Haunted Mansion

On October 17, 2026October 17, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Haunted Mansion by David Maclean – Vermont Christmas Co. – 550 pieces

Are you starting to feel the Halloween holiday spirit? Or spirits? I am! This puzzle was finished waaaay back in August, but it’s finally time to show it off. Isn’t it a good one? It was a great quality puzzle, and a nice image for puzzling, but was more difficult than it looks.

I’m not sure how I feel about the image honestly, with so much of it obviously digital manipulation it just doesn’t float my boat as much as I’d hoped. That’s ok though, we can’t fall in love with every single puzzle can we? And thank goodness we all have different ideas of what’s good, or at least what’s good for us – otherwise this world would be a very boring place indeed and it would be overrun by sameness and no surprises. B.O.R.I.N.G.

It’s been almost 5 years exactly since I’ve worked a VCC puzzle, and I forgot how much I admire their quality and their catalog. Great variety of piece shapes made of thick chipboard, a great fit, excellent image reproduction, and a slightly shiny finish that doesn’t bother me too much. I’m sure there will be more Vermont Christmas Co. puzzles on my board before you know it.

While appropriately spooky, the graves and ghosts were harder to put together than you might think. The purple ghosts weren’t much of a problem as their color stuck out, but the rest of them gave me a run for my money!

This is my favorite part of the whole puzzle, I just love how the witch looks against the moon, how the moon looks against the sky, how the sky looks behind the trees…….great image that was entertaining to puzzle – and about as difficult as you think it would be.

Couldn’t help myself. It’s a great puzzle, with a fit so good that it’s proud enough to stand up and tell you itself!

Haunted Mansion In Progress…

On August 31, 2026August 31, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Haunted Mansion by David Maclean – Vermont Christmas Co. – 550 pieces

I’m working on this one today, I promise – but didn’t put in even one piece yesterday, spent the whole day in bed sleeping. But today will be better, I just know it!

It’s been quite a while since a Vermont Christmas Co. puzzle has been on my board, and I forgot how much I like their ribbon cut and the way the pieces fit together. Plus, they have so many great holiday puzzles to choose from – not just Christmas. It’s been enjoyable so far and I’m sure it will continue to be.

What is shown here is only one corner of the puzzle, but it looks great doesn’t it?

Happy puzzling today my friends!

Laundry Day

On October 20, 2021October 20, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

Laundry Day by Adrian Chesterman – Vermont Christmas Co. – 100 pieces

Forgot about this one; my “grandson” and I put it together when I visited him in July once everyone was vaccinated and safe. I had to do a little research to find the title and artist, cause I left the puzzle with him. Oops!

It’s on the October page, it seems silly to make a “July” page just for this one puzzle.

Also, please excuse the bad photo, I had to take the picture on the kitchen table at someone else’s house. I did my best.

*edit* While re-reading through my blog this past weekend I came across another puzzle with the same title by the same artist but a different puzzle company. It looks as if some of the characters are exactly the same, with some changes. Check it out here. I wonder if the artist gives them license to muck around with the image, or if they change things themselves and sell the image again to a different company. It’s probably the latter.

In all my years of puzzling I’m not sure I’ve run across this before; or perhaps I have, but just didn’t notice. I probably wouldn’t have noticed this time if both puzzles didn’t have the exact same name.

Play Room

On August 7, 2020August 7, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This puzzle has beautiful artwork and exceptional quality. If you’re looking to buy a puzzle for a child, this brand is highly recommended.

Play Room 1

Reminds me of my youngest son, he adored trains when he was little. As a child with autism, he loved lining things up – which is easy to do with the cars of a train. Then he’d lay his head on the floor and move the train to watch the wheels turn. I cannot count the number of hours he spent doing that. This brings back a lot of mommy memories. And smiles.

Play Room 2

This is one thing that was NEVER allowed in the playroom/bedroom! No paints without momma supervising. Ever. And when they weren’t being used, they were in mom’s bedroom on a high shelf. The last thing we needed was bright colors stained into the carpeting.

Review: Paws Gone Wild

On June 19, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments

Paws Gone Wild is a wonderful puzzle for children, and it has fantastic quality! Such great quality is hard to come by in puzzles geared towards children; I find that most of them aren’t as sturdy as they need to be, but this one was a delightfully sturdy surprise!

Vermont Christmas Company has one of the largest catalogs of puzzles for children that I’ve seen; there are plenty of puzzles for holidays, but regular images too. The pieces are wonderfully thick, have a great variety of shapes, fit together well, and have absolutely gorgeous image reproduction. They are in the top two brands for children’s puzzles that I’ve ever worked with, and I’m very picky about puzzles for kids.

I always give puzzles as gifts to younger children, they are not only entertaining and great for getting kids away from all the screens in their lives (phones, tablets, tv, etc.), they help developing brains learn essential skills that they will use the rest of their lives. Problem solving skills, spatial awareness, fine motor skills, dexterity, concentration, patience, setting goals, and soooo much more. And in my humble puzzle-nerdy opinion, kids need to do more jigsaw puzzles – puzzles are the best!

Paws Gone Wild 1

Ok, we all know I’m not a cat person, but this is adorably cute. Kittens are just so sweet. Those tiny little paws and the innocent look on that face – awwww!

Paws Gone Wild 2

I mean, come on! That face! Part of the reason I took this closeup is to show the detail in the reproduction – you can read this paper! The overall image is bright and colorful with clean lines and no fuzziness unless it’s part of the image. I was delighted with the quality of the puzzle, most especially the image. (The other reason I took this closeup is…..that sweet face!)

Paws Gone Wild is one of the best kids puzzles I’ve put together in quite a long time, and I’m happily looking forward to assembling another very soon. The quality is wonderful, the image is fun, and I highly recommend it. Two thumbs and four paws way up! 👍👍🐾🐾

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