My Jigsaw Puzzle Journal 

We have put together this little Jigsaw Puzzle Journal which may be a second tool to use in conjunction with the benefits of doing jigsaw puzzles. You can use it for mental wellness journalling and/or for taking notes about your jigsaw puzzle hobby experiences and journey.

Get It Together Piece By Peace Journal

My "Get It Together Piece By Peace Journal"

My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #11)

During the family raising years, less and less time was focused on puzzling. But it stayed in my mind that I would start searching for puzzles that I would save for futures years when the 'empty-nest' phase set in. I knew I wanted to have the time to enjoy doing puzzles and not feel rushed. As you may know, 3 teenagers can be very active with many events and activities to tend.  A lot of time was consumed there.

Also leading up to the empty nest, I built a part time Bookkeeping business on top of a full time job. I spent many hours taking courses until I became certified as a Designated Financial Advisor Specialist.  I did this because I knew my current full-time position was coming to an end as the Owner was merging his way out of his business.

So around 2010, I was preparing for a new change. The nest has barely been empty for about one year. Ending a full-time position was coming down the pipeline so doing Bookkeeping from my home was a good option. I was somewhat established in my bookkeeping business by the time my full-time job came to an end in the Summer of 2010. I continued working over the next year while I prepared for a big move to another province. And that is where my jigsaw puzzle experiences really started to blossom.

That said, I will continue this jigsaw puzzle journey next year in 2023. As you may have seen in the PuzzleHobby.com Newsletter, the newsletter will be scheduled once a month starting in January.  That's when this article will pick up again. I will also be sharing it in the social media when a new update happens.


My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #10)

Now it is getting onto the early 2000's and I have a full house with 2 step-children in grade 3 & 4 and a young teenage daughter. I am still living in the remote north at this time. Also at that time, I had a Canada, 2-sided jigsaw puzzle that had a waxy coating. We had my Mother-in-law come to visit with us and she stayed in our home with us during her stay. While she was visiting, we all assemble the 2-sided Canada jigsaw puzzle. It was a 500 piece puzzle that was 20" x 20". Once we completed it, we got 2 sheets of plexiglass to sandwich the puzzle together, then made holes for a small chain to help hang it up.  If you can believe this, I just broke down that puzzle a couple of months ago. It's in a bag now. I do have a photo of it on a flash drive which I saved from a previous laptop. Maybe someday I can add it to this post.

Now this puzzle to the right was my first Sunsout. 

Sunsout Christmas Angels jigsaw puzzle, 1000 pieces, 26.75x35.25 inches, Artist Mary Ann Lasher, 2002

I have owned the Christmas Angels jigsaw puzzle for about 20 years now.  I have tripped it over 2 major moves in the last 10 years. I use it for a Christmas decoration on the wall. 


ChristmasAngels2

Springbok  jigsaw puzzle, 12 Twelve Days of Christmas puzzle, Artist: Lynn Bywaters, 1000 pieces - 24" x 30"  This one came out in 2004. I was so thrilled with the Sunsout shaped puzzle above but love this one more because it represented the Christmas song. I still have this one on my wall.

This is my last jigsaw puzzle I have assembled while in the remote north. So going forward, my journey starts to get a LOT more fun!

12-days-Christmas

My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #9)

So here I am in my jigsaw puzzle journey, still in the remote north and shopping at the Hallmark Store and I see this Island Fantasy jigsaw puzzle. I can only see the image on the outside of the box and that it itself appears to be challenging. Back in the day, I would dream of lying on such a tranquil beach so the one and only person on the beach, I claimed to be me! I have made it to the beach a few times in my life but it is no longer a dream of mine. Reality says chances are pretty slim I will ever see a beach such as this.

Now as you can see the colors - blue, green and white. THEN, to my surprise, it was the thick random cut pieces. Talk about a tight fit with wanky cuts. There was not much to go by here other than color shades. Even being 500 pieces, I recall it being a very time consuming assembly.  I still have this jigsaw puzzle on backboard in my collection. 

The description below shows Vintage Hallmark Springbok. The history of Hallmark and Springbok states "The success of Springbok Editions led to an offer and eventual acquisition by Hallmark Cards, Inc., headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1967. From 1967 to 2001, Hallmark manufactured Springbok puzzles and sold them exclusively in Hallmark stores in the United States and Canada."  For more details about this CLICK HERE

Fantasy-Tropical-Beach-puzzle

VINTAGE HALLMARK SPRINGBOK

500 PIECE JIGSAW PUZZLE

"ISLAND FANTASY" - PZL14451

18 INCH BY 23 1/2 INCH ASSEMBLED SIZE

MADE IN USA


My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #8)

This week's journal entry is pretty straightforward. I am still living in the remote north and travelling to the big box stores 8 hours away leads me to this typical jigsaw puzzle balloon image. Balloon images were very common back in the day and it seemed almost traditional to do one. When I saw this big beauty, I had to give it a try. I was not even sure I could assemble it due to all the blue sky. At the time, just getting into puzzling, I was not aware that blue sky would become my nemesis over the years. 

The Balloons Away Jigsaw Puzzle is my 2nd oldest 'preserved' puzzle. It is very thick with very large random cut pieces which is why it is roughly the same size as the 1000 piece puzzles. It was assembled in the early 1990's so I do not have much information on it although it does have numerous Springbok similarities to it (but I do not want to assume). I just named it Balloons Away myself.

However, I can even remember assembling this one with all those bright colours, not to mention the big gaps of blue. I am quite certain the attraction to this puzzle was the bright colours and the sense of freedom the picture projects.

This puzzle has been with me for over 30 years. It is mounted to press-board and has window shrink wrap plastic sealed on it. It has kept very well.

After posting out a 'search' request to the Facebook Puzzle Groups Heather located the Balloons Away jigsaw puzzle. Thanks so very much. We will try to confirm the piece count to see if it matches!


My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #7)

Next up in my jigsaw puzzle journey is 6 more extremely tough M.C. Escher puzzles. I was on a real kick about this artist and each time I went to the Stores in the BIG city during  the 1990's, I constantly checked for his puzzles. My collection of M.C. Escher became the following 3 assembled puzzles plus 3 more that are not assembled. 

These images are quite difficult to assemble. Besides the Metamorphosis puzzle, I have only assembled one-1000 pieces because it was the only puzzle I had around. So it would sit on my kitchen table for months one end. I could work on it sometimes after work or on the weekends. I knew the other 3 puzzles (Self Portrait, Bond of Union and Concave and Convex) would be saved for the future when I had more time during retirement. Those days are getting  here soon.

The following are the images for the aforementioned puzzles. 

Escher-Self-Portrait

Brand: Selegiochi (Holland) Artist: M.C. Escher jigsaw puzzle Title: Self Portrait, Pieces: 1000 Size: 24 inches x 20.5 inches

Escher-box-front

Artist: M.C. Escher jigsaw puzzle. 40 Piece  Mosaic II Animals Myths Shape Puzzle 40 pc 1999 iProject

Escher2mini

Micro (nano) puzzles: Waterfalls and Concave-Convex 2" x 3.5".  The smallest jigsaws by pieces size are those produced by Selegiochi (ITA). 

Eschermini1
M-C-Escher-High-LowHigh And Low

Brand: Selegiochi (Holland) Artist: M.C. Escher jigsaw puzzle Title: High And Low Pieces: 1000 Size: 24 inches x 20.5 inches

mcescher-Bond-of-Union

Brand: Selegiochi (Holland) Artist: M.C. Escher jigsaw puzzle Title: Bond of Union, Pieces: 1000 Size: 24 inches x 20.5 inches

Escher-Concave

Brand: Selegiochi (Holland) Artist: M.C. Escher jigsaw puzzle Title: Concave and Convex, Pieces: 1000 Size: 24 inches x 20.5 inches


My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #6)

This week I want to explain away the years it took me to assemble this puzzle.  First of all - just look at it. Very few puzzlers would attempt this one. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this one other than I knew someday I would complete it.  I needed to see this one on the wall in it's full assembly.

And so, between raising a family of 3, working full time and tending to pets, we all know what time is left available for this kind of tense puzzling. It took about 1.5 decades for completion. 

Luckily it comes in 4 section bags and being 3000 pieces, I was assembling 750 pieces at a time - which is not too bad, however, the intensity of the image is what  became so time consuming. Understandably, of course, I knew I would have to be VERY patient with this one.

I would have to say I started this one around 1996 and I set my mind to complete it in 2013. I had the first 3 sections assembled before 2011 and they were taped on the back with wide clear packing tape. I travelled them sandwiched between stiff cardboard from the remote north of Manitoba, safely to southern Ontario in 2011. 

This puzzle was extremely difficult to assemble but I was VERY determined to see it on the wall. The pieces were adequate for thickness, size and quality. It was the image that presented the challenge. It was also magnificent to see all 4 sections come together and placed on the wall.

I have to admit, there is one section on the last end where I just could not get the pieces correct so I took a small hammer and literally 'tapped' the last piece into place. This puzzle is still in tact today to be desired on my wall after 25 years! I am sure you can appreciate the image below...

Metamorphose-done

My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #5)

The image to the right is a recent 'price check' on eBay. Pretty crazy!  

Next week I will share the assembly process of this very intriguing jigsaw puzzle. Thanks for reading! 

Metamorphosis-ebay-price
Metamorphose, is a 3000 piece jigsaw puzzle which has a finished size of 8.5 inches x 159 inches
Journal-entry-5

My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #4)

Last week I shared a few Springbok jigsaw puzzles that were my first purchases as a young adult. And by this week’s post, you can tell I am finally getting to Christmas because I am going to share the Springbok, Merry Olde Santa jigsaw puzzle. What is different about this puzzle (which is a first for me) is the ‘extra’ is called a Stereogram. Of course I had never heard of this and I was totally intrigued.

Merry-olde-santa-puzzle

Vintage Springbok Jigsaw Puzzle

3D Sensations Jigsaw Puzzle

Merry Olde Santa 1994 

500 pieces

Size: 18" by 23.5" 

Hallmark Cards, Inc. & Digi-Rule, Inc.

You can see by the description that it is now 1994 and I am still living in the remote north. To explain a bit about Stereograms they are sometimes referred to as Magic Eye Pictures and have a hidden 3D picture inside. 

There is a bit of a trick to seeing that hidden 3D picture.

To see the hidden 3D picture in each stereogram, hold the stereogram about 6 inches (15cm) from your face. Then try to stare through the picture, which will make your eyesight go blurry. Eventually, a blurry hidden 3D picture will start to come into focus. Maintain your gaze and the 3D picture will soon become clearer, sharper and you will be able to look around the 3D picture without it disappearing. 

I found the easiest way to 'pull-out' the 3D effect is to look at it as if you are looking AT a mirror and not INTO a mirror. Then make your eyes go into a staring mode and within seconds the images will start to form.....it is also very helpful if you know what the image looks like so you can help 'pull-out' the 3D image through the background.

Please note that everybody is different and it may take some people a few seconds to see the 3D hidden picture, whilst others may take a few minutes or not at all. If you cannot see any hidden 3D pictures in the stereograms, try altering the distance by slowly moving your head back and forth.

That said - IF you are lucky enough to have the opportunity to get these 3D images to reveal, you will be totally impressed with what you see.

Now for assembling this puzzle, it sure was tricky around the edges. It took me a long time to assemble it but I was determined to see THAT 3D image. 

Next week's entry took me years and years to assemble...

Entry-4-1
Entry-4-2

My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #3)

To continue from last week, I want to refresh where I am in my jigsaw puzzle journey. I am in a Hallmark Store, shopping for Christmas presents. I am looking for a unique gift for someone (don’t remember who because that was about 1990) I stumbled across a very small amount of jigsaw puzzles sitting on the bottom shelf, face up and side by side. I just happen to look down and see these 2 images that catch my eyes. I look a little closer at the puzzle images to discover they are painted by Artist Norman Rockwell but the images have a unique style to them. They have added 'Find the mistakes' embedded right inside the painting. 

Norman Rockwell Curiosity Shop - they have hidden errors which is referred to as "A Norman Rockwell April Fools Cover" Series. The Saturday Evening Post Curiosity Shop jigsaw puzzle has 55 mistakes.  The Norman Rockwell Checkers Game - Saturday Evening Post jigsaw puzzle has 40+ mistakes.

Norman-Rockwell-puzzle-1
Norman-Rockwell-puzzle-2
Norman-Rockwell-puzzle-5
Norman-Rockwell-puzzle-3
Norman-Rockwell-puzzle-4

So these two Norman Rockwell Puzzles were a new gig for me. I was amazed that such puzzles existed.

Keep in mind that I have not been looking at jigsaw puzzles for years and at that time in my life I was living in a 'quite' remote community so there was not much retail shopping available.

That’s why I loved the Hallmark Store because it reminded me of ‘city life’. 

I still have these jigsaw puzzles on backboards with the clear plastic wrap over them and making them over 30 years old.

The jigsaw puzzle to the left is another Springbok that I purchased from the same store within the next year. Obviously even the image is 'old school' however I still have this one on backboard as well.

As a side note, you should know that my jigsaw puzzle journey journal is not going to be all about the puzzles I have discovered but in this first part of my journey, I need to establish the ongoing trend. 

Sunny-Beach-Jigsaw-Puzzle

So while there will be lots of different jigsaw puzzles, there will also be different topics that my journey leads to.  That said, next entry will have another unique discovery....stay tuned.

Entry-3-1
Entry-3-2

My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #2)

Now fast forward from my childhood, through the (young and dumb) teenage years. Luckily I scathed through that part of my life with minor scrapes and broken teenage love. Before I knew it, I was in my early twenties and determined to get married and have a baby. 

Once my daughter was getting to the toddler stage, children’s jigsaw puzzles were introduced. Not in the form of traditional jigsaw puzzles but more along the line of developmental stages for a growing child. We played with a lot of puzzles and toy-type puzzles when she was a young one. 

And as many parents may recall, doing a traditional jigsaw puzzle during the demands of young motherhood was slim to none. So during that span of my life, I did not consider doing any puzzling….until…

I was Christmas shopping with my daughter, who was about 11 years old by then and pretty much independent. We were in a Hallmark Store. I loved that store. I came across 2 of what I thought were the most ‘coolest’ jigsaw puzzles…..stay tuned…

Jigsaw-puzzle-Journal-2
Jigsaw-puzzle-Journal-1

My Jigsaw Puzzle Journey, (Entry #1)

As a child, I remember a vast amount of  jigsaw puzzle pieces spread out all over the table. It seemed like thousands and thousands, even though it was a 1000 piece puzzle. I thought to myself "this is impossible! There's no way we are ever going to get all those pieces put together to make that scenic mountain image."  

There were more than a few siblings working on it together.  Some were restless and bored already, after all, they were just beyond toddlers. We did the tedious task of sorting out the border pieces. I seem to recall some of the border edges coming together on the table however my thoughts of completion ended there - this puzzle had no future hope other than being put back in the box. It didn't stand a chance to see the end in site! Maybe some pieces managed to escape with all the commotion of so many small, sibling hands.  Needless to say, I never saw it completed.. That was my first experience with jigsaw puzzles. At about 10 years old, the idea of doing jigsaw puzzles swiftly came and went in a matter of a couple of hours with a hopeless sense of accomplishment.  Actually, I do not recall ever seeing a jigsaw puzzle assembled until my young adulthood. Stay turned...

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Two Easy Steps To Get It Together Piece By Peace Journal: Journalling And Jigsaw Puzzles Are The Easiest, Drug-Free Tools To Increase Your Lifestyle, 6"x9", 120 Blank Lined Pages.

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Jigsaw Puzzle Journal can be used in conjunction with the benefits of doing jigsaw puzzles. You can use it for mental wellness journalling and/or for taking notes about your jigsaw puzzle hobby.



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We have collected a massive list of jigsaw puzzles in numerous categories on our Amazon Store link. It's a quick way to browse most current puzzles and/or specific seasons, accessories and themes. Makes for a terrific one-stop jigsaw puzzle gift giving shopping centre. CLICK HERE


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