50 Beautiful Postcards in a Box set Images from original Tropical World printed on one side of heavyweight postcard stock

This review is for the 50 design box set of postcards. I will address the differences between this and the 30 design postcard glue-bound set towards the end up this review. The silent video with this review will show what is included with this set.

This set of 50 loose leaf postcards is based on Millie Marotta’s Tropical World which is her beautiful and successful second coloring book adventure. The subject of the postcards are tropical flora and fauna. The cards are all from the book and vary from full designs which have been shrunk to fit the new size or which are a subset of the original design (and possibly smaller, too, but not to the same degree as the full designs.) Some of the designs are so small, I must warn that they contain many extremely small and intricate details. So much so, I believe that I will only be able to use a hard lead colored pencil (like Prismacolor Verithins) to get the point I will need to color them. I will attempt to upload two images that demonstrate the shrunken design and the subset design.

Unlike the book, the postcards are definitely printed on only one side. The size is perfect for use as a postcard or to color and frame to make small gifts or a collage of prints on a wall. The back of the design is pre-set for postcard information. The postcards are glue-bound and you pull a card off like you would a note from a notepad.

This set comes in a lovely box which is very nicely made as well. It is a smaller and subset version of the cover of the book it is beautifully drawn and has touches of color and metallic gold. I will certainly find a use for it once I have finished my cards.

My water-based markers did not bleed through this paper. However, my Sharpies (both fine and ultra-fine), Copics, and all other alcohol-based markers did bleed through easily. Gel pens did not leak through but did need extra drying time. Coloring pencils worked great. If I want to use alcohol-based markers, I will cut a piece of chipboard to fit the book and carry it with me to keep ink from leaking through to the next page.

Interestingly, there are two sets of postcards based on Tropical World: this one which is a 50 design loose-leaf box set and a slightly less expensive set of 30 designs which is glue bound with a heavy cardboard cover.

There are really only two main differences between the two sets: 1) the bigger set has 20 designs which are not included in this set, and 2) the bigger set is also just slightly larger so a tiny bit more of images are printed. They are not printed in a larger size, just less of the design is cropped. The cards in 30 design set are approximately 6.25 x 4.25 inches. The cards in the 50 design set are approximately 6.375 x 4.375 inches. The differences each direction is approximately 1/8th of an inch. The real difference is the number of cards and the carrying box.

As to which is better it depends on your budget, how many designs you want, and how you want to use them. I find that the glue-bound is great for carrying in my purse where the box set is better for coloring at home. Provided I can get my photos to post (glitchy review system!) I will include two photos on this review which show the 20 designs that come with this set that do not come with the smaller set.