White Mountain's "Autumn Traditions" by Terry Redlin is a beautiful and nostalgic fall-themed puzzle that comes in 1000 pieces and 300 pieces so you can choose your level of difficulty. The 300 piece version is easy and crops out some of the more difficult sky. The 1000 piece version is easy around the country store and pumpkin patch, but moderate-to-difficult for the sky portion. The colors are very pretty and brighter than many Redlin puzzles. The quality is very good. I especially like White Mountain's larger piece size and very flat, smooth finish. This would be a lovely puzzle to frame. Recommended... CONTINUE READING
Red River Crossing is a lovely fall-themed puzzle featuring gold-orange leaves, brightly-colored birds, and a peaceful covered bridge scene. It has easy sections and moderately difficult sections like the blue sky and dark green pine needles. The Sunsout quality is very good with thick, sturdy pieces, excellent color reproduction, and a fun random piece cut. The pieces are on the normal-to-large side and easy to hold. The art by Sam Timm is sure to get you in the mood for fall. Recommended...CONTINUE READING
LOUP WEEK: This week at Jigsaw Junkies we’re featuring one of my favorite puzzle artists, Jean-Jacques Loup He made puzzle images for Heye from the 1970’s up until his recent death in 2015. Loup has published at least 59 unique puzzles and many have been reissued in whole or in a smaller subset of the original image. Our reviews this week... CONTINUE READING
"Castle of Horror" is an absolute masterpiece of a puzzle. The art by Jean-Jacques Loup is outstanding. Dozens of scary movie tropes are included in this image in a humorous way, from Frankenstein to ghosts, witches, and vampires. This is a moderately difficult puzzle, mostly due to its size, so prepare to buckle in and enjoy a long puzzling experience. There are dozens of funny scenarios going on around the puzzle, which you'll discover as you assemble it. The Heye quality is good with a gorgeous triangular box, large poster, thick and sturdy pieces, and excellent image reproduction. This is a grid-cut puzzle with a good variety of piece shapes. This puzzle was originally produced in 2003 and was out of print for a number of years. Don't miss a chance to get this classic while it's back in print. Highly recommended.. CONTINUE READING
Heye’s “Cartoon Classics” line reissues some of their best loved cartoon puzzles from the 70’s-90’s. This delightful image from famous French cartoonist Jean-Jacques Loup is a breeze to put together. The large balloons and the buildings in the image go together quickly. There are a myriad of cute and funny characters in the scene, each with unique clothing and expressions that help you figure out what piece goes where. Heye is a German brand with overall excellent quality. Highly recommended... CONTINUE READING
My last post for our travel-themed week is a look at the top ten travel-themed puzzles currently available on Puzzle Warehouse. First a question. What constitutes a 'travel-themed' puzzle? It's a large category that has vague edges. For example, is a train puzzle a travel puzzle? Hmm. You could argue the point, but a train puzzle... CONTINUE READING
Publisher: MasterPieces (US), published 2016 Title: “Safe Travels” by Aimee Stewart, 1000 pieces Finished size: 26.75" x 19.25" OUR RATING: 8.25/10 TRAVEL WEEK: Since I just got back from vacation, it seemed like a good time to tackle travel themed puzzles (say that three times!). I'll be reviewing two puzzles this week and sharing some of my favorite... CONTINUE READING
Publisher: MasterPieces (US), published 2016 Title: “Safe Travels” by Aimee Stewart, 1000 pieces Finished size: 26.75" x 19.25" OUR RATING: 8.25/10 TRAVEL WEEK: Since I just got back from vacation, it seemed like a good time to tackle travel themed puzzles (say that three times!). I'll be reviewing two puzzles this week and sharing some of my favorite... CONTINUE READING
This week, for the dog days of summer, Jigsaw Junkies is featuring shaped puzzles. This week we had a review of "Autumn Squirrel" by Mary Thompson and "Abundant Garden" by Aimee Stewart. Today I'm going to share a top ten list with my favorite picks of Puzzle Warehouse's selection of shaped puzzles. (As usual, I couldn't... CONTINUE READING
