If you've ever found yourself deep in a stationery website at midnight, adding one more thing to your cart and wondering how it got to this — this unboxing is for you. I ordered a large box of ephemera, paper pads, sticker sheets, washi tape, and journalling supplies from Stationery Pal, and I wanted to share everything in it before I dove in and started making things. There's a lot here, and some of it genuinely surprised me.
What we cover
A full unboxing of a mixed haul from Stationery Pal — scrapbooking paper pads, fussy-cut sticker sheets, vintage-themed ephemera packs, perforated washi tape, tearaway ticket pads, bulldog clips, traveler's notebook refills, wooden stamps, mini journals, and a handful of things I'd completely forgotten I ordered. I also share a few honest thoughts about buying supplies versus actually using them.
What you'll learn
What fussy-cut sticker sheets look like in practice — these aren't pre-cut individual stickers. The sheets come printed with dozens of small images (mushrooms, butterflies, vintage motifs, botanical illustrations) on sticker paper, and you cut out whatever you need. At 50 sheets per book, there's a lot to work with.
How vintage-themed ephemera packs are put together, including:
- Die cuts, stickers, small tags, doilies, and miniature coin envelopes — all coordinated within a single theme
- Pouch-format kits (dark forest, floral, Renaissance, letter, botanical) where the pouch itself can be reused as a journal embellishment
- How to think about using one pack to embellish a single journal rather than mixing everything
What perforated washi tape actually is — the faux postage stamp washi tape is rolled like standard washi but perforated between each "stamp," so you tear off individual pieces rather than cutting. It's strong tape, and the perforation is satisfying when it works — but it needs a gentle hand (more on this in Tips).
How tearaway ticket pads work for journalling — these are small perforated pads printed to look like vintage delivery tickets, coupons, refrigeration tags, and lower-stand stubs. You tear off individual tickets and use them as-is: as tags, labels, pocket inserts, or layered ephemera. Each pad has two sections — a top ticket and a bottom stub.
What bulldog clips and paperclips actually contribute to a finished journal — I use both a lot, and seeing them in rose gold and gold finishes here is a reminder of how much a closure or a page marker adds to the feel of a handmade book. These aren't just office supplies when they're on a journal.
The difference between the paper items in this haul, including:
- Sticker paper (for fussy cutting — needs close inspection, it's not always obvious)
- Plain paper pads (lighter weight, good for layering)
- Handmade and mulberry paper with gold foiling (for texture and visual interest)
- Kraft report pads (straightforward, useful)
What traveler's notebook refills look like at this price point — blank, ruled, and grid options, all standard size. They work as they are, but they're also a nice base to embellish and include with a journal you're selling.
What wooden month and day stamps are good for — simple, reusable, and practical for planning spreads or adding a date element to a junk journal page without needing a printer.
How a pen pouch book cover closure works — it wraps around the journal cover, holds a pen or pencil, and functions as the closure. A useful finishing touch on a journal you're making to sell or gift.
Tips & gotchas
You genuinely don't have to buy a full box. Everything I showed here came to around $80 USD, which sounds like a lot — but each item is individually priced and quite inexpensive. Picking two or three things you actually need is a perfectly reasonable way to shop here, and it'll feel less overwhelming than trying to use a box this size all at once.
With the perforated washi tape: be slow and deliberate when you unroll it. The perforation is what makes it beautiful, but it's also where it'll tear if you rush. Unroll a little at a time, hold the tape flat, and pull gently across the perforation rather than just yanking. I had to think about it for a moment the first time.
The sticker-versus-paper question comes up constantly with these kinds of packs. My method: look at the back of the sheet before you get excited. Sticker paper has a backing you can feel; plain paper doesn't. Some of the most beautiful sheets in this haul are plain paper — which is still completely useful, just used differently.
One thing I keep coming back to: having a lot of supplies doesn't automatically make you more creative. Sometimes the opposite is true — when you're working with a limited stash, you problem-solve, you combine things unexpectedly, you find uses you wouldn't have looked for otherwise. I thought about this while unpacking. All of this is wonderful and I'm genuinely excited to use it, but the creativity still has to come from somewhere else.
The storage box with the two compartments looks great and makes sense on paper, but the lid mechanism doesn't spring open the way you'd hope — you press, then have to manually pull it open. It still works, it just doesn't have the satisfying pop I was expecting. Not a dealbreaker, just worth knowing before you order it expecting something slicker.
Collage is something I find genuinely challenging, and having physical images I actually love makes it easier to start. The tearaway ticket pads are a close second — they'll go straight into the next few journals I'm working on, used as pocket inserts or layered under a tag. My daughter has already claimed the charms and most of the stickers, which feels right.
