Tag: Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles

Vortex Spiral Tunnel

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Vortex Spiral Tunnel – Wentworth (Mini Mindful) – 40 pieces

This little beauty was MUCH harder than it looks, at least it was for me. Once half of it was finished I realized I had to start all over; both the repetitive tessellating pieces and the image gave me a run for my money! It’s beautiful though, and conquering it gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

The Mini Mindful puzzles from Wentworth have been very enjoyable to assemble. The interesting cut of the pieces and the great images make for an almost meditative experience. They truly do make you slow down and be more mindful of what you’re doing and in the moment. Loved it! 🧡

When I was done I disassembled it and put it in the powder room for hubby to do; he saw the pieces and loved that they were geometric. When he brought it to me once it was finished he said he would have preferred either the same image with regular pieces, or the geometric pieces with an easier image.

Apparently the two of them together put him to the test as well. 😇

Happy New Year Puzzle Giveaway

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous33 Comments

Fantasy Palace by Ciro Marchetti – Wentworth – 500 pieces

It’s been quite a while since I held a puzzle giveaway, so I’m starting 2022 by giving away some puzzle joy in the form of this beautiful, gently used 500 piece wooden puzzle from Wentworth. It’s a gorgeous image isn’t it? It could be yours!

It’s been nearly four years since I assembled this puzzle (you can click here to check out my original post) and there always seem to be new ones to do, so it’s only been assembled once. It was truly a pleasure to put together, and I’m feeling the need to share the wealth by sending it on to someone else who will enjoy it at least as much as I did.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post (if you need something to say, I’d love to hear if you have any puzzle goals for 2022). Each comment will be given a number and I will use a random number generator to determine the winner one week from today; Wednesday, January 19, 2022. This giveaway is open to all puzzle lovers, no matter where in the world you live.

Good luck everyone, and here’s to another year of happy puzzling!

The Puzzle That Will Freeze Your Brain

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

The Puzzle That Will Freeze Your Brain by Clive Branson – Wentworth – 34 pieces

These puzzles with the scary titles from Wentworth are so entertaining for me, and the beautiful and interesting shapes of the pieces are a joy to work with. Of course, I only do the micro puzzle versions of them, because assembling these difficult images with several hundred of the similarly shaped pieces actually would be scary!

At only 34 pieces, this one wasn’t that difficult, and I love the Christmas tree shaped pieces. This image is one I definitely would shy away from in a larger piece count, it doesn’t look like one that would be fun at all – at least not for me.

Putting together a difficult image isn’t something I go out of my way for, though some do enjoy the challenge of a formidable assembly. Normally, I do not. A puzzle that seems like a chore just doesn’t do it for me, it isn’t fun. I puzzle because it’s entertaining, relaxing, and a great little mental workout. If it feels like an intellectual marathon just to get a few pieces together – uh, no thank you.

Luckily, thanks to Wentworth micro puzzles, I can put together some difficult images without the stress of too many pieces. Lovely!

Joyeux Noël

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Joyeux Noël by Hello Angel – Wentworth – 206 pieces

Isn’t this a beautiful image? I fell in love with it when I saw it, and couldn’t wait to put it together; I even got a copy for my favorite sister-in-law and her family. (It’s my tradition to send them a beautiful wooden puzzle every Christmas for them to assemble as a family over the holidays) It’s just so lovely, and not your usual Christmas puzzle – you know how muchI love that!

The description said “extra difficult” for this puzzle, because of the repetitively cut snowflake shaped pieces. I’ve done several puzzles that Wentworth said would be extra difficult, and I never found them to be that much of a challenge. This one though … oh boy… it’s deserving of that title. After I put together about the first five pieces I told hubby, “Your sister is going to hate me for sending her this puzzle – it’s really hard!”

It was late in the evening when I started, and the next morning with a freshly-caffeinated brain I worked on it a little more. Once my coffee soaked gray cells wrapped themselves around how the pieces fit together it wasn’t too bad – but it is still probably the most challenging Wentworth puzzle I’ve done.

Even so – a very, very entertaining puzzle. And although my SIL and her family may need an adult beverage or two to deal with this puzzle, I hope they enjoy it and forgive me for sending a puzzle that is très difficile. 😉

Here you can see the snowflake cut, which is part of why it was such a challenge. I loved it though, and the finished puzzle is so different – and beautiful!

It’s Christmas Eve, so allow me to wish those who celebrate Christmas a wonderful holiday. Joyeux Noël!

**You have NO idea what I went through to get the umlaut over the “e” in Noël! This new wordpress editor doesn’t make things as easy as they think it does, and it must have taken me close to 10 minutes to figure it out – even with googling how to do it.**

Driving Home for Christmas

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Driving Home for Christmas by John Francis – Wentworth – 33 pieces

What can I say about this puzzle? It was my absolute favorite of all the cracker puzzles from Wentworth this year, the image is completely charming and colorful and I adore it. The bright colors, the overloaded car, even the license plate – all fantastic!

The cut of this puzzle was odd and wonderful and the whole thing took much more concentration than I thought it would – which was perfect. Have you ever assembled the perfect puzzle at the perfect time? One that was exactly what you needed at that very moment? That’s what this puzzle was for me.

I had a very challenging 1000 piece puzzle on my board, yesterday’s Life Rules, which was there to keep me from getting too burned out on holiday puzzles. It was very tall and thin so that it could be scooted to the back of the board when necessary. That way I could stop when I was frustrated or tired of the tedium and work on some of my small wooden holiday puzzles.

When I was sick of that difficult puzzle one day I scooted it to the back of the board and started working on Driving Home for Christmas; and it was precisely what I needed.

It’s a great puzzle that had me completely absorbed in the assembly from the very first pieces. The beautiful colors and interesting cut wiped away all the frustration I was feeling about the large puzzle; I was just in the moment and enjoying putting this little beauty together.

The perfect puzzle at the perfect time. Perfection!