Unboxing Deco Art X Crafts Delight Beach Please Kit

Because of a weekend trip to the Eleven Islands here in Panubigan, Zamboanga City, I suddenly remembered that I have the perfect crafts kit to complement my experience and to journal with. Deco Arts and Crafts Delight launched a crafts kit in a box May of this year that’s just perfect for any beach theme. After all, BEACH stands for Best Escape Anyone Could Have, clever huh?

Best Escape Anyone Could Have (BEACH)

The kit came in a flat white box. I’m keeping the thank you card and using it in my notebook, nice prompt for gratitude if you ask me.

I begin all interest with washi, and for this kit there’s two, the umbrella and printed starry washi. And there’s my shell prop which I brought home some time ago, years ago maybe.

Washi from the kit

Here’s the collection of journal cards from the kit. The more colorful top ones are freebies from any purchases from the shop, (this isn’t my only purchase) the set doubles as a travel journal cards on the side. The bottom journal cards are the ones that are included in the kit and the cutest ones I like are the Waves, Lemonade and Bikini journal cards.

Summer and beach journal cards

The dividers are cute, and my favorite is the seashell, though the bikini one is also cute.

Dividers

 There are ten ephemera stickers and I really like the fishies, the seashell and pink lemonade.

Sticker ephemera

Lastly, the stickers feature functional, matte sheets that can be written on. I like the boxed quotes, they really relate to what summer and beach days are all about. I like the Weekend banner on the third sticker sheet and the cute beach accessories.

The sunscreen bottle can be a good reminder for me to always be equipped with sunblock and to remind myself that prevention of sunburn is always important.

Functional stickers

What do I think of it overall? The kit could have used some more beach or ocean themed washi for this kit. But I have some seahorse and seashell washi already. But the stickers and journal cards are something that I can definitely use.

The Beach Please kit is no longer available, but there are other kits to be launched from Deco Art and Crafts Delight. Be sure to watch out for announcements on Instagram, that’s where I place my orders.

Deco Art Instagram

Crafts Delight Instagram

Disclaimer: This is not a paid post. All opinion are the blogger’s own.

Unboxing Déco Art X Crafts Delight Tara Viaje Kit

It’s been a while since I’ve done an unboxing of a stationery kit, but this is sure one way to break the monotony of my blog and you know me, anything travel is always worth turning a head to.

For this month, Deco Art and Crafts Delight decided to launch a vintage travel themed stationery and crafts kit and boy oh boy, did it arouse my curiosity. Another reason why I raised my hand to this edition is because I have another leisurely travel scheduled next month (hello, long weekend) and it’s definitely going to be very useful for me.

I always prep a traveler’s notebook every time I leave, whether it’s standard or pocket sized, what’s important to me is preserving the memories, writing down thoughts and experiences while in transit especially if they involve the significant people I’m traveling with.

So…. On to the unboxing….

Burnt edges of Chinese Newspaper add a nice touch to the package

The packaging alone is a nice surprise, the twine and burnt edges of the Chinese newspaper ties up  with the vintage travel theme nicely. 

What's inside the wrapped package

Onto the other additions in the kit are two washi tapes, a wooden stamp and a crystal pen in a beautiful copper-ish color. Mental note: test it out later. The washis are a constant in any Deco Art and Crafts Delight subscription kit but the pen and stamp are a new addition to this set. Still a welcome touch. 

Vintage travel themed washi

Here’s a close up look of the washis.

More paper goods

A peak into some more of the goodies in the kit, there are doilies, ephemera, stickers and journal cards.

Journal cards 

Looking at the journal cards, my favorites are the vintage map, Say Yes to New Adventures, and My Goal Is To Run Out Of Pages In My Passport. That’s not far from the truth, sista!

Sticker ephemera 

Now the ephemera stickers are small, so I didn’t take them out of their little plastic pouch because I’m afraid to lose some in case. This reduces the need to bring a good glue during travel next month so it’s easy to just write away all the thoughts and experiences. 

Loads of vintage travel stickers

Lastly, there are the functional stickers that come with almost every monthly kit. But I think the newer additions are the washi strips and larger boxes. I'm not really a fond of the icon stickers but I guess I can find some use for my daily planner at work. 

It’s the first time that Deco Art and Crafts Delight launched a full kit and with the unboxing of this one, I can say that so far, so good. I hope that they can continue the vintage theme, like café, or fashion. But in case a mermaid kit comes up, you can expect that I’ll be one of the first to also sign up for it.

Would you care to get a box of this kit too? Simply reach out through Insta! As of this publication, there are only 2 kits left so you better hurry!

Deco Art Instagram

Crafts Delight Instagram

Disclaimer: This is not a paid post. All opinion are the blogger’s own. 

A Writing Icon: The Fountain Pen

“I was thinking of getting you a fountain pen for a wedding present, but then I realized you already had one.”

That’s the scene in The Sound of Music with the very regal and fabulous Baroness Schraeder played by Eleanor Parker that reminds me of why the fountain pen is an icon.

It’s rare to spot a fountain pen in one’s desks these modern days, but it continues to be an icon of a writing instrument among those old-school pen and paper writers.

A close friend of mine still writes handwritten letters with a fountain pen on parchment paper in the age of computers and Facebook messenger.

A fountain pen comes in many different varieties such as capped or retractrable, fine or thick nibs, pocket-sized or the regular length. Basically and by definition, a fountain pen is a writing instrument with a reservoir or cartridge from which the ink flows continuously to the nib.

The list of masters who use the fountain pen in writing their works are Neil Gaiman, Simone de Beavoir, Stephen King, Dylan Thomas and Claire Messud.

Never have I expected to actually own a fountain pen because the ones I usually see are the posh ones which must cost a small fortune already. But thanks to my crazy friends A and M, I have a simple but meaningful fountain pen with my name engraved on it. It came as a surprise and these are the times when I feel so grateful to have thoughtful friends who know me so well.

I’ve used the pen mostly for signing cheques and policies as well as bank transactions. I received a box of refill cartridges with it and I’ve already consumed half of the cartridges. I like the cartridge system to minimize having to frequently dip into ink and also avoid any mess I might cause because honestly, my desk is far from very neat. Though I’m anticipating that I have to look for replacements pretty soon because I live and work far from town and the local and only bookstore might not carry it here LOL. Let’s just say fountain pens are not very popular in this city and only a handful of people actually use it.

But they do make very beautiful and thoughtful Christmas (or even wedding) gifts. 

So what do you think of the fountain pen? Would you consider acquiring one or are you going to stick to a good sign pen for your signature? Share your thoughts with me by leaving me a comment. Cheers!

Scribbles: Quirks and Novelties Haul + Thoughts

Some time ago I did mention that I will  be introducing a regular feature on stationery over here. I mean, who doesn't have a love for journals and stickers and handwritten letters (almost like calligraphy) and with the amount of kitschy-cute stationery abound these days, one's bound to notice right? 

I spotted this haul online from Cash Cash Pinoy and thought, why yes! I need a dedicated blogging notebook to jot down my posts and ideas and a place where I could keep track of all my report writing and dates due of each. Besides, you wouldn't believe how many My Gel pens I can empty in a month because of my scribbling and the post-it notes I have. I run out of post-it notes and my day is not the same again, ever. 

Back to the haul,  I chose the items carefully and narrowed my choices to the ones that reflect what it is that I really do-and that's writing for a living. After settling my payment, you could just imagine how curious and on top of that-very excited I felt to receive them. The ad did say 3 day shipping nationwide and there I was biting my lip from the excitement (must be due to the urge of instant gratification).

But the exchange of emails between me and the rep later would show that my orders will arrive over a month later from my purchase date-something that can get on my nerves. I can understand if shipping can take 3-5 days because I am in ZC and that's something I am already used to, but did I really have to wait for over a month? 

Another thing to note is to align my expectations with realities.

The site didn't provide measurements for the notebooks and they all came in single sizes so all the while I thought that I got good-sized notebooks, especially since I can scribble away like crazy for ideas and posts and things to do. 

This is what arrived.

It's a hot pink silicon bound blank-page notebook that's pocket-sized. At least I can take it anywhere with me. The blank pages may just be something I can doodle on. Its pages are also generous and makes the whole binding quite thick which kind of makes up for the size.

I like that there is a Keep Calm notebook for writers and I chose the one that came in my favorite color.  You can see that it is lined and has colored dividers, again it's not a big notebook and it sort of feels heavy but I think it's also due to the good quality paper. Its edges are a bit worn, it's something I don't fancy at all.

Finally, there is the attractive gel pen set that has assorted designs in pastel colors. If you look at the color labels closely, there are three varieties of blue and two types of green, yep- no brown. But then it's a set that writes fairly well and makes for good headings when I jot down notes on post-its.

All in all, I think that it's a good haul and I am just not satisfied with the notebook sizes because they are not what I expected, perhaps some measurement sizes would have been helpful. I prefer bigger notebooks though and was wishing that they could be used for the intended purpose.

Scribbles: For the Love of Writing and Cutie Patootie Stationery

HEART by Artistic Dreams by Abby Sy haul last year

I write for a living. 

It’s bloody different if I were just writing for myself and I were cursing in between pages of leather bound diaries because of how bad my day went. What if things turned out for the best? There would be a litany of gratitude that’s about two pages long. 

I’d like to think any person who still writes entries on a journal would react the same way. But-let’s go back to writing for a living.

I do. I write for a living. 

My adage is: If you need technical or creative outputs, call me. But I sure dang won’t complete your thesis for you-(edit, sure I could do that, spot grammatical errors and misspelled words, but don’t let me do all the writing for you, your thesis grade is something you have to earn). 

All my writing and brainstorming can sometimes get lost on pad paper. In fact, I’ve lost pad papers all over the place. 

This is where notebooks come in handy. I even plan my blog posts in notebooks and keep track of my writing assignments and meetings in notebooks. There’s the ever-present to-do list, structure of most reports I have to do (a concept note has a different format from that of an executive summary), and dates of meetings. 

With my need for stationery, I’ve decided to introduce a new feature section of my writing materials purchases which I do frequently. Allow me to tell you which gel pens are good, which post-it-notes do stick, and where to get cheap and cute notebooks, and useful executive gifts appropriate for professionals. School’s about to start next month, let’s also see how we can maximize a school supply budget for the kids, shall we? 

Stick with me, friends. Scribbles is the newest section here on Raisie Speaks. It’s birth is inspired by my need and love for writing and cutie patootie stationery. 

What’s your must-have writing instrument? Let me know!