A Journaling Subscription Box For Stationery Obsessives

Stationery lovers, allow me to introduce you to the fuel that will fire up your office supply obsession. Meet Archer & Olive, the brand that delivers a box full of cute (and high-quality) notebooks, pens, calligraphy markers, stickers, and more straight to your door every quarter. Whether you're into detailed bullet journaling, sketching, or simply enjoy collecting stationery to your heart's content, this is the subscription box for you. Take it from me, an incorrigible stockpiler with incredibly high standards, Archer & Olive's fully-stocked boxes of paper goods are every hand writer's dreams come true.

Named after founder Bonnie Kuhl's two cats, Archer & Olive has a mission to improve mental health through creativity — even for those who don’t consider themselves "creative" people. The female-founded brand believes that a pen-to-paper practice can boost your mood and help you navigate your mental health. Kuhl started Archer & Olive after she found relief in journaling — along with therapy — as her treatment for her bipolar personality disorder and general anxiety disorder diagnosis. "Art and journaling have forever changed the way I experience the world around me," Kuhl said. "These techniques won’t magically make problems or diagnosis disappear, but they are powerful tools you can use to manage your mental health every day."

Dr. Alison H. Tverdov, a clinical neuropsychologist and owner of NJ Psychological Services, concurs. "Writing is a core component of some trauma therapies, but it can also be helpful for individuals with chronic health conditions, stress, anxiety, and depression," she tells R29. "It may help them problem solve an issue, let go of something out of their control, or come to new conclusions [or] resolutions. As a result, they may feel less depressed, anxious, or stressed."

As someone who suffers from anxiety and over-thinking, I couldn't recommend the practice of journaling more. It helps to let out all of your worries on paper — even the ones you didn't even know you were worried about. Journaling has really helped me realize that once everything is written down and physically in front of me, it's not constantly twirling around in my brain and making me so anxious. Having beautiful stationery just enhances this self-care practice. So, keep on scrolling to see how this stationery-obsessed writer feels about a swoon-worthy subscription box filled with writing products.

The subscription box arrives on a quarterly basis (in March, June, September, and December) and retails for $75 per shipment. While Archer & Olive offers a slew of stationery options à la carte along with seasonally themed collections, the particular paper goods in the quarterly box are only available through the subscription. For this review, I got sent two jam-packed assortments, each containing eight full-sized stationery products with a value of over $175. One of the boxes had three small notebooks with white, black, and kraft paper, a calendar and to-do stickers for planners, a set of calligraphy markers, aesthetically-pleasing envelopes, and coloring pages. The other had more of a tropical theme, with a B5 (read: rectangular) dotted notebook, a set of washi tape rolls, a notepad with green pages, more markers, a writing-tool case, metallic bookmarks, stickers, and a stationery organizing cube.

Archer & Olive’s boxes include everything you would ever need to start or continue your journaling journey. The pages are a high-quality stock of medium thickness with the new notebook smell and an overall vibe that could give Moleskin a run for its money. I'm especially in love with the green-paged notepad. From new compositions to fun materials, Archer & Olive gives you lots of options while still sticking to a cohesive theme. (The only thing I'd say is missing in these boxes are probably the most obvious part: pens. While I loved the colorful, easy-to-handle calligraphy markers that came with the set, I found myself wanting some new black or colored pens or highlighters to round out the list of essentials.)

Thanks to the box, I’ve got notebooks for daaays now — and I'm loving every second of it. However, if you feel like you’re covered in the paper goods department, Archer & Olive also has a monthly accessories box that includes everything but the paper and pen. These boxes include things like stickers, washi tape, and stencils and cost $35 a pop. Pretty much everything in the brand’s catalog meets my stationery-snob standards: The calligraphy markers are so smooth and gorgeously bright and the calendar-planning stickers are eye-catching and highly functional. However, the real winners of the subscription boxes, in my opinion, are the organizing items: the writing-tool case and the desktop display cube. It's the perfect add-on for the stationery items you'll receive in abundance every quarter.

Speaking of the accessory boxes, the March-themed ones are adorably practical. Stock full of stickers, stencils, and washi tape, these under-$40 boxes have everything you could ever want. Decorating your bullet journal for the month has never been this easy (and this cute!). My favorite of the March boxes is the floral box, with its plant-based designs that will make any plant parent ecstatic. As soon as I opened the box, I got inspired right away. Let's just say, my bullet journal has never looked this good and this organized.

The second themed box for March is all about welcoming spring weather. Included are all the same type of stickers, washi tape, and stencils but with a windy, festival flair. The stickers are perfect for your monthly glance or a daily to-do page in your bullet journal; you get everything from days of the week to super-cute decorations. Everything included feels so high-quality, and each box brings enough to last you the entire month.

Whether you're a longtime stationery lover or you're just beginning your journaling journey, Archer & Olive’s subscription box will enhance your note-taking practice. Just receiving a box every quarter with beautiful, extremely high-quality products is enough to get me excited and motivated to actually write out my feelings, worries, and to-do lists onto the page. I couldn't recommend Archer & Olive — and its message and mental-health mission — more.