As I am sure you all know by now, I love paper and a good subscription service! Also being a big fan of the girls over at
A Beautiful Mess I was very excited when they announced 'Messy Box'. I have had two boxes now so I thought it was about time I told you what I thought about it so far.
Lets start with the basics, if you live in the UK you will pay £15.75 (approx) every month if you sign up for 12 months like I have. This includes international shipping and all taxes etc. Which I think is a pretty sweet deal as I ended up paying £14.00 in Post office and customs charges alone for a parcel I had shipped from the U.S. recently.
You will in essence receive:
6 9x12" pattern pages
journalling cards 6 3x4" 6 4x6" and 12 3x3"
Then also a selection of embellishments, like brads, alphabet stickers, washi tape, transparencies, die-cuts, stamps etc.
Of course the idea is that you would also buy a 'Messy Book' album to use with all these items, but that isn't totally necessary. You can use any album you already have or just use the paper and embellishments for your own paper crafts as you choose.
So here is what I think of the box so far, I want to love it, and I do love parts of it. I think the price is great, I think the quality and quantity of products is just perfect, not too much and not too little, easy to use up all the bits in a month of paper crafts in time for the following month to turn up.
So far each month has a theme, which is a nice easy way to co-ordinate your pages. The only thing I think that is stopping me from absolutely loving it is that its not quite 'A Beautiful Mess' enough for me. The first box was a little more what I was expecting, and we are only on box two so it is hard to judge completely but this second box is a little soft for my taste. I am looking forward to a bit more of the signature style I love from these girls in future boxes. This is why I signed up for this box over some of the others out there. I guess I was hoping for more of the 'personality' and design I have seen in their '
Happy Mail' boxes to be evident in the Messy Box.
The other slight niggle (that I kind of expected) is the time it takes to arrive. I know it is because of the cheaper shipping and the fact that I'm in the UK but it is a little frustrating to see all the pics on Instagram of the box that I know I wont be getting for at least 10 days later. Maybe that is just the impatient paper-crafter in me though?
So if you love '
A Beautiful Mess' and want to get into an easy, fun photobook/ journalling/ scrapbooking system. I would highly recommend this subscription, even though this months theme was not my favourite, I will still be able to use all the pieces. I think it is absolutely worth the money and the quality of the products is fab. The joy of receiving a box of goodies every month is pretty lovely and it is a great way to build up a stash if you are new to these kinds of paper crafts.
I do hope that this review may have helped some of you who were thinking about subscribing. You can sign up at the
A Beautiful Mess shop and keep an eye out on their blog for ideas and inspiration with their
Scrapbook Sunday posts.
Sammy xxx
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