My First Papergang Subscription Box: April 2017- Arden Rose X OhhDeer

 Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog!If you didn't already know this about me, I love getting new stationary. I always remember when I was still in school, before the new school year began I'd go to my local W H Smiths and treat myself to new stationary for the coming year and it would make me so excited and motivated for starting school. Fast forward many years and although I don't attend school anymore, I still get that same excited feeling when I go into a stationary shop: beautifully patterned notebooks, delicately illustrated cards and quirky pens and pencils. A good example of this is my stationary haul I did a few years ago now. I think it stems from my creative background. From Art being my favorite subject throughout school to my degree in Illustration and Design. I love looking at other designers works and can find it really inspiring.
OhhDeerI came across OhhDeer a few years ago after coming across some of their beautiful notebooks in Urban Outfitters and on Asos. It was only more recently I would buy directly through the site once I realised there was one. I'm a huge Gemma Correll fan and upon discovering they stocked her illustrative work I was over the moon. I also discovered some more amazing artists such as Lucie Sheridan , Sophie Corrigan , David Olenick and many more. They stock stationary, books, home wares, post cards and gift wrap to name a few.
PapergangPapergang is a monthly subscription box by OhhDeer of stationary which includes a good mix of stationary pieces from what I've seen previously and from what I've noticed in my first box and from what I gather, each month has a specific illustrator that designs pieces for that box. The products inside the box do go up on the website eventually too. However the beauty of the this box is that you pay around £10 for a box, but the total of the products altogether can cost much more than that so I think personally it's definitely worth the money. I first heard of Papergang after watching Vicky from VVNightingale 's Youtube videos of her Papergang unboxing videos. I was really intrigued by the boxes and really enjoyed seeing what stationary was included in the boxes each month so finally decided I'd treat myself and order one for myself.
The DesignersFor this month, when I first signed up for the subscription, it didn't mention who was the designer originally. Then about a week or so later it mentioned Arden Rose. I thought this was a unique take on what I've previously seen, having a youtuber involved in the creation of the pack. So I was looking forward to seeing what was inside as I love her channel. From what I gather, I don't think Arden specifically designed anything in the box (correct me if I'm wrong!) which is bit of a shame if that is the case as it would have been interesting to have a youtuber design their own box, but it's not the end of the world if it isn't the case. Perhaps she chose some products she liked from the website and that was put together. I'm just taking guesses here! I did notice in the note you get with the box that the products inside were designed by both OhhDeer design team and Amy Lesko. Anyway enough of the back story I'll stop rambling now and show you what is inside!
What's Inside
A Beautifully Designed Box with an Origami rose to makeA rose. Arden Rose. I see what you did there OhhDeer!
A Message with Product ListingThis is really useful as I love seeing who designed what so that if I like their design style I will definitely check them out and keep an eye out for their work again in future.Sticker setPersonally sticker sets aren't my thing. I have a few for my journal but I don't really care much for them, however I do think this set is really cute and I do like Amy's illustrative style.Two cards: A Birthday card & A Thank You cardI like this idea of getting cards inside the box. My mam is one of those people who always seems to have a box of spare cards lying around which I think is great in case of an emergency like a forgotten birthday. So inspired by my mother I'm going to start my own collection of cards now with the cards I receive in this box. To Do list notepad, a pencil & a June calendarThis is great! I'm always on the look out for to do list notepads as I'm an avid list maker so I'm in my element with this. Also I really like the cute illustrations on it. I didn't realize straight away until I took these photographs but the pencil has a cute little smiley face on it too which I thought was a sweet touch. And the calendar is something I'd never come across before I looked on OhhDeer's website but I think they are really useful, especially to those of you who like the bullet journal as it would save you having to draw out your own monthly calendar, you could add a pop of color by sticking on of these in your journal instead.
A5 PlannerThis is so cute. I like the layout inside, very simple in design and straightforward to understand. I love the design on the cover especially and also it's the perfect size to carry around with you in your bag.
VerdictOverall I think this is a brilliant subscription box for those of you, like myself who love discovering different illustrators and designers. It's a great way to give them that extra exposure for their work and of course it's brilliant for those of you that have a big love of stationary too. It also shows great products that would be great for gift ideas, it's really affordable and you definitely get your moneys worth. I'm very happy with this box and I'm already highly anticipating the next one!And also thanks again to Vicky for her videos that Let me know what you think of this box below :)Thanks for reading!