#171 Hulk Smash(book)

"Smash - for the moments and musings that stick."

What is a Smashbook? 

Basically it's a range of goodies for scrapbooking and journalling created by K&Co.

The books come in a range of colours but they also have different insides. You see, the books aren't plain inside - they come with a range of papers. For example, black is "mod", blue is "retro and pink is "pretty". Each book comes with a Smash pen/glue stick. 

On top of this, you can buy lots of accessories to use while you fill your book. 

You can buy Smash Pads which come in their own range of themes, such as family, travel and special occassions. 

There's also things less specific to the brand like decorative tapes, stickers and stamps. 

I love the idea of scrapbooking but it's not something I find myself able to get into. I've tried. It's not for me. The reason I was drawn to Smashbook is that it feels more like journalling - which I do want to get into. I have a habit of picking up pretty flyers, saving scraps of notes and collecting little bits and bobs that I then have no use for. It's not like when I cut images out of magazines and use them as drawing references. It's more like how I save hundreds of images to my hard drive, but in reality. 

So naturally I went off in search of Smash products and found them on Amazon, but thanks to browsing scrapbook forums, I found them on UK based craft site - CraftsULove for a lot less. (Amazon were selling pad for £6+, I got mine for £2.50!). 

I can assure you that the shop is legit - I ordered on Wednesday, missed my package on Friday and it was redelivered today - SUPER QUICK! 

So what did I get?

I got a pink Smashbook which is full of cute pages - there's some nice vintagey wallpaper type pages and old maps and birds. It's around A4 size but not quite which is ideal for either working at home or putting in a bag. 

I got two additional pens - one in black and one in pink. Mainly because I think these are SUCH AN AMAZING IDEA and want to keep one in my bag with my sketchbook. They have a fineliner style tip and just a typical glue stick. 

I got a selection of the pads, mainly because I think I'll probably use them outside of the journal as well. I got:

travel

family

blank

entertainment

quotes

& special occasions. 

Examples of the pages - travel has where I've been/where I'd like to go, favourite cultural customs etc. Quotes has overheard, words to live by, favourite lyrics/joke, best advice. 

They all have different colour bindings at the top but my one small complaint is that they were stickered closed so in peeling those off, the lovely vintage cover illustrations are ruined! 

I got two packs of pockets even tho I only ordered one! 

I also got a packet of paper tabs to bookmark pages or make notes. I also got metal clips to mark pages with. 

Finally, my favourite thing is a stamp which I'm in love with because I know I'll use it all over. 

It has a rotating date part with the month/day/year - fabulous. I already have a library stamp that I love. But this also has a selection of words/phrases including "I <3 this!" "to do" and "today is...". There's also "that warrants a fist pump" but my love of Jersey Shore can wait til later. 

I have literally just recieved this parcel so I can't comment much on the stuff but I'm so excited to go play with it and I will update you. 

I found out about Smashing from Holly Knitlightly but there's also a SmashBlog where people post their books and inspiration. Will definitely be browsing that all night!

Do you journal or scrapbook? Do you think you'd want to try out this product? 

Tell me what you think!