Showing posts with label personal growth Caitlin Scholl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal growth Caitlin Scholl. Show all posts

Self-Care: Inspirational Card Deck and Guidebook by Caitlin Scholl

, 26 Dec 2021

I bought this to give it as a gift a friend who would benefit from such an inspirational deck as she's going through a lot. The conception and healing properties of the deck are undeniable, yet, the quality of the final product isn't good and I ended keeping it myself, as I don't want to gift anything that looks cheap.

THINGS I LOVE
> The structure of the deck.
The deck is structured on three sections (affirmation, inspiration and reflection) with three different pastel colors (blue, green and violet) and each card comes with an inspiration quote at the top, and some generic advice to follow on the day, plus the extended advice in the guidebook.
> The quality of the writing and the advice given by Scholl are terrific and covers not only self care when you're are on your own, but also when you're in social settings. 
> The overall pastel palette of the deck, which gives a calming vibe to it. 
> The quality of the card stock. 
 > The elegant imagery and card design.
> The plush pouch bag being included in the set, also the fabric is very pleasurable to touch.
> The booklet is printed in good quality glossy paper and is 'bound' loosely so you can comfortably open it flat.
> The quality of the keepsake box.
> Good priced an good value for money.
NOT SO GOOD
>  As per my photo, the top layer of the printed paper arrived bubbled up. This is not the result of the posting and handling as the deck arrived sealed in plastic and well packaged, but the result of not spreading well the sheet of paper on the cardboard on the glue. This being the case I couldn't gift my friend with something it looks used or badly done.  
> Some of the quotes and the advice given on them is not always really connected, at least to me.
> The booklet's deficiencies:
-- The binding of the booklet is just glue, and it's so tightly done that the pages will certainly come off as soon as I start to use it frequently.  
-- The structure of the booklet. The cards aren't numbered, so the awesome extra information on each card has to be looked up manually, just within the corresponding section. As the cards are made to shuffle, this look up can be a bit labyrinthine, time consuming and not very helpful.  I find surprising that the editorial house didn't pay attention to something so important for a guidebook, because otherwise it is not a guide, it is a book where to search for information.
-- The index is also too generic to be of any use.
-- The cover of the booklet is paper thin, literally just paper, not even a bit of cardboard to hold the hole thing together.
 MIND 
The cards are on the large side

OVERALL
This could have been an awesome deck if the some basic stuff had been been tended to properly. Despite the undeniable psychotherapeutic  quality of the deck as a self-care tool, the overall cheap quality of the product and the poor structuring of the guidebook end resting value to a deck that deserves being better curated and produced.