Subscription Boxes - A Surprise Treat, For Yourself, Each Month or The Perfect Last Minute Gift

Subscription boxes are the big thing at the moment and for good reason. Not only are you getting value for money. Beauty Boxes for £23, with the contents worth £108 (approx) and in these times of austerity its nice to treat yourself….as reward, as it were, at the end of the month for paying the bills and working hard. 

I love getting mail and have done since I was a kid, the only difference being now is that I no longer stalk the postman from an upstairs window. Quite frankly because I would be there all day, our postman's round is so erratic. 

So when i heard about The Lucky Dip Club via craft magazine Mollie Makes, I had to get myself some of that action. Owner and founder Leona Baker sends out a set amount of Lucky Dip boxes and due to demand this amount increases every month. On the first of the month, around 7am, the website opens up to take orders with the option of a one off box (£18) or sign up for a monthly subscription (£15) or 6 monthly subs (£75). Postage and Packing is free within the UK and anywhere outside of the UK is a flat rate of £9.

I missed out the first month I tried to order because I foolishly underestimated the demand. I thought I’d place my order when I got back from the school run at 9am. I was sadly met with the Sold Out message. So the following month I set my alarm for 7am and also decided to to go straight to a monthly subscription to ensure I could get my goodies fix. After all you can cancel your subscription at any time.

I was already like a kid at Christmas just with the anticipation of the box arriving and it must have rubbed off onto my 6 year old son, Callum. My first boxes theme was Woodland Wonderland and before I’d even got the string of the parcel (Old fashion style) he was wrestling me to get inside it, like he was at a Black Friday Sale. And as we pulled goodies out from the tissue paper, I was suddenly reminded of my 80’s & 90’s pen pals. We used to send each other little gifts like smelly rubbers and little necklaces and if you were as lucky as me to have an American penfriend you got amazing stuff like Hello Kitty Plasters. At that time, in England, all we had was orangey elastaplast!

DIY Fox Sleep Mask

Personalised Owl Badge

It’s difficult to believe that The Lucky Dip Club has only been going for 6 months. Leona currently works from a little table in her lounge, making up each box individually with Handmade, Vintage and surprises. In the new year she is moving to a bigger flat that will allow her to have a whole room dedicated to her business. Given that Leona mailed out a total of 700 boxes for the December campaign it’s no surprise she needed to expand her workspace.  

700 December Boxes - There'll be 800 in January

Leon 'Lucky Dip" Lounge Office

There are plenty of new and exciting things to come, for Lucky Dip Club, in 2015. There will be a 3rd Lucky Dip Cat Club Box launching in February and these extra special boxes will become a bi-annual event. Leona will also be collaborating with Artists, Illustrators and Small Businesses, from around the UK.

There will also be a packaging redesign and the boxes will come will a pull out pamphlet that will contain giveaways, interviews with the collaborators, DIY tips for the Craft Kits and what inspiration is behind the themes of the boxes. 

Sneak Peek of December Box

Lastly, and you may want to brace yourself for this, but in January the theme is ‘Valley of the Unicorns’ and will feature the very first collaboration!

Speaking of very firsts brings me to the next subscription box I want to tell you about. Literally just launched this December is the PaperHaul box. 

My interested was first piqued, again by social media, when I saw this tweet: “Do you have friends who love postcards, snail mail, Washi tape, tags and paper loveliness? Please share #Paperhaul with them”

I have slowly been getting back into Snail Mail, and whilst I’m never going to be as prolific as 14 year old me I’m still passionate about what stationary I use. So with the reignited memory of childhood memories from Lucky Dip Club I couldn’t help myself. Getting gorgeous stationary and it comes in a parcel to your door? One bird, two stones in my book.

Having found out about Paperhaul in September it’s been an anxious wait until December to receive the box, with sign up in November. It was well worth the wait though, well worth it.

I was almost giddy with excitement opening up the box, I knew what it was because it came in a box with a lovely Paperhaul sticker on it, and Callum tried to stifle his enthusiasm this time but on seeing a card with a Moped in he was as keen as me, to rifle through the treasure trove.

Postcards

Paperhaul Boxes

Vehicle Washi Tape

Snail Mail is not the only paper passion that Paperhaul satisfies. There are beautiful tags, craft & Scrapbooking papers, and Washi tape. So it’ll come as no surprise that this fledgling box has made The Guardian Top Ten Subscription Christmas Gifts. 

Paperhaul boxes cost a flat rate of £10 a month plus Postage & Packing as follows:

UK                 £2 1-2 Working Days

European £5 5-7 Working Days

Rest of World £6 10-16 Working Days

There is currently no subscription scheme, other than the Gift Subscription, so sign is by the 1st of the following month. So sign up by Jan 1st 2015 to receive your first box after Jan 14th. There is no contract so there is nothing to cancel if your circumstances change. 

*10p from each box sold goes to UK Charity Postpals.

Paperhaul is the brainchild of another small business - Crafty Creative owners, and sisters, Claire & Isobel. Their craft based subscription box launched back in July 2012, evolving from themed boxes to specific craft kits.

Isobel then emigrated to Canada in June 2013 and in October this year she left Crafty Creatives. Her sister Claire took over, with a 6 month old baby strapped to her and launched Paperhaul. Claire is hands on with both the assembly of the boxes and being a literal working mum. 

Lucky Dip Club                                    Paperhaul                                                    Postpals

Our Girl

It's been a whole two weeks since the final episode of ‘Our Girl’ aired, so this is more of an appreciation than a review BUT this may, inadvertently, contain SPOILERS.

I was lucky enough to spot and watch the original two part drama (Pilot), starring Lacey Turney, last year and I couldn’t praise it enough back then.

So when I heard that Series 1 was being filmed early this year, I got that tingly feeling. The feeling that nearly makes you wish the Summer away, so that you can get straight to the good Winter telly. I couldn’t have begun to anticipate just how good it was going to be. 

The writing is of course the foundation to any successful drama and by golly did Tony Grounds get it right. Having had the basis of the storyline Tony Grounds also spoke to service personnel in order to flesh out the bones authentically. Add that to the fantastic acting skills of Lacey Turner (Medic Molly Dawes), Arinze Kene (Cpl Kinders), Ben Aldridge (Capt James) and Iwan Rheon (Smurf) to name but a few and you have a drama that is so close to the truth that it triggered my PTSD. 

I was that ‘fresh out the box’ (Female) troop, on her first tour of duty, in a war zone. I put female in brackets because the sex of the service personnel doesn’t define them but it does make some situations exceptional. I was one of only 3 women to 800 men when I arrived in Bosnia, you can’t help but feel a little intimidated. That you need to prove to them that you can look after yourself but able to keep the back of the rest of your platoon. Watching Dawes arrive in Afghan, was almost like watching myself arrive in Bos, in a weird out of body experience kind of way. 

Lacey Turner as Medic Molly Dawes. Photo via walesonline.co.uk

When Dawes went on R&R, she experienced what so many of us have. Not being able to articulate what we have seen and done. Not being able to explain our reactions to a car back firing or why we subconsciously avoid walking on the grass….’stay on the hard’. This is one of the reasons that Smurf becomes so infatuated with Molly, its not only a hero worship for saving his life akin to Lois Lane and Superman but also that no one else, not even the rest of their platoon, can understand what happened in that life or death moment.

Its not that we think our civvy friends and family won’t understand, but sometimes we don’t always fully understand what has happened ourselves. 

We have been functioning 24/7 in survival mode. I found being in camp almost Big Brother-esque. Minimal contact with the outside world, someone else controls your mealtimes, activities etc. When you step outside the gates some of the ‘audience’ not only want to vote you off but want to kill you. The only place you go by yourself is to the bathroom. Service personnel are high functioning machines, thats the only way you have a chance of surviving, whilst you do the job you came to do.

And then after all that adrenaline, comes the heart wrenching return to the UK and what that means. Fellow troops killed, friends and Oppo's injured, no longer able to do the job that has been their life. The effect that has on everyone that they’ve ever met them. A ripple effect that leaves no one untouched. “I gave the Army my two boys and they just give me back a flag” Smurf's Mum 

Ultimately ‘Our Girl’ showed and reminded us of the immense courage our troops have, who constantly return to these war-zones time after time to do the same the job. It might be a different country, it might be a different enemy but war is war. 

We don’t do enough, I feel, to recognise and thank our troops. It’s almost as if we are too embarrassed to bring it up but I can’t figure out why. If the ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” installation at the Tower of London has showed us anything, its that the British public need to something to prompt them. “This is not about war or barbarity …. it’s about loss and commemoration” Tom Piper, Creator of Memorial.

Tower Of London. Photo via Historical Royal Palaces & fastcocreate.com

Fantastic writing, acting and production, of the same calibre and subject as ‘Our Girl’ , brings it all to the forefront of our minds. Makes the 2 dimensional obituaries of the fallen into 3 dimensional people with lives, families and friends and I think that it is the very least we can do. To help people speak about their experiences, and share their loved ones story.

I hope that the BBC does commission a 2nd series of ‘Our Girl’, not just for it’s drama but to remind us of the sacrifice all service personnel past, present and future make on behalf of our freedom.

Very Important NB: I wasn't able to name all of the actors involved in 'Our Girl' but they couldn't have gotten any of the banter more spot on and for that they deserve recognition too, so please check them out via IMDB - Our Girl

Celebrating World Ostomoy Day with Gizmo

Happy World Ostomy Awareness Day!

People often ask me how I cope with my permanent ileostomy , as if it has had a negative effect on my life the Surgeons removed my diseased (Ulcerative Colitis) Large intestine and Colon, it not only saved my life but also improved it.

So today I am celebrating all the things I have been able to do since I got my Super Stoma AKA Gizmo

I’m able to look after my son myself

I went to my first festival including camping (and I’ve been back since)

I can eat whatever I want

I can now drink red wine without getting a hangover

I can go anywhere I want, without worrying where the nearest toilet is

Go on long haul holidays, even all the way to Australia by myself

I don’t live in trackkies or PJ’s – I can wear whatever I want

I get 6 pairs of free prescription knickers a year AKA my Super Pants. (I kid you not ladies these are just like a pair of Spanx)

I’ve met an amazing array of people, young and old, with IBD and/or Stoma’s. All of who have added to this amazing journey.

I honestly believe that had fate not had a hand in whether my ileostomy would be permanent or not, I would have still stayed with the stoma rather than have a reversal.

NB: If this is your first visit to my blog and you'd like to know my UC & Ileostomy back story then please scroll down! Thank you for taking the time to read this far.

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