Star Theme Thank You Card

Star Theme Thank You Card Supply List. Links are for your convenience, not referrals.

• Card Base: 6.25 in x 4.5 in (You can make your own with a piece of card stock measuring 6.25 in x 9 in, and scoring at the 4.5 in mark.)
• Design paper: 6 in x 4.25 in (I used the stars and stripes from the Magic Moments paper by Miss Kate Cuttables)
• Black Card Stock: 5.50 in x 3.75 in for the mat and 2.50 inch x 2.75 in for the thank you stamp
• White Card Stock: 5.25 in x 3.50 in
• Fiskars Essential sayings clear stamps
• Fiskars Wedding day clear stamps
• Acrylic Stamping Block
• Pigment Ink in White, Black, Red, and Yellow. (Colors were chosen to match the design paper. If you're using different paper, I would adjust the colors as needed)
• Star embellishment, or Star punch measuring approximately 1.25-1.5 in
• Adhesives (I used 10 foam squares and a tape runner for this project) 

Assembly:

     I always like to start my cards by cutting out my base pieces of paper and lining everything up to make sure that it's going to look the way that I want it to. Nothing is adhered yet, but I do this prior to any stamping so that I can make sure that my sizing looks good. For example, I typically like mats and frames to be about 1/4 of an inch larger in width and length. However, I really liked the stars and stripes paper for this project and wanted it displayed more than just a little around the edges. Therefore, I went with a 1/2 inch larger in width and length than the next piece in that layer so that enough of the design would show around the edges. Now that I'm confident that I like the spacial arrangement of the card I moved on to the stamping of my designs.
    
     I wanted to make my own unique pattern for the predominant white background so I searched my stamp collection for different gratitude stamps. Luckily, there are a wide variety of stamps that have some version of thanks associated to the set and I choose the wedding day thank you and three different thanks from the essential sayings set. I liked these because they varied in script and size, however you're not limited to using the exact stamps that I used. Search the stamps you have on hand and see if you have anything that will work. Make sure to try and switch up in sizes to keep the background a little bit more interesting.

     Now that you're ready to stamp go ahead and start with your largest stamp first and work down to your smallest stamp. I choose the thank you from the wedding day stamps to start and stamped the smallest black card with the sentiment using white pigment ink first. I then stamped the sentiment in yellow, red, and black on the white base. Some helpful hints for this step include:

• Start with your lightest ink first and move up to your darkest. This will prevent contaminating lighter ink pads with darker ink, as well as help ensure that your image is the color you were going for. 
• Keep baby wipes or a stamp cleaner pad next to you to clean off your stamps between colors. Still stamp lightest to darkest in case you didn't get everything.
• I like to keep a piece of scrap paper next to me to make sure all of the ink has been removed from the stamp. Simply use your stamp on the scrap paper first, if something comes off the stamp it's not clean enough to move on to the next color yet.
• Using the largest stamp first ensures that you have the space for it on your background.
• Also, as you can see in my picture don't be afraid to stamp off of the paper. Use a silicon mat behind your paper for easy cleaning and just wipe the excess off with the baby wipe. 
• Progressively get smaller with your stamps making sure to alternate between your chosen colors. 
• The background is done when you're happy with it. Don't worry if a few stamps didn't go perfectly as planned, remember you're placing something on top of this background so some mistakes can be hidden. Feel free to place the smallest gratitude piece on top of the background at any time so that you can monitor your progress.

     Once your background is complete you can go ahead and assemble the card. I would recommend that you lay everything down in order one last time to make sure you're still happy with how everything turned out. The first draft of this card included silver ink instead of yellow. While the background itself looked okay, I hated the way that it looked when I laid everything down. Since I hadn't adhered anything yet, I simply re-stamped the background with yellow and liked the final product much better.

     I adhered the stars and stripes paper to the card base with a double sided tape runner so that it would lay flat with the paper. I used the same tape runner to adhere my custom thank you background to the black mat that it was designed to sit on and the star to the black thank you rectangle. I used the foam squares to adhere the black mat with the thank you paper to the stars and stripes paper, as well as the black thank you portion with star to the thank you background to give the card a bit of dimension. You don't want to adhere every layer with foam adhesive or your card won't fit into an envelope as easily. Make sure that you're considering your delivery method when developing your cards!

    As a final step, I went ahead and stamped the envelope with another gratitude stamp. Don't forget to include the envelope in your creative process, it adds just a little extra something to your project.

Good luck with your creations, I hope you'll share some of your projects!

Review of summer 2019 FabFitFun

     I want to take a few minutes to go into a fairly detailed review of the FabFitFun subscription box to help you determine if it's really worth the money. I've also included abbreviated thoughts below if you're just looking for a quick scan just look at the pictures though, the products are great.

• Costs $49.99 quarterly, or $179.99 yearly. My recent box $339.95 worth of full sized products. 
• Wide variety of products received, not just make-up and beauty based. 
• There is a customizable option for several of the products to make the box match your personality and current needs.  
• The magazine offers promotions for the featured products and brands that last up to a year, so that if you love a product you can purchase from that company at a significant discount.
• Includes extras like FabFitFun TV which features a variety of cooking videos, exercise videos, entertaining, and DIY videos.
• Absolutely worth it if you enjoy splurging on yourself without huge price tags.

     A common saying "you can’t pour from an empty glass" really hits me as a mother. I’ve been run down, and when you combine run down with a naturally clumsy person the results typically aren't great (what, you haven’t broken your ankle skipping of a side walk…twice?). Let’s also address the fact that kids in school/daycare are ALWAYS sick, and while they may be fine with that little runny nose if you haven’t practiced self-care you’ll be dying in the background with the plague. Honestly, even if you do adamantly follow a self-care regime you may still be in the background with the plague but that’s beside the point. 

     I love Sephora, and before I had children Sephora loved me too. I really enjoy trying new products, but after I had children I needed to dial that back. I found subscription boxes while I was first trying to save money without giving up something I loved and I originally subscribed to Glambag and Birchbox to get my product fix. Glambag starts as a $10/month subscription and sends some pretty nice make-up supplies. It was not unusual to receive a full size mascara or lipstick, and everything always came in a cute little make-up bag. Birchbox is about $15 dollars a month, or $156 for a prepaid year, but they sent more sample/trial sized items. At the time I stopped birchbox first because I felt like glambag was the better deal. However, after several months I ended up with more make-up then I could wear, a ton of perfume samples, and several small make-up bags I had no purpose for so I eventually cancelled glambag as well.

     FabFitFun is the only box I continue to subscribe to, and I'm consistently happy with my products. It’s not a monthly subscription, but a seasonal subscription that costs $49.99 if you go box by box or $179.99 if you purchase for the year. So compared to the $110 for a year of glambag, and $156 for a year of Birchbox the price mark isn't that different. The products are all full sized and they provide a mixed variety of personal care items, fitness related items, and fun quirky items. I liked that it was a subscription that I could continue to subscribe to without stockpiling a bunch of similar items I didn't actually need. The best part of the boxes for me is that they are also customizable to a degree. Every season you get several choices to customize your box to things that you actually prefer. For example, for the summer box they had a fun felt letter board which sounds great except I have cats and dogs and I have no interest in seeing how much hair it would acquire. Instead, I opted for some really cute blue tie-dye bowls. If I had wanted both the letter board and the bowls I could have added the additional item for a small extra fee. 

    These are all of the items from my box this month that I had a choice about. I also added the Doctor Rogers Restore Healing balm for $7 during the customization process since I wanted two items from that particular choice. Typically you have the ability to select a product from a range of 3-4 diverse items. For example, the first category this season was between a travel blow dryer, a lotus beach/picnic towel, Brazilian bum bum cream and shower moisturizing cream, or a kimono. A second choice was exercise resistance bands, a double star necklace, or a pair of silicone wine glasses. This particular box offered 5 choices to the annual members, and 3 choices for the seasonal subscribers. Seasonal subscribers still received the same number of products, the last two choices were just made for the based on their personal profile of interests. The summer box also included 4 additional items that were sent to everyone. These are the items that are not released before hand, so you get a little surprise when you unbox.

     Here's the complete picture of my summer 2019 box, along with my breakdown of items and cost. I did verify the prices listed and they seem legitimate for the specific products. My box included 5 customized items, 1 add on, and 4 additional products sent to everyone. Total value of the box added up to about $340 dollars, and out of pocket cost was $52 since I subscribe yearly but added the $7 healing balm.

Product	Price
Sutra Professional Mini Blow Dryer soft touch marble	$ 60
West Elm Indigo Tie-Die Bowls	$ 39
Burn 60 Resistance Bands	$ 34
Living Proof No Frizz Nourishing Styling Cream	$ 28
Doctor Rogers Restore Healing Balm	$ 30
Coola Organic SPF 30 Make-up setting spray	$ 36
Invisibobble Original Duo Pack (hair ties)	$ 16
Generation Clay Ultraviolet Brightening Purple Clay Mask	$39
Grace and Stella Rose Facial Spray	$25.95
Whish Exfoliating Foot Mask	$ 32
Cost of Box	$339.95
Actual Cost of Box:	$ 52 including shipping

     I've actually been subscribing to FabFitFun for years. I've received a variety of full sized make-up, brushes, moisturizers, exercise equipment, bluetooth speakers, a teapot with strainer, blankets, winter wear, stationary with wax stamps, candles, fruit in-fusible water bottles, vitamins, and journals. 

    

    In addition to the products of each box you're also entitled to some fun extras. Each box comes with the FabFitFun magazine which includes additional specials from the companies supplying the materials for the box as well. Most of the coupon codes are fairly substantial and are good for several months to a year. The shipping boxes are also really cute storage boxes for small items like craft supplies or small children’s toys. I currently store my sons Lego’s, my daughters play doh, and several of my craft supplies in previous FabFitFun boxes.They also launched access to FabFitFunTv where you can endlessly stream a variety of cooking, entertaining, DIY, and exercising videos. 

     If you have a little extra money to splurge on yourself, I would strongly encourage you to try the subscription. If you’re interested in trying it out you have a couple of options. You can subscribe yourself for full price here, or I currently have 5 invitations for a free introduction version of a box (3-4 full size products) that all you have to do is pay the shipping. This code gives you a 21 day trial period for the shop and FabFitFun TV as well. However, after 21 days you'll be automatically renewed for the seasonal membership, so if you're not a fan- remember to cancel. Send me your email address, and I’d be happy to send that information along while supplies last. I receive no benefit for these invitations, so I’m not just trying to sell you something to benefit myself. I genuinely just like the product. If you’re interested in receiving a full size summer box you can use my referral code to subscribe for $10 dollars off your first box. Since this would count as a referral, that would result in me getting a small bonus, but again I really just like the product. If you already get FabFitFun boxes I’d love for you to share your thoughts in the comments to help get multiple perspectives the product!

Introduction

   

      Hello, and welcome to my blog! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and why I've decided to go ahead and start writing. They say that it takes a village to raise a family, and the amount of helpful tips and tricks I've taken from reading blogs for raising mine has inspired me to throw my own two cents into the village. I'm not an expert by any means, and honestly I'll probably share where I fail a lot more than where I succeed, but every little bit helps right? I’ve tried a lot of various things when it comes to parenting, crafting, and personal care, so if my insight can help you- then I’m happy to share my opinion.


     As you can see from the picture, I’m married with two children. My son is 6 years old, and my daughter is 3 ½. I decided to share this particular picture because I’m in it, which is rare in my household since I’m the most likely candidate for taking pictures (although my son is showing potential if the various pictures of his shoes and nose hairs on my phone are any indication). Unfortunately, the second reason I’m not in many pictures is because I hate the way I come across. I’m self-conscious about my weight, and I feel like my smile frequently looks like an inner gremlin is trying to escape my body. I’m working on being in more pictures since my kids will remember me as the squishy gremlin anyway. Obviously, they're a large part of my life so I wanted to make sure that my blog included them as well.

     The second area that I have a passion for is crafting. Growing up I spent a ton of time with my grandmother, absorbing everything I could from her. I spent so much time with her that AARP started sending me letters when I was about 15 years old. I learned to crochet, sew, and knit. Although, if I'm being honest knitting takes forever and I dropped that pretty quickly. My family wasn't particularly well off so it was amazing when my grandmother would let me pick something out during the rare trip to Walmart. I was in awe the first time I saw scrapbooking supplies, and grandma bought me a special set of scissors that cut different borders! Of course I wanted more but my mother lacked any ability or desire to craft, so I didn’t really get a lot of supplies in that area. I had caught the scrapbook bug, and I wanted everything. Regretfully, as I got older at times that is exactly what I purchased and I somehow ended up with a small craft store worth of materials. I clearly needed all of the paper and embellishments if I was going to create my wedding album. Then time went by and it turned into needing things for baby albums. Scrapbooking led to stamping and children led me to explore all of the crafts I could do with toddlers. Now if only I had a place for all of my things…

   Finally, crafting is a joy but not my life. My life is teaching chemistry, which I know you’re absolutely dying to hear about. So in lieu of chemistry conversations I can share some of my experiences with things that I’ve tried to increase quality of life. Things that were supposed to help unwind, relax, increase quality time with family, help with weight loss, increase activity, or just plain make me or someone in my family feel good. Things that worked, didn’t, or maybe turned into utter failures. I’m not trying to sell you anything, just give my feedback on things I like and didn’t like to maybe save you a few bucks and mistakes of your own.
   They say it takes a village… and maybe some cool scissors will help too.