March Happy Mail and Messy Box

I've been an avid reader of A Beautiful Mess for a long time now, nobody can scrapbook quite like those girls! Last month I decided to try out the A Beautiful Mess Happy Mail Service, and I loved it, and ended up ordering the brand new Messy Box service this month to try it out too. I ordered a month to month subscription for both, and figured it was just a one month deal, but when my Messy Box arrived, there was this month's Happy Mail inside too, so without realising I'd been charged for two months! I figured I'd show you guys both, since I have pretty mixed feelings about the contents and the experience I've had with them too!

For those of you unfamilliar with Happy Mail and Messy box, here's the essentials. They are both subscription services that run month to month, Happy Mail is an assortment of cards and prints perfect for sending snail mail, whilst Messy Box is scrapbooking supplies. It's a US based service, but for an extra $2 you can have international shipping inclusive of import taxes, which is pretty darn cheap. The prices are in USD, but I ended up paying £18.24 for the Messy box, plus a £1.54 charge from my bank, and £14.63 for Happy Mail, plus a £1.48 bank charge. The website says they ship on the 10th of each month, and both months I received mine on the 30th, so it takes almost three weeks to arrive for international shipping, not great but not terrible either. 

 Of the two, I think the Happy Mail subscription is my favourite, although I'll admit, I think last months was better. There's nothing wrong with this months, I think I just thought last months was more exciting, and more me! This months box contained 9 assorted cards and postcards with envelopes, one large print, one sheet of stickers, six neon gift tags and one shopping list notepad. I love the notepad, it's really cute and I'll definitely get a lot of use out of it, and I love the print too. Also, that pug card, so cute

The Happy Birthday, Thank You, and New Home cards are handy to have for any future dates coming up, although you probably wouldn't need these every month! It's always nice to have these kind of cards on hand though! The others I'll either send to my friends, or use within my scrapbook, I love the one with the Dolly Parton Quote, and the rainbow envelope it came with is so cute!

Unless you send a lot of post (or have a LOT of friends), I don't think you'd need to get this every month, but it's a nice little one off to get every now and then!

 Now I'll be honest, I was a little underwhelmed with the Messy Box. Don't get me wrong, I'll use everything in it, but I just expected something more exciting! I feel like there's a lot of card stock here, and for the price point I'd rather buy another Project Life kit. I think I expected more variety, stickers and stamps and even some variation on the card would have been nice, like a glittered sheet or something, all of the cards here look pretty samey. As a concept it's a great idea, but I just felt it lacked variety. 

In the kit you get a roll of washi tape, some white split pins (why?! This is the most unexciting inclusion of them all), some gold chipboard letters, an assortment of journaling cards, and some thin tissue paper circles and hearts (not entirely sure what I'd use these for?) for the price, a real let down.

Something to keep in mind, I was under the impression I'd signed up for a month to month subscription, where I can cancel at any time. What they don't tell you is that you have to pay a $15 fee per subscription to cancel the service. Had I known this, I probably wouldn't have ordered any at all, since I'm not really in a position financially to commit to the subscription!. My suggestion would be to go for a 6 month subscription instead, so you don't incur any cancellation fees (after the six months)!

Whilst this months boxes didn't blow me away, I wouldn't rule out ordering these in the future, and I really think they're on to a great thing here!

I think I'll stick with Project life kits for now, but if you send a lot of mail, this is a great kit!