Country Cottage

On September 18, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Horribly photographed, but quite a fun puzzle. I long for the days when I could assemble a 1500 piece puzzle without having an anxiety attack. 😕 Great quality puzzle, and I had a great time with it. That surprised both myself and mom – at the time (2+ years ago) it wasn’t really the kind of image I enjoyed assembling.

Turns out, many times I’m completely wrong about whether or not I will enjoy a puzzle. Sometimes I see the image and think, “Oh man, that’s going to be so much fun!”. Then once I start the assembly I’m completely disappointed by it. Other times I think “Ugh, that one’s gonna suck.” and it turns out to be great fun. Seems to me I can’t trust the fickle old lady brain in my head, I should just get to assembling and let it play out.

Unfortunately the picture I took seems to be another one where I was in the process of falling over, I apologize. But I want to stand up for myself again and say that these older pictures were ones I took on my phone to text to both my mom and daughter. When any of us finish a puzzle we text a picture to each other; they’re not always the best quality. When I assembled and finished this puzzle I hadn’t yet started My Jigsaw Journal, and I had no idea that I’d end up publishing these photos. This is what it’s supposed to look like…

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It’s a beauty! The puzzle was excellent quality, the image is beautiful and calming, and it was one of our better thrift store finds. You can’t beat 99 cents for a 1500 piece Ravensburger! 🤑

Route 66

On September 9, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Route 66 is a popular theme for jigsaw puzzles, and I’ve done several of them. This one was great fun, had excellent quality, and was one of the more entertaining versions in my opinion.

Ravensburger puzzles are always a great find at thrift stores, and this one was no exception. Even though it had obviously been assembled several times, the fit was still excellent. The box was pretty beat up, but thankfully there weren’t any missing pieces.

There was so much to see in this image; and with so many postcards and Route 66 road signs it was a bit of a challenge as well. But it was the best kind of challenge, the kind that sucks you in and focuses your attention. And as an added bonus I got to assemble this puzzle with my mom, which upped the entertainment factor. Puzzling with mom is the best!

Route 66 lends itself well to collage puzzles, and this is a bright, beautiful image. It’s no longer in production, but if you run across it at a thrift store I would highly recommend it – this Route 66 puzzle was definitely a place to “get our kicks”. 🚗

Basketball

On September 4, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

This was a very fun, cool little 3D puzzle. I don’t know why I wanted this one so much, I’m not really a basketball fan. It just seemed like it would be extremely entertaining to assemble, and it was!

This was the first new 3D puzzle I’ve assembled, and the quality is excellent. The previous ones I’ve assembled have all been from the thrift store and seemed quite the worse for wear. They may have been taken apart too roughly; the pieces fit together tightly and care must used when taking them apart. The plastic pieces fit together extremely well, and even though there are only 54 pieces it took a little bit of time to assemble.

These 3D puzzles are numbered on the back, and below each number is an arrow showing which direction the next piece should go. I use the numbers to sort into groups of ten, and then turn over each group for assembly.

The basketball was a little challenging to assemble for obvious reasons, but I enjoyed myself very much. 😁🏀

Review: Stress Test

On August 11, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment

Stress Test by Evgenia Loli – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

Stress Test was quite entertaining to assemble, and since it’s been a while since I’ve done a Ravensburger puzzle it was so nice to get back to such great quality.

Ravensburger is a premium brand with excellent quality, and the brand I usually compare all others to. Their pieces are very thick, with a very good variety of shapes and the fit is very good, though sometimes the fit can be a bit loose – although that isn’t the case with this puzzle. The image reproduction is stellar, with a slightly shiny finish that can cause some glare under artificial lights. All in all, the quality of this puzzle was excellent!

I started with the sky, which was a joy to put together. The water went together next, and then the bridge and little girl. The buildings were the most challenging part, and I saved them for last. Challenging buildings and all, it was a very enjoyable assembly, and it’s one I highly recommend. 👍

Details:

Title: Stress Test
Artist: Evgenia Loli
Brand: Ravensburger
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Approx. 14 x 19 in. (36 x 48 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

Sunset Glory

On June 29, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This is a beautiful puzzle, but not one I would normally choose. I don’t usually gravitate towards sea life puzzles, I’m not sure why, they’re just not images I normally go for. Luckily I disregarded my prejudice and assembled this puzzle anyway; it was almost a meditative experience for me and I enjoyed it very much.

It’s a Ravensburger, and the quality was top notch. The pieces fit together beautifully, and the image reproduction was stellar. I think it was the colors that attracted to me to this puzzle, especially the colors in the sky. They’re just gorgeous!

Other than the sky, the fish were the most fun for me to assemble. They aren’t very big, but the bright colors and the number of small fish made them very entertaining. I zoned out when I was assembling this puzzle, I just let my brain do all the work. It was almost like meditating (or what I think meditating must be like). I enjoyed this puzzle even more than I thought I would – I love it when that happens. 🙂

You’d think I’d learn after putting together so many different puzzles that you never really know how entertaining an image will be until you actually assemble it. I still have my preferences, but I’m trying to do better about giving certain puzzles and images a chance. I’m usually wrong about how much fun a puzzle will or will not be – so I should give all of them a chance, right? Of course right!