Hello April!

My Papergang box for April is very pink!  And a few days later than usual, April seemed to have snuck up on me.

Once again the stationery in the box is something I'm unlikely to have chosen and bought myself, but like last months now that it's here I'm glad that it is. I think the point of these boxes is the surprise and gift element and if that means pushing you away from your norms and comfort zone.  

It's all pretty and functional enough that it will be used, but that may not be immediately.  I'm fine with that as I often have a stash of things that are waiting for the right occasion.  As well as the usual month card, this month's notebook is a bullet journal, the page is full of dots and so with the rule (which does have numbers on and just hasn't shown in the photograph) it can be kept neat.

My current blog planner is loosely based on a bullet journal, but it's quite freeform and not that pretty, but it works for me, especially as I can tick things off lists.  Some stickers and more uniformity would definitely help, so we'll see how that goes.

That card.  How true has that been so far this year.  There's been glimpses of sun, but the only sure way to have sun lately has been to bring your own.  It's not a bad saying in any case is it?

Also in the box were the stickers I mentioned before, a clear pink pouch which will get used and three chubby pencils. And as you can see with it all piled up, it is very pink.  This box is the last of my Christmas present subscription and it's been a great present. It's been a good reminder that to receive some treats every now and then is a good thing.  

Last month I contemplated extending the subscription for myself, so far I haven't, and I think I'll take a look around to look at other kinds of subscription boxes.  I'm not much into a beauty box, but I've seen some gin based boxes and some craft based boxes which could be more my thing.  If you've had subscription boxes that you've been impressed with then I'd be interested to hear about them.

Hello March!

And from the looks of things, or at least those things influenced by my stationery gift box, March is going to have a tropical, but pastel feel to it. If I'm honest, pastels aren't really my thing, they used to be. In the 80s they were a thing before the fluorescent trend, and I think I had my fill then. 

I loved wearing them at the time, but perhaps it was the scars from the pale pink dress I was wearing and refused entry to a nightclub I was trying to get into on Canvey of all places, that did it for me and pastels.  Nothing to do with the fact that I was way too young to be in the said nightclub, and despite being practice perfect on my fake date of birth I fluffed it when asked, no it was all to do with the pastel dress. Not even my white canvas boots helped, ah well, I'm sure I didn't really miss out...

There is so much detail in this month's Papergang box, the picture above was just the sleeve that it arrived in, sharing its Palm Springs look for anyone that cared to look.  The month card has a more prickly feel to it, the designs I mean, not the actual card as that would be wierd.

I'm learning that these are boxes that I'll just need to start using, I've a couple of weekly jotters/planners now and they are just too pretty not to use. It might seem strange but the hit with me this month was the pencil, with it's gold lettering of "Road trip plans" as that really is on my to do list, as our holiday to the States this autumn won't plan itself will it?

Palm Springs isn't on our list for that trip, but if they have pink polar bears - that is a pink polar bear right? - then maybe it could be an addition...  I've no idea where or how I'm going to use these stickers, perhaps I should be adding them to my blog notebook, which I've diligently and rather obsessively drawn squares on, just to cater to my need to tick things off a list. 

I really do have tick boxes, I just need to work on those ticks...

What do you think of the March Papergang box?  It's the second of the boxes I've shared here, I've already shared the box for February and I'm waiting for the right time to share, the final box in my gift subscription, April. All I'll say is it's a bit pink, it arrived early again and I'm already wondering if I should continue with this for another few months.

I mean, I don't need more stationery, but need doesn't really come into it with pretty stationery does it?

A stationery stash

This month I've cracked and had a bit of stationery shop. I'd like to say it was in honour of National Stationery Week but it took place a couple of weeks ago. I discovered that not that far away from the office is one of those out of town shopping places which has a TK Maxx on. And as I'd heard they did some good stationery one lunchtime I headed off.

I wasn't disappointed, I left with two notebooks and a notepad because as we all know, you can never have too many!

Here's the cover of the first notebook:

NOW OR NEVER
ONE OF THESE DAYS
SOONER OR LATER

Yes, I'm sure they're all things I say to myself at times!

The lined pages are edged with bright colours, and I really don't think it'll be too long before this notebook comes into action.

The second notebook - another pink, although I think this is more raspberry - has a felt cover, somewhere for a pen and plain numbered pages.  It was just too good to leave on the shelf.

My last notepad was something altogether more practical and something that's already been put to good use, because I do like a good list. The only thing is that with it being so big I'm enticed to add more to my list than we can do!  I've got around that, I think, by having different lists on the go for different things. 

So far I've gone one for house things, one for the garden, one for the allotment, one for planning our next trip and another for blog tasks. That should keep me going for a bit!

What paper have you had in your life this month?