Review: Seams Likely

On June 28, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

When mom first showed me this puzzle I was very excited, doesn’t it look like fun? It was! The bright colors and big numbers made this an excellent assembly; I enjoyed it very much. 🙂

This was a very good quality Springbok puzzle, although the fit was somewhat tight. You know I’m not a fan of the super tight fit; this one wasn’t too bad, but it was tight. The pieces are thick, the image reproduction is bright and beautiful, and the random cut gives a very good variety of piece shapes. Overall the quality was very good, and I enjoyed the assembly.

I started with the red thread, and then moved on to the yellow spool. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens with a thrift store puzzle, one of the pieces was damaged…

Someone’s child, pet, or maybe even a vacuum cleaner got hold of one of the pieces. I’m glad they included it in the puzzle and didn’t throw it away; technically all the pieces were there.

The rest of the puzzle wasn’t too difficult to assemble, all the measuring tapes weren’t as difficult as I thought they might be. It was just as much fun as I’d hoped and I really enjoyed the assembly. Mom has a knack for finding awesome puzzles at the thrift stores, and I’m the beneficiary of her amazing talent.

This is a discontinued puzzle and no longer available from puzzle sellers, but if you find a copy somewhere I highly recommend it – it’s a quick, fun puzzle and the end result would be great framed in a sewing or craft room. 👍

Details:

Title: Seams Likely
Artist: Allied Products
Brand: Springbok
Piece count: 350 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: Good, somewhat tight
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays mostly flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Cute Bunny

On June 26, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This puzzle has been in my house for a long time, I found it the other day and thought it was the perfect time to assemble it. It’s a quick, fun puzzle that’s pretty darn cute!

The quality was good, but not great. The pieces were a medium thickness, but not overly sturdy and easily bent. There were a nice variety of shapes and the fit was very good. The image reproduction was slightly fuzzy in some areas too. It’s interesting to me the diversity in quality within the same brand. I’ve had some Hasbro puzzles that have been excellent quality and some not so much. I wonder why it isn’t more consistent.

There was no title of the puzzle anywhere on the box, so I’ve named it “Cute Bunny” because that’s what I think of when I see the picture. It was a cute image and a nice diversion for a little while.

Kids puzzles are pretty fun, especially when I’m trying to decide which larger piece puzzle I’m going to assemble next. It’s nice to have a small puzzle lying around that I can pick up and put together pretty quickly; it feeds my puzzle addiction and makes me very happy!

Black Sheep Wool Farm

On June 22, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Here’s another in the Home Sweet Home series from Ceaco and Roger Nannini, the pieces are thinner and easily bent, but the fit was excellent and the artwork made for a really fun assembly.

I’ve changed my tune about Ceaco puzzles recently, and am more likely to give them a try than I was before. I wish they used better chipboard that doesn’t split and bend so easily; but they have a lot of beautiful images to choose from and the fit is very good.

For some reason I really enjoyed the symmetry of the animals in the foreground. I don’t know that I can really explain why this pleases me, but it does.

The assembly was a little more challenging than I thought it would be. I started with the sky (that’s my usual starting place), and then assembled all the words. Buildings came next and they were really fun to put together. There were so many trees in the background it added a bit to the difficulty, but it was still a fun assembly all around.

This is a thrift store puzzle that has been assembled many times before, but if you find a newer one I would recommend giving it a try. The artwork makes for a fun puzzle!

Garden Shed

On June 21, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles7 Comments

This is a beautiful puzzle that was a little bit challenging, but altogether lovely to assemble. The artwork is charming, the quality was excellent, and the entire experience was entertaining.

I don’t always care for images with so much pastel or muted colors; but this one was quite fun to assemble. The number of different flowers made me really pay attention to patterns and shades, and added to the difficulty level. I enjoyed the artwork and the color palette very much, and would love to find more puzzles by this artist. I have done one other puzzle by Geraldine Aikman, but the color palette was brighter with more primary colors.

These premium Milton Bradley puzzles have very good quality. The pieces have a good feel, are made with thick chipboard and fit together very well. There are a good variety of piece shapes, and the image reproduction is true to the image on the box. Regular readers know I don’t usually comment on puzzle boxes, but these boxes have a “premium” feel and aren’t made of the relatively thin cardboard that you find on most puzzle boxes.

I love the detail on the inside of the shed – including the cat!

For a puzzle with only 300 pieces, this one offered enough of a challenge to keep my mind engaged and keep me occupied for a few hours. Exactly what a puzzler like me enjoys! I know 1000 piece puzzles are the “norm” and the most popular piece count, but at the moment I’m mostly doing 300 and 500 piece puzzles. I’m glad there are plenty of excellent choices in those pieces counts to keep me happily puzzling for quite some time.

Review: Rooster Express

On June 19, 2018February 5, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Rooster Express by Charles Wysocki – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

I love a Wysocki image that isn’t the norm, ones that maybe only have one house instead of many; or ones that feature something different, like this rooster. This puzzle is the perfect example of that.

Most puzzles by Charles Wysocki we’ve done are produced by Buffalo Games, every once in a while I come across one from another manufacturer. This beauty is made by Milton Bradley. The quality is very good; with thick pieces, excellent image reproduction, and a beautiful fit. It was a joy to assemble!

I assembled it a little differently than usual, I started from the top and put together the sky, buildings, and fields. Then I went to the bottom and assembled the road, wagon, and rooster. After that all that was left was the grass, which didn’t take much time at all. It was over too quickly! It was more fun than I thought it would be, those are my favorite types of puzzles. 🙂

Details: