Peter Pan

PuzzledPickle3 Comments

2019-01-02 14.18.14

Shortly after finishing ‘Florabundance’, I decided to break out this gorgeous 1000 piece by Master Pieces, ‘Peter Pan’ by Steve Crisp. I spent a smidge of time that Thursday evening sorting out the edge pieces and assembling them, before calling it a day for puzzling!

2019-01-02 22.55.35

Look at all these NOT edge pieces…. and these were just some of them. I don’t mind irregular shaped pieces, but I can’t stand those that masquerade as edges! You can make irregular pieces without having those long flat sides, darnit!

Anyway, bright and early Friday morning, I set about sorting and assembling! And turns out, well… Peter Pan is a super easy puzzle.

2019-01-03 11.44.24

In no time at all, I’d sorted out all the individual bits, and the Pan himself was together. You see, the image is stunning as a whole, but everything in it is very individual and distinct. Big chunks of the puzzle, and whole characters, came together in a flash!

2019-01-04 01.48.49

Before I knew it, I was down to the last bits! I couldn’t believe how quickly it had come together!

2019-01-04 12.20.07

It’s all around a lovely image, and it was a ton of fun to put together! This is one of those nice Master Pieces, with decently thick cardboard and lovely printing. Everything stays together quite well. And the puzzle dust was at a minimum as well! These fairy tale puzzles that come in the book shaped boxes are quite nice!

Though I still can’t believe I did an entire thousand piece puzzle in essentially a day. @_@

Winter Wonderland!

PuzzledPickle3 Comments

We’re getting quite the little snowstorm today! Mostly freezing rain, sadly, but we did get a brief period of the biggest, fluffiest snowflakes I’ve seen in a long long while!

2019-01-03 09.53.07

One of our cats, Gidget, has likely never seen snow this big ever. She was quite amazed! But this isn’t the sort of wonderland I’m here to talk about!

2019-01-03 14.08.30

This picture hung in my bedroom as a girl since I was 8 years old, and now it hangs in my own house as well. It’s the framed box art of a jigsaw puzzle I received back in 1996 for Christmas most likely; I used to get them every year! I know we put the puzzle together, though I don’t remember actually doing it.

I’ve wanted for years to have the puzzle again, though it’d gotten sold in a garage sale I think, when I was still a little girl. I’ve googled high and low trying to find it, but never could. Then one day I was admiring the art again and happened the notice an artists name: Bill Bell! And that was all I needed to find it finally!

2019-01-03 14.07.30

This arrived in the mail today! I’d happened upon it on Ebay, now that I knew what to look for finally. “Wonderland” a 300 piece Great American Puzzle Factory, by Bill Bell, all the way from 1996. The artist has done a TON of puzzles actually, and his arts fantastic- I’ll have to look for others at some point!

I’m so excited to have this one in my possession again; I’ve waited a long time to get a hold of a copy! I can’t wait to assemble it, after waiting all these years!

Florabundance!

PuzzledPickleLeave a comment

First puzzle of 2019 complete! Although, I did start it last year, so maybe that’s cheating… 🤔

“Florabundance” by Linda Ravenscroft, a 1000 piece by MB Puzzles and Cardinal Games. Another nice quality puzzle, as I expected after the last ‘Premium Blue Board’ puzzle I did by this brand. Low dust, nice fitting pieces, smooth finish that’s not too glossy, and a good thickness board. Lovely.

This one was a bit tougher than I expected, but an absolute joy to put together. Such a sassy little pixie! A nice contrast too the wintery weather we’re having as well!

Next up is “Peter Pan”, 1000 pieces by MasterPieces–it came in a funky book shaped box, so I’ve du ped it into my last puzzles box for sorting. I’m excited to get this one put together–I’ll be hanging it over my husband’s night stand, and the “Jack and the Beanstalk” I completed last year will be going over mine! I’m only hoping that Peter is the same size as Jack… This one sure seems smaller to me. I’ll have to oull them out and compare!

Also, look at all these ‘not edge pieces’! D: And there were so many more in the box I had to painstakingly rule out. @_@;

Animal Crossing Winter Time

PuzzledPickleLeave a comment

And now for what is likely the last completed puzzle of 2018! “Winter Time” a 550 piece by USAopoly. One of Gamestop’s exclusive puzzles.

I adore Animal Crossing, so I couldn’t resist snagging this one, and “Summer Time” when I saw them. It’s such a cute image!

Overall this was decent quality. The puzzle dust was a little nuts, but the edges and corners on some pieces got a bit warped when they die cut, but the pieces all fit quite snuggly, and the cardboard is decently thick. Overall, I’d happily buy a USAopoly puzzle again if given the chance!

Happy New Years!

A Second Howdy!

PuzzledPickleLeave a comment

Hello, hello! I’m Puzzled Pickle, and this is my jigsaw puzzle blog! Well, my second blog… I’ve decided to give WordPress a try, as I haven’t been able to find many other puzzlers on Blogger. Maybe I’ll have better luck here! I’ve imported my posts (for some reason it only grabbed the latest 3, very odd), and will be continuing here!

2018-12-14 12.45.262018-12-27 12.48.59

My current project: MB Puzzles  and Cardinal Games ‘Florabundance’ by Linda Ravenscroft, 1000 pieces. It’s proving to be a bit more challenging than I’d anticipated, but very, very fun. I adore the quality of this brand, the ‘premium quality blue board’ is certainly nothing to sneeze at!

We were a bit puzzled to get a mysterious shipping notice in our email a few days ago, and I was very excited to find it was from Master Pieces! Way back in October, I’d put in for a replacement for this puzzle:

2018-10-16 15.16.14

All the pieces were badly cut, some completely inseparable from their neighbors. Doable, yes, but as I purchased it new, I expect decent quality! They had me cut off the box flap containing the puzzle’s details and mail it in with a description of the problem. And I waited… and waited… Finally two weeks ago I emailed them again, asking if they’d yet received my letter. Turns out they had, back in November, but my replacement was a delayed due to heavy holiday orders.

My package arrived, and I sliced it open to reveal-

2018-12-27 22.49.39
Well, that’s not the same…

I’m both a tad annoyed and also very excited? The other puzzle is completely workable, so now I have two puzzles for the price of one, but I’m also glad I didn’t have my heart set on receiving the exact same puzzle I’d requested a new copy of… It’s just odd they didn’t send the same one, or at least a note explaining! Oh well, this new one will be fun to work regardless; I quite like the art!

2018-12-26 13.03.04

And here’s a snap of my modest Christmas gifts to myself. Our holidays were rather glum, as no one feels particularly like celebrating in the wake of my grandmother’s passing. We had a simple get together for snacks and chatting, rather than the big holiday meal we usually have. It was nice, even if there was an undertone of sadness.

My husband and I got a bit of money as gifts, and while the majority of it is destined for bills, he let me spend a bit beforehand! I snagged these two puzzles and a cute lil’ ratata plush from Gamestop. I’ve been eyeing the Power Ranger puzzle for months, and Magic The Gathering puzzle and plush were on clearance, buy one and get one free! Hard to pass that up!

Wishing everyone a Happy Holidays and a splendid New Year! I’ll leave you with a quick snap of my cats ‘assisting’ me in gluing a puzzle!

2018-12-19 00.50.35

Flower Delivery and a Beachy Retreat

PuzzledPickleLeave a comment
Thomas Kinkade 500 Pieces
It’s been a rough week. Last Wednesday, December 5th, my grandmother passed away. It had been a long time coming unfortunately. The night she passed, I and a few other family members had gathered at my grandfather’s house, and I had brought along a pack of four 500 piece Thomas Kinkade puzzles to pass the time. I had just finished sorting out the edges of this lovely beachy scene, and was starting to assemble them when she left us.
I’d packed the puzzle back away, but went ahead and decided to finish it. I’d been so looking forward to doing this one ever since I bought the pack months ago, and I know my grandmother wouldn’t have wanted me put off of it. I also had packed it up in one of my grandfather’s tupperware dishes, and he’ll probably want that back as well!
It’s been a difficult week since then, filled with grief. I’ve spent a good deal of my time working on this 1000 piece MB Puzzle/ Cardinal Games ‘Flower Delivery’ to keep myself occupied. My grandmother would have adored all the flowers in it, she just loved flowers. Not as big a fan of dogs…. Too slobbery for her!
There may also have been wine involved…
The flowers were the easy part, simple to pick out of the box of assorted ambiguous greens and blues! They went together in a pinch!
Even with all the trouble the greens were giving me, I was still having a blast, a little ray of fun to distract me from the sad.
My cats are also a great distraction. Here’s Taco, siting in the chair across from me, taking a bath! Little goofball!
And finished! All around, I was really impressed with the quality of this one. The Cardinal Games puzzles I got from the Dollar Tree are about what one would expect for only a dollar, very thin cardboard, if otherwise good. But these, made in conjunction with MB using the ‘Premium Quality Blue Board’ are spectacular!
The cardboard is a good thickness, and very, very rigid with very little bend, so none of the pieces I encountered were bent or damaged in any way. The cutting was crisp and precise, and the printing and finish on the front was lovely. It also came with an extra resealable bag to keep the pieces in when finished, if that’s your thing, and a little fold out ‘box easel’, which you can fit the box lid into and will hold it up for you to look at while you work. I didn’t use it but I’ll definitely keep it around for the future in case I ever need something like it. What a clever idea! I’m really happy to have purchased several more puzzles by this company.
All around, it’s been a long, difficult week. I’m so glad I have such a nice, calming hobby to help get me through it!

Readers Paradise Complete!

PuzzledPickleLeave a comment
“Readers Paradise” 1000 Piece by White Mountain. I had a lot of fun with this one, and it helped me through a difficult time.
I was pretty pleased with the quality of White Mountian’s pieces. Nicely cut, and they snapped together fairly well. As someone else suggested, I took a rolling pin to it when it was finished, and I’ve never had a puzzle be SO FLAT before- I’ll definitely be doing that with ALL my puzzles from now on!
This “Readers Paradise” was absolutely jam packed with little details too. Cats sleeping on the stairs, a mouse hiding among the shelves, titles and cover art on a lot of the books. The printing was crisp and clear too, which makes the art all the better!
I’d definitely recommend this one! I’ll happily pick up another White Mountain puzzle the next time one of their images strikes my fancy.
Decided to start this one next: “Flower Delivery” 1000 pieces by Milton Bradley. Really impressed with it’s quality as well, and overall production value. The box is really nice, covered inside as well as out, and it was with a resealable bag to put the pieces back into when complete (not that I do that myself) and a cardboard contraption called a ‘box easel’. It holds the box upright for you at a good viewing angle to see the image. I don’t know if I’ll use it or not, but what a neat idea!
This week’s been tough for me, and puzzles have really helped get me through, and will continue to help I’m sure. I’m very thankful to have such a pleasant hobby to turn too when I need it.

Hello, and Welcome!

PuzzledPickleLeave a comment

Howdy howdy! I’m Puzzled Pickle, a jigsaw puzzle enthusiast! I’ve decided to move my jigsaw blog to Blogger today. I’ve been posting to Tumblr for a few months, but they’ve recently decided to purge all adult content from their systems. Obviously, that shouldn’t affect my very not adult blog in the slightest, but whatever algorithm auto scans all their images decided to flag a bunch of my jigsaw pictures as adult and hide them! That’s super not cool, and I don’t have time for that sort of nonsense!

I’ve transferred all my old posts (by hand, oiy) over to here, hence the slew of ‘new posts’ listed as being from today. They actually span over the last few months. Anyway, I’ll be continuing here from now on! Maybe I can even find more jigsaw puzzle peeps here too!

I woke up bright and unusually early Saturday morning; what better time than to enjoy the peace and quiet of a sleeping house, a nice cup of hot coffee, and a jigsaw puzzle accompanied by podcasts? I’ve really been looking forward to starting this one, “Readers Paradise” a 1000 piece by White Mountain. I’ve yet to do a White Mountain puzzle, but I’ve heard good things from the jigsaw groups on Facebook, so I’m excited!

So far White Mountain reminds me a lot of Ravensburger. The cardboard is nice and thick, and has that nice blue backing. My particular copy of this one has a few pieces that weren’t cut through all the way, but only a very small number, so I’m not displeased at all. Everything’s been snapping together nicely for the most part, and it’s been very enjoyable!

I’ve also had this lovely little boats puzzle by Cardinal kicking around on my desk for the last few days, though I haven’t worked on it much yet- just been too busy! I’ll get to it though. The tiny little pieces are hilarious and fun to work with, and I can’t wait to have it completed to hang up somewhere. The art is just stunning!

Speaking of hanging puzzle sup, I recently redecorated the walls around my office space!

I’m so pleased with how it’s come out so far. The bright, perky colors definitely put you in a good mood when you sit down to work!