Perry the Penguin

On November 14, 2021November 14, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Perry the Penguin by John Francis – Wentworth – 15 pieces

How adorable is this little guy? According to my father the Christmas season doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving. But I’ve got a ton of Christmas puzzles this year to share with everyone, so according to me the season is now. My Christmas tree has been up since 2019, so the season is always. All the time. ❄

This little guy wasn’t supposed to show up on the blog until early December, but I’ve decided he’s too awesome to wait. And I don’t want to bombard everyone with micro puzzles and mini puzzles for the whole month of December, so I’m starting now. Because I can.

To be completely honest I wasn’t paying close attention when I was ordering a bunch of micro puzzles from Wentworth; if they were cute or had images that weren’t the ordinary holiday themes they found themselves in my cart. If I had read everything completely I would have seen that I ordered three children’s puzzles – ones with EXTREMELY large pieces for little hands to assemble. It was pretty surprising to find them and their great big pieces in my delivery of mostly micro puzzles, but since I love puzzles of all shapes and sizes these little guys were adopted into the posse for the time being.

They’ll be going to their forever home soon. Where little hands can have fun and learn to love puzzles like Grandma Stacey does. Hopefully. Well, maybe not like Grandma Stacey – I can be a little bit obsessive about jigsaw puzzles. Maybe we’ll just hope they learn to love puzzles. 💜🧩

Such cute whimsies, and ones that children can easily identify. Each of these kid’s puzzles have a whimsy piece of the character, so sweet!

I wanted to show you how VERY large the pieces are. They are made for small hands to grasp easily, and made of wood so they’ll last for years if they’re taken care of.

Even though these puzzles only took me a minute or two to assemble, they are beautiful – and beautifully made. And I enjoyed putting them together. If I’m lucky, when I visit my honorary grandkids I’ll get to put them together again, with a little help. 💟

Happy Meow-o-ween!

On October 31, 2021October 31, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Happy Meow-o-ween by Michele Ridgeway – Wentworth – 40 pieces

This is a repeat of this puzzle, it was posted two years ago on this day. But there weren’t any Halloween puzzles here for me to do in time for the holiday, so you’re all getting a repeat. On the positive side, the picture is much better this time, there’s a lot less glare. It’s also much easier to see that the candy corn is actually a mouse in a costume. 🐭

Showing the whimsies is something I always do with any puzzle that contains them; love the bat in this one, it’s my favorite.

Happy Halloween everyone! I’m so looking forward to the half price candy sales tomorrow, as I’m a little too old (and broken) for trick or treating. 🍭

Fuyune

On July 22, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

The artwork of Haruyo Morita is so beautiful, and I love Asian art – so when I was looking through my micro puzzles to find one to put together, this one popped out and screamed “Assemble Me!”. 😍

A few years ago, near Christmas, Wentworth had a big sale on micro puzzles; I blacked out and in my fugue state I may have ordered every single one they had on sale. Perhaps. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

That’s the reason this beautiful work of art seems to have whimsy pieces that make no sense whatsoever in regards to the image. It was a Christmas sale, and so the whimsies are Christmas themed.

Fuyune whimsies

The penguin is my favorite, but I also like the detail in Santa’s beard. This puzzle (and one other) are all I’m doing for Christmas in July this year. My regular readers know that Christmas puzzles aren’t my favorite, and although I usually try to do some of that theme in July I just don’t have it in me this year. (You’d think I would though, my Christmas tree is still up! LOL)

I always enjoy putting together a micro puzzle from Wentworth; they’re so well made and sometimes they’re a little more difficult than they look. This one was no exception, it’s such a beautiful image and I enjoyed the few minutes it took me to assemble. Even just a few minutes of jigsaw puzzling makes my heart happy and calms my racing brain. 💖🧩

Mixed Flowers in an Earthenware Pot

On June 20, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

This puzzle is one of my large collection of micro puzzles from Wentworth, and the image is one that spoke to me recently. It reminds me of my mom, it’s beautiful, and it is also one that I absolutely would not like to assemble in a larger size.

There are quite a few images that I have in a small size particularly and especially because I enjoy the artwork but would never want to assemble them in a 1000 or even a 500 piece count. I put this image in that category, along with Starry Night by Van Gogh; there’s no way I’d be assembling either one in a larger count, it would be too frustrating for me.

That’s part of the reason I love these small puzzles from Wentworth; not only are they relatively inexpensive, they have many images that would be too tedious, difficult, or frustrating for me in a large piece count and the micro puzzles are the only way you’d find me assembling such difficult images.

Mixed Flowers whimsies

I’m not sure exactly how these whimsies tie in with the artwork, these seem more suited to an outdoor scene. But then again I don’t know for sure what whimsies would be best – other than just flowers.

I love my micro puzzles collection from Wentworth, and it’s nice to be able to revisit them. 💖

Retirement

On June 16, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Love, love, love this image! Not only is it beautiful and funny, it made for a fantastic assembly. Hubby decided to get me some more puzzles from Mr. Bob (I think because he wanted to spend a little extra money on himself, and buying me something too lowers his guilt about it). So he asked me to pick out two images and this was the first one I chose.

Mr. Bob Puzzles has a great catalog of beautiful, interesting, and unique images to choose from, it’s difficult to find just one or two that I want to order because I want almost all of them! 😍

Jim Tsinganos is one of the featured artists at Mr. Bob Puzzles, and I adore his artwork. You know how much I love humor – so this funny, silly, beautiful image jumped right out at me when I first saw it, and I’ve had this one on my mental wish list for quite a while. Thank goodness I finally was able to assemble it. There are several other images of his still on my list, and I hope to get them someday, what a fabulous artist he is!

The cut is more “traditional” with regular looking pieces, but it’s quite deceptive. With so many straight or nearly straight edges throughout the entire puzzle it becomes a much more challenging assembly than you would think. It isn’t possible to begin with the edges, at least it isn’t for me; most of the pieces look as though they might be edges! Even on the inside of the puzzle you have to focus much more on the colors, textures, and shading – it’s a bit of a mental workout and I love it.

Retirement 1

Great whimsies with this puzzle: Dorothy, Toto, The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, a flying monkey, The Wicked Witch of the West, etc. There are also the usual whimsies of Australia, clasped hands, and the Mr. Bob logo along with the profile of Mr. Bob too. I love the look of all of them!

My only criticism is – where is the cowardly lion? Was he too scared to show up for his profile sitting? Did he take too long to get there because his scooter slowed him down? I’m being silly, I know – but give an old lady some leeway to be ridiculous now and then. 😉

Retirement 2

Emerald Towers Retirement Suites – I really do love the art and humor of Jim Tsinganos!

Retirement 3

This closeup speaks for itself, it makes the entire image. I love how Dorothy’s shoes no longer have heels; she’s turned those in for flats which are so much safer and easier to walk in. The Cowardly Lion might have broken a hip or something and needs a scooter to get himself around, and The Tin Man needs a cane. You can’t really see a big change in The Scarecrow, other than he seems a little “heavier” than I remember him and a bit more stooped at the shoulders. He also seems to be leaning a bit on Dorothy.

Great image, great quality puzzle, wonderfully entertaining assembly – what more could you ask for? 💖🧩