Tag: White Mountain

Storytime

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Storytime by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

Loved it. Well of course I did, it’s a collage! And to assemble so many of the books that I read as a child or that I read to my own children, it was just a sweet little walk down memory lane as I was puzzling.

I had this exact book, with this exact cover when I was little. I loved Pippi and wanted to be just like her; a kick-ass girl who didn’t care what others thought, didn’t much like authority, was fiercely independent, not mention very strong – and we both had freckles so of course I thought I was gonna be exactly like her. 😂

My kids were very much into the Madeline books at one point. We watched the animated tv show together, read the books together, and of course we made special trips to the library to get more Madeline books together!

Curious George was another book series I loved as a child, all the trouble he got himself into made for some interesting little books. My children were never too taken with this series, but I remember them fondly from my own childhood.

Overall I really enjoyed this puzzle, but unless there was a problem with the quality I knew it would be great fun to assemble. The colors and different types of artwork made for an interesting build that was definitely never boring. It brought back memories of my childhood as well as the time when my kids were small. I’m so glad we’re all readers in this family!

Great Old Ads

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Great Old Ads by Lois B. Sutton – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

I had such a good time with this puzzle! I chose it because even though it is a collage, it doesn’t immediately look like it’ll be an easy one – this image has more intricate sections and some softer colors and is a little bit of a challenge – but completely worth it.

This was a very good quality White Mountain, and if I was very careful I could have gotten a picture of it standing up. The most surprising to me was the image reproduction; when there is an image with older products, ads, etc. the reproduction can many times be fuzzy and difficult to work with. The reproduction on this puzzle, however, was excellent! There were one or two sections where it seemed much less crisp than others, but that was the artwork on the ad itself rather that the reproduction. On the ads with lots of small printed text you can read every word! (If your eyes are good enough that is).

Um, do you remember hamburgers in a can?? I certainly don’t! Of course my mom made as much from scratch as she could, for no other reason than it was less expensive to make things yourself. She would take ground beef, add a package of onion soup mix, cut up green peppers and mix it all up. She made them into patties with a hamburger press she got from Tupperware or something and those were our burgers. Even though I was NOT a fan of the peppers in my burger, it seems 100 times more palatable than one out of a can!

(Thankfully mom always used green peppers, so the color was easy to spot in my burger and I picked out as many of those little buggers as I could find! Yes, I was and am THAT picky.😋)

I like this section for some reason I can’t really articulate, other than it makes me think of my childhood. We didn’t drink Borden milk, or really use any of their products that I can remember; but it still makes me smile to see this.

How adorable is this? I love the matching aprons on mom and daughter, the little candle holders on the cake that also remind me of my childhood, and the dish itself on top of the image. I have several of my mother’s Pyrex dishes and I think of her every single time they get used.

Even though this was a more challenging image than many of White Mountain’s collages, it was so entertaining that it went together in less than 24 hours. When I know there’s a fun puzzle on the board I can’t help myself and keep sneaking back to it to put in just a few more pieces…

just one more section…

just empty this one tray…

just….

Storytime In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

Storytime by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

This gorgeous collage is making me very happy indeed, it’s such a great image for puzzling! Once I got past the sorting/laying out the pieces it’s been absolutely happiness and I’m actually trying to slow myself down a bit so it isn’t over too quickly.

It’s the usual White Mountain quality; there was a LOT of puzz fuzz in the box and all over the pieces, and some of the images are a little bit blurry. Other than that though everything is good. The pieces are the usual WM shapes, plenty of variety, they fit together well, and it’s been entertaining to work on. I put up with the sometimes blurred images and the other issues they may have because their collages are fun for me and they have so many great ones in their catalog.

I’ve gotta pack myself up for a little trip I’m taking tomorrow, so there won’t be much puzzling today; but I’m hoping to finish it soon and keep right on enjoying myself with every piece.

I hope you’re having as much fun puzzling today as I am. If so, we’re all doing great!

Favorite Cereals

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Favorite Cereals by Doug Banks – White Mountain – 1000 pieces

Bright colors, cartoons, collage, relatively good quality – just what was needed for a fun puzzle experience for me. I took it slowly and enjoyed every single piece, I even enjoyed the sorting!

This White Mountain puzzle was pretty good quality other than a slightly loose fit. The image reproduction is excellent, even with closeup images, the piece shapes are the usual WM shapes, and the entire puzzle was joy to put together. Those of us who grew up in the US should be quite familiar with most of these cereals, but they may not be as readily available in the rest of the world. Whether you know the cereals or not though, the image itself makes for a great puzzle.

Has anyone ever seen this cereal out in the wild? I’ve never even heard of it before. My son looked it up for me and apparently she’s a sister cereal to FrankenBerry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula. She’s a monster, obviously, not sure what kind though. Her cereal is a caramel apple flavor with the usual dehydrated marshmallows. I’m not sure how appetizing that sounds to you, but to me – not so much. I love caramel apples, but if you add milk and marshmallows I’m not sure that adds up to something I’d like to eat. How about you?

Of course I know Cookie Crisp cereal, but I haven’t seen this mascot before. Apparently his name is Chip and he’s the current mascot of the brand and has been since 2005. That tells me how much streaming has taken over my viewing habits. I almost never watch actual television channels anymore, and I certainly don’t have to sit through commercials if I do record something on the dvr. Basically what I’m saying is that I haven’t seen a commercial for this cereal in many years and had no idea that Chip is their current spokes-animal. He’s kinda cute.

This is a great puzzle and even with the slightly loose fit it was fun to put together. It would be a great for a beginning puzzler, or someone who wants to move up to 1000 piece puzzles but is hesitant or thinks they won’t be able to get it done. The bright colors and many small sections could help alleviate any anxiety one might have about a larger piece count. Even so, as an extremely experienced puzzler it was still completely enjoyable, and not always as easy as you might think. This one is definitely recommended.

Love Stamps 2

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

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

This beauty went together pretty quickly once I really got going; it was started in the evening and all I got put together was the border and one stamp before I had to give it up and get some rest. In the morning once I got going the pieces seemed to fly into place, it was almost too easy. It was great quality with large pieces that made a pretty big finished puzzle, and almost every stamp was fun to put together. (The red and white one in the lower right corner was a beast for me to do!)

There’s something about this 500 piece White Mountain that felt so different from their 1000 piece puzzles; the chipboard, the finish, the fit – it all felt completely different to me. I liked it very much. That’s not to say I don’t like their 1000 piece puzzles, but they are hit or miss in the quality department sometimes – which I put up with because their catalog of images has so many gorgeous collages. Other than the shiny finish there were no quality issues with this puzzle, it’s most definitely one of their hits.

These were my favorite stamps, though they really were all beautiful in their own way. The heart on the left took my breath away, even when I was just sorting it – isn’t it gorgeous? That would make a challenging but stunning puzzle all by itself. And of course the puppies, always the puppies with me. They are each adorable, but in very different ways.

This is another puzzle that would be great in a larger piece count, although I might need an alcoholic beverage before starting that red stamp in the lower right corner if it had double the pieces!

Beautiful stamps on a great quality puzzle, I loved the love stamps. 💕