Stacey & David

On May 26, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles12 Comments

So here it is, my wedding picture puzzle that was my anniversary gift this year. It was fantastic, and Mr. Bob Puzzles did such a wonderful job – I absolutely adored it! It will be beautiful in my living room once hubby gets the frames built for both this one and Stacey & Ruth. I’ve added links to all the previous posts about these puzzles so you can go back if you’d like and check out how we got here.

My husband had both this and the puzzle of my mother and me commissioned because he’s one of the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful men I know. He knew that Mother’s Day would be difficult for me this year due to the loss of my mother, and he wanted to soften the blow. If you’re new to the blog you can read about how he got it all done here. It was such a lovely and unexpected gift. 💝

Remember my post from when I was assembling this? Can you see Batman where my hem and the train are coming down the step? I can’t see this picture now without seeing it. It makes me smile, and it will always make me smile.

I was wondering when I was sorting the pieces and saw all the whimsies why there were so many birds…

Stacey & David 1

I love the two couples and the intertwined rings – and of course our beloved Buddy. But I wasn’t sure why there were so many birds. Did hubby tell him to add those? Well, once I was nearly finished I saw it….

Stacey & David 2

How amazing is that? Mr. Bob and his team did such a beautiful job with the design of this puzzle and the whimsies. I’m actually considering displaying this one with the birds and our names removed, isn’t that an amazing image? It looks so striking and charming. Thank you to everyone at Mr. Bob puzzles, and most especially Mr. Bob himself – you all did an astounding job on this puzzle – I love it! 💖🧩💖

I adored my gorgeous one of a kind puzzle from start to finish; and many thanks again to Mr. Bob himself for suggesting that these images NOT be 1000 piece puzzles. All that carpeting, paneling, and white would have been so difficult with a higher piece count!

Hubby did a great job working with the team at Mr. Bob Puzzles, getting high resolution images of our wedding pictures, and having these beautiful puzzles made. I think I’ll keep him.

I’ve put in over 30 years work getting him whipped into shape; it would be a waste to lose all that effort. 😉

Cat

On May 15, 2020May 15, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

Cat by Franz Marc – Artifact – 138 pieces

Words cannot express how much fun this was! It’s a difficult puzzle, with wonderfully designed pieces that made for a demanding assembly. It kept me completely focused on how the pieces fit together and completely out of my head – what more could you ask for in these trying times?

At only 138 pieces it took much longer than one would expect, the Artifact Puzzles website says it should take 4.5 hours to complete. It didn’t take me that long, but it’s hard to track how long it actually took. I have to work in fits and starts because I cannot sit for long periods of time; but the time I did spend was wonderful – I relished the challenge and enjoyed the placement of every single piece.

Cat 2

The pieces were incredible, and once you figured out how things fit together it was such a fun assembly! My youngest son, who never wants to help with puzzles, unbelievably spent many minutes searching for the right pieces, helped me find a few, and put some in himself. (A minor miracle!) When you look at them it seems ridiculous that they would all fit together to form a rectangular image, but it does – and spectacularly so.

Cat 1

There were only a few whimsies, all cats. There was one for each corner, and one that seemed to be stretching out and touching the sleeping cat’s ear to wake up or play with him/her. How freakin’ adorable is that?!

Ecru puzzles at Artifact is their more expensive line, characterized by a closer cut (for a better fit and less obvious piece shapes in the finished image) and a matte finish for less glare. I bought this one because as someone greatly affected by my P.A.D.S. symptoms – such a severe case, it’s sad really – I couldn’t keep myself from constantly checking puzzle websites to see if anyone was selling and shipping puzzles. To my great joy this puzzle was one of a few available on the Artifact site, and my joy seemed to blind me to anything other than “Can you please, please, PLEASE send me a puzzle?!?”.

They could. I clicked. They shipped. Puzzle bliss. Happy P.A.D.S. lady. 💃😁💃

I was surprised at how well the pieces fit together, and how beautiful the finished puzzle was. Compare the fit of this image to another Artifact puzzle I assembled and look at the difference in how obvious the piece shapes are…

Cat by Franz Marc – Artifact – 138 pieces

In Dreams by Geoffrey Gersten – Artifact Puzzles – 116 pieces

“Cat” looks more like a picture, or artwork; where “In Dreams” looks like a puzzle. The Ecru line at Artifact is more expensive, but if the finished image is what you’re all about (in addition to the assembly) then the added expensive seems worth it. I love both of these, because in general I love jigsaw puzzles. For me, if it “looks like” a puzzle because you can see the shapes, I’ve still enjoyed the assembly which is always my bottom line. If you go back and look through this blog you will see that with every puzzle that had obvious pieces shapes, I told you that obvious shapes in the finished image did not detract from my enjoyment of the assembly. Puzzles, for me, except for but a small few, are to be assembled and enjoyed and then sent on to others for the same.

I flipped the puzzle over to show you how all these interesting shapes fit together, it’s much more apparent from the back…

Cat 3

I enjoyed this puzzle much more than I expected to, it was so much fun! They have puzzle designers at Artifact who come up with some amazing piece shapes – I don’t think I’m imaginative enough to do that job, but I’m so unbelievably thankful for the people who are. This is definitely a puzzle that I’ll be assembling again, it was FANTASTIC!

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. 💘