? Maybe, maybe not. 🙂

Albuquerque Balloons is no longer available at Puzzle Warehouse, but you can find space savers and Masterpieces puzzles by clicking the links above. Or you can check out the pages and pages of hot air balloon puzzles – there are so many beautiful puzzles to choose from – the wishlist is still growing!!

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.

Review: Five Cent Piece

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse. 
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Five Cent Piece by David Behrens – Sunsout – 1000 pieces

Five Cent Piece is a beautiful puzzle from Sunsout that I enjoyed very much! The fit was looser than normal for a Sunsout puzzle, but that’s in the positive category for me. The artwork is stunning and makes for an excellent puzzle.

Sunsout puzzles are of very good quality in my opinion. The pieces are thick and sturdy and feel good in your hands. They use a random cut, which gives a wide variety of piece shapes and makes for a more interesting assembly. I prefer a grid (or ribbon) cut, but I also enjoy the random cut every now and then; it’s nice to change things up and work a random cut puzzle just to keep your brain limber! Normally a rectangular Sunsout puzzle has quite a tight fit, this puzzle was a bit looser and I enjoyed that very much. The image reproduction was excellent with a slightly shiny finish which can cause glare under lights. Click the link above to see all the Sunsout puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse.

The finished puzzle is 23 x 28 inches (58 x 71 cm), a bit larger than the average 1000 piece puzzle, and would be beautiful framed. Sunsout boxes are large and square and have the name of the puzzle, artist, and manufacturer along with piece count on all four sides – easy to shelve either vertically or horizontally.

The artwork by David Behrens is beautiful, emotional, and moving and also makes for excellent puzzling; his art has been made into many jigsaw puzzles. Click the link above to see all puzzles available from this artist at Puzzle Warehouse. I especially like Flags of Our Fathers. Gorgeous!

Five Cent Piece was about medium difficulty, with just the right amount of challenge to make for a fun puzzling experience. The assembly was never tedious and it was fun to watch each piece turn into part of a beautiful piece of art. Thumbs up! 👍

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All opinions are truthful and 100% my own.

 

Review: Horse of Iron

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment
This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.
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Horse of Iron by Werner Willis – Sunsout – 1000 pieces

This is quite an impressive puzzle – when I look at the picture the word “majestic” comes to mind. It’s hard to tell from the picture but the train is 3 feet long! (Side note: this is probably the best picture I’ve ever taken of any puzzle – yay me!)

Sunsout puzzles are good quality. The pieces are thick, and they fit together well. Their rectangular/square puzzles have a much tighter fit than the shaped puzzles; I prefer the looser fit of their shaped puzzles, but that’s just me. The image reproduction is very good, they work with many wonderful artists, and they have an excellent catalog that includes a great selection of shaped puzzles. As an added bonus they are an environmentally friendly company that uses recycled board and soy-based inks.

I’ve only recently started working shaped puzzles, and I’m really enjoying them. Sunsout has an excellent array of shaped puzzles, and several other manufacturers make them as well. Click here to see all the shaped puzzles available at Puzzle Warehouse, they’ve got something for everyone. Give a shaped puzzle a try, they’re fun and a good workout for your brain!

I was able to pull all the edge pieces for this puzzle and start there; usually it isn’t easy to find all the edges of a shaped puzzle, but this one has a white border that was easy to spot. This puzzle has a LOT of edge – more than 250 pieces! By the time the border was assembled I had the puzzle 1/4 done. 🙂

The bottom section was about medium difficulty and fun to assemble. The top section was much more challenging – still fun, but I had to take more breaks because it overwhelmed me at times. It doesn’t look like it would be that difficult, but believe me it was. I had about 100 pieces left when mom and dad stopped by and she helped me finish it up. It’s a gorgeous puzzle that definitely makes a statement. The finished puzzle is 36 x 24 inches (91 x 60 cm) it’s quite impressive!

The artwork by Werner Willis is amazingly detailed and beautiful; this was my first puzzle of his and I’d love to find more. I enjoyed Horse of Iron very much, it was a challenge but I certainly was proud of it when I was done!

I’m sorry to say it’s no longer available at Puzzle Warehouse, but I’ve certainly been inspired to work more shaped puzzles, and have even added a few train puzzles to the ridiculously long wish list – including another shaped puzzle with trains and an interesting retro collage from White Mountain called Travel by Train. All aboard!

 

I received this product at no charge in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.