What’s On My Board…

On May 6, 2020May 6, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling11 Comments

In Progress — Is that…….do you see this??

It’s interesting what you see in the details when you’re assembling a puzzle. The way colors and patterns look close up is often much different than what you imagine them to be; and you can sometimes recognize something that really isn’t there.

The puzzle of my wedding picture, Stacey & David, is currently on my board. While I was putting together the train of my dress I saw this, and my mind immediately saw something I’ve never seen before when looking at my wedding pictures.

Do you see Batman in the negative space?

At first I stared at the dark area between the scalloped hem of my dress and the train and thought, “What in the world is that?” Then my brain determined that it looked like the profile of The Caped Crusader and I said – out loud to an empty room – “Holy crap it’s Batman!”

Are these just the crazed ravings of an unbalanced menopausal woman whose brain is slowly being cooked by hot flashes? Or do you see it too?

Mother’s Day Puzzle Giveaway

On May 3, 2020May 3, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling24 Comments

Spectacular Peacock by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 240 pieces

In honor of my spectacular mother – who gave me life, unlimited and unwavering unconditional love, treasured friendship, a love for jigsaw puzzles and so much more – I am holding this giveaway for Spectacular Peacock, a beautiful 240 piece shaped Wentworth Wooden Puzzle.

My mother and I loved to assemble puzzles together much more than we enjoyed assembling them on our own. Even though putting together a puzzle by yourself gives you some quiet reflective time to de-stress and relax, we enjoyed spending time together talking, laughing, and puzzling; we could spend entire days having the time of our lives with just a few puzzles and each other.

When I started treating myself to some wooden puzzles, she fell in love with them too; we would marvel over the intricate shapes, show each other when we made a connection, and discuss the fantastic quality. I will never forget the months we spent assembling the mystery puzzle box of vintage wooden puzzle pieces that I gave her for Christmas the year before she passed; she told me it was the best present she’d ever received in her life, and we both had the best time assembling that giant 100 year old puzzle and spending extra time with each other. They are cherished memories that will be with me the rest of my life. 💗

So,to bring a little more joy into my life this first Mother’s Day without her – and in honor of her love of Aimee Stewart images and wonderfully made wooden puzzles – I’m giving away this beautiful, gently used wooden jigsaw puzzle. It’s a little challenging, even at only 240 pieces; it’s shaped, so starting with the edges is more difficult than you might think, and it includes several beautiful whimsies of flowers, peacocks, and more. I adored assembling it (even though I was in the hospital at the time), and I hope the winner enjoys it just as much. If you’d like to see the completed puzzle, you can click here to see my original post.

They say if you want to feel better you should do something for others, and I think “they” might be right. When I made the decision to give this puzzle away for Mother’s Day to honor her I immediately started to smile just thinking about how happy it would make someone to win it. And it made me happy too!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post (if you need something to say, I’d be honored to hear about your own mom.) Each comment will be given a number, and I will use a random number generator to determine the winner one week from today on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10, 2020. This is open to all puzzle lovers, no matter where you live. Good luck!

For my momma – my puzzle posse, my best friend in the world. 💝

Stacey & Ruth

On April 8, 2020April 7, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles17 Comments

Ok. I know I’m supposed to say something pithy here, but I can’t. It’s just so meaningful to me, and Mr. Bob Puzzles did such a fantastic job. A beautiful puzzle of my beautiful momma and me. 💗

You can read all about how my husband got the ball rolling and commissioned this puzzle by clicking here. He’d planned to give me this puzzle for my first Mother’s Day after losing mom, but he couldn’t wait and gave it to me early.

According to my husband he first requested the puzzle to be 1000 pieces, but Mr. Bob came to my rescue and suggested that a smaller piece count would be better – this would have been a b**ch with more pieces! Mom’s dress was difficult, and all the darker areas behind and between us made this quite a challenge even at only 651 pieces. Thank you Mr. Bob for suggesting that he lower the piece count!

Stacey & Ruth whimsies 1

Mr. Bob included two doves and a dancing couple for me and my husband, two flamingos for us two Florida women – a momma and her child – (or maybe that’s all in my head), a ball of yarn (for mom), and even a Boston Terrier to represent my Buddy!

There’s not much I can say here; I love this picture, I love my mom, and I’m more in love with my husband than ever for having this beautiful puzzle made for me. It’s one of the sweetest and most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received in my entire 51 years on the planet.

There were some “whimsies” I didn’t share up above, because I wanted to show them to you first this way…

Stacey & Ruth 3

Mr. Bob and his team did such a stunning job on this puzzle and it’s design, especially these words; our names at the top, the shared passions of family and puzzles between us, and at the bottom of these was deepest love that was at our core, and the base of everything that held us up and held us together. Perfection. 💖💖

Of course this puzzle will be framed, hubby is going to build it for me. I almost want to leave the letters out to highlight these words, but of course I also want the entire assembled puzzle to be displayed. How amazing are these whimsies/words? I love them!

Stacey & Ruth whimsies

Many thanks to Mr. Bob puzzles for doing such a fantastic job on this puzzle that’s so personal and precious to me. It is beautifully crafted and lovingly made and it makes me more happy than words can express.

Most of all, a special thank you to my sweet hubby for doing all of this. You never cease to amaze me with your thoughtfulness and loving kindness. I’m excited to start working on the second puzzle you got me, hopefully soon. And I promise I’ll try to remember how awesome you are when you’re home too much and annoying me. 💘

The Sweetest Man

On March 20, 2020March 20, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling16 Comments

My husband is the sweetest man. Perhaps not everyone would agree, but to me he is kind, attentive and loving and after almost 32 years of marriage he continues to surprise me with the thoughtful things he does for me. 💖

He told me a few days ago that he was having a puzzle made for me and that it would be delivered soon. I was looking forward to seeing what he chose, wondering where he got it from, and what brought this on.

He wouldn’t tell me anything at all other than that he did a LOT of research on the “puzzle project”. He said he wanted a very special puzzle for me to complete, so after he did all his research he commissioned this puzzle to be made with the image he chose and the whimsicals he wanted incorporated into it. He said he’s been working on this since January! Wow.

Yesterday he gave me my new puzzle. He worked with Bob at Mr. Bob Puzzles in Australia to craft a special custom puzzle for me; I didn’t think Mr. Bob Puzzles did any custom work! The moment he gave me the box just seeing it made me cry….

Stacey & Ruth

How adorably sweet is my husband? So sweet! I knew it had to be a picture of me and mom, but I had no idea which one he chose. As soon as I looked at the pieces I saw one with some flowers – it was immediately recognizable to me as my wedding bouquet. Aww! It’s a picture of me and mom on my wedding day! 💞 I looked through the pieces and it’s going to be such a beautiful puzzle, with such sweet and wonderful whimsies; I am so excited to assemble it and it will be on my puzzle board first thing this morning.

He said he was planning to give this to me on Mother’s Day this year, he wanted to be sure that my first Mother’s Day without her wasn’t too sad. But he just couldn’t wait until May – once the puzzle arrived and he saw the box and looked through the pieces he was too excited for me to see it and assemble it. He’s so adorable.

There was a lot of leg work involved in this “project”. He had to take our over 30 year old wedding pictures to a professional photographer to get high resolution digital pictures made. We do have the negatives, but he had no idea where they were and of course he couldn’t ask me. So they had to take a picture of the picture and turn them into files that could be uploaded for Mr. Bob Puzzles to use. I’m surprised he was able to keep all of this a secret. Well done hubby!

I thought that was it, but there was more. 😱 He had another puzzle made at the same time that he was planning to give me for our anniversary, and again he couldn’t wait until May…

Stacey & David

Another picture from our wedding day, but of course this one is of hubby and me.💕We don’t normally exchange gifts for our anniversary, we’d rather just spend time with each other. I’ll let this one slide though, because I absolutely love it! The whimsies are GORGEOUS and I can’t wait to share both of these special puzzles with everyone.

It’s getting syrupy sweet around here, I know, but bear with me…

I can’t even express how much I love this kind, generous, selfless man. He is one of the sweetest men I know, and he continues to prove it to me time and again. What thoughtful and beautiful gifts he had made for me, I’m overwhelmed!

I am so looking forward to putting these puzzles together, and seeing the finished images; I could cheat and get out our wedding albums and try to figure out which pictures he chose, but I’d rather just enjoy the assembly and watch the images come together as I go along. (Get ready for some 80’s hair and fashions y’all!)

Stay tuned, these are going to be something special!

Computer Catastrophe

On March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

My sweet baby girl gave me this puzzle for Valentine’s Day; she is so generous and kind, and I’m so proud of who she is – I raised a great lady! 💗 Besides all that, she has great taste in puzzle images, how cute is this?!

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a new Artifact wooden puzzle, or any new wooden puzzle for that matter. It’s so much fun to look through the all the pieces and find the whimsies, and to see all the interesting shapes. The whimsy pieces in this puzzle are all parts of the image…

Catastrophe whims

They are all easy to find except for the interesting shapes at the top of the picture; they are shapes that are shown on the spines of two of the books, it took me a few minutes to figure out what they were. The 3 piece dragon whimsy is so cute, he’s obviously my favorite. 🐲

Catastrophe IP

The geometric shaped pieces made for an interesting assembly, but once you figure out how everything fits together it’s great fun!

Catastrophe 1

I love to see the wooden puzzles from the back, it’s always interesting to look at the shapes and how everything fits together. The cut of this puzzle is something I’ve never seen before; it’s a little simple, but was very entertaining to assemble and placing every piece was a joy.

The artwork by Randal Spangler is so whimsical and adorable, I absolutely love it! I’ve been looking around for more puzzles with his work; it looks as though Artifact and Vermont Christmas Company are the only brands who have Randal Spangler images. I’m thinking I may have to get me some more puzzles with his artwork!

Thank you again to The Baby Princess for this beautiful puzzle! 😘