Planner Society Box

          This is a box that I've gotten twice before and have a love/hate relationship with. I like a few things that come in the box but have no use for others. The things that I like in the box keep me coming back.

          This is basically a subscription for people who use planners. It is a monthly kit for putting together your planner inserts for the month. It is crafty and it has a lot of interesting pieces and a lot of useless ones. Let me start this with a caveat. I don't use all of these supplies in the way they are intended. My planner is pretty much not your typical affair. It is very minimalist with almost no stickers or inserts. It is basically a diary/reminder with dotted/plain A5 pages and that is pretty much it. What I do use from the box are the crafty supplies for my other journal, which is an art journal, and my mixed media art. I won't open all the supplies but I will tell you about them. So let us get into the box itself.

So as usual, the customs officials got into my package. This time they didn't do much damage. 👀

          I love washi tape, and this box contained two. One of which goes with the theme of the box, which will be obvious soon.

          The packet on the left is a memo pad, it isn't very practical but it could be used to mark places or to write VERY short notes. The package on the right is, of course, a stamp...can you guess the theme? I love to use the stamps in my mixed media pieces. I might stamp with archival ink and then use watercolours or markers to colour it.

          These are, of course, stickers and section/page flags. Each of the boxes I have gotten before included something like that. These I might use in my planner, but more often then not they end up in a mixed media pieces or in my art journal, which is pretty eclectic. 

          This is something I've not seen before in their boxes (at least in the ones I've gotten so far). These are pockets. They are small and I'm not sure how useful they will be but I might use them in a different way to what they were intended for.

A pen, and a journal charm. I can always use a pen and the journal charm...you guessed it, other uses. 😛

          A paper clip, craft paper and ephemera, these are a few of my favourite things... yes I use these seriously in my art journal and mixed media pieces so I always love getting them. 

          I have to admit, I liked this box more than last month's box. There were a lot more things in this that I could use and repurpose. 

Spotlight Stationery

          Apart from loving everything that I have gotten from this box subscription I love that part of the money that I paid for it goes to a charity. The charity is Gloucestershire Young Carers. Here is the leaflet that was included in the box:

          The theme for this box is Hergestellt in Deutschland (Made in Germany). The products included are from the following companies: Bindewerk, Mobius & Ruppert, Rico Design, Schneider, Stabilo, and Staedtler.

          As you can see everything was wrapped beautifully with blue tissue paper. And of course, the personalised touch is very much appreciated.

          The first company is Bindewerk and its contribution to the box is the cute handmade notebook and patterned envelopes. I especially love the tickets for the addresses. The company's base is in southern Germany.

          From Mobius & Rupert we get the brass coloured, barrel-shaped pencil sharpener, and from Rico Design, we get the brass coloured binder clips. The pens, pencils and eraser came from Schneider, Stabilo and Staedtler.

          Finally, in the personalised envelope, there were four postcards from a single artist called Dhekelia Lennon. They all have interesting faces and poses. 

Another great selection from Spotlight Stationery. Plus I love that I am doing something good too.

Owlcrate (May Box)

          It looks like customs had opened my box and at least misplaced the card that tells me where the items in the box came from. So I had to look at the unboxing done by the curators of the box so that I don't make any mistakes.

          The first thing you see as you look into the box is a bobble head (yes, I'm old-fashioned). There are 7 different ones, and I got Captain America. I love Captain America ☺And this Funko is adorable. The funko comes from www.Funko.com

          The next thing I saw was the candy bag only I thought it was actual coffee and I got a little excited, but then I realised that it was coffee candy from Käfē. There was also a pen which looks kind of fun. It has six different coloured inks. The pen comes from Ooly, and there are a few different styles. The two buttons were designed by the Owlcrate team.

          There was a container with Wonder Woman written on it. It turns out it is a cute candle from the Dio Candle Company called Adorable Size Candle, and it was designed by the Owlcrate team. It is also an exclusive item.

          Just one more item before I get to the reason for the box and all its accessories. An exclusive Chapter One Excerpt from authors Leila Del Duca and Kit Seaton from their graphic novel Afar. It looks really interesting and it comes from Image Comics.

          Finally, the book. It has an Owlcrate exclusive cover, and as with all the books from Owlcrate it comes with a signed bookplate and a letter from the author which is very sweet. 

      

          It also comes with an art print illustrated by the author herself. I think it has something to do with the book so I guess I'll find out after I read it!

          As usual, no Owlcrate box is complete without the theme of the next box, so without further ado...

Indie Book Connect

          Indie Book Connect, my no fuss no muss subscription that expands my horizons when it comes to new indie authors. I tend to be adventurous but also I am usually easily confused with all the new books that come out so I find that this is a great way to sample indie authors without actually looking through all that is out there.  So let us get into the package.

The Unfinished by Jonathan Myers

From the back of the book: "After being out of the life of espionage of the cold war. Dean is thrown back into the world that he got out of after thirty years, to only discover that the lines of betrayal and loyalty get crossed. With his only goal is to set the unfinished business to business that is finished by any mean necessary. Even if it means he has to use his speciality craft of being the chemist. As he travels across continents to set things straight he discovers a whole new meaning to family."

The book came signed by the author and with a poster that advertised that the next book in the series is coming in 2018.

Rise (Trifecta, #1) by Luis Almonte

From the back of the book: "Fifteen-year-old high school sophomore Alexia Wick is an ordinary girl, with extraordinary abilities. She attends the prestigious South Haven Academy for the Gifted and Talented, but unknown to the other students, she is an Alerium witch. The daughter of a High Priest and Priestess, Alexia must learn to navigate the pressures of high school, all while preparing for one of the biggest competitions of her life- the Annual Trials. 

Skill, stamina, and loyalty will all be tested in Rise, the first instalment of the Trifecta Series. In this debut contemporary fantasy novel, magic gets real as Alexia trains for the Annual Trials, which pits teen against teen, by focusing on her craft and pushing her magic and spell casting abilities to their absolute limit. When the handsome and confident Kaleb moves into town, he offers Alexia a welcome distraction from the Trials, but a dark secret could soon tear them apart.

In the trials arena, friendships will be put to the test, fears will be confronted head-on, and powerful spells will be unleashed. When Alexia is confronted with the ultimate game of chance and is torn between her first real love and the allegiance that binds her to her coven, will she buckle under the weight of the pressure ... or will she rise to the challenge?"

This was also a signed copy and it came with a letter from the author and a little bit of information about him.

          Like the previous package, I don't know either of these authors and I'm interested in the books and the genres they represent. 

Indigo Art Box

          Since the debacle of InspireMe box, I've been waiting for this box to arrive. Well, not exactly a box since it arrived in one of these spongey envelopes but that is fine. The supplies were wrapped in blue tissue paper. 

  

The first thing I saw was the information page, which I set aside to read later. 

 

          The biggest thing in the box came next and that was the set of oil pastels. There are 16 colours in the set. 

 

 

I'm very excited about that, I had gotten a smaller set of oil pastels in the Paletteful Pack but they were not crayons and the colours were limited. I can't wait to get into them. 

          There was an envelope which contained some butchers paper (the folded large paper), 2 cards with art inspiration (Monet!), sketch paper and mixed media paper. 

 

 

 

          Finally, the box included an artist pencil and eraser and 3 blending tools. I'm very excited about the colour shaper (the rubber tip). 

 

 

          I can't wait to get into these supplies. The box also sends you to a website online, Indigo Art Box, where you can see two videos. The first video is about art history, this time it is about Monet and the second is about technique. I love getting instructions on how to use things. If I do something worth posting OR if it is a big failure and not just "meh" I'll post it here. Stay tuned! 

Robert Mason Mystery Box

          Seven reviews back, I talked about how my Robert Mason subscription ended because the store was closing. It still is but Robert Mason offered a one time Mystery Box for anyone who wanted one final hurrah so of course, I could not pass it up. Each box is different so no two boxes are the same. I was excited to see what I would get. 

          The first thing I saw was tonnes of pens so let me list them below and try to find their cost for you. All in all, there are eleven pens and two pencils. 

 

1. Pentel R.S.V.P medium purple. Cost: box of 12 on Amazon costs 6.80 dollars

2. Pentel HyperG 0.5mm red. Cost: 6.86 dollars

3. Pentel R.S.V.P. RT blue. Cost: pack of 2 costs 7.05 dollars

4. Pentel EnerGel 07 blue. Cost: 13.19 dollars

5. Pentel Twist-EraseGT mechanical pencil 0.5. Cost: pack of 12 costs 29 dollars

6. Zebra ZMulsionEX 1.0 blue. Cost: pack of 2 6.99 dollars

7. Paper Mate Profile Elite red. Cost: pack of 4 12.07 dollars

8. 2 x Pentel Rolling Writer R100 medium black. Cost: pack of 5 costs 13.71

9. Pentel Rolling Writer R100 medium violet. Cost: box of 12 costs 13.71

10. Handy-line S highlighter, retractable and refillable, green + refill. Cost: 9.95 dollars

11. Handy-line S highlighter, retractable and refillable, orange + refill. Cost: 9.95 dollars 

12. Supply Heritage company pencil. 

 

A Roaring Spring Wide Landscape pad 11" x 9.5", 40 sheets, premium recycled paper. Costs 2.99 dollars. 

 

I'll always need Post-it notes for my reading and research. Cost: 8.63 dollars.

 

         These two products go together: Moleskine address book and Moleskine Click Ballpen. Notebook costs: 18.83 dollars and pen costs 37.13 dollars. 

          I paid 50 dollars for the box and the Moleskine address book and pen are worth a little bit over that. Everything else in the box is extra. Add to that that everything in the box is quality and you know you got yourself a great deal! Another thing that you should keep in mind is that some of the proceeds from the box go to the Trevor Project, which is a good cause.

I'm going to miss Robert Mason...

Paletteful Packs May 2017 Box

          From the moment I saw this subscription unboxed on YouTube, I knew I wanted it. So I subscribed and waited impatiently for it to arrive. When it did, I didn't open it right away because I had a couple of boxes to review before it...so I hid the box until it was time to open it 😛

          Paletteful Packs on CrateJoy: They have two different boxes, the Young Artist box and the Premier Pack. The Young Artist box costs 29.95 dollars and the Premier Pack box costs 34.95 dollars. The Young Artist box has a selection of art supplies curated specifically for young artists, while the Premier Pack box has a wide range of products from pens to paint. So on to May's box.

          I was very surprised by the contents of the box, a few of the supplies I didn't even understand. I was thrilled. The box has 6 artist grade items with one of the items being a limited edition product. The theme of the box is Sepia.

          The first product I wanted to talk about is the Faber-Castell PITT Artist's Pen Set. The colour of the set...you guessed it, sepia. There are four pens with different size nib widths. It is an India ink and that means it is smudge proof and waterproof once it is completely dry. They are perfect for sketching and inking. I found them on Amazon for 13.07 dollars because they are on sale right now but normal retail according to Amazon is 17.55 dollars. Faber-Castell Pitt Waterproof Odorless Permanent Artists Pen - Sepia

          Dr. Ph.Martin's Bombay India ink is a pigmented ink which is waterproof when dry. You can use it without dilution in technical pens, airbrushes, dip pens, traditional brushes or dissolve it in water to use as a watercolour. On Amazon, the ink costs 9.46 dollars for 1 US fluid Ounce, which is the bottle I had.  Dr. Ph.Martin's Bombay India

          I...didn't know what that was until I looked it up on the internet. The information card that they had with the box called it a Sumi Bamboo Sketching Pen and that it is used for ink drawing but I still was not sure how to use it. Turns out an artist I sponsor on Patreon had a YouTube video about it so I'm going to add it here. I couldn't find the Sumi Bamboo on Amazon but I did find one exactly like it called Yasutomo Bamboo Reed Pen. It costs 10.91 dollars. 

          The next product in the box is the Derwent Intense Pencil. It is a water-soluble ink stick pencil, sort of like watercolour pencils, but it looks more like when you paint with ink. On Amazon, it costs 6.25 dollars. Derwent Inktense Pencil Madder Brown

This is the limited edition product in the box. It is a set of pastel sketching crayons. Besides the black, white, and grey there are shades of brown of which sepia is one. This product is called Conté á Paris.

I found the product on Amazon and it costs 10.99 dollars. Conté á Paris Limited Edition Tin

          To bring everything together the curators of the box included a Strathmore 80 lb Drawing Pad. This is great to use with pen and ink, pencil, charcoal, crayon, and markers. And in this box, you've got a few things that you can use with it. On Amazon, it costs 5.16 dollars. Strathmore Drawing Pad

          So, was this box worth the 35 dollars? I'd say yes and more. The total cost of all these items on Amazon comes out to 55.84 dollars. Of course depending on where you are in the world and where you shop you may find them cheaper or more expensive. For me, this box was a gold mine and I can't wait to use its products.