The Puzzle That Will Freeze Your Brain

On January 4, 2022January 3, 2022 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 December 24, 2021December 24, 2021 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 December 18, 2021December 18, 2021 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!

Stevie the Hedgehog

On December 16, 2021December 16, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Stevie the Hedgehog by John Francis – Wentworth – 15 pieces

Of the three kid’s puzzles I got from Wentworth, this is the one I’m keeping….for now. He’s too cute for me to give away just yet. Besides, it’s always a good idea to have an extra gift hanging around the house for emergencies.

Stevie is absolutely adorable, and he was a lot of fun to assemble too. The extra big pieces, bright colors, and sweet image made for a great time; Wentworth did such a great job with these puzzles for children, they’re truly lovely.

It makes me wish my kids were still little so I could do these puzzles with them. We would have had so much fun with these. (I miss my kids being little 😭)

Such great whimsies, all ones that even young children will recognize. A snowman and Santa are pretty easy to spot, and there’s also a little representation of Stevie himself. Adorable!

Wanted to show you the extra large pieces that are easier for little hands to hold and work with. Mom always said to give a reference when a puzzle was larger or smaller than normal, so that people can appreciate the actual size. When you see this piece in my hand you can tell that this is a puzzle with extremely big pieces made especially for children.

I loved this one! 🦔💖

Tinsel Town

On December 14, 2021December 14, 2021 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

Tinsel Town by Richard Macneil – Wentworth – 40 pieces

Tinsel Town was the last of the micro puzzles from Wentworth that I assembled this season. (Don’t worry, there are still plenty left to show you, this isn’t the end of the holiday puzzles) It was a little more time consuming than it looks like it would be, but it was a fun assembly. I had a good time in spite of myself. 😉

This was purchased a couple of years ago, but for some reason I never got around to putting it together. Most likely it just got lost in the shuffle, it’s probably not because of the image. A couple of years ago I bought EVERY single micro puzzle Wentworth had without regard to image. It’s one of those holiday puzzles I don’t normally care for; however, with such a small piece count it wasn’t nearly as tedious as my brain thought it would be.

Don’t get me wrong, the artwork by Richard Macneil is absolutely beautiful. I appreciate the colors and the use of light – it’s truly lovely. I just have an (admittedly) irrational dislike of puzzles with traditional Christmas images. They just all seem the same, and for me that’s boring. I recognize and appreciate the artwork, they’re beautiful. Honestly, some of them – like this one – are stunningly beautiful. They’re just not what I like to assemble, that’s all.