Tag: Whimsy pieces

Balloon World

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Balloon World by Royce B. McClure – Wentworth – 40 pieces

Looking back through the blog I see that it’s been six years since I’ve completed a puzzle with an image by Royce B. McClure. Oh my! His artwork is always so colorful and imaginative, it’s no wonder there are so many puzzles with his images on them; they’re so fun to put together.

This isn’t an image I would normally choose in a larger piece count, but I enjoyed it on this mini puzzle very much. On a larger puzzle this might be quite a challenge!

I don’t remember any other Wentworth puzzle that I’ve done that had whimsies that were all the same like these; but it’s always nice when the figures they choose are perfect for the image.

My (ever dwindling) collection of mini puzzles are certainly helping me out with building up my queue again, they don’t take much time at all and when I’m in need of a puzzle to post it’s easy to put one of them together quickly.

Plus, they’re great quality puzzles that are always entertaining; perfect to make this puzzle geek’s heart go pitter patter. 💓

Balloon World In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Balloon World by Royce B. McClure – Wentworth – 40 pieces

If you couldn’t already tell from the title, you’d know by the whimsy pieces that this is an image of hot air balloons. It’s so bright and colorful, and although it isn’t going to take me long I’m very much looking forward to it.

Normally images of hot air balloons aren’t really my thing, I feel as though it’s overdone and have seen way too many; but for some reason this one speaks to me today and I think it’ll be fun. Here’s hoping.

I tried to go puzzle shopping at the bookstore yesterday, but there wasn’t really anything interesting in a smaller piece count (which was what I was looking for specifically). I didn’t buy anything at all! 🤯

Tea for Two

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Tea for Two by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 176 pieces

How amazing is this puzzle? It wasn’t an easy one, but I enjoyed the challenge of working on three separate shaped puzzles simultaneously – and it being a gorgeous and colorful Aimee Stewart image didn’t hurt either. 💖

There have been a few shaped Wentworth puzzles with artwork by Aimee that I’ve done, and they make for entertaining but somewhat difficult assemblies. But the combination of a shaped wooden puzzle and her beautiful artwork make me VERY happy.

Tea time whimsies and beautiful flowers, couldn’t ask for more. But unlike most puzzles with whimsy pieces these shapes didn’t assist much in the assembly until you got several pieces together. Usually with the odd shapes you can tell which pieces go around them, but with so many curvy and wavy whimsies you couldn’t really use the shape to find the right surrounding pieces, you had to use the image. It’s part of why the puzzle was so challenging, and why this one was so much fun.

Gorgeous I tell ya, even from the back! I’m a bit sad this one is over and wish there were more shaped Wentworth puzzles here. There’s a 250 piece rectangular Wentworth on the to do “pile”, and the image is great; but I enjoyed the shaped Aimee Stewart puzzles so much and wish there were more here.

There is a gorgeous image of hers that I just found on their site and you won’t believe it – it’s a Christmas puzzle and I LOVE IT! It’s called Gingerbread Manor, check it out. Ain’t it something? I think with that image I would want it in 500 or 1000 pieces. I don’t usually get Wentworths that big, so I may have to start dropping hints about it for my birthday in October. 😎

*For some reason, sometimes my board photographs as if the fabric is orange. It is not, but that’s how it appears in the picture at the top of the page. The remaining two pictures are closer to the actual color of the fabric, but they aren’t the same color either. It has something to do with the angle I hold my phone when taking the picture and the lighting above the board; but that’s as close as I can come to giving an actual explanation.

The Circus Comes to Town

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

The Circus Comes to Town by Jan Dedman – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 40 pieces

I wish I could tell you that this one was fun, but it actually wasn’t – at least not for me. I’m not even sure why that is, but it’s the truth.

Mr. Bob Puzzles are very good quality, and normally bright, colorful images are exactly my pile of pieces; this image, unfortunately, was not. The quality was excellent, it just wasn’t the right puzzle for me at the time I suppose.

Usually the border isn’t where I start on a puzzle this small, but because there was a band of white around the edge the pieces were easy to find and put together.

I found the whimsy pieces a bit disappointing; they didn’t match the image at all. Australia is always one of the pieces in a Mr. Bob Puzzle, but the other whimsies were just generic forms that I’ve seen before from this brand – and they had nothing to do with the circus. I suppose you could say the teddy bear could be a prize one wins from a game at the circus midway, but otherwise none of them make sense, at least not to me.

Again, I love this brand of puzzle and have developed a wonderful friendship with the founder of the company; and even though this was a very good quality puzzle, I just wasn’t feeling it today.

It has much more to do with me than the puzzle itself.

The Pinwheel Gator

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

The Pinwheel Gator by Alex Beard – Liberty – 512 pieces

How cool is this puzzle? I stared at it over and over when I was window shopping on the Liberty site and ended up telling myself that if it fascinated me that much that I needed to get it for myself – so I did!

There’s something so fun about the image, and it absolutely didn’t disappoint in the assembly either. It’ll be no surprise at all when I tell you that I loved it. REALLY loved it! 💜❤💛💚💙

Liberty Puzzles is one of my favorite current wooden puzzle makers. The design of the puzzle pieces, how they fit together, the number of whimsies in each puzzle, the artists they work with – it all fits together to make extraordinary puzzles that have never disappointed me. Ever. I once had an issue with a puzzle and their customer service was beyond exceptional. I love Liberty Puzzles. 🧩

The whimsies in this one reminded me of Mardi Gras, which is why I wanted to post this puzzle today, on Fat Tuesday. I’m not a Catholic, so I don’t really do Ash Wednesday or give things up for Lent, but pretty much everyone knows about Mardi Gras and the celebrations they have in New Orleans.

Specifically these whimsies made me think of Mardi Gras and the parades in New Orleans. Aren’t they fabulous?!

If you look closely you’ll see that the whimsies of people are marching all the way around the image along the edges; they’re on all four sides. It was such a fun assembly, and I always love to see great wooden puzzles from the back – the design of the pieces and how it all works together make this proud puzzle geek extremely happy. This was such a great puzzle!

I really did have such a fun time putting this one together, it was an absolute joy. 😊