The Racehorse

On July 16, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

The picture on the box shows Jim Luckless buying himself a racehorse, the puzzle shows what happened after that. What if his horse had a very special talent, what if things took an unexpected turn? As usual with these type of puzzles I don’t show the entire finished image, I don’t want to spoil anyone else’s fun figuring out what happened to poor Jim. 😉

Ravensburger puzzle, with it’s usual excellent quality. It’s so nice to “come home” to my favorite puzzle company after working with other brands. They’re just such wonderful quality and I always enjoy working with them.

Geoff Tristam’s artwork is excellent and I love his sense of humor. Oh sorry, he’s from the United Kingdom so I should say I love his sense of humour! 😉 I also enjoy the bio on the back of the box which is always accompanied by a picture of Mr. Tristam with accessories related to the puzzle – on this box he’s next to a beautiful horse. A lot of work goes into these puzzles and it’s very much appreciated.

If you haven’t tried a What If puzzle, give it a shot. They’re fun and the right amount of challenging; I highly recommend it!

Review: Puppies in a Basket

On July 10, 2017July 31, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment

This post is sponsored by Puzzle Warehouse.

Puppies in a Basket by Susan Brabeau – Ravensburger – 500 pieces

Puppies in a Basket is an adorable 500 piece puzzle from Ravensburger – my favorite puzzle company! Click the link above to see all the puzzles available from this manufacturer at Puzzle Warehouse. Their catalog is large and varied, and there’s something for everyone – from 10 pieces to the world’s largest puzzle at 40,320 pieces! (I don’t want to brag too much, but the 40,320 piece puzzle?–I did that! 😎 )

This puzzle full of puppy cuteness was an entertaining assembly from start to finish! The pieces for this 500 piece puzzles are little bigger than their average pieces, which I enjoy. They feel good in your hands and make for a nice size finished puzzle.

Ravensburger pieces are about the nicest, most premium pieces on the market and they are what I compare all other puzzles to. The fit is excellent and their “softclick technology” makes it so that you know when you’ve found the correct piece and the finished puzzle is absolutely smooth. The variety of piece shapes is excellent and makes for a fun puzzling experience. Their quality is exceptional in my opinion and I never hesitate to purchase a Ravensburger puzzle because I know I’ll be getting wonderful quality.

The artwork by Susan Brabeau feels homey and warm, and is an excellent image for puzzling. There are plenty of different colors and textures to help with assembly, and enough sameness so that it isn’t so easy that it’s boring. Susan’s artwork is nostalgic and beautiful and has been made into many puzzles by several different manufacturers. Click the link above to see all the puzzles available from this artist at Puzzle Warehouse.

These puppies made for a fun puzzle that was quick to put together. I started with the light blues of the window frame and pillow, and then assembled the basket. It was easy to pick out colors or textures to assemble without having to check the box image for reference; the quilt was fun with some repeating fabrics and colors. An excellent puzzle that made me smile every time I looked at it. The picture still makes me smile. 🙂

Dogs (especially puppies) are a popular puzzle image – who can resist all that sweet cuteness? I sure can’t! Unfortunately this puzzle is no longer available, but with almost 20 pages of dog puzzles to choose from at Puzzle Warehouse you’re sure to find an adorable four-legged friend to puzzle with. 🙂

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

Antique World Map

On July 2, 2017July 2, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

I thought this wood finish would be cool when I ordered it. It wasn’t cool. It was AWESOME!

I had probably assembled about 20 pieces of the edge when I texted my mom and told her I wanted every single wood finish puzzle that Ravensburger has. I absolutely love the way the pieces look and feel. Especially on this antique map, it gives it something extra and it looks amazing! I can’t stop running my fingers over the puzzle, it’s something special. Either that, or I really need to get out of the house more. Maybe a little of both? 😊

This wasn’t a easy puzzle, the entire map is very muted with very little bright color and lots of shades of brown. It took me 4 days to complete, though some days I wasn’t able to work on it much. Still it was moderately difficult, but I would definitely recommend it! This is a gorgeous puzzle when complete and would be beautiful framed.

I love the look of antique map puzzles, I think most of them are beautiful and always exclaim over them when I’m puzzle shopping or browsing. But for some reason this is the first one I’ve actually purchased and assembled! Mom did find a 4000 piece Educa map at the thrift store, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. None of them look easy, but I just find them stunning to look at; I’m proud of myself for finally ordering and assembling one. 🙂

If you’re not intimidated by the difficulty of this puzzle I highly recommend it! The texture of the pieces is fabulous and the finished product is definitely frame-worthy!

The Portrait

On June 22, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

What if Leonardo Da Vinci never painted the Mona Lisa? Would he still have become a famous artist? What would he be famous for? I don’t show the entire image for these types of puzzles because I don’t want to spoil the fun of solving the puzzle for anyone else. When I was just starting to find and order these puzzles I Googled one of them and clicked on a link and was presented with the finished image – I didn’t want to see that!

As usual, I completely enjoyed working this puzzle; Geoff Tristam’s artwork and sense of humor are on display here and make for an excellent puzzle. I love the added difficulty of not having a reference image to work from, it makes me pay attention even more than normal to the pieces and where they might connect. The What If collection by Ravensburger hits the mark every time and I always find myself happy with the end result.

I’m going to have to make sure I type up my post for a completed puzzle on the day I complete it! I finished this puzzle almost 2 weeks ago and I’m just writing it up now. It’s been so long, and I don’t take a picture of the entire puzzle – I’ve almost forgotten the finished image! 😮

This was one of the slightly more difficult What If puzzles I’ve completed. Usually you can tell what the background might look like or what people are wearing from the image on the box, but not so with this one. The box image shows Da Vinci painting portraits on the street long ago, and the finished image is in a more modern setting – not even close to the same background or people. Still, I was up to the challenge and enjoyed it thoroughly!

I love Ravensburger puzzles, the quality of the puzzles themselves is stellar, and they have an excellent catalog of puzzles to choose from. They are one of the companies I never hesitate to purchase if I like an image because I know I’ll be getting a quality product.

The What If puzzles are completely entertaining with an extra challenge to keep you puzzling. I highly recommend them!

Final Assembly Day!

On June 18, 2017April 21, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, World's Largest Puzzle Progress23 Comments

The World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle is finally put together! It was amazing to see the entire puzzle assembled, all 10 sections completed and connected. WOW! You can know the measurements in your head, but then seeing it in person is another thing altogether. It’s a beautiful puzzle, and it fit together perfectly; it was stunning in it’s enormity – I can hardly believe I did all that!

This is myself, mom, and my 3 children. Not the best picture, but at least it gives you scale, that’s one enormous puzzle! When you look back at the pictures I took along the way, the every day updates, each section looks like your average size puzzle, nothing too extraordinary. This picture gives you a much better appreciation for just how large each section actually is!

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So everyone there who was taking pictures was supposed to send them to me too, so I could pick the best ones for the blog. Of course no one has so far, so unfortunately the pictures I have aren’t the best ones from the day. The one above is a good one taken by a friend of my parents (although I’m unclear why my oldest son is crouched like a frog – he’s just got to be himself I guess!)

My husband arranged for a professional photographer to come and take pics of the puzzle, so I’m hoping when I get those they’ll be awesome pictures to share. 😎 We left the puzzle at the church Saturday night, and are going back to get more pictures today and to package it back up into it’s 10 sections. Hopefully in a day or so everyone will have forwarded me all the pictures and I can pick the best ones to show.

I was so nervous and anxious all morning! I can’t explain exactly why, but I was worried that a section would fall apart or something would go wrong. (I’m a worrier – an almost Olympic level, award winning worrier) But everything went smoothly thank goodness! It’s hard to believe that this puzzle took up 6 months of my life! 😮

I have to say I’m pretty darn proud of myself! This is quite the accomplishment, and not a lot of people can say they’ve actually assembled the world’s largest commercially available jigsaw puzzle! I can – I did it!!

Again, tons of thanks to my dad and husband for doing all the heavy lifting and carting things around for the big day. And to mom for helping me make cookies and refreshments for everyone who came out to see the puzzle; to my 3 wonderful kids for showing up for mom’s weird puzzle day and being good sports about it. Thanks also to everyone who showed up to share my accomplishment today, it meant so much to me!

I’m hoping to have more pictures of the completed puzzle in the next few days to share with everyone, but at the very least I wanted to get a few of them in today’s post – because I promised I would.

I’m wiped out! Exhaustion has set in, I overdid it getting all of this set up and accomplished and will definitely be paying for it for the next few days – but it was worth it! This is not something that happens every day, so I wanted to enjoy it, and I did. I completed the Guinness World Record Largest Jigsaw Puzzle! I’m proud of myself, grateful to all my family and friends for their help, support, and encouragement; and thankful that I have this blog where I can share my puzzles with you.

I may be posting lots more pictures of the puzzle in the next few days, bear with me. I’m a proud momma who wants to show off her adorable overly large baby to everyone! 😉