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

Review: Teacups

On August 3, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews10 Comments

Teacups – Lafayette Puzzle Factory – 500 pieces

Aren’t these the cutest puzzles? 12 separate teacup puzzles, perfect for the blog tea party being held by Blooms & Beautifuls today – I don’t drink tea, but I’d love to have some hot coffee in one of these beautiful teacups if I could!

These small, separate, shaped puzzles by Lafayette Puzzle Factory are so much fun to assemble that I just can’t seem to walk away once I start putting them together. Each one is quite small compared to a regular puzzle, and it doesn’t take very much time to put them together. Some can be tricky and require a little bit more brain power, but that’s part of the fun! The back of each puzzle is color-coded so you can separate them if you like before you begin; or if you’re feeling like tackling more of a challenge you can ignore the backing and work the puzzles with no extra help – it’s up to you.

The quality is very good; although with the colored backing there seems to be some difficulty with the die cutting all the way through the puzzles. At least a few pieces from each puzzle need to be separated before you begin. I don’t mind so much because I find them so entertaining to assemble that I can overlook the small quality issues.

My oldest son hasn’t been feeling well so he’s been hanging out with me during the day, watching M*A*S*H and assembling puzzles. He helped me with the teacups and he enjoyed them so much that we immediately started on another set. Stay tuned in the upcoming days for the Reef Fish that we assembled together – I’ve added another member to my puzzle posse! 😎

The teacups above are our 3 favorites out of the 12, but they are really all quite lovely in their own way. They were so much fun that they were all assembled in about an hour – we just couldn’t stop! That’s my kind of puzzle, it’s definitely recommended – two teacups way up (with pinkies out!) ☕☕

Details:

Title: Teacups
Artist: Not credited
Brand: Lafayette Puzzle Factory
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Varies
Purchased: New

Quality:

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

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Review: Yarn Shop

On August 1, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment

Yarn Shop by Kim Jacobs – Milton Bradley – 500 pieces

Mom loves this image, but it’s just not my pile of pieces (cup of tea, as it were). It’s too pastel, and there’s too much going on. It’s pretty, but it just wasn’t fun for me to assemble.

The quality was good; the pieces are a good thickness with a nice variety of piece shapes. The image reproduction seems a bit fuzzy, but that could be the artwork itself. The fit seemed a bit mushy to me, it wasn’t always clear if the correct piece was chosen because sometimes a piece seemed to fit but really didn’t. I don’t always have the right words, so I’ve chosen “mushy”.

You can see in the above pictures that there was a lot of patterned background, almost none of the pieces had a solid color with no pattern. Perhaps if it were more brightly colored it wouldn’t have been such a chore, but in my opinion the color palette added to the difficulty. I seriously disliked the entire assembly, but that was more about my taste than the quality of the puzzle.

Of course, it could be that I just wasn’t in the right mood for this image. You never can tell these days; old age is setting in (I’m a few months away from 50), and there are plenty of “You kids get off my lawn!” moods that my family has to endure. 👵

If you’re in the right mood, and this image is one that tickles your fancy, I say go for it. The quality is good and if you like the artwork you should enjoy the puzzle.

Details:

Title: Yarn Shop
Artist: Kim Jacobs
Brand: Milton Bradley
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

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

Overall Rating: Good, recommended

Review: Merry Christmas to All!

On July 21, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Merry Christmas to All! – Hallmark – 550 pieces

The top half of this puzzle was actually pretty entertaining to assemble, but the bottom half – yikes! I had to call in the puzzle posse to help me get it done, good thing she was available.

The quality, other than the fit, was quite good. The pieces were thick with a very smooth matte finish. They feel good in your hands, but almost a bit dry – I don’t know how to explain it – perhaps the feel is more dusty than dry, I can’t seem to find the right words. Whatever the finish on them is, it doesn’t feel unpleasant to me, just different than the finish on most other puzzles.

The fit was loose, which was the most noticeable when trying to assemble the edges, it was a challenge to keep them together at times. Bumping them accidentally with my arms could upset many pieces, which was pretty annoying. Once I started to fill in the rest of the puzzle the fit didn’t seem quite as loose as before.

This was a thrift store find, mom brought it over a few weeks ago, and I decided it would be perfect for Christmas in July. I’m not much a fan of Santa images to be honest, but it was only 550 pieces so I figured it wouldn’t be that difficult. Boy was I wrong! The top half wasn’t bad, my daughter even helped me a little bit when she was visiting. But once I got to the bottom I have to admit I was intimidated.

I called mom over for an impromptu puzzle party and we made pretty short work of all those Christmas trees at the bottom. We both were working together at almost the same spot and we kept getting in each other’s way and laughing. Perhaps it’s a good thing those trees intimidated me, otherwise I might not have called mom for help – I would have missed out on all the fun of puzzling with her. 😉

It’s a beautifully detailed image, too bad no credit was given to the artist anywhere on the box. It seems to happen a lot, at least that I’ve noticed anyway. It’s an entertaining but challenging puzzle – if you’re up for it and can find it I would definitely recommend it.

Details:

Title: Merry Christmas to All!
Artist: Not credited
Brand: Hallmark
Piece count: 550 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

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

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Review: Snowfolks

On July 5, 2018July 5, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Snowfolks by Bill Bell – Springbok – 60 pieces

This is a cute, wintry puzzle for my Christmas in July here on the blog. Unfortunately it had one of the tightest fits I’ve ever worked with, it was quite difficult to assemble – not because of the image, but because it took so much effort to connect the pieces.

Springbok puzzles usually have a tight fit, some much tighter than others; I’m not a fan of having to have upper body strength to complete a puzzle. Sometimes when working with a super tight fit my thumb starts to hurt from pushing so hard to put the pieces together! Springbok has some excellent, fun to assemble images though, and so I sometimes take a chance and hope that the fit isn’t too snug. You can see above that the finished puzzle doesn’t lie flat, it curls up along the edges because of the fit – this made it difficult to get a good picture.

Other than the fit this puzzle was good quality; good variety of piece shapes, thick pieces, and excellent image reproduction. I love the image – it’s very cute, and great for a kids puzzle.

Below are a couple of my favorite “folks”….

All the different snowfolks were adorable, but these were my favorites. The first one is perfect for Christmas in July, and the fisherman and the golfer are just plain cute. There’s also a hockey player, clown, gardener, firefighter, and many others. So fun!

This puzzle is recommended, with the warning that the fit on the puzzle I assembled was extremely tight. Perhaps not all of these puzzles will be this snug, but be forewarned.

Details: