April Brimbles Box Reveal

**If you haven't received your box this month yet, you might want to not read!!**

It's time to reveal what was in the Brimbles Box this month, the month of April! if you haven't received yours yet you might want to stop reading! UK boxes should be with you by 3rd / 4th April and International after that.

If you would like to watch videos of unboxings from genuine customers as well as honest reviews from bloggers you can watch the YouTube Brimbles Box playlist As I say they are all very honest so you can get a better feel for what was inside. 

So what was in the box this month? Of course there is always a postcard from me which tells you more about the theme of the box:

All boxes follow the same theme but what you receive in your box may not be the same as what someone else received. You will have received a total RRP of £22.00 worth of products

All boxes received the following items that were available for box inclusion were:

• 1 x sheet of planner nerd stickers
• 1 x sheet of emoji stickers
• 1 x pack of ephemera / die cuts & journal cards
• 1 x roll of washi tape
• 1 x pack of sticky notes and tabs*
• 1 x planner nerd paper clip

* Designs and colours may vary from box to box

Those that ordered a planner box will have received an art (painted by me) dashboard as well as a planner charm*. You will have received either a Personal or A5 size depending on which box size you signed up for. 

And if you signed up for the Stationery box, instead of the planner charm and dashboard you will have received a pack of highlighter pens. The 'Big Box' subscribers got this uber cool desk tidy*!

As for the Happy Mail box this month:

• 1 x Roll of Washi Tapr
• 1 x Sheet of emoji stickers
• Pack of envelopes*
• 1 x sheet of Alpha Stickers
• Writing set which contains 10 x papers, 10 x envelopes and a sticker sheet
• Set of wooden alphabet stamps
• Ink pad

*Colour and design may vary

Total RRP value of contents: £20.50

I hope you like it, it was a lot of hard work sourcing a collection and putting it all together! At the time of writing I have some excess boxes available to purchase as a whole as well as some individual items so check out my online shop for those. 

See you next month for May’s box. Remember if you would like to order a subscription or a one off box and you would like that box to be the May one you can order up to and on 30th April from: www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/shop (whilst stocks last!!). Due to the bank holiday, May boxes will be shipping on: 3rd May 2016.

Oh and in case you missed the announcement on Facebook, by popular demand I have now introduced a monthly sticker subscription for those of you who would just like stickers and stickers only. So go and check it out and see what you think: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/brimbles-sticker-club/

Easter Themed Snail Mail Blog Hop

Well if you remember last week I gave you a little show of the Easter themed pocket letter and said to come back this week for the Design Team Easter Themed Snail Mail Blog Hop!

Well here you are and we have a variety of snail mail to share with you. Each of us have created a piece of snail mail to send to someone else. It might be a pocket letter or it could be something different. Whatever it is we hope we have inspired you in some way to get more creative with your pen palling.

Here are just some sneak peaks, or some teasers if you will!

OK so to start your blog hop all you need to do is to head on over to Stef's blog which is: http://novelteacorner.blogspot.com/ and there you will find more photos and a break down of how she created this. Stef will then link  you on to the next person, Zinia to see what she made who will link you to the next person and so on! If for whatever reason you have problems here are all the blog links..

Stef's Blog: http://novelteacorner.blogspot.com/

Zinia's Blog: http://abstractinspiration.com/

Margie's Blog: http://bumblesandfairytales.blogspot.co.uk/

Geraldine's Blog: http://geraldinejayne.com/

Daisy's Blog: http://www.mygreencow.co.uk/

Charlie's Blog: http://seasaltandpaper.com/

Of course you have already seen my creation but if you missed it here is the link: http://mrsbrimbles.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/easter-pocket-letter.html

Easter Pocket Letter

The lovely ladies on my design team and I were chatting about wouldn't it be cool to create something together and do a blog hop and some snail mailing. So we decided why not do an Easter themed swap. Errrr yeah, bunnies and the like, Hello! Durrrr! He he!

So everybody has been busy creating their pocket letters or snail mail and I will be showing them off altogether on the blog (my blog, the one you are reading right now) on Good Friday which is 25th March. So if you come back then you will be able to see a 'Master' blog post which will start off the Bunny Hop (I know it's really a blog hop but I just had to write bunny in there lol!). You will then be directed to all of the ladies blogs so you can see how they made their creations etc. Sound fun, you betcha!

What I thought I would do today is share with you the pocket letter that I created for my swap partner so that you could see that in more detail as when we kick off with the blog hop you won't see it so much.

Of course I filmed the process of me making it so that you could see how it all came together:

I am really rather please with how it turned out especially since I was a bit rusty and hadn't made any for a while. I went through a period of doing loads and it got a bit too much so I stopeed. (I am not looking to take any more swaps on at the moment).

I love the little details too!

This is how it looks all bundled up and ready to put in the envelope. I thought I would tie in a chocolate bunny lollipop just to kind of round it off and make it look 'sweet'.

I used a mix of items that I already had plus items that were in the March Brimbles Box. Here is a supply list for you:

Top left

• 'Ashley' Card Stock http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/ashley-12x12-paper-mme-hello-gorgeous/ 
• Black star washi tape: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/black-with-transparant-stars-washi-tape/
• Stripe Washi Tape: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/black-white-diagonal-stripe-washi-tape/

Top Middle

• Packaging with a white label and alpha stickers from Websters Pages 'Painted Passport'. Pink stripe washi tape: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/pink-stripe-washi-tape/
• Tulip Flower stickers: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/spring-bunny-stickers/

Top Right

• Paper from the Easter Collection: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/easter-collection-kit-12x12-papers-stickers/

Middle Left

• Bits and pieces I had in (unknown)

Middle / Middle

• Acetate card I already had plus felt Easter scatters: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/easter-felt-scatters/

Middle Right

• Postcard from the March Brimbles Box embellished with washi tape from Lidl plus above.

Bottom Left

• Easter card as above
• Rabbit Paper Clips: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/bunny-paper-clips-set-of-6/
• Flower Sticky Tabs: http://www.mrsbrimbles.co.uk/product/spring-flowers-birds-sticky-notes-tabs/

Bottom Middle & Right

• Items from my collection already had in.

I hope you liked it and remember to pop back on Good Friday to see all the Happy Mails!

Badass Happy Mail!

One of my new years resolutions is to step up my snail mail game - I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as I would have liked to my pen pals recently so to get back into the swing of things this month I opted for the 'Happy Mail' Brimbles Box. You can check out my unboxing post over on my blog here. My usual tactics of choosing a pretty note card and adding a few goodies were not going to cut it - I needed to send something a little more special. Honestly, how lovely is it when someone really goes out of their way and spends a little more time on hand making something!? Now, I'm not saying that I'm a lazy snail mailer sticking with the minimal (or you are if that's how you roll) - It's that I'm just not a natural when it comes to creative snail mail! So after a snoop around on Instagram for some inspiration, I was able to grab a few ideas. *swoons with all the prettiness*













I took the two Mrs Brimbles Note cards and made them into a booklet securing the longest sides with washi tape. I went with the pattern on the inside because the shiny side is perfect for sticking post-it notes on. I then trimmed down one of the heart print envelopes and glued it to the front page to make a pocket for storing washi tape samples. I had a good dig around on my desk and found some Dear Lizzy ephemera which I received in a previous Brimbles Box. This is the kind of scrap book/project life items which I really don't have a lot of so I am so glad to have some left over. The DIY Shop envelopes from my January box came in handy again too! I used a dab of glue to stick it on the back page using it again as a pocket for stashing away some ephemera, paper clips, stickers and a little bag of foil confetti. Because who doesn't need a bit of confetti and glitter in their lives!? The floral paper from the letter set was such a pleasure to write on and looked right at home tucked inside the booklet. I keep looking at it and adding extras but I think it's pretty much done. There's so much left over in the box so it will definitely keep me going for a while!

For me the 'Happy Mail' Brimbles Box is a no brainer - It's basically a DIY kit with so many options and is made up of unique items which are always perfect if you are unsure of where to start (like me)!

Have you found your creative snail mail style? Maybe it's minimal and it's badass!?

seasaltandpaper.com

Happy Mail Decoration, Using Pockets!

As soon as I opened January's Happy Mail Brimbles Box, I had ideas buzzing in my head.

I was so in love with the colours, and the products all went so perfectly together. I had a few letters I needed to reply to, so decided to crack into the Happy Mail Box and get some happy mail made!

I chose to attach some of the pockets into one of the cards, in a long line. This meant they would fold up into the card easily. I made sure the bag saying 'HELLO' was on the top, so when my penpal opened the card it would be the first thing they saw. I added a little gold binder clip (from Tiger) to all of the bags once I'd finished to hold them all in one place. As this was a mini binder clip, it didn't add too much bulk to the card.

I wrote the letter part of the happy mail on the actual card, I decorated it using black, gold and silver washi tape and stickers. I also used some kraft paper on this section, as it went really well with the rest of the colours. The gold striped washi tape is from Cloudy Cow, the flim strip washi tape was a gift, the typewriter font stickers are from Hobbycraft, the silver star stickers are from Paperchase, the kraft sticky tab is from HEMA, and the little 'Hello' sticker is from Mrs Brimbles' shop.

On the back of the pocket section I decided to add a bit of decoration, as the back of this bag was going to be seen when you flip it over to read the rest of the letter, it would look a bit bare if not. I used one of the caption stickers from my Happy Mail Box, and added a little quote on there, along with a little collage of stickers and washi tape. 

I filled the pockets with lots of goodies! I loved using the little gold glitter hearts from my Happy Mail Box as tabs, so it made things easier to pull out from the pockets.

I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I really hope my penpal likes it!!

I did record a full process video of how I put this happy mail piece together, so if you want to see that, you can watch it here:

I love how much you can get out of the Happy Mail box, I used a lot of different things this piece, but I still have loads left over for more mail!

- Daisy X

Get to know the Happy Mail Box!

HELLO!!!!

Its the Brimbles Happy Mail Box in the house!!! 

This month I opted to get the happy mail box. I typically get the planner boxes but I do love getting an occassional different box. She has so many! Happy Mail, Stationary box, personal and A5 planner boxes. During the holidays she had an Advent box that was so awesome. The box was filled with 25 little presents to unwrap each day until Christmas. 

Here is a little run down of what kind of items you can find in each box. 

More details are listed in the "shop" section of Mrs. Brimbles site. Click here to be taken there. 

The stationery box is a box full of stationery and crafty items for the creative planner or if you like to journal, project life etc. Full of a mix of washi tape, die cuts, ephemera etc. 

Planner boxes you can select A5 or personal and it has washi tape, pens, project life cards, stickers etc. It is something different each month. Anna always has her own art in the box on the dashboards or even stickers and notepads. 

Happy Mail box is for pen-palling. You will find cards, pens, journalling stickers, regular stickers, washi tape and more. Again each box will have a variety of items in it. 

Here is a pick of what came in my January Happy Mail box.

Washi Tape

Journaling Cards

 Paper bags

Great for adding a journaling card or ephemera, even some planner goodies or stationary you want to pass on to your pal

Cards, These have the gold foil and they are beautiful

 Washi Wrap

This will be great to seal up a nice envelope or box to your penpal

If you are looking for penpals there are lots of great facebook groups for pen-pals and also if you haven't checked it out pocket letters are the new craze. Its another fun way to send a little note and some goodies to your penpal. 

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into a different Brimbles box than I normally get. I love seeing all the different themes each month and all the different goodies Anna has gathered for the box. She does do an awesome job of making it unique.

Pen Pal / Happy Mailing with Geraldine

 
For October I received the Happy Mail Brimbles box. The happy mail box is described as being "solely aimed at providing you with the goodies to write / send to someone else. Some of the items that you could receive are: Post cards, note cards, greetings cards, paper, envelopes, letter writing sets, tags, ribbon, gift wrap, stickers, washi tape, pens, paper clips, anything that you would use in writing to someone or sending them a gift." As you can see from the image above it had both autumnal and Halloween themes. At the moment I am getting back into snail mail. I have kept my penpal list intentionally short as I'm building my collection of stationery and ephemera especially for it. I really want to go all out as I used to years ago. What I wanted to show in today's post, however, is what can be achieved when you don't have an endless supply of stickers, washi etc. If you have never received a happy mail box and are new to snail mail then you can start from your very first box and get creative in your own unique way, putting your individual stamp on each item. This gives your mail the personal touch.

  I use my sewing machine for a lot of projects, so it seemed fitting to integrate this into my mail. If you don't have one then you can always sew by hand. I stuck down one of the fabric sticky labels onto the brown envelope, both of which are included in the box and, picking a complementary colour thread, I sewed a couple of lines of straight stitches.  

 I then used some washi I had bought from Mrs Brimbles shop to decorate the rest of the envelope. The matching letter paper had beautiful narrow lines for me to write. In fact, one thing about this months box is that Anna included paper with both narrow and wide lines. Now, if you subscribe to this box on a regular basis you will find you have a nice little collection of items to use together for your snail mail. On this occasion, as I had received a happy mail box previously, I had left over a couple of bits I could use. Namely a sticky address label. The quote found on this particular envelope didn't apply to my penpal I'm writing to, and it also blocked the space for an address. So the sticky label came in handy. Again, I used a little washi from Anna's shop.  

Next, I had another penpal to write to so I decided to use the other gorgeous paper with an autumnal theme. This was the paper with the wide lines. It didn't have complementary envelopes, which was good as I could use a plain white one and jazz it up with the little supplies I had. Just a couple of stickers which, admit it we all have, and some washi transforms a plain old envelope! Recognise the stamp from the last box?

  

As you can see with this last letter I completely veered away from autumnal colours! I don't know, I just struggled with the whole autumnal colour scheme this year. But that's the beauty of creativity. There are no rules! You are free to explore and that's what I have done and will do with each box I get. I really hope you enjoy this post and that it encourages you to get creative with what you have in your own personal style. Items I used, other than from this months box were: "With love" stamp: Hobbycraft Bunny sticker: The Idea Owl "Hello There" Sticker: T K Maxx Stationery Section. And the "For You" stamp was given to me by a penpal.

geraldinejayne.com