Tag: Thrift Store Puzzle

Princess of the Sea

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles1 Comment

Princess of the Sea – Mega Puzzles (Multipack) – 300 pieces

Isn’t she beautiful? Of all the puzzles in this multipack of eight Disney images this one is my favorite. Almost all of the other ones are bright and colorful and very “Disney”, but this artwork of Ariel in the style of Alphonse Mucha really stood out to me. It wasn’t the easiest 300 piece puzzle I’ve ever done, but I think it’s stunning.

I know when I purchase puzzles in a multipack that they most likely won’t be the best quality, but if the artwork is something that I love it doesn’t matter, I’ll always take the chance. I’m enjoying this multipack so far, this is the second of the puzzles I’ve done and even though the pieces are VERY thin and the fit isn’t great they’ve been entertaining. I don’t usually do Mega Puzzles as the quality is less than optimal, but with a multipack I know that going in and am almost never surprised.

*There is one image from this pack that I haven’t decided whether or not to assemble. It’s an image called Dapper Dandies, and I assembled it seven years ago. It was also the Mega Puzzles brand, but in a different piece count. I may do it again as the one in this pack is 500 pieces and the previous one was only 300 pieces. I still haven’t decided yet. Thoughts?

I documented the assembly as I went along. The first picture shows everything that I pulled out on the initial sorting, all the words and the curlicues. It was much harder than I anticipated – perhaps that’s why I’ve never done a Mucha image – they look pretty difficult! The second picture is after Ariel’s top half was assembled with all that hair; luckily that section was little easier for me. After that I just did that thing where I stare at the pieces and put them in here and there until finally it was finished.

The artwork made this one so entertaining, and I love that it isn’t your typical Disney image. If there was a multipack of Disney princesses done in this style I would snap them up in a minute! (Unless they were Ceaco, of course 😈)

This puzzle was not great quality, but that didn’t matter to me at all. The image was excellent and it was enjoyable from start to finish.

She’s gorgeous and I love her.🧜‍♀️💚

Family Dinner In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Family Dinner by Ed Wargo – Rose Art (Back to the Past) – 750 pieces

There’s a bit of glare on this picture, my apologies. Otherwise though, it looks pretty good, and the assembly is going very well. It’s a challenging puzzle, with both the painterly style and the block-type pieces, but I’m having fun figuring everything out.

This is another thrift store puzzle, and I’m hoping it’s complete because I absolutely adore this artwork by Ed Wargo. I can also tell you that it isn’t for sale anywhere that I could find. There are quite a few Rose Art Back to the Past puzzles available, but this is NOT one of them, it seems to be out of print (or at least out of print for right now). It makes me so thankful for thrift stores and people who pass along their puzzles for others to do; what a gift to allow others to find puzzles that make them happy at a discounted price while also helping out local businesses or charities. Thrift store puzzles are awesome!

*Someone please gently remind me of that the next time I have a thrift store puzzle with many missing pieces. You haven’t seen the post about it yet, but maybe check out the June completed puzzles page for this year and see my Sunflowers puzzle.🤬*

And so today after a lazy Sunday of napping, puzzling, napping, and shopping online for puzzles it’s time to get back to it. I’m hoping to have this one finished this morning. Only three trays of pieces left to go!

Lilac Point Glen

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Lilac Point Glen by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 300 pieces

After working on a 1000 piece puzzle that was quite a challenge, this 300 piece Wysocki was just what the doctor ordered to cleanse my puzzle palate. I always enjoy working an Americana puzzle, and Charles Wysocki’s images are some of the best around in my opinion.

This is one of the puzzles I bought during my trip to the thrift store a while back, and I was happy to find that not only was it complete but it was still in excellent condition. There aren’t many smaller piece count puzzles here for me (not counting my mini puzzles, of course) and it was so nice to find a few smaller ones to keep me occupied in between larger puzzles.

The oddest thing happened when I was assembling this puzzle, my youngest son got really involved with it. Most people wouldn’t think that’s out of the ordinary – but it most definitely is! My youngest has autism, and he has never been that interested in my puzzles unless it has an image of something he enjoys like comic books or particular movies. He doesn’t really engage much unless there’s something that interests him, but to my surprise he came in when I was working on this puzzle and helped me with it. But that’s not all, he actually stayed in the puzzle room working on the puzzle when I took a break and went to lie in bed to rest!

When my husband told me he was still working on the puzzle I snuck down the hall and took this picture of him (yes, he does wear a hoodie like that in the house). I was so shocked that he was working on this puzzle without me that I had to document it with a picture!

I have no idea why this puzzle in particular interested him so much, but I absolutely love that he engaged with it and with me while we were working on it together. I definitely got more than my money’s worth from this thrift store puzzle. 💕

Quilting Bee In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

Quilting Bee by Kay Lamb Shannon – Bits & Pieces – 300 pieces (Large Piece)

This one is coming along, yesterday was a pretty bad pain day for me so I didn’t get far on this puzzle before I stopped and took a nap. Naps are amazing. I love naps. Sorry, I got off track there. Apologies. Anyway, about this puzzle, it shouldn’t take me too long today to finish it up – it’s coming together quite nicely.

I’ve found that many companies whose quality I don’t necessarily care for have very nice large piece puzzles. The bigger pieces for easier handling seem as though they’re thicker and sturdier and they fit together well. These fit into that category and are nice quality puzzles, and I’m very happy with them so far.

After the border all the red pieces were pulled out and I put together all the red clothes and the tractor – didn’t pull barn pieces because they look much more orange, and I’m trying to save the quilt for last as I know it’s going to be fun to do. Next it’ll be grass, animals, a few people and some buildings until we get to the quilt at the end.

On my second visit to the thrift store this year I found two multipacks of Bits & Pieces puzzles; one was a set of four 300 large piece puzzles with images by Kay Lamb Shannon – including this one, the second was a set of four 500 piece puzzles with images by Larry Jones. Bits & Pieces is a company I don’t purchase new, but if there are good images and I can check out the pieces first I will buy them used. These were all good looking puzzles with not too much wear, they had images inside for each puzzle, and they were all bagged separately. Not every thrifted puzzle is that well taken care of, these were a bargain, and now I have several smaller piece count puzzles here to choose from when a larger puzzle isn’t what I want.

Mom and I always carried something sharp in our purses, along with a small roll of tape when we went thrift store shopping. There are a few brands we won’t buy unless we can look at the pieces, and with our tools we could open up a box to look at it’s contents, and tape it back up if we decided not to buy it. I have gotten back into that habit, so I’m always ready to check things out if I need to take a peek inside. 😉

Minnie Mouse

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

Minnie Mouse – Mega Puzzles (Multipack) – 150 pieces

This is another thrift store purchase that I got the other day, ain’t she cute? I thought so too. The quality was pretty awful, but I knew going in that it most likely would be, so it wasn’t a surprise. Puzzles from a multipack usually aren’t premium quality, but 8 Disney puzzles for $4.99 with adorable images was just too good a bargain for me to pass up.

I documented my progress with this one, as I knew it would go together quickly. It didn’t start the way most of my puzzles do, there was no sorting at all. All the pieces were laid out on my board and the edges were separated…

Once the edge was assembled I smushed all the pieces a little closer together so I wouldn’t have to lean or reach for any of the pieces…

Then the assembly really began. I started with the words in the yellow bubble in the corner, and as many pieces of the faces of Minnie that I could find. She’s coming together and looking adorable isn’t she?

At only 150 pieces this one was started and finished quickly, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable. Even with the questionable quality it was fun and entertaining and has me looking forward to working with the other cute images in this box of 8 puzzles.

I am most definitely a puzzle snob who prefers a premium puzzle like Ravensburger, Pomegranate, or Jumbo to name a few, but I also don’t limit myself to only the very best of puzzles. I enjoy expensive puzzles and cheap ones alike; there’s nothing like finding an amazing deal at the thrift store. I still have hopes of finding a Stave puzzle at a thrift store, although I doubt it will ever happen!

Thoughts of mom had me going out of my way to get to a thrift store that has always had a very good jigsaw puzzle selection this week after I went in for a mammogram. (Ain’t it great being a lady? *sigh* It definitely isn’t much fun, but it is necessary – take care of your ta-tas ladies!)

I’m glad I took the time. I feel the teeniest bit closer to mom when I’m working a puzzle from the thrift store, and now I have quite a few of them here to choose from.