Archer and Olive Quarterly Subscription Unboxing: March 2021

I’ve been eyeing Archer and Olive notebooks for a while, and have finally gotten my hands on some! Archer and Olive is a small female-owned business that uses 100% vegan materials and prides themselves on environmentally friendly packing. Their journals have been pretty popular in the bujo/bullet journal community because the thickness of the pages. They are 160gsm which is great for preventing ghosting and allowing for the use of different kinds of media, like watercolor and paint, which other popular journal brands (like Leuchtturm) typically can’t handle.

I’ve been using at Leuchtturm for the last few years. I really like that it has numbered pages and it handles fountain pen ink pretty well, but I haven’t been using all the pages before the end of the year. I’ve also been wanting to branch out lately and use paints more, which Leuchtturm’s thinner pages can’t really handle.

When I saw that the March quarterly subscription box from Archer and Olive was available, I had to grab it! I saw unboxings of the December box last year and had major FOMO. The last box was their first ever, and it ended up selling out in a day! Each box is full of subscription exclusive items that won’t appear anywhere else in their store, and is priced at $70 plus shipping (which as a US resident, was $6 for me). As is the case with my last new to me subscription box unboxing, I’ll be providing approximate retail value for each item below to see if I got my money’s worth!

The Unboxing

The items arrived in this gorgeous baby blue box. Everything was packed so beautifully, with each journal in their own protective case. It was like opening multiple presents all at once!

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The items included:

• A4 size dot grid notebook size (Brand new item! Estimated Retail: $36)
• A4 size lined notebook (Brand new item! Estimated Retail: $36)
• Canvas screen-printed tote bag (with pen loops built-in) (Brand new item! Estimated retail: $10)
• Traveler’s size (top) spiral bound sketchbook (Brand new item! Estimated Retail: $32)
• Four packs of sticker stickers (Retail: $17)
• Sheet of silicone stamps (Estimated Retail: $5)
• Two ink pads (black and gold) (Estimated Retail: $4)
• Arylic blocks (large and small) (Estimated Retail: $5)
• Five acrylograph pens (Retail: $17.50)

Estimated Box Value: $162 (That’s over twice the subscription cost!)

Overall, if you’re looking for bang for your buck from retail price, this box is a total steal! You get your moneys worth with the two notebooks alone, and everything else is pretty much a bonus.

I really love stamping, so I’m excited about the stamps that were included. There are some classic shapes that I’ve been missing from my collection that I can see getting a lot of use. I haven’t tested out the stamp pad quality yet (I typically like to use VersaMagic Drops which are chalk based and prevent bleeding on most paper), but really like that they included two colors. I don’t have a gold ink, so I’m happy to add it to my collection.

My favorite notebook of the three has to be the red compass lined notebook. I already have grand plans for this notebook….once I get a little better at painting and writing. (And therein lies my problem of never starting something if I’m worried it won’t be good enough!)

Would highly recommend this subscription and will definitely be continuing on – even though I’m worried about journal saturation after a few shipments. I guess that’s one of the benefits of a quarterly! Plus, I can always re-gift some surplus ones to my other journal-inclined friends.

Illumicrate Unboxing: February 2021

I’ve been getting Illumicrate for 5 months now, and have yet to be disappointed in a box. The book picks and the customizations done are by far my favorite of any book box on the market (other than Goldsboro’s Sci-Fi Fantasy Fellowship, which I consider a single-book subscription service). With the conversion from GBP to USD, the box (with shipping) costs around $62 from me. Of that cost, around $15 is shipping, which is unfortunate but I’m willing to pay it for the book. Illumicrate does offer a book only option, but the shipping for just the book is about the same as the shipping for the entire box, so the price difference only ends up being around $13.

What was in the box:

• A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth, signed by the author with pinkish purply edges (Retail: $20)
• Pin inspired by the book (Retail: $11)
• Wooden laser-engraved coaster inspired by Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (Retail Estimate: $5)
• Crescent City umbrella inspired by House of Earth and Blood (Retail estimate: $6)
• Ceramic Dish inspired by The Gilded Wolves (Retail Estimate: $8)
• Foiled print with art from The Falconer (Retail Estimate: $5)
• Hard case card holder inspired by The City We Became (Retail Estimate: $9)

Total Estimated retail price of items: $64

Overall, I am breaking about even on the total price I paid for this box. If you’re based in the UK, you get even more of a deal on these items! While I’m not a huge fan of all the fandoms represented in the box, they are all things that I can use without being invested in the stories, which is one of the reasons I prefer Illumicrate over other boxes.

The book is also absolutely STUNNING. I wasn’t a huge fan of the cover art when I saw it online, but it is absolutely gorgeous in person. It’s hard to capture in pictures, but the pink/purple edges match the wings of the character on the cover, as well as the foiled title on the hard case. These special editions are what make the entire box worth it to me – they are almost always customized with either unique cover art, sprayed /stenciled edges, additional foiling on the hard case, or some combination of the three. They also tend to hold their value in the resale market due to their exclusivity.

Fountain Pens: A Review of Four Edisons

I’ve recently become interested in fountain pens, and found a brand that I absolutely love – Edison pens!

It was hard for me to decide between models, and in the past few months I have now collected four different ones – both straight from retailers and in used groups like r/penswap on reddit. I wanted to write a little review in case anyone else relentlessly googles reviews of things they’re thinking of buying like I do. I’m not a fountain pen connoisseur by any means, it’s just a fun hobby because I enjoy writing things down, so this may not be the most technical review.

A little more about Edison pens: Founded by Brian Gray, all Edison pens are handmade in Milan, Ohio. Brian supposedly tests out/tunes all the nibs that leave the shop to make sure they’re working correctly. I can attest to the fact that I’ve had not trouble with any of the ones that I’ve received! There are two “lines” of pens: The Production Line, which are mass produced and sent out to retailers to sell (typically priced around $169, these only come in a limited range of models and colors in the cartridge/converter style), and the Signature Line which are small batch (sometimes one-offs) and come in a variety of models and crazy colors that can be custom ordered with other ink filling options (such as pump and piston fill). All of the pens that I have purchased so far have been Production line, although I can definitely see myself ordering a custom one in the future!

The Collier

The first Edison pen I got my hands on was the Collier in the color Rock Candy. I was really drawn in by this colorway – but be warned! – it is a lot darker in person than it is on most retailer websites. Make no mistake, it is still super gorgeous, and though it’s hard to capture in pictures there is a wonderful depth to certain areas of the acrylic. This particular acrylic has been desired as having an almost celluloid-like feel. It’s a little less slick than a traditional acrylic pen, which adds an interesting dimension. I have no plans to get rid of this pen, but I definitely don’t pick it up for long writing sessions because it is HUGE in my small hands. Even though the length is okay, the girth is large enough that my hands start to cramp up after a few minutes of writing. I would say this one is ideal for people with medium to large hands, or who like really wide grips.

The Pearlette

I was able to pick up a gently used Pearlette in the colorway Fingerpaint from a pen swap. This model has been discontinued in the “production line” although it’s still available for custom orders. Unlike the rest of the pens mentioned here, this comes with a Jowo #5 nib, which is smaller than the other pens. I have found I prefer the feel of the larger #6 nibs. Because I purchased this used, I did get a Bold nib which is not my usual choice – I prefer a fine to medium line. While I like the portability of this model, and the fact that the cap posts, I pick this one up to write with the least.

The Beaumont

My favorite of the bunch currently is the Beaumont in the Unicorn colorway! It is just a step bigger in the hand than the Pearlette, which makes it a bit easier to hold onto. It has the larger #6 Jowo nib that I really enjoy, and the cap posts as well (although it still fits nicely in the hand without the cap posted). I was lucky enough to get a pen with lots of the pink color which I LOVE! The acrylic swirls have a soft sparkle when in the sun, and some spots of a nice deep 3D effect.

The Menlo

My latest acquisition was on sale at Goulet Pens as a “bottom shelf” pen due to being gently used: The Menlo in the colorway Sweet Honey. I love the warm swirls of this acrylic, which is made by the same manufacturer as the aforementioned Rock Candy and has the same “celluloid-like” feel to it. This design to me is like the Collier and the Pearlette had a child. The length is similar to that of the Collier (and it has the larger #6 nib), only it has a girth closer to that of the Pearlette and is postable. When posted, the pen is a little on the longer side for my tastes, but the size of the barrel makes it more comfortable to write with for longer sessions than the wider Collier.

Final Ranking

Based on what pen I pick up the most (aka which ones are most usable and to my tastes), this is my ranking of favorites based on the Edison pens I’ve tried so far!

1. The Beaumont (Unicorn)
2. The Menlo (Sweet Honey)
3. The Collier (Rock Candy)
4. The Pearlette (Fingerpaint)

Ultimately, fountain pens are pretty personal and to tastes, but I hope these mini reviews helped someone make some more comparative distinctions between the models.

All Booked Up: 2020 In Review

This year has been one that no one expected. Because of the plethora of restrictions and cancelled plans, I was able to read over my original yearly goal of 70 books to reach 100! Overall, my rating for this year was on average lower than it has been in the past (an average of 3.6/5 Stars). I don’t think this is because I read bad books, but rather my personal tastes have changed and I know what I like. Some of my favorites of the year I didn’t even give five stars! I’ve been reading a lot more romance this year – but I think that may be partially attributed to the fact that it provides more of a light escape amidst all the heavy topics and events of the year.

Some of my favorites of the year (in no particular order) were:

You can see more of my favorites (and longer reviews since I’ve been bad at updating the blog this year) on my Goodreads page.

What were some of your favorite reads this year?

I majorly failed in my goal to spend less money on books this year – actually adding more book boxes to my active subscriptions. I did end up cancelling Fairyloot and Owlcrate earlier in the year because their book picks weren’t really speaking to me anymore, but I’ve kept up with the Goldsboro Sci Fi Fantasy Club and Illumicrate. I love both of their book picks and items so far, even if the overseas shipping (from the UK to the US) is a little high. I wish there was a US based box more focused on adult and crossover sci/fi fantasy like these two! (If you know of any I’m missing, please drop a comment!) I’ve been continuing Book of the Month (which has really helped diversify my reading) and I also signed up for The Strand Book Hookup box which is quarterly and am still awaiting my first. One of my goals is to go on a near total ban next year – limiting myself to one book a month (unless it’s an anticipated preorder) plus my three boxes.

If you want to read more about my 2021 reading goals, check out that post HERE.

The Book HookUp Box Review

The Book HookUp is a quarterly box put out by the well known The Strand Bookstore based in New York City. Well…spoiler alert: it was a total disappointment.

I ordered this during the most recent #SavetheStrand wave which was not without controversy (read more about that here). There were some pretty glowing review of it on YouTube and various blogs, and I was excited there was an option for Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans. The price was $50 including shipping which is about on par with what other book boxes are (Owlcrate is around $40, and my Illumicrate which ships from the UK is around $64 after conversion and international shipping). Unfortunately, the amount and quality of the items was not up to par with the aforementioned companies.

What was in the box?

• To Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu (retail value $27.99) with Signed Bookplate – it wasn’t communicated that this would be a bookplate, and this signed book has already been available in their shop for a few weeks, so there wasn’t really anything super special about receiving this unfortunately.
• The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch (A remainder mark is present on this book, meaning it was marked for clearance. For this reason I’m saying it was around $4 because that’s the price used copies are selling for online).
• Alien Socks by SockSmith (retail value $8)
• Chameleon Cold Brew Coffee (retail value around $3)
• A bottle of olive oil (hopefully free because honestly who the heck thought of putting olive oil in a book box that doesn’t involve cooking or some other activity that uses olive oil. I’ll be generous and say it cost the box $3)

Total estimated retail value: $46

Remember that these boxes often pay less than retail value for items because they buy in bulk/are given discounts from publishers for selling/distributing a large amount of a book. Even considering the shipping cost, the profit margin for The Strand was decently high. I’m spoiled with my Illumicrate boxes which contain a lot more items that are in my opinion more useful and pretty.

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The Verdict

I am unfortunately not being hyperbolic when I say that this is the worst book box that I have ever received. Other than the disjointed items inside (coffee and olive oil and socks?), the value wasn’t very good for the consumer, and the olive oil exploded in the box and got all over the paperback book (at least it wasn’t the hardback).

Which brings me back to – WHO THOUGHT OF PUTTING OLIVE OIL IN A BOX FILLED WITH PAPER GOODS. Like, I seriously hope that they were given this condiment (?) for free because there is no other reason I can think of for why it is in this box. It’s not a cooking box, it doesn’t come with some weird recipe for face masks or anything. Honestly, I’m throwing it right in the garbage because it’s leaving a puddle in my sink.

Definitely don’t recommend this box to anyone – I guess COVID happened to it’s quality (because those YouTube reviews seemed pretty glowing), but seeing what other small companies are continuing to put out in this current financial climate I don’t think that’s a valid argument.

If you’re looking for a good book box, do NOT pick up The Book HookUp.

Monday Mood

Making Taylor Swift Folklore Merch – for less than half the price!

Today I’ll be creating a DIY version of a new sweatshirt available for Taylor Swift’s album Folklore. This sweatshirt is retailing for $60 (!!!), so I figured I’d rather use a blank sweatshirt and other crafting supplies I had and make a version of this sweatshirt for myself (using lyrics instead of the album title). Using materials I had at home, I ended up spending less than $30 making this (I bought a sweatshirt, three types of dye – even though you only need two, and the Cricut iron on vinyl).

For this tutorial, I use my Cricut machine to cut out the vinyl image. If you do not have a Cricut to cut vinyl, you could always print out the folklore font and trace it onto the sweatshirt, then color it in with fabric marker. Or if you’re super crafty, you could hand embroider the design using embroidery floss!

Supplies:

*none of these are affiliate links, they are just links to the products*

White sweatshirt – Hanes Men’s Ultimate Cotton Sweatshirt (higher cotton content works better for tie dye brand I use)

Tie Dyeing:

• Light gray tie dye or a mixture (for this tutorial, I used some on hand Rit Dye in colors Tan and Charcoal Gray. Pearl Gray would also probably be a good fit for this project.)
• If you’re using Rit Dye, you will also want the ColorStay Dye fixative
• 16 oz. plastic squeeze bottle (Or equivalent. You can take an empty water bottle and poke a hole in the cap if these bottles aren’t available.)
• Rubber bands (If you don’t have any handy, use dental floss!)
• Cooling rack (For draining tie dye away from fabric. I’ve balanced my sweatshirt on top of open Amazon boxes before and it worked fine.)
• Saran plastic wrap

Vinyl Decal:

• Cricut Machine
• Cricut Everyday Iron On in color Clay
• Folklore font (IM Fell DW Pica)
• Iron or Cricut Easypress
• Towel or Easypress mat to iron on

Before you start:

Make sure that your sweatshirt is prewashed before tie-dying so that the dye stays better. This makes sure that the fabric is clean and doesn’t have anything leftover from production or the store that can interfere with the dye.

Tie Dying:

I’ve really gotten into using Rit Dye for my tie dye projects because it’s faster than Tulip and there are more neutral color options. Rit has a very helpful YouTube tutorial on how to tie dye using their projects, but just in case you don’t want to watch the whole thing, I’ve written a general summary.

1. Dampen your sweatshirt in warm water and fold into desired tie dye pattern. To mimic the merch available on the TS website, we are going to do a scrunch pattern. This just means that you scrunch up the front of the sweatshirt tightly, and then rubber band it all together. (You can see this technique at time 3:54 in the tutorial above.)
2. Measure out two cups of hot water into squeeze bottle and mix in dye. For this project, I mixed 1/4 teaspoon Tan and 1/4 teaspoon Charcoal Gray. (Upon application, it looked darker than it turned out being after coming out of the wash.)
3. Place sweatshirt on cooling rack and begin to apply tie dye. Keep in mind that the areas located in the scrunched/folded sections will remain white, even if the outer layer is dyed. Because my t-shirt was so tightly bunched, I applied the tie dye relatively heavily because I knew the majority would remain folded and lots of white patches would remain. Flip sweatshirt over and repeat for the other side.
4. Let the sweatshirt sit with the dye for 30 minutes, then apply the Rit Dye Fixative. Prepare dye fixative by mixing two cups of hot water and two tablespoons of dye fixative in a squeeze bottle, then apply liberally over front and back of sweatshirt. If you don’t have a dye fixative, it’s encouraged to let your t shirt sit in the hot sun to help the dye fix to the shirt. This ensures that the color does not bleed into the white areas, and there is less bleeding out of the fabric over time.
5. Wrap the sweatshirt completely in plastic wrap. Place it in the microwave (with some paper towels under it) and microwave for 2:00 minutes. This helps to heat fix the dye into the fabric.
6. Once the shirt has completely cooled, unwrap and rinse in cold water until the water runs clear. This means that most of the loose dye has come out of the fabric.
7. Wash the sweatshirt separately using a gentle soap (no fabric softener!) with an old towel to catch any extra dye that comes off in the wash, and dry as normal.

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Vinyl Decal:

1. Download font used for folklore album cover/art (you can get it for free – IM Fell DW Pica). Open up Cricut Design Space and type out desired words. Or if you’re lazy, I’ve attached a .png of two different styles of the folklore album name at the bottom of this tutorial that you can import into Design Space. (Note: This text is a bit finicky in Design Space, so there are portions that may need to be “sliced” and moved to be more even. If you’re not sure how to do this, HERE is a quick tutorial.)
2. Try on your sweatshirt to get an idea of how large you want the text to be, and change the dimensions of your text.
3. When everything looks good, it’s time to make the project! Fix the iron-on shiny side down to standard grip Cricut mat.
4. Click “Make” in Cricut Design space. Make sure that Iron On is selected on the material dial located on the Cricut. MAKE SURE THAT THE MIRROR TOGGLE IS SELECTED. This will ensure that the image is cut backwards and will iron on correctly.
5. Feed the material into the Cricut and let the machine do its thing!
6. Cut around the image and weed out all of the vinyl material except for the desired words.
7. When using the Cricut EasyPress, I use the Cricut Heat Guide which tells you what temp and how long to set your press for. For this project, it is 315°F with 5s preheat before laying down your vinyl, and 30s for application. The Heat Guide has full instructions for each step. For iron application this Tutorial was helpful before I got the EasyPress.
8. Let the vinyl completely cool before peeling the plastic off, and VOILA, (Semi)-Official TS Merch!

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I would love to see your finished results if you try this for yourself! If you have any suggestions for updating this post, or any ideas for future tutorials, let me know in the comments!

folkloreFOLKLORE.SVG DOWNLOAD

the-folklore-albumTHE FOLKLORE ALBUM.SVG DOWNLOAD

RunDisney: Prepping for my first half marathon

Around two months ago I made the decision to start training to run a half marathon. My decision was based off of a lot of factors – a wish to be more fit now that sedentary office life is starting to take a toll, and the fact a lot of my friends had decided to start training towards the same goal being the main influences.

To help motivate myself, I chose a race date before starting my training so I had a definitive goal to train for (and couldn’t push anything off!). This initial research into the running world was how I stumbled upon all of the RunDisney races! I decided upon registering for the Disney Princess Half Marathon because Disney Princesses have been such a large part of my life. The participants for this race are mainly other women, and I’m so excited to run with my fellow princesses! I’m also excited to experience Florida in February and hopefully escape the cold of a Delaware winter.

This of course means that I have to plan a Disney vacation around my race day! Originally, I was going to go by myself but my wonderful and supportive family decided to make a trip of it and we are now venturing to the land of magic for five days. The race day is the second to last day of our trip so I’m curious how navigating the exhaustion and diet of an amusement park is going to be with the running goal in mind.

Now going into this training, I was and am by no means an experienced runner. Most of my running experience comes from sports played in high school (which I haven’t played competitively in about 6 years) and short runs in gyms. As I said earlier, I feel that my job has been taking a toll on my fitness because I’m not outside exercising as much as I was in college, so forcing myself to stick to a plan was necessary.

There are two different running plans that I decided upon trying in case anyone else wants to try to follow one themselves! RunnersWorld is for people who can already complete a “long mile” run of 6 miles, which was about my fitness at the start of the run. However, the specific mileage goal each week was hard for me to reach with a busy work in social schedule. For this reason, I’ve switched to using the RunDisney training plan!

The RunDisney plan is a bit more lax than the RunnersWorld with time goals for runs during the week and a distance goal for the weekends. I also like the explanation of run/walk division for long races (I’m a huge fan of my mid-run walks). There are different training plans based on distance and experience level on THIS page if you want to check other options out.

I’m planning on keeping this blog updated on my journey so stay tuned!