A jigsaw made - but not perfect

I finally got one done but it isn't perfect.  I had to use the Cricut on what is called a multicut and the second cut wasn't completely over the first cut.  I am not sure whether I will be able to achieve anything better with the Cricut machine.  I have spent endless hours on this and used up a fair amount of ink and cardboard.

The original picture wasn't of good enough quality so I put together a collage of birds my husband had taken.  It was quite tricky because the edges of the birds had to remain sharp so no blending, smudging etc:

Here are my findings:

1. I think the card for a jigsaw has to be at least 700gsm thick to fit well together once cut.
2. The card needs to be glossy otherwise the card absorbs the ink too much and is fuzzy.
3. Glossy card really needs to be especially for photos.  The ink 'slid' on the glossy card I had.  In the end I used a plain paper setting and reduced the speed of the printer to allow the ink a little drying time.  It was still not nearly as clear as proper photo paper.
4. Pasting proper photo paper onto card doesn't work - the paper tears when cut which is what I expected.
5. The Cricut is limited in it's ability to cut thick card.  I would say 300gsm max.  If you put card in which is too thick you risk messing up the Cricut machine which I may well have done.
6. I didn't put in enough contrast between the background and the birds.  Easy for me but not so easy for my Mom who has bad eyesight.
7. I would make some of the circles that make up the puzzle inserts bigger so that they don't come out.  I generally did a good job of this but not always.

Is it time to give up?  Would so love to give a decent jigsaw to my Mom.  Maybe some more research.