Subscription Box Review: Julibox March 2013

Julibox is my newest subscription box find.  It's a cocktail and spirit service so obviously you must be over 21 year old to order AND there has to be someone at your mailing address who is over 21 to sign.  Each month Julibox will send out all the ingredients you need to make two different cocktails minus fresh ingredients such as lemons, limes or herbs.  You will receive enough to make two of each cocktail.  What's really neat about this service is that they not only have some of the most beautiful packaging I've seen so far, they also have really great themes for each box.

Julibox's Collection #7 I Love Paris in the Springtime

Featuring St. Germain Elder flower Liquor

This month's cocktails include the Les Deux Magot, a favorite of Ernest Hemingway, and the Pear Flower.  Along with the St. Germain were bottles of Banks 5 Island Rum, Grey Goose La Poire and Perrier.  We had a lot of fun sampling these cocktails.  A recent email from Julibox hinted to a Derby theme next month so I know hope bourbon will be involved!

I estimate that the value of this box is around $30.00.  The monthly cost is $40.00 but it is so much fun that I don't mind discrepancy in cost vs. value!

Subscription Box Review: Love With Food March 2013

Love With Food is a fun subscription box where you get to sample 6-8 unique food items each month.  The cost is $10.00 plus $2.00 shipping but if you sign up for a whole year the shipping is free!  Like most boxes, each month has a theme.  March's theme was Classics With A Twist.

March's box contained:

Yo Gabba Gabba Kids 50 juice box

Organic Wacky Apple fruit leather 

Cosmo Creations salted caramel baked corn (I sampled a bit of it before taking the picture, it was pretty good)

Revolution acai green tea infuser 

Ola! Food vanilla granola (no more granola please!)

Chocwasabi chocolate covered wasabi peas

Mary's Gone Crackers

Emily's Chocolates chocolate and orange covered fortune cookie

I wasn't overjoyed with this box.  The value is less than what I pay monthly, probably around $7.00 to $8.00.   But they do donate a meal to a hungry child for every box sold.  So, that makes it worth the price. 

Next month's box is being curated by Andrew Zimmern and is themed Weird, Wild and Wonderful Food.  I hope it will be a good one!

Subscription Box Review: Quarterly Co. Food52

I've become completely obsessed with subscription boxes and really enjoy reading reviews of different ones every month.  So...I thought I would start to review some of my boxes.  I currently receive 11 different boxes but do cancel and add new ones often so there should be a good variety.  I also hope to review some other products and cookbooks/recipes.

Quarterly Co. is a subscription box service in which you select which box you will receive from a list of what they call contributors.  Each contributor curates a box on a three month basis.  I really like this service because you can subscribe to a few different contributors and get a real great variety of items.  I'm subscribed to the Food52 box and it arrived yesterday.  I have sort of mixed feeling about this one but overall am pleased.   See what's inside.

Box value:

Bar Keepers Friend -$5.00

This is great for hard to clean pots and pans or ceramic stove tops.

Stewart & Claire Lip Balm - $6.00

I liked this lip balm but my goodness every subscription box I have sends lip balm.

Enough lip balm already!  

Kishu Binchotan Charcoal - $15.00 

All natural charcoal filters for water.  These are really neat and will be a great conversation piece at my next dinner party.  The sticks are to be washed, boiled and then just dropped into a pitcher of tap water.  They capture impurities in the water and infuse the water with minerals.  Pretty cool, I think!

Total:  $26.00

Price for monthly subscription:  $25.00

I'm excited for their next mailing as they hinted to asparagus season in the enclosed information sheet.  Check back soon for my next review!  

Fairies and Cupcakes

Although I don't make cupcakes all that often, and when I do I usually eat them without any icing, I really enjoy making (and receiving) cupcake toppers. The idea here is simple, use toothpicks (or any thin wooden skewer) and create miniature collaged peices which you then attach using hot glue. Stick them in your cupcake and there you go - instant decoration! These toppers were made for a Swap-bot swap in which my partner picked the theme she wanted based on a list I offered. I was hoping she would choose my cuttlefish theme since I had a great idea and graphic picked out...I will have to make those for myself one day. Vintage flower fairies was her chosen theme and they were so much fun to make! I was actually very happy with how they turned out.

I recently found an amazing source for images, The Graphics Fairy. She posts new images daily so it's always fun to see what's new.

I think I'm hooked on this new little craft! So easy and fun.