Tag: White Mountain

Love Stamps 2 In Progress…and Happy Father’s Day!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

Love Stamps 2 by Lois B. Sutton – White Mountain – 500 pieces

It’s Father’s Day here in the United States, so I just wanted to give a shout out all the dads out there – Happy Father’s Day! My own dad has been in the hospital twice already this year and he’s almost 80, which has emphasized to me that there are a finite number of days we have left together. Even though I tell him I love him every time we see each other I wanted to take the time today to let him (and everyone out there in blog-land) know how much I love him and that I appreciate him more than he knows. I’m proud to be his daughter; he’s a wonderful man and a great dad and I love him to the moon and back. 💗🌙💗

I chose this puzzle as my next one and had already started sorting it when I finally really looked at the image on the box and saw the “Love you Dad” stamp – could it be more perfect for Father’s Day? Honestly, I didn’t pick this puzzle because of that stamp, it was just a happy little accident, as Bob Ross used to say. 🎨🖼

Literally this stamp and the border is all I have accomplished so far, but I can tell this is going to be an excellent assembly. The fit is lovely, the image reproduction is sharp and clear and it’s just fun to work with. Because today is Father’s Day this is the only stamp that was important to get finished (or nearly so) before I give myself a break to go and rest.

Dads, I hope you have a great Father’s Day today – we appreciate you! Hopefully you’ll have some time to yourself to puzzle, golf, fish, watch sports, scratch all those places that need it, or whatever it is that makes you happy. And… without moms there would be no dads, so Happy Father’s Day to all you moms out there as well. 😉

If it isn’t Father’s Day where you are – Happy Sunday my friends, and happy puzzling!

Vintage Fairy Tales

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles11 Comments

Vintage Fairy Tales by Lois B. Sutton – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

Long time readers of the blog may be surprised to hear this, but I didn’t enjoy this collage as much as I’d hoped to. The fit was NOT good, and the loose, floppy manner in which the pieces fit together was a pain to deal with. A bit of a bummer, as this was one of the new purchases that I was very excited to assemble. Sigh.

White Mountain puzzles have never been a premium quality brand in my opinion, but I always know that going in when I purchase them and deal with their issues because of my adoration and love for collage images. White Mountain and Re-marks both have excellent catalogs of collages, and when necessary I deal with less than premium quality because those kind of puzzle images make me extremely happy.

Perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with it this time, cause it kinda p*ssed me off. (Part of it could have been that I received two gifted puzzles yesterday from Penny my puzzle posse pal and as soon as they arrived I REALLY wanted to get started on one of them. Who knows?)

Honestly, this puzzle annoyed me because I was so looking forward to it and it let me down in the quality department. I didn’t even want to take any close up pictures this time or talk about any of the books.

Annoyed. Disappointed. A little sad too.

I Love Music

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

I Love Music by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This was a bright and beautiful collage image that was lots of fun to assemble. And as an added bonus I was happy to work with the new finish that White Mountain used, I liked it very much.

This puzzle had very good quality for this brand. Sometimes it can be hit or miss, but I put up with little annoyances because they have such a great catalog of collages – and my readers know that they are my puzzle happy place. It had a variety of piece shapes, relatively thick chipboard, a very good fit, a lovely matte finish, and good image reproduction. Many of the posters seemed blurry, but I think that may be because they used the old images which weren’t the sharpest. All in all it was the nicest White Mountain puzzle I’ve done in quite a while.

Love the colors and the look of this one – and the “address” is funny to me. Max Yasgur’s farm. I was one year old in 1969, so I definitely do not remember Woodstock.

This concert was twenty years earlier, in 1949 – when my mom was just under two years old! The difference between Billie Holiday’s music and the music of the sixties was VAST.

There were so many letters and words in this image that, other than the heart, the big letters were one of the last bits to be put together. I enjoyed it much more than anticipated though, and that’s always a bonus in my book.

Does this look like a puzzle you’d enjoy? It’s definitely recommended!

I Love Music In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

I Love Music by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This was finally sorted and assembly began yesterday, and it’s going quite well! It’s been a minute since I’ve done a brand new White Mountain puzzle, and honestly I’m quite impressed with the quality. Has anyone else noticed if their puzzles have improved in the quality department?

The finish is much nicer than their older puzzles in my opinion – it’s no longer shiny but matte and the hand feel is excellent; I’ve found myself rubbing my fingertips over the assembled sections absentmindedly as I’m thinking or looking for pieces. I like this new finish. 😊

The fit seems nice as well, it’s absolutely Goldilocks in this puzzle; not too tight, not too loose, just right. 👱‍♀️🐻🐻🐻

When I started sorting I thought this would NOT be as entertaining as I’d hoped, but thankfully I was wrong. Again. It’s going well and I’m finding it hard to walk away from. There’s always one piece more, I remember seeing that one, and it should go here……..

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! 💜