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Papergang – One Year Later

You might all be familiar at this point with my monthly reviews of Papergang Mystery boxes, now it has already been one year of me subscribing to them and I think that’s worth a special review 😉 I actually already did a half years box and my verdict after half a year was actually that if those last boxes don’t manage to sweep me off my feet, I might have to cancel my subscription. Let’s see if they have managed to do that in the end or not!

This is NOT an official design by OhDeer or Papergang, but an interpretation of their old designs to fit the theme of this post created by myself 🙂

One topic I get can out of the way already is the Brexit. It cost me a lot of nerves in the second half of 2021, because at first many of my boxes got lost or shipped back to the UK and when they were delivered in the end, I had to pay extra, A LOT. If you want to know more about why that was, you can read about it in my other post *here*. But gladly the team behind the Papergang subscription found a way to solve the problem, which they had not even caused in the first place. This is why I don’t want to consider it in my review at all. It happened this one time and it got fixed, it could have been communicated better with the customers, but all in all, they did their best 🙂

What I will be focusing on in this review are mostly the points I already criticized in my half-year review and if they did improve upon them or not. Let’s begin with my fixation on the boxes having or not having a theme to them 😛 When reviewing the Papergang next to the scrawler box from October 2021, I have to say that the Scrawler Box did fit my wishes way better because they had a clear goal in mind: Providing you with the utensils you need to do a certain project. And I loved that, they even had the artist from that box make a drawing with those exact things.
But with Papergang it’s not so easy, since it’s not really connected to art. But still, I feel like there could have been more of a theme in many boxes. Like for example focussing on a set to write letters to friends and trying to pick utensils that would help with that particular idea. Or focussing on notetaking and notetaking alone. What I observed after a year of Papergang is that they treat it more like a refill box for stationery you are going to use up over time anyways. In almost every box you will get a graphite pencil and sticky notes, but only one time you get one pencil case in 12 boxes, because that’s not something that gets used up. I would have loved for the things that I get in the boxes to feel less random.

Art is a big debate when it comes to Papergang in general. By working together with an artist for every new box and really only including exclusive items inspired by their designs, Papergang is standing out and I think it’s a brilliant idea. But it could be improved immensely when they would actually include their art. I know they don’t like to put artworks in because people will complain about it not being stationary and not having practical use. But I feel like trying to get the design from an artist on a pen, often does not work out which is why sometimes, I don’t think like the cooperation is really worth much. Not because the artists are not good, but because we don’t even really get anything from them. Most pencils are only in a colour matching the artwork on the front of the box, planners are often printed with their designs, but most other things are not. I just feel like that’s a bit of a waste and it could be such a cooler experience if we would actually get some art to keep or try to incorporate their designs better into the refills we get.

Customer Service was a negative point in my half years review. I admit that was mostly due to me being a bit annoyed at awaiting a cool compensation and only getting some random cards and randomness as you know, it’s not something I am fond of xD But all in all, I have to say the customer service is great, you get an answer pretty quickly and they try to help you solve your problem ASAP. I even got about half of the extra costs for the Brexit problem repaid and not with a coupon or a free box, but with the money no questions asked. If I should name one things that I loved the most about Papergang I would say it’s their customer service, even though I would have liked it even more to not rely on them so much aka not having had so much trouble with the boxes last year xD

Final Verdict
I have to say sadly there was not one box anymore which impressed me as much as the box from 2020 which I had bought previously to my subscription. I kinda took this one as a stand-in for the whole year of Papergangboxes in 2020 and I later even got some more from that particular year. Maybe this year the topics had just not been my personal favourite or the artist they choose to work with did not cater to my style. Sadly with most of the boxes from 2021 I was just bored which let me cancel my subscription or better not renew it for 2022. Though I will miss having to open and talk about a box each month, I am not quite sure yet if I will get a replacement or not. I would not say I will never again buy a Papergang box, since I have still hope they can improve and maybe, just maybe I will even have a year-long subscription again in the future. But for that to happen, they would have to wow me and we will have to see about that.

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Mystery Box, Papergang, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT

March 3

Papergang January 2022

Remember me talking about a goodbye in the review of my last Papergang box? Well, I might have been a bit dramatic when I wrote that down. When I am writing this post, I am not sure if my One year review of Papergang has already been uploaded or not, but just to be clear I did in fact cancel my subscription at Papergang. But that does not mean that I can’t get boxes anymore 😉 Basically, my plan was to not pay for a full year of boxes from which 60% or more might bore me but keep an eye on what boxes are to come and only buy the ones I am really interested in. That’s exactly what I did with this one, so let’s take a look at it together 🙂

This month’s box seems to have been inspired by calligraphy much, which is actually why it caught my eye. Calligraphy is something I do enjoy in my free time and what I saw in the pictures on their website, looked like something good. This box contains one debossed Daily Planner(dotted), some ombre sticky notes, a 6-sided ruler with measurements and markings designed for lettering, a refillable fountain pen(which comes already filled) and an Art print.

My camera picked up the colors here in a very strange way but I sadly only realized later :/ That’s why the next picture will look different, just so you know 😛

I mostly wanted to get this box because of the fountain pen, on the pictures, it looked like a high-quality pen which I thought might be specially made for using it for calligraphy. But when I open the box and took a good look at the fountain pen, I was really disappointed. Not only does it feel and look like very cheap quality, the nib is also no different from the fountain pen nibs you can buy at every store for school. What I was expecting was a fountain pen with a wide nib for example, or a nib that widens when you press it down or even multiple nibs you could interchange. But what we got, was less impressive than any normal fountain pen you can buy for cheap. The only thing I liked, was that there is a small hole right under the screwline that lets you check on how much ink is still left in the cartridge.

The next thing that I was kinda surprised about was the fact that they put an art print in here. I remember that actually, last year’s January box had an art print too, of two flowers. I also remember it has not been received very well since art technically is not stationary the people subscribing could use it practically. This print is no different other than it having a holographic foil finish on the letters. I also feel like with lettering and calligraphy as a topic, for an art print there would have been more possibilities. Of course, that’s a personal opinion of mine, but I feel like to introduce someone to lettering, you could have used different fonts in different sizes. Even with only two words, you could have had some decorations, different colours and so on. The text on the paper even feels a bit small, as if something would be missing.

The rest of the box is mostly okay, nothing that I could talk about for long. The planner is a great addition to the first box of the year since people can start using it for important dates right away and sticky notes are also always relevant. I am not a huge fan of the designs, since you can barely see or feel the debossing on the notebook and the dotted design on the sticky notes, feels like a wasted opportunity to incorporate some guidelines for people who are actually somehow inspired to do lettering or any other form of calligraphy after receiving this box.

The only thing in here, that I personally feel like actually using is the interesting metal ruler. It has the quality that I was expecting all of the items had, it feels sturdy, the measurements can be read very clearly and with its six different sides, it can be used for many different things. Like making your own guidelines on paper, measuring the size of different letters and so on. And it’s also the only item that to me feels like it is really connected to calligraphy.

My final verdict on this box is, that sadly Papergang can still disappoint me in different ways. This time it was not only kinda boring, like most of the boxes from 2021(which is why I cancelled my subscription) no it did feel almost deceiving. Because I don’t feel like I was the only one with expectations for a box designed like this. I feel like more items that are actually connected to calligraphy should have been included in here. And the ones which are, should have been better quality. All in all I feel like they could have done so much better with only some small changes.

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT

March 1

Papergang December 2021

Things were a bit rough at the end of the last year and also the beginning of 2022, which is why I only returned back home in February, where one Papergang box still waited for me to open and review it 😉 So let’s do it together!

The December paper gang box has a jungle-like theme again very similar to another box from 2021, but its contents are very different. This box really feels like one preparing us for the new year because amongst them is a fully customisable Wall Calendar, 2 pairs of 2 different sticker sheets, three dual-ended highlighters, an HB pencil with gold foiling and an A5 Deskpad.

The last paper gang box of the year actually really surprised me since at this point I had already decided not to renew my subscription for 2022 (more on that in a later post) and basically was waiting for it to end xD This might sound a bit tough, but almost all of the last boxes have kinda disappointed me so I really did not expect to love most stuff in the last box that I would get for 2021!

I loved the calendar for its design, every page has a calendar sheet on one side and a beautiful drawing on the other. My birth month march has an owl which I appreciate very much! The calendar sheet is so customisable that you could even use it for another year than 2022 if you might already have a calendar for the upcoming year at home. That’s because only the numbers are printed on the paper, but they are not connected to any days in the year, those are delivered with the stickers or you can just write them in by hand.

The stickers can basically be used to mark every important event in the year: you get some balloons for birthdays, aeroplanes for upcoming travels, a beer and a wine glass for a party maybe? There are also some less obvious ones like question and exclamation marks, some smilies and just coloured dots. Next to the day stickers you also get some that say “Important”, “Holiday” and “Day Off”, all in matching colours to the beautiful calendar.

Last but not least let’s talk about the pens. The highlighters come in a very pastel yellow, blue and red. I actually just found out that they are dual-sided because I made the review and it’s in the explanation sheet, but visually it’s not very obvious xD Visually with the also very pastel coloured paper of the calendar, I feel like they might be a bit too pale to really show. But on the other hand, using brightly coloured highlights might have not looked good either. So I guess it comes down to personal preference.
As with the graphite pencil… I said again and again that I don’t think graphite pencils are a good tool to write something down for the long term. On a small post-its it might be no problem since that’s not used for long but in a notebook or a calendar like this, a smudging pen is not what I would want to use. A fineliner or a ballpoint pen would be the better choice in my opinion. But considering the rest of the box was so great, I think it’s a forgettable detail.

All in all, I would say I am pretty happy to have gotten this box as my last one out of the big subscription, it sadly could not make the disappointment of the other ones go away, but it was a nice goodbye. The calendar is really nice and can be used multiple times, depending on how you decorate it. I only wrote the birthdays in mine, so I can appreciate the beauty of the calendar for many years 😉

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review | LEAVE A COMMENT

December 15

Papergang VS Scrawler Box October 2021

Before I was financially reminded of Brexit and the problems that come with it, I wanted to venture out and find some new subscription boxes to try out! The Scrawler Box was something that meet all of my criteria: its a monthly subscription that perfectly fit into my mailbox and delivers me some things I am passionate about. It can’t be compared 100% to the Papergang Box because it has a different theme, where the Papergang surprises me with unique stationery every month this box is all about art supplies. Still, the size and the number of things inside were close enough that I wanted to review these two boxes side by side. Quick Disclaimer, because of some personal issues I am actually a bit behind on reviewing them, so the two boxes you will read about here are both from the month of October 🙂

Right from the start, we can see the biggest difference between the two boxes which is appearance. Where the people behind Papergang try to come up with a different design for every box, the scrawler box has the same, kinda dull design on the outside since it launched. But it’s not all about what is on the outside, but also what is on the inside, right?

Let’s start with the new box, like the Papergang box it comes with an instructional menu telling us about the content of the box. But instead of doing it like a folded brochure the scrawler box actually comes with a little booklet, which does not only show us the contents but gives us an interview with the artist featured, tips and tricks on how to use the materials, an art gallery showing what fans created with the previous boxes and something called “scrawler extra” which in this case is an article about Movie Magic 🙂
Hidden under some paper are the highly anticipated art supplies, in October we’ve got three differently coloured Copic markers together with special marker paper, one fineliner, one graphite pencil and a kneadable eraser from Farber Castel. Ontop of that we get a unique sticker designed to look like the boxes logo, such as an exclusive artwork and some British candy.

The Papergang Box contains an A5 Notebook with a “Midnight Garden” pattern which can also be seen on the box cover, one birthday greeting card with a gold foil finish, a foldable pen pot with a pink chevron design, three pencils with gold stamped quotes and gold-dipped ends, five A6 sticker sheet and two stainless steel gold coloured metal straws in a pink cotton pouch. Since I want to keep it fair and some of you might not know the folded brochure which acts as a menu guide here also has an interview with the artist they feature in this box such as a colouring sheet fitting with the overall pattern.

As I have just mentioned both boxes are working with a different artist every month, for the Octobers Scrawler box the artist is called Alexandra Olivia and for that month’s Papergang collaborated with Olivia Burton. I have to say, since I am such a Halloween enthusiast I had actually somewhat hoped for a Halloween theme for both boxes, both have kinda disappointed me. But I have to say the Papergangs collaboration and Burton’s design seem a bit more fitting than the brightly coloured markers and art from the scrawler box. But I guess that’s more personal preference than actual minus points 😉

Unlike with the Papergang subscription which I have been reviewing for the whole of 2021, I only have one scrawler box to go off, so I try not to judge the whole subscription too much based on it since maybe other months boxes have done it better. With that that in mind, what disappointed me was the few contents of the box. I remember seeing more in the boxes I saw online. Though I have to say that most of the things came from name brands, which can be quite expensive, so that might explain why there are only three markers. And they are more of less primary colours in a bit more pastel versions, which means you can combine them to get a bigger range of colours in the end.

I did like the artwork that comes with it, which is something that I actually would love to see in the Papergang boxes too. They are working together with artists, after all, I would be happy to have something from them to hang up on my wall. But I know some other people only want stationary and are annoyed by too much art content, so maybe something like the Scrawlerbox really is the better subscription to include something like this.

The people who follow me for a while now know that I love to look for a kind of theme or activity to do with the contents of the box and with Papergang I often fail at this quest. But Scrawler Box seems to really be focused on this kind of experience, which is why you get a small amount of the right paper to use with the supplies to start ASAP with whatever inspiration the box might give you. You have everything you need: A graphite pencil and eraser to make a sketch, a fine liner for the lineart and the markers to colour everything in. You even get a small snack to boost up the creative process, which I really love! And as a person living in Germany, when do I get the chance to try British candy otherwise? 😉

Seeing the outside of the Papergangs October box really got me excited, because that’s the kind of aesthetic that I like, even though it had nothing to do with Halloween whatsoever. I loved being able to keep a part of it in form of the stickers and birthday cards. Of course, there is the notebook too, but it’s mostly white for the writing of course and the cool design rests on the edges of the paper. Here it would be the perfect opportunity again to include an artwork piece, but as I just said, I know some people get upset, so it’s not something I want to judge, but something I wanted to mention and maybe wish for 😛

The pencils are the signature of OhDeer, the company behind the Papergang, but I never really liked them much. The whole point of a graphite pencil is to sharpen it until it’s eventually gone. Meaning that at some point the quote will begin to vanish too, leaving some words without context reflecting the light of their pretty gold foil in the end. Also, I feel like graphite pencils might not be the best utensil to take notes with since it smudges on the paper and does not feel as smooth as a ballpoint pen. But that might also be a personal opinion.

What really got me thinking were the metal straws… It’s not that I don’t need them or do not get the idea behind them, saving the environment and so on, but with the debate about the artworks in mind, these are not stationery items. Yes, I could make myself a hot beverage to accompany myself while writing with the supplies, but with that explanation, I could also use a cool piece of artwork by the featured artist to hang up above my desk to get into the right mood. The straws also have some ridges on the top to mimic the part where you were able to actually bend a plastic straw, which is also a design choice that I can’t really get behind.

It’s hard to say if I can determine a real winner in this review competition since both have their advantages and disadvantages. The scrawler box really seems a bit less nice and luxurious with its brown carton on the inside and on the outside, so the nicely designed Papergang box definitely gets the point there.
But judging on the inside of both boxes, I feel more drawn to the Scrawlerbox having a clear theme and activity to do after the initial opening. With the Papergang boxes, I sometimes catch myself just putting the pencils inside my pencil case without trying them out further.
These October boxes in particular both kinda disappointed me more than they surprised me. I was expecting something Halloween-ish but got nothing. Instead, I got some markers ins colours I don’t like and metals straws that I can’t bend. But that’s more a me-problem 😉

All in all, I would say both boxes have their respective rights to be in the categories they are in. People who want to have more of an activity to do should get the Scrawlerbox to create something right after you have unboxed it. If you are more into collecting unique pencils, note blocks, paper and other stationery you will be happier with the Papergang subscription. That way everyone will get what they are looking for and in my case, I guess I should consider getting them both in 2022, to get all of my needs satisfied!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Scrawler Box, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT

October 8

Papergang Box September 2021

The September box actually arrived almost immediately after the August box came in the mail, meaning I had to pay the before mentioned taxes again -.-” If you want to know more about the situation take a look *here*. But hopefully, this will be the last box with those extra costs and I try not to let it ruin the opening of the box for me 😉 Let’s take a look inside together!

In the box, we get an A6 daily planner with a beautiful yet simple mountain-type design, similar to the front of the box. We also get 3 birthday greeting cards with fittingly designed envelopes, an A5 art print which I like the most out of all we have gotten from Papergang this year! Last but not least we got some sticker markers with different designs and 6 differently colored felt tip markers.

I am very happy with this box, everything can be used together and I like the designs and earth colors they used very much 🙂 Like I said the print is my favorite up till now and the sun going up and down in the sticker marks is pretty cute 😛 What is a bit disappointing are the felt tip markers, they are very reminiscent of the german Stabilo markers, but they feel a bit cheap compared to those. Having “Papergang” written on them has a nice touch, but not if it’s in exchange for quality, you know? Aside from that, there is nothing to complain about 🙂

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT

October 6

No subscription boxes anymore…

… at least not the ones you are used to by now :/ Today I want to write about something that I find very sad, but which also made me very angry last week. I actually received multiple packages for which I had to pay the post-delivery service for custom taxes I did not know about. As a student, I don’t have that much money and since I had bought many packages recently, I had to pay almost 100euros just for taxes. You can imagine that if I would have known about it, I would not have bought so much in the first place. Let me tell you what exactly the problem is and why it looks like I won’t be able to get any more of my beloved subscription boxes in the future…

Since I know that my readers are scattered all over the world, I know that tax problems are not the same for everyone. But I am sure you all have heard about the Brexit situation that was going on for the last 3 years or so. Basically, some politicians in the UK joked about making a public vote about if the UK should stay part of the EU or not. After that joke, they could not take it back anymore and the public vote actually forced them to exit the European Union. You might think it’s not a big deal if they are part of it or not, but it actually is because countries within the EU have special rules applied to them, benefits so to say which do not get granted to other countries. For example, as a person living in any EU country, you can travel and even move in between other EU countries without having to apply for a visa ever.

Another benefit is that you don’t have to pay certain taxes, mainly at the different countries customs, making trading in between countries just easier for everyone. And when the UK had forced itself to make the decision to leave the EU, they tried to still keep some of the benefits and they tried to assure everyone inside and outside of the country that they would not have to face many problems because of it. They would try to make trading treaties and such with the country leaders and the private person who wants to buy something, will not feel a difference. Well, I felt it and it’s a big one.

Basically because of all of these promises they made and treaties they wanted to get, the whole process of the UK leaving the EU took much longer than expected and for the normal person, it got really hard to tell what was decided on and when it will be an official law. The media did not even report on the Brexit news anymore, because people were tired of hearing it, and also nothing seemed to change for some reason. But in July this year, something seemingly did change and I did not know about it. Basically, it seems as if the treaty for trading and not paying customs, which they had talked about would to be a problem, did not get to be made, meaning that you now have to pay the normal taxes for any package from the UK which you have to pay for a package from any other country.

My biggest problem actually is, that no one informed me about that. I have a year-long subscription to the paper gang stationary box and neither in my emails nor on their website have they ever informed any of their EU members about the change. Which I find very unfair because I would basically have to pay 10-20euros more for it now, per month. And it’s not the only subscription I have! Being so positively surprised about the Artfulboxes I also made a year-long subscription to them JUST RECENTLY. If I had known about it earlier I would have not done it and I feel scammed in a way.

You might think, July is over 2 months past, why did you just learn about it? Well if you follow my paper gang reviews you know that even before July there were some problems with the delivery of the boxes. It always seemed to have been a different problem, but it often lead to my boxes either arriving later or not arriving at all(being replaced). So I actually have not gotten any boxes for the last 2 months because of what I thought was a similar problem again. I also was not worried about it, because I thought it would be able to be solved like the other delivery problems were. And again, nobody told me about what was wrong, so there were no steps for me to take.

Sadly all of the boxes I have received up to now and a new box I will be receiving soon(but had to cancel for the future already) are shipped from the UK. Meaning that if the companies themselves won’t find a solution, I can’t afford to get them anymore. While writing this post, I am about to ask the Company OhDeer about why everything happened the way it happened and if they plan on taking any further actions or not. Depending on when they answer, I will update this post. Wish me luck I guess, but sadly I am not hopeful 🙁

UPDATE: Actually the customer service at OhDeer never seems to disappoint! They have gotten back to me very quickly, apologizing for the chaos and trying to explain to me that they might have actually found a solution to the tax problems! I assume they either did not tell their customers about it because they wanted to solve the problem ASAP, hopefully without anyone noticing, or because they would actually not have known how much everyone has to pay because it seems to be different in every EU country. Either way, I think they should have told people about it, just to prepare for chaos like the one we are in now. But I guess everyone makes mistakes and since they are trying everything to make it up to us customers again, I think we can forgive them 🙂

As I have just mentioned they seemed to have found a solution to the tax problem by finding a delivery service which lets them take care of any extra costs instead of us the customers. In my case, that would mean that since there are no custom taxes to pay, the mailperson won’t have to get it from the custom center so technically I should be charged nothing in the end, which is what I had paid for in the beginning, right? So I am pretty happy IF everything works out the way they explained it to me. I will definitely keep you updated, reaaaaally looking forward to the October box now. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my subscriptions, at the least the ones at OhDeer. But if anything changes, I’ll let you know!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT

October 4

Papergang Box August 2021

After many many troubles, about which I might even make a post on its own, my august Papergangbox FINALLY arrived! Actually, I have not that much to say about it, other than I really like the colorful block design on the front, let’s take a look inside!

In this month’s box we have an A4-ish Notebook with lined pages, an orange pencils case with a chunky metal zipper, a pack of A5 sticker sheets in 2 different designs, a ballpoint pen with black ink, and 3 erasers with rounded edges 3 different marble effects and printed quotes.

I have to say that I am VERY happy to finally have gotten a pencil case for all of the pencils I got in my previous boxes. To be honest, if we view it as a year-long subscription, I would have liked the pencil case earlier, to be able to store everything I will get from early on. But asidefrom that, I have no complaints about it, the pencil case feels very nice, it looks great and it’s spacious^^

Let’s talk about the other items in this box 😉 I do like the marble design of the erasers very much and I know quotes are kinda OhDeers signature trade, having them on books, pencils, and erasers for sure, but I feel like the marble design would have been cool on its own. I do like the design of the ballpoint pen too, even though it feels a bit cheaper than other supplies from them and I would have loved a marble design on it too^^

What is really confusing to me is the notebook, because when I saw the sticker sheet I thought of bullet journaling, which was (or is?) a great idea for a boxes theme! Even though I would have liked some more pens to highlight text or use different colors for headers and stuff. But what I would really need is a BLANK notebook, to be fully free in the designs I want to make, to stick my stickers everywhere I want. With the lined notebook we got, I feel somewhat restrained, because I can’t use all the space exactly as I want, without the lines guiding. And bullet journaling for me is all about not being guided and doing my own thing.

So, the theme, if there was one, seemed a bit lose to me. If it was about bullet journaling we have not got enough pens and the wrong notebook. If it was about taking notes in general, I feel like the stickers are too detailed. And why do we have cool erasers but no graphite pencil to go with them? Maybe I am searching for something again, which is not even there intentionally, which would be a wasted opportunity for me. But all in all, I was still very happy about the box, mostly because I finally got my pencil case 😉

And do you remember the “extras” I was promised for the delay of my packages, this one in particular? Well, I think that I have gotten them, but they are not what I had expected. I guess I should not complain about free stuff and I do like some of it, I just had something different in mind. I got 4 different cards for different occasions, I love the fox the most but sadly can’t give the card to myself, right? xD I also got one very random pen with a random quote, but it has a very small tip, which is very interesting!
But I do have to say, I like the cards that we get in the Papergangbox, in general, the least from everything, because you can’t do anything with them, you can’t create something because it has already been created. So getting 3 different cards as an extra to make up for the stress I had recently did not really sit that well with me. Still, I take it and I will find someone I can send the cards to. And since I am currently in contact with them anyway, talking about compensations for different problems, I hope to be satisfied in the end. Because their customers service never let me down up till now 😉

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT

August 25

Over half a year of Papergang boxes!

When you are following my blog for at least a month, you might have seen that I am doing a monthly review of a subscription box called Papergang by OhDeer. It’s a box that gets a new design and content every time and I have had a one-year subscription for a little over half a year now. So I thought I might give you my first thoughts about what I liked and what I did not like so far. Keep in mind there are still 5 boxes coming(while I am writing this review), so they still have time to improve upon some things. But let’s start with the impressing stuff!

Impressing stuff
This monthly subscription box was the first one of its kind that I ever got. Even though I really love the concept of it, I think they might not be as popular in Germany, which is why many have never heard of them before. I can’t even remember how I got to know about this box in particular, but I am very glad that I did! I do love stationery and art and this box combines them both and it feels like the people behind it are very passionate about what they do and with whom they work together.

I love that the box is designed in a way, that it fits into a regular mailbox with no problem. Especially since the pandamic hit, I really hate taking on parcels personally, so I love to send them to special package stations in Germany. The only problem is, that these package stations can only be open by the customer and the workers of DHL, the biggest german mail company. Meaning that if I get something from outside the country, which is not shipped with DHL, I can’t let it be delivered to one of those stations. So having it fit into my mailbox is almost as good, if not even better, because I only have to go check my mail, to get it out 😉

I had some troubles with getting the boxes shipped to me in the first place, which might sound like a bad thing, but it’s actually nothing the people over at OhDeer can be blamed for. It often was a customs problem, in the time where the UK was leaving the EU and some parcels just got missing. But the customer service at the Papergangs HQ, has never let me down. They answered emails fairly quickly and always tried to either explain to me what happened and calm me down, or got to work on a solution right away. And as of now, all the missing parcels were replaced without a problem.

Things to improve upon
Sadly I have to say that not everything worked out as expected. What got me into wanting a year-long subscription of the Papergang boxes for 2021, were the pictures I saw of the boxes from 2020. Mainly the October and November boxes got me hyped up and very sad about not getting one of them! They were not only beautifully designed but also packed with great stuff, on some pictures I was even surprised to see how many things fit into such a small box. And I know, there should not be quantity over quality, but I feel like both of these things have gone somewhat down.

What I mostly miss in the boxes is a theme, a thought behind why exactly these stationaries were chosen for a particular box. Are they part of a kind of letter set, that I can use to write my penpals? Or are they part of a note-taking set, an office supply set, and so on. Because oftentimes, especially with the last 3 boxes, it felt as if they would have just randomly put together some stationary, put a unique design over it and call it a day. As I said in my reviews, stationery is never too much, I will always find a use for a pen, or a notepad, or something similar. But the boxes just don’t get me as excited anymore, if it just feels like I am getting random supplies. I really hope they can improve upon that with their last 5 boxes of the year because that will really be the tipping point for me to decide if I want to get another subscription of them or not.

This last point might be a bit contradictory to the last point I spoke about in the “impressive things” category because it’s again about shipping and customers service. As I am writing this review, my august box has still not arrived and it’s less than a week till the next month(as of me writing the review, might post it later :P). But I knew that would happen because I got an email saying that some shipping errors arose again and my parcel will only be shipped at the end of august or the beginning o September. Someone took responsibility for it this time and promised some “extra gifts” to compensate for the inconvenience. Now I have not received these gifts, but I really hope they will be there in the first place. Because even though I can understand why the shipping errors happened at the time of the Brexit, it does kinda get annoying when it happens over and over again. And before this email, I got nothing to compensate for it. So I guess if they really will be following up on this email, it will an improvement, if not, I know what to talk about in my full years’ review of the boxes 😉

Final Thoughts
The Papergang got me into subscriptions in general, which I am super happy about and grateful for. But I have to say at this point, I am already thinking about if it would make sense to keep up my subscription or to use my money on another one next year. Just because the excitement I got in the beginning, did not really last until now. And like I said, I think that’s because of the “randomness” that I get with many of the boxes. When the next 5 will be better, I will change my mind and I would gladly do so. Because I still really love the idea behind the boxes, not only just repackaging some products and shipping them, but designing them, working with artists, making it a very unique experience. That’s what I bought my subscription for, that’s what I loved seeing the old boxes. So please Papergang, fill me with this excitement again!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT

July 29

Papergangbox July 2021

This month’s box arrived over 10 days before the end of the month and I think that’s how it will be all the time from now on since they changed the carrier recently! I am very happy about that and I am looking forward to my Papergang boxes even more from now on 😉 So let’s take a look into this months box together now 😛

Cover of the box from July 2021 with diffrent colored swiggles in the backround and the text "Papergang by Ohh Deer" in white.

This months box was designed by Clara LeRoy and it contained an A6 notebook with 128 pages of checkered paper, 2 embroidered patches with the texts “keep going” and “be nice” in different colors, 2 sections of sticky notes with different designs, and 30 sheets each, a special embroidery scissors and a multicolored marble pencil in a craft paper sleeve which writes in a mixture of blue, red and purple.

Insides of the box: A Notebook with the same pattern from the cover, two dirrent designed sticky notes one with the pattern from the cover and a white cirle, the other one has a purple backround and the text "be nice", also two patched one saying "be nice" and the other one "keep going", a multicolored pencil and am embroidery scissors-

I don’t have much to say about this month’s box, to be real honest. It’s just not my kind of box, there is no real theme to be seen here, I don’t like checkered pages in notebooks and what would I need embroidery scissors for in a stationery box? I appreciate the patches, I guess I can always find a place for stuff like that, but I think there will be other people, who were expecting more pens and paper and who don’t really care about patched at all, let alone doing embroidery themselves, which they could need scissors for. The designs are okay(again just not m style, but not bad at all!), I especially like the sticky note with the circle on it, kinda like highlighting the notes you will take on it. But that does not really save the box for me. Hopefully, next months theme will be more my thing 😉 I would be so ready for another lettering box theme, with lettering paper, and maybe some stuff to put onto the paper or on envelopes. Maybe some post stamp-like stickers would be a great idea!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Photo that shows the inside of the Notebook with a small white box where you can put your name, phones number and email.

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | 1 Comment

July 14

Papergangbox May 2021

This will be the second post this week, just because it should have technically already been up two months ago xD As you might have already read, there was a problem with Brexit regulation in April and May which leads to many packages getting lost. This box was amongst them, but I am glad it got replaced and I am able to review it now! Hopefully, this will be the last you hear about the Brexit stuff, since all of the stuff that got lost, is accounted for now xD But maybe there will be some post talking about stuff I got, I apologize in advance 😛

Photo shows the cover of the box from may 2021, it's a colorful flower drawing with a big red cirle in the middle and the text "Papergang by Ohh Deer" in silber foil.

It’s kinda funny to me how the Junes box was a bit to dull to me colorwise or better to put it: it was not rainbow enough for pride month xD The mays box is! This is just so funny to me because technically they just would have to switch out the box designs and to me, it would have made so much more sense xD But in general, I have to say this months theme is one of the prettiest ones I have seen so far 🙂
As for the contents we have a 256 pages linen daily planner with the beautiful color gradient, an A5 print designed by Steffi Lynn(as everything in the box is :P), a set of point sticker markers with 5 different designs, a large vinyl sticker, two pencils with holographic foil and a small bag filled with 40 multicolored paperclips (60 advertised in the booklet but maybe not delivered?).

Insides of the box: An art print of the cover design with the text "have a nice day", a vynl sticker of a purple flower, a planner with the text "Have a nice day",Stocky notes with diffrent design, two graphite pencils with a holografic outside and a small orange bad filled with colorful metal clips.

When you follow me for a while and have read my other reviews on the previous Papergang boxes you know I love to look for a DIY aspect or a theme in the contents we are getting. This box weirdly does not feel as it has a theme at all, it more feels like a refill box: Is your planner from January already full? Here you get a new one! Have you lost your paperclips again? There you go! All of your pencils are broken again? We have some extra shiny ones for you and some point markers for good measure! 😉 And don’t get me wrong, refills are a good thing, especially if you frequently use all of your stationery, so I appreciate getting refills kinda automatically with every new box. But one box just with refills feels a bit lame. Maybe that’s just my point of view and others get to enjoy the box more, but I would have loved there to be a theme or DIY aspect to follow.

Orange packingpaper with a golden sticker that says "Papergang".

For me, the Mays box was a bit underwhelming, which might be due to the circumstances of already having received multiple boxes and comparing them to each other. I think the Januarys box actually did not look much different from what we got and I got to appreciate it more. And like I mentioned in June I might have celebrated the colorfulness of it more… Sounds kinda strange if I put it like that, but that’s just my opinion 😉 And I have to view the Papergang boxes as a subscription because I do think some people might get a single one if they really like the content, but in general, most people will get it as a subscription. And I think it’s completely normal to then view it that way and compare the different boxes with each other. I am looking forward to the next boxes still since I love the Papergang stuff in general, I just hope to be more blown away next time!

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress

Category: Mystery Box, Papergang, Review, Subscription Box | LEAVE A COMMENT