sub boxes - Lucky Dip Club & Happie Scrappie

Subscription boxes come in many forms. Graze snacks, Birchbox beauty, Japan Crate sweets, Not Another Bill design, Funko collectables & Wantable accessories to name a few. The list is almost endless and there's something for everyone if you're into paying a monthly fee and getting surprise contents.

I've tried a few and currently am signed up to two subscription boxes: Lucky DIp Club and Happie Scrappie.

Lucky Dip Box is a UK subscription that ships worldwide though within the UK shipping is free. Cost per month is £18 plus shipping if going to an international address. 

There's always a theme each month, May's being all about 'Flower Market'. The box arrives small enough to fit through a standard letterbox and can contain jewellery, functional items, stationery products and more. The magazine has articles about the artists and designers making it a decent read. There's definitely a quirkiness to each selection and personalised products are made 3 to 4 times per year.

In the May box were flower seeds in a machine stitched packet, an embroidered fabric patch 'Bloom where you are planted', a laser-cut sunflower with option to make it adhesive or a brooch, an enamelled cactus-in-a-teacup pin and a printed floral bag 'Petal Power'. Plus! In the mini magazine Leona includes a 'colour-me-in' page which I go straight to and a craft-make idea to upcycle the cardboard box. It's worth taking photos and posting them on instagram #luckydipclub as there are monthly winners of other unique items.

Previous LDC sub boxes:

 Cats & Cocktails, Seek Adventure & Girl Planet

This has to be my all time favourite sub box. The contents are fun, colourful and cheer up a grey day. Plus, the items I don't use are perfect for Christmas fillers.

Happie Scrappie is a subscription from Malaysia/Singapore I stumbled onto after watching an unboxing on YT. It's contents are mostly Kawaii but also useful if you're into planning. It arrives in a bubble envelope and inside everything is neatly packed into a fun card envelope. May's theme is all about cactuses and hedgehogs and the inevitable confusion if the hedgehog is green. Low growing cactii. On legs. That moves.

The subscription costs vary as Happie Scrappie offers a range of subs to suit most people and postage varies according to where you live in the world. I get the Personal Sized kit and pay £12.99 + shipping to UK. Again, this is a quirky styled subscription box but it ALWAYS has a pen, a great coloured/decorated/shaped pen that is usually extra fine gel. And her little notebooks are printed on both sides of the paper. The printed cards that are included are perfect to laminate, punch and use as dashboards in planners.

Washi is often from mt (desirable) and there are co-ordinating extras just for fun. In this month's box were a little printed bag (perfect for storing gel pens or ballpoints), a sturdy planner charm and a decorative roller - mine was a pinky-red watercolour effect. Sam includes stickers for planning and with them I found a card hedgehog page marker and cactus book mark.

A lot of thought and planning seems to go into each Happie Scrappie sub plus there are monthly YT videos giving sneak peaks of the upcoming themes. They're worth watching as I found the different sizes on offer a little confusing. Check out Sam's blog with free printables.

Links:
Graze
Birchbox
Japan Crate
Not Another Bill
Funko
Wantable


Tomorrow's blogpost: to be decided...

Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Favourite sticker makers...

stickers based on the series 'Outlander' by Mochi Heart Designs

Just over a year ago I was introduced to Decorative Planning and the world of sticker makers opened their doors to me, beckoning me inside. Some use matte paper, some use glossy. Some planning stickers are repositionable, others are not. And some sticker makers design their own icons and patterns from scratch.

stickers from Boulderbon on Etsy

decorative and functional stickers in both subtle and bright colours

a planner spread with 'Strawberry Fields' kit

The first stickers I bought were from Bonnie at Boulderbon. I'd been watching her sub box and planner videos and when she began to make her own stickers I tried them out. They are on matte paper, repositionable and designed to fit the Erin Condren Lifestyle Planner. Her designs use colour palettes that were initially delicate yet recently she's branched out into using brights and bright pastels. Bonnie is planning to attend art classes with a view to making her stickers even better than they already are.

She supplies full kits for an entire planner spread as well as individual sheets. I've used her laundry stickers and I've my eye on her Kitty Grocery Shopping Carts.

Bonnie has used stickers from other sticker shops and it was from watching one of her videos that I found out about the shops Oh Hello Stationery Co and Crazy Confetti.

Oh Hello Stationery Co sticker shop on myshopify

decorative and functional stickers plus Feb subscription kit

Feb sub kit on a planner spread

The lovely thing about getting an order from Oh Hello Stationery Co is that it arrives all wrapped in a strong paper poppy blossom, the flower being their brand emblem. Plus you can save 'poppy points' as you shop which can be redeemed off other orders. 

Alex and Kyla at Oh Hello make glossy stickers, specifically designed for the Erin Condren planner, but they can be used for Happy Planners also if you don't mind adding a little washi to fill the spaces. Sticker kits and individual sheets are for sale. The duo design and make their stickers from scratch, Alex even does how-to YT videos on his channel 'Above the Telescope'. Kayla demonstrates how to use their products on her YT channel 'Microscope Beauty'. I like the quality of their stickers, and particularly 'Little Red RIding Hood', one of their Weekly Mini Kits. 

Crazy Confetti at Etsy

I placed a couple of orders from Monica at Crazy Confetti on Etsy, functional stickers, and her 'recycle' and 'laundry' icons are two of my favourites. When I last ordered her stickers back in October'15 the paper was matte and repositionable though I believe Monica has changed to glossy paper since then. I really like her 'Weekend Banners' in a funky modern script and I notice she's started to do full kits both for Erin Condren planners and for MAMBI Happy Planners. 

Djoisch Design on Etsy produced the most beautiful watercolour effect stickers, however I notice on her website that she may also be producing digitally designed stickers. I ordered the Happy New Year kit as well as the 'Gardening Set' plus some functional stickers. She uses matte sticker paper and the stickers are sized to fit the ECLP. I had some issues with how clear the kiss-cut was and ruined a few stickers trying to peel them off, but this was in Oct'15 so she may well have rectified that problem. DIdn't stop me loving her designs.

The Reset Girl, who runs the ListersGottaList challenge has a shop filled with quirky stickers on a modern vintage theme - 'I love the 'Planner Honeys', reminiscent of 60s sewing patterns. Her iconic spectacles run throughout the kits. They are printed on glossy paper and look like their whimsical shapes could fit any planner.

A wonderful sticker maker, Mochi Heart Planning, who sold just by word-of-mouth on a MAMBI fb page, covered some of the leading TV series: in the styles of 'Downton Abbey' and 'Outlander'. Her 'Under the Sea'  designs were to die for as were the 'GOT' reminder stickers...all hand drawn and printed on matte paper.

'Delicate Serenity' planner spread

'Snow White' planner spread

Looking for some sticker designers closer to home because of shipping prices I found Plannable Designs. Her kits are beautiful and the paper she uses has almost a velvety finish, lovely to write on. 'Delicate Serenity' and 'Snow White' are two of my favourites from her Etsy shop and I have more sets in my sticker file itching to decorate my Happy Planner.

'Wizard of Oz' planner spread

Plan With Jade is a second UK sticker maker who've I bought from - I couldn't resist her 'Wizard of Oz' kit. She uses matte paper but I feel it could be thicker - I found the stickers to be semi-transparent and I reckon with thicker paper her designs would look amazing. She's a sticker maker I'll be keeping an eye on as I love what she creates.

'donut' stickers designed by Mel Stringer

Occasionally stickers are supplied in the Lucky Dip Club subscription box.

Flat and puffy stickers come with the Happie Scrappie subscription box

'Shark Attack' spread with Darice stickers

The over-the-top Darice sticker books, available in the US

(or expensively on ebay)

Links:

Boulderbon YT videos

Above the Telescope YT videos

Microscope Beauty YT videos

Crazy Confetti used by Boulderbon YT video

Djoisch Design used by Liz Plans YT video
The Reset Girl YT videos
Plannable Designs used by Plan With Jade YT video
Plan With Jade YT videos
Lucky Dip Club unboxing by Liz Robson YT video 'donut dinerette'
Happie Scrappie YT videos

Tomorrow's blogpost: 'Short Stories' 


Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Review: April Favourites...

Ten days of blogs and another twenty or so already planned. There's a few gaps and today's one of them! So as a very simplistic blog, unrelated to art, I'm writing about my April Favourites.This should be easy...shouldn't it?

First on the list is scent. When my sister gave me a gift token last month for L'Occitane I hurried round to pick another scent. I love the smells in this shop, more delicate than those from Lush which hang in the air yards from the shop door. This time I chose the Jasmin & Bergamote, the heady jasmine offset by the fruitier citrus. I feel it's more of an evening EDT.

Grapefruit & Rhubarb, Vitória-Régia Day Flower 

and Jasmin & Bergamote eau de toilettes

I had bought myself Vitória-Régia Day Flower EDT last Summer, water lily with citrus and apple notes. I'm halfway through it and it's a lovely everyday spray.

Grapefruit & Rhubarb basket with EDT, 

shower gel, body lotion and soap

For my birthday in November I used a gift token (thanks sis) to splash out on a gift box of Grapefruit & Rhubarb - when the assistant was putting tissue into the paper carrier bag she sprayed it with the EDT first. I love their attention to detail. There's nothing sweet about the two main scents but their potential bitterness is mellowed by cedar undernotes. This is a fragrance I wear when I want to get something done or I'm heading to a meeting.

recipe!

My second favourite was a different smell - that of home made banana bread, Donal Skehan's Auntie Anne's recipe. It's the easiest and most successful banana bread I've ever made. After buying another woman's bananas in Asda by mistake as well as my own I had a glut and three loaves were baked. Soo got one, my son demolished a second and the third was frozen for a few days before it was defrosted, sliced and scoffed. 

Plan With Jade

Third favourite was some new planner stickers from a maker in the UK (US makers are great but the shipping kills me). 'Plan With Jade' who has a shop in Etsy was offering a whopping 40% off orders. 

 Dorothy & Toto and the Wicked Witch of the West

 Dorothy's red shoes and The Scarecrow

I got a Wizard of Oz set, a 'Pretty Peacocks' set, two patterned sets and some functional stickers. Her designs are lovely, can't fault them. But if she could upgrade her paper quality the designs would stand out better, the stickers would peel better and might not be semi-transparent. (She could also ask a higher price). I like these stickers and I'll be watching to see if she does develop her products.

Yankee Candle 'Frankincense' 

Being the owner of a dog and having a sensitive nose don't really go together. I tried a lot of scented candles (including Price's) and nothing compares to my fourth favourite, Yankee Candles. They really do lift the scent of sweaty dog from the air. (Works on teen males too). There are scents I prefer but I always keep my choice from that month's selected bargains. In April I discovered a new stand at the back of the shop in Castlecourt with candles that were being discontinued...and at less than half price. Frankincense is something I'd normally associate with Christmas but it's surprising how nice it is on a Spring evening as it gently masks the odour of nearby canines. 

Shadow the Indomitable

You might wonder why I don't just wash the dog more often - we've tried and it takes two of us all of our strength to hold him while we lather, rinse and towel dry. He's a tardis when it comes to power, obviously bigger on the inside because he's small on the outside. There's a mobile doggie washing van I've seen recently that might be getting a new customer.

Happie Scrappie April kit - Unicorns

Lucky Dip Club April kit - Breakfast

Last of my April favourites. I think it's my age...I never used to be into 'Kawaii' or 'cute'. But give me a My Little Pony or a mermaid figure hot from a Kinder egg and I'm happy. I've been getting Happie Scrappie and LDC (Lucky Dip Club) packs in the post, one each per month, subscription boxes. (There's an air of the confessional as I type this). 

I have to admit that the unicorns are stranger than I thought they'd be, the one pictured full frontal looking like it's farting. But I like the planner pages, the dashboards and even the unicorn die cuts in a sea of sequins. 

The breakfast theme of the other kit is unusual as themes go but I'm very happy with the teatowel, who doesn't like a pictorial teatowel, decorative AND functional? This month's box of goodies is almost as good as the 'bunnies' one. But that'll be an entirely different post...

Links:

bloowabbit facebook page

L'Occitane website

Donal Skehan website

PlanWithJade etsy shop

Yankee Candles website

Happie Scrappie website

Lucky Dip Club website

Tomorrow's blog: Art Process: illustration

Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.