Tag: Thrift Store Puzzle

Going to the Movies

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

Going to the Movies – Springbok – 1000 pieces

This thrift store puzzle had a HORRIBLE loose and floppy fit, and was so bleeping frustrating that I wanted to set the bleeping thing on fire and chuck it in the bleeping garbage! Bleep! 😡🤬

You couldn’t move two pieces without them falling apart and it was unbelievably frustrating to work with.

Normally Springbok puzzles aren’t loose, many times I’ve had Springbok puzzles with a fit that was too tight and you had to really work at getting the pieces together; neither is fun to work with in my opinion. This one was so frustrating that at times I was almost enraged by how the pieces would crumble apart when you tried to adjust them even just a tiny bit. Grrrr!

The collage image was one I was very excited to put together, you know how I love an interesting collage – it’s my puzzle happy place. Unfortunately the puzzle that this image was attached to made me very, very sad. Very sad indeed. 😭

Regardless, the image was fun to assemble and the family and I all took turns saying how many of the movies we hadn’t seen. Usually with a book cover collage we say how many of the books we’ve read, but with this one most of us have seen almost all the of movies. There are only five movies in this image that I haven’t seen; Weird Science, The Blues Brothers, A Clockwork Orange, Scarface, and Blade Runner.

*Please don’t say, “Oh, but you have to see ______, it’s such an iconic/funny/wonderful, interesting movie”. While I appreciate your opinions, truly, I am very particular about movies and have to be in just the right mood to watch certain genres. And as I get older I find I have much less taste for deep, insightful, upsetting, or thought-provoking movies; entertainment, not introspection is what I’m looking for.*

I’ve chosen three to highlight here because they’re movies that I love and have seen multiple times and can quote from. Ready for some reminiscing?

The Princess Bride is a family favorite, and my entire family can quote extensively from this one. It’s a fabulous movie that I highly recommend if comedy, drama, romance and fun are what you’re looking for. Princess Buttercup, Wesley, Fezzik, Inigo Montoya, Vizzini, Miracle Max, Prince Humperdinck – all amazing characters in a wonderful movie that the whole family can enjoy. There’s only one swear word in the entire movie, and I’ve already told the story of my youngest son yelling out the movie quote at his teacher when he was upset at school. “I want my father back you son of a b*tch!” Oh dear.

Being the comedy nerd that I am, of course I loved Airplane! All the slapstick, the little jokes that you have to pay attention to hear, it’s a fantastically funny movie in my opinion. Barbara Billingsley (Beaver Cleaver’s mom) talking jive, the “drinking problem” of the hero, the little guy visiting the cockpit and talking to the pilot – thinking of all the stupid, ridiculous, naughty, silly jokes really does make me smile.

As a teenager in the 1980s, of course John Hughes movies are on my list of great movies to watch. My whole family loved this movie, and we can quote from this one too. Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald were fabulous in this one (and who can forget Gedde Watanabe as Long Duk Dong?), and the comedy and one liners are still funny to me today. Sweet, silly, touching – John Hughes knew how to make a great movie.

I wish I’d enjoyed this puzzle more, but the quality left a bit to be desired. 😐

Oh well, at least talking about some of my favorite movies has made me happy.

Soda Fountain In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

Soda Fountain – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Don’t you love the look of old-timey ads and artwork? Well, I do. They make for more difficult puzzling sometimes, but the end result is worth it in my opinion. I’m loving this one!

This is a thrift store purchase and the quality has been EXCELLENT so far. It’s obvious that it’s been assembled a time or two (it was manufactured in 2010), but there are no bent pieces, no torn or lifting image, and the fit is absolutely amazing. It makes me want to be sure my next puzzle is a Buffalo as well. I know they’re all not going to be the same as far as quality, but this assembly is making me quite happy.

I’m still working on completing all the faces and skin, but it’s getting there and looking really nice. It’s funny how when I look at the picture of what I’ve done so far it seems as though it would be simple to find the missing pieces of this face or that spot; but in reality it ain’t easy at all!

I’m a Pepsi gal myself, but Coca-Cola really does have such great old advertising images. Good thing drinking Coke while I’m puzzling isn’t required. 🥤

A World of Money

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

A World of Money by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 550 pieces

It’s been a while since a White Mountain collage was on my board, and this one was a doozy! It’s much more difficult than it looks, but was very enjoyable. It was so interesting to see some of the world’s money, some of the bills are so beautiful.

Typical White Mountain quality, the fit was good and there are a great variety of piece shapes. This being a thrift store puzzle means it’s been pre-loved, so there were quite a few pieces with image lift on the tabs. Also, the image reproduction leaves a little bit to be desired. Some parts of the image are crisp and clear and some parts seem fuzzy and indistinct. Still, I know all about White Mountain quality going in and put up with the little problems because collages are my puzzle happy place and assembling one that may not be premium quality still makes me smile.

I’m not sure why this particular dollar bill intrigues me, but it does. It’s just boats on the sea, but it draws my eye every time I look at the image. To me it’s just quietly beautiful.

Pink elephants on parade! (Give yourself old person brownie points if you got that Dumbo reference) This bill jumps out at me too, the beautiful blues and that gorgeous pink elephant – love it!

Not being a world traveler, and only really having seen American and Canadian money in real life, that’s where I started – with the American dollars. The pieces were relatively easy to pick out, as were the ones for the golden bucket and the coins. Once those were assembled I just looked over my trays of pieces and started pulling out colors or faces that struck my fancy. It went together slowly over a few days, and even though it took a while it was still very enjoyable to assemble.

The quality wasn’t the best, but it didn’t really matter. It was a thrift store puzzle that only cost a few dollars and was complete – can’t really beat that. If I worked out on the price per hours of entertainment I got more than my money’s worth.

It may not be much to some people, but having an interesting puzzle on the board to keep my hands and mind occupied is worth SO MUCH! Jigsaw puzzles are the best hobby, and having them in my life is worth more to me than a world of money! 💜

Down on the Boardwalk

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

Down on the Boardwalk by Charles Fazzino – TCG – 300 pieces

The riotous color in this image was very enjoyable and went quite quickly once it was started. I’ve done a few Charles Fazzino images and they’ve always been interesting and entertaining to put together. Normally artwork with so many things packed tightly together isn’t quite my cup of tea (think Jan van Haasteren), but this one has enough breaks with the ocean and sky that it wasn’t too difficult.

The quality was much better than expected for a TCG puzzle; they are hit and miss in the quality department for me – usually more misses than hits unfortunately. But this puzzle had great reproduction, good cut, and an excellent fit.

Everything was bright and fun with lots of people, places, and things to see. Love the Rainforest Cafe!

The whole puzzle was just all around fun. I’ve never been to Atlantic City, but this boardwalk puzzle makes it look like fun.

Flower Deer

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

Flower Deer by Coco de Paris – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

This image is just beautiful, and adorable at the same time. Loved it! This is the third of these puzzles with images by Coco de Paris that I’ve done, and they’ve all been great fun, but not too easy at the same time. So entertaining!

The quality was pretty good for this thrift store puzzle. A good variety of piece shapes, good fit, nice image reproduction, and a not too shiny finish. Overall, I would say good/very good in the quality department for this one.

If you look at the back of the box there are so many different brand names it was difficult at first to decide which one to credit. Listed on the box were Milton Bradley, Cardinal, Hasbro, and Spin Master. I decided that the name shown on the front as well would be the name I went with, so Milton Bradley is credited here.

Fun little puzzle that didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it might, it was difficult to walk away from once I got into the assembly of the center. The border was assembled first, and then the puzzle sat unloved and alone on the board for more than 24 hours before I actually started working on the inside of the puzzle; but once I started I didn’t want to leave.

Lots of fun!