Paletteful Packs- November 2017

          This month’s Paletteful Packs looks like a lot of fun. I’ve always wanted to try something like this out but was never really sure how to start so having a starter kit is awesome. As usual with Paletteful Packs, they give you the whole kit and caboodle to get started on a project.

          The first item to come out if the box was Marabu Easy Marble Starter Kit. It has six quick drying basic colors and instructions on how to use them. The retail price is $16.99. 

          An Enamel Butcher Tray which is used for marbling. These trays are usually slightly bowed in the middle to help with the marbling effect. Retail price $12.99.

          Paletteful Packs also provided a pack of 10 latex gloves to keep your hands clean while doing your work. Retail Price $4.99

          Now for the surfaces you can use to make your projects. Paletteful Packs provided 4 different types of surfaces which are a wood panel, mixed media paper, pocket sized notebook (the point is to marble the cover) and a paper-mache pencil box. 

Retail price $3.79.

Retail price $1.99.

Retail price $2.74.

Retail price $4.99.

Owlcrate October 2017

          The theme for the October box from OwlCrate is “Find Me In The Forest”. All the items in the box were so pretty! 

          The first item is from IN THE WICK OF TIME, a candle inspired by The Raven Cycle series. The scent is a mix if moss and mint and I could smell it from the moment I opened the cover. Very soothing. 

          I’m not a tea drinker but this item from RIDDLE’S TEA SHOPPE was an interesting mix of Earl Grey and sweet blueberry so I was intrigued. The taste was smooth and I’m looking forward to my next cup. 

          I love mugs but I love certain sizes and this is the firat time a subscription box got the exact size of cup that I like in the exact shape that I like. This mug was inspired by the Forbidden Forest of Harry Potter fame. The artwork on the mug is by CARA KOZIK. 

          You can’t have a mug without a coaster, at least not in my house. It was designed by KRISTIN ASKLAND. 

          My new favorite thing in the world is magnetic bookmarks and OwlCrate fed my habit. They were made by CRAFTEDVAN and inspired by Where The Wild Things Are. 

          I wish you could really see just how beautiful this art print is. The print was created by AUDRA AUCLAIR. 

          Finally, the book. As usual it comes with a signed plate and a letter from the author but there is one interesting bew addition. Included with the book is a packet of seeds which I can’t wait to try growing. Instead of using the synopsis from Goodreads I'll just link it here: Wild Beauty

Spotlight Stationery

          Spotlight Stationery is one of my favorite boxes that I get through CrateJoy. By purchasing this box I get to give back to the community and get something awesome at the same time. The purchase price of the box includes a donation to Cloucestershire Young Carers. It is a charity that provides a range of services for young carers and their families.
          Apparently, with this box they had a bit of trouble getting all the items they wanted and sent it out with one item missing which they will add to the next box. Had they not written us an appology letter I would have not have known that there was anything missing. The box was perfect, with great items included.
          The theme for this box was Fabriano. So this box was all about a producer rather than a theme. I’m fine with that! So let us begin.
          I always love the postcards included with every box of Spotlight Stationery. These ones are no exception. I think my favorite is the one by Sara Julia Campbell.

          The next item in the box is a Fabiano pocket sized notebook in red color with 32 dotted pages of which 16 are perforated. I found that an interesting combination.





          A white greeting card with the word “Grazie” on it (it means thank you in Italian) and its envelop were the next thing that came out of the box. Unfortunately, you can’t see the engraved word very well in the picture.



          I really loved A5 notebook with the closing band. The pages inside are white and really smooth. I think it would make a great diary or pencil sketchbook.




          Finally, there was a beautiful black pencil and a small Fabriano black pen. Both are really elegant and smooth when it comes to writing with them.

The Nocturnal Reader's Box

          This is the Nocturnal Reader's box for October. It has three books, a T-shirt or a tote bag, a bar glass, on of three types of candles, a patch, and an art print. I'm going to start with the books.

          The first book is What The Hell Did I Just Read? By David Wong and it is the Sequel to This Book is Full of Spiders though each can be read as stand alone. 1 in 3 copies are signed and I got one of the signed ones. From GoodReads: "NYT bestselling author Wong takes readers to a whole new level with his latest dark comic sci-fi thriller, set in the world of John Dies at the End and This Book is Full of Spiders Dave, John and Amy recount what seems like a fairly straightforward tale of a shape-shifting creature from another dimension that is stealing children and brainwashing their parents, but it eventually becomes clear that someone is lying, and that someone is the narrators. The novel you're reading is a cover-up, and the "true" story reveals itself in the cracks of their hilariously convoluted, and sometimes contradictory, narrative."

          

          The new release for this box is Valancourt Book of Horror Stories by Various Authors. From GoodReads: "Valancourt Books has earned a reputation as one of the foremost publishers of lost and rediscovered classics, reissuing more than 400 unjustly neglected works from the late 18th century all the way to the early 21st. In this second volume of rare horror stories, the editors of Valancourt Books have selected fourteen tales – all by Valancourt authors – for this new collection spanning two centuries of horror. This volume features a previously unpublished ghost story by Nevil Shute, a brand-new tale by award-winning author Stephen Gregory, and twelve other tales that have never or seldom been reprinted. In this volume, you will encounter tales of ghosts, haunted houses, witchcraft, possession, demonic pacts, and ancient, nameless horrors. Stories of the weird and macabre, of a man tormented by an age-old evil, a corpse returned from the dead, a brutal killer with a shocking secret, a contraption with the power to trap its victims eternally inside a nightmare. With stories ranging from frightening to horrific to weird to darkly humorous, by a lineup of authors that includes both masters of horror fiction and award-winning literary greats, this is a horror anthology like no other."

          The previously release book, Cold Moon Over Babylon by Michael MacDowell, shows how terror grows in Babylon, a typical sleepy Southern town with its throbbing sun and fog-shrouded swamps. Margaret Larkin has been robbed of her innocence -- and her life. Her killer is rich and powerful, beyond the grasp of earthly law. Now, in the murky depths of the local river, a shifting, almost human shape slowly takes form. Night after night it will pursue the murderer. It will watch him from the trees. And in the chill waters of the river, it will claim him in the ultimate embrace. The cold moon rises, the awful squishing sounds begin.. (from GoodReads)

          Next comes the tote bag since I don't like t-shirts. It is inspired by The Long Walk by Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman. I love tote bags since they are very useful too me.

          The box also includes a very nice bar glass inspired by American Gods an features the funeral parlor.

          Dark Carnival is the NaturaAmantis candle I got. It is inspired by Something Wicked This Way Comes and is one of three possible candles you could have gotten. It is apple, cinnamon and caramel and as soon as I opened the lid the smell hit gloriously!

          Finally, there was a Ring Series Patch by Koji Suzuki featuring the creepy Sadako Yamamura and an Art Print by Ivan Belikov.

My Thrill Club

          My Thrill Club subscription always theills me with their selections. I got two books and a movie. So let us get into them. 

          I have not seen this movie before and I love creepy crawly vibe I am getting from it. 

From GoodReads: “In the spring of 1936, horror writer H.P. Lovecraft is broke, living alone in a creaky old house and deathly ill. At the edge of a nervous breakdown, he hires a personal assistant, Arthor Crandle. As the novel opens, Crandle arrives at Lovecraft’s home with no knowledge of the writer or his work but is soon drawn into his distinctly unnerving world: the malevolent presence that hovers on the landing; the ever-shining light from Lovecraft’s study, invisible from the street; and visions in the night of a white-clad girl in the walled garden. Add to this the arrival of a beautiful woman who may not be exactly what she seems, and Crandle is pulled deeper into the strange world of the horror writer (a man known to Crandle only through letters, signed “Ech-Pi”), until Crandle begins to unravel the dark secret at its heart. A brilliantly written, compelling and deeply creepy novel, The Broken Hours is an irresistible literary ghost story.”

 

          From GoodReads: “Those who live in silence hear them best . . . Dominic Lancaster hoped to prove himself to his family by excelling in the Navy during World War II. Instead he is wounded while serving as a gunner, and loses his leg. Still recovering from his wounds and the trauma of his amputation when the Blitz begins, Dominic finds himself shuffled off to the countryside by his family, along with his partially deaf sister, Octavia. The crumbling family estate on the shores of Ullswater is an old, much-neglected place that doesn’t seem to promise much in the way of happiness or recovery. 

          Something more than a friendship begins to flourish between Dominic and his nurse Rose in the late autumn of that English countryside, as he struggles to come to terms with his new life as an amputee. Another thing that seems to be flourishing is Octavia’s hearing. 

          As winter descends, sinister forces seem to be materializing around Octavia, who is hearing voices of children. After seeing things that no one else can see and hearing things that no one else can hear, Octavia is afflicted with a sickness that cannot be explained. With Octavia’s help, Dominic sets out to find the truth behind the voices that have haunted his sister. In doing so, he uncovers an even older, darker evil that threatens not only Octavia, but Rose and himself. 

          Jonathan Aycliffe delivers a disturbingly tense ghost story set in the middle of World War II during England’s darkest hour, demonstrating that some fears are timeless . . .” I really can’t wait to read these books as I have been on a horror kick lately.

Paletteful Packs - October 2017

          The theme for this box is Inktober...yes, I’m late. Inktober was started in 2009 by Jake Parker. It quickly became a world wide endeavor with people from all over the world participating.

          Amsterdam Acrylic Ink is highly pigmented and extremely lightfast. Retail price 7.95 each. 

          I have a lot of these now, but I understand why they include them. They are very important to making drawings pop. White Gelly Roll Pen retail price 1.49.

          These nibs and their holder are amazing for lettering and drawing. Retail price 4.21.

Touch black 120 Twin marker retail price 7.00.

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush pen set retail price 6.98.

Princeton Elite Synthetic Kolinksy Sable #3 round retail price 9.75.

Bee Paper mixed media notebook. Retail price 15.50.

          As usual when it comes to Paletteful Packs, great products and you have everything to work on your project in one box.

V. Paperie - October

          In my last post I said that it was my last box...I was wrong this is my last box from V. Paperie. This is the October box and it had some good stuff in it.

          The box included some of my favorite things but I want to start with the Pumpkin Pie Spice candle. I already tried it out and love the smell!

          Next up is the Washi Tape. It is orange lol. 

          This box had three greeting cards. One says Trick or Treat, one says Hello and one just has a pattern on it.

          Finally, there was a sturdy notebook. It has lined papers and I will be using it to jot down notes when I study. It is from Rifle Paper Co.