Blog.

I created a separate blog for the Rathsack Adoption Option stuff. Mostly it has a ton of info about the 52 Reasons I Love You decks that I've been selling like crazy on Etsy. Not much else has been on there. There are like three blog posts, but I don't care. It is what it is. Rainbows, unicorns, babies, and love.

If you feel like it, help yourself!

LINKY HERE

or click on the picture below

Cost.

The cost of purchasing a child is ridiculous and it gets me all fired up. Yes, I worded it that way on purpose. You might as well say it that way, because that's essentially what you're doing.

I've done a lot of research on this topic and the best option I can find around here is LSS Adoption Services. If their website is correct, it will be $13,500.00 to adopt. In order to visually keep track, and to help others to be able to see what our goals are, I made a fundraiser thermometer.

We have a long way to go. If the cost is higher than that, which some websites estimate over $40,000 for a domestic adoption (!!!) then we are screwed... but we have to start somewhere.

We are probably going to talk to an agency directly and put in an application this week. We need to find out the specifics as it relates to money. We need to see if it will be worth our time to even put in an application. I don't want to waste our money or anyone else's money if we get any donations.

I kind of feel like I should've waited to start spreading the word about the adoption, but then again I'm really not. It really got the ball rolling for me, and especially for Adam. It really kicked his butt into gear and made him officially decide that it is something he wants to do. He is still very hopeful that we will have our own child, as am I, but after looking into the astronomical costs of fertility treatments and compared side-by-side with the success rates, I convinced him that it just isn't worth it. The success rates range anywhere from 22 - 50%. That's not very much percents, you know what I mean? IVF is a helluva lot of money to just have a 50% chance of conceiving! Some that conceive even end up miscarrying! How devastating! I can't imagine! Exclamation mark!

We shall see how far this fundraiser goes. Hopefully those that have said "we support you all the way" actually mean it, eh?

Much love, diamonds, rubies and opals,
T

Facebook.

I made a Facebook page for the Rathsack Adoption Option.

The Rathsack Adoption Option

Read more about our adoption effort here.

Short description from the Facebook page:

Well, this is it. We've officially lost all hope to have our own baby and are opting for an adoption. The problem is that it costs about $20,000 for one... and that's a lot of money. It may be tacky, but we are doing a fundraiser because... well, that's a LOT of money. 

We want a baby, and we're willing to do whatever necessary to have one. We are still a little unsure about this whole idea, because this is kind of embarrassing, but hopefully we'll come around once enough people support us!  

Right now I'm just setting up an Etsy shop, mostly because it's easy, something I've been wanting to do for a while, and fun for me. In the summer, anxiety permitting, some real fundraiser-type things will be happening. I don't know what yet, but it's going to be great. I just know it.  

If anyone with fundraising experience wants to offer advice, I'm all ears! If someone wants to lend a helping hand, that would be SO awesome.

Please "Like" our page to keep updated on our efforts. 

Or just "Like" our page just to show that you support us.

Much love, hope, desire and fairy dust,

T

<3

UPDATE!!!!: Cha-Ching.

UPDATE: 10:12 P.M.

SEE BELOW!!!!

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Last night I made my first legitimate Etsy sale! Some guy from California is giving the antique coupon book to his wife for Valentine's day!

Read more about the coupons here!

See this on my Etsy shop here!

AHHHH! So excited. $14.85 closer to the $13,500 goal! lol

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UPDATE: 10:12 P.M.

As of 8:04 P.M., Central Time, I have received four legit orders from Etsy. I don't know why I keep saying "legit", as in not counterfeit? It doesn't really make sense. Shut up, Tessa. Get on with it.

THE POINT IS... THAT I MADE (a little) MONEY. And that I have a TON of work to do! And I am SUPER excited!

I just about had an aneurysm when the first order came in at 6:56 this evening. I came out of the Craftination Station, screaming at the top of my lungs "ADAM! ADAM! ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST MADE ANOTHER FREAKING ETSY SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He gave me 20 high fives and was excited with me. 

I went back to my room, sat down for no more than two minutes, when another email came through that was a completely different order! TWO ORDERS, FOUR MINUTES APART! 

Man, I just about had a stroke and heart attack to add to the aneurysm earlier.

I came rushing out of the room again, even louder and crazier than the first. I ran into the computer room and was almost dizzy from the excitement! 

Man, oh man, oh man. I thought that was it. That was the end of the explosion of excitement for the night. I posted (read: screamed in all caps) on Facebook that I made the sales, and then my friend, Melissa, said that she wanted her own deck of cards, and put an order through within minutes! 

At 8:04 P.M., I had three new Etsy sales in one day, with five orders total (an extra one, not mentioned here, from a friend that I cannot name... that sale will go through later when the project is finished). 

I need to stop typing and screwing around and get to work. Every one of these orders are for Valentine's Day and I need to stop being excited and get to work. 

Love, happiness, joy and merriment,

T

Portal.

In case you haven't been here before, (chances are that's a "yes") let me clue you in in just a few, blunt sentences:

1. My husband and I can't have kids. 
2. But we want kids.
3. Therefore, we would like to adopt.
4. We do not have the $20,000 to fund such adoption.
5. I'm trying my hand at a fundraiser to earn said money.
6. This fundraiser consists of, among other things, an Etsy shop selling paper crafts that I make.
7. Read more here.

This blog is one way I'm promoting my stuffs and trying to get the word out there. I am shamelessly pinning my own work to Pinterest because I want a baby *that* bad. Sue me.

/the end.

Have you ever played the game Portal by Valve? A lot of guys I know have. Pretty much all of the guys I know have. The premise is easy: it's a puzzle. Each level you have to figure out how to get to the next level using a gun that creates a portal from one side of the room to the other. In one of the levels, a weighted companion cube appears to help you complete the level.

Weighted Companion Cube

This is the icon of the game. There are products upon products of this precious cube, even Adam and I own some: Stuffed "animal" Cube, Cookie Cutters, Cookie Jar, Fuzzy Dice, Coasters, Plush Turret, Potato, Hoodie, Silly Putty Gels, ...

WHOA. We own a LOT of Portal stuff. We should've invested in Valve stock. So... we're a little obsessed. We can't help it! It's just such an awesome game!

So awesome, in fact, that I had to make Portal Cards! I used some Google Images as my guide in making these.

I made a lot of variations, and I'll just post them all here

And then I made some cards out of a stick figure holding the cube, also using Google Images as a guide:

My obsession is clear. How many variations does a girl have to make of the same card? What's more sad is that I made more than just one card of each variation!

oy vey.

The good GREAT news is that I'm not the only one with this strange obsession. I hope this means I don't have to work very hard to sell some of these cards. In other words, I've pretty much convinced myself that nothing that I make is going to sell, but I think these will! I shouldn't get my hopes up though, eh?

As always, much love and sunshine,
T

Birthday.

In case you haven't been here before, (chances are that's a "yes") let me clue you in in just a few, blunt sentences:

1. My husband and I can't have kids. 
2. But we want kids.
3. Therefore, we would like to adopt.
4. We do not have the $20,000 to fund such adoption.
5. I'm trying my hand at a fundraiser to earn said money.
6. This fundraiser consists of, among other things, an Etsy shop selling paper crafts that I make.
7. Read more here.

This blog is one way I'm promoting my stuffs and trying to get the word out there. I am shamelessly pinning my own work to Pinterest because I want a baby *that* bad. Sue me.

/the end.

There's a new item listed in my Etsy shop and, of course, is for my fundraiser so my husband and I can adopt a baby!

Here's the link to the listing. 

All balloons are paper pieced, which is a lot more annoying than you'd think!

I really like the glossy accents on the balloons that give them that little shine. I think it makes them fun :)

I put all three cards under the same listing because they're so similar.

Hmm... not sure what else to say. I like these cards!

Adam and I really appreciate you even coming and looking. That makes me happy. Comments make me happier. Babies make me giggle.

<3 <3 Hearts and chocolates,
T

Chalkboard.

Writing that post title was really hard BECAUSE I WANTED TO SCREAM "NEW CHALKBOARD COUPON BOOKS!" IN ALL CAPS!

I'm trying to watching New Girl right at the same time I'm writing this. It's kind of impossible for me to do. New Girl is kind of taking precedence right now. Who else loves that show!?

I've been having fun. And I've been getting annoyed. But mostly having fun. I created another coupon book! And I am proud of it, as I was my original one. There's a lot of negativity surrounding me, mostly by my own fault, but I'm trucking away at it.  Adam isn't sure what kind of a market there is for this sort of thing, let alone people who understand the concept. I think most women understand the concept, but, fairly obviously, not men. Adam also has been a great (and my only) cheerleader, saying that everyone starts out as nothing. Cliche, maybe, but it's something to remember.

As far as what I've been having fun with...

Here's the Etsy link!

That's what I've been working on! As always, I had a lot of fun with them. I had a hard time with a lot of it, figuring out how to do some of it... even though it looks so simply easy... it wasn't for me!

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I don't want to be famous, semi-famous, or an online-hit where I have 200 followers (to me, 200 is a lot *smiles*). Frankly, I don't have the time or energy for that. Or talent. I just want to have a baby. And however many people it takes to find me and let me make things for them, I'll be happy with. If we got people to buy a set of 5 cards, it would take 2,000 people. That's a lot of people!! And wow.. Just thought of the fact that that's a lot of cards... 100,000?!?!?! 

That's why I need Adam to tell me to keep trucking along. Someday someone might find what I make interesting, and that will be exciting. Like when Dany Rohe (a huge German photographer!) bought my Mugshot Sign when it wasn't even for sale! She just found it off of Google! HOW COOL WAS THAT!?

I've been working on other stuff in the interim, so I'll be showing those as I get the time and energy. lol.

Hard.

Life is HARD.

I just worked an 11 hour day straight and I'm still so, so, so incredibly behind.

I am finally home and I am pooped. So exhausted I just want to close my eyes forever.

That's all I have to say about that right now.

Here's a sneak peek of what I'm working on!

I'm almost done :)

Baby.

I don't have any real pictures to share today, but because I know that pictures helps break up the monotony of the walls of texts, I'm going to put some that I adore in here... and they just so happen to go along with the theme.

There are a few things that I want to discuss. They're uncomfortable for me to talk about, so I would expect it's going to be uncomfortable for you, too. The only reason I'm doing this is because I like to be open about big circumstances in my life. I don't see why there has to be an issue with discussing something going on in my life. Everyone enjoys their privacy, but I find it important for me to open up about problems that are close to my heart. Or my brain...

Tenderness.

Here's a recap of rants I've had in the past:

• I'm bipolar.
• I have tons of other health issues.
• I have no health insurance.
• We have little money because of stupid health issues.

It looks like I covered everything in just one post!

Playful.

Today I'm going to cover:

• We can't have kids (probably).
• We are too poor to adopt or to go through fertilization treatments.
• We worry about my mental issues interfering with the stresses of being a foster parent.
• We want to be parents anyway.
• I have opened an Etsy shop and will be starting to promote my (hopefully decent) work to try to earn money to purchase some sort of human being. That sounds so effed up, but it's true.
• I don't know why SO MANY of the pictures in my previous posts vanished. That actually really pisses me off, because the only reason I even KEEP a blog is to document my life and work! WHAT.THE. CRAPF(&SFJAsd;fo*%($@&%!!!!!!!

Friendship.

1.  We can't have kids (probably).

True story. Everyone else says "oh, you will. It will happen", "you're young still", "you never know what can happen". Fine, I'm young, but chances aren't looking so good. PLUS, WHO ARE YOU to tell me it'll happen? Ugh, that irks me the worst. I haven't been trying *that* long, in the whole scheme of life (6 years), but that's a lot of failed attempts and so, so many monthly heartbreaks. I'm pretty convinced that if we keep doing what we're doing (essentially everything they could do 2013 years ago, nothing more), we won't be able to have a baby. We've "stopped trying" for a year or two now, hoping that we would be one of those lucky couples that have them on accident. No dice.

I have had some medical tests in the past. Some tests have come back either normal or slightly abnormal, but there's not a lot that we can do because of the money issue.

Joy.

Which leads me to:

2.  We are too poor to adopt or to go through fertilization treatments.

I suppose we're not poor, because we're not in the poverty range, but we're definitely not rich. Most people call it "well off". We're on the lower end of that description.

My enormous medical bills require us to deplete nearly all of our monthly "fun" money to pay them. We don't have $20,000 to invest into an adoption. Don't try to tell me that it's cheaper Here or There, because I feel like I've looked into everything! Even the so-called not-for-profit organizations charge a minimum of $20,000. Doctor appointments are costly just to try to see what's wrong with one of us. Once we find out what's wrong, what's the treatment? What if we go through $10,000 in medical tests and find out that the only option is In Vitro anyway? Either way it's a moot point, because we don't have $10k to drop in the first place.

HOWEVER! There is a place in Madison that has a guarantee that their services will work! Adam is begging me to try that before we go through the process of fostering. The only problem I have is that Madison is THREE HOURS away. We'd both have to take an entire day off of work just to go to one appointment! That's an entire adventure! That's a lot of time in the car and a lot of money spent on gas!

Content.

3.  We worry about my mental issues interfering with the stresses of being a foster parent.

It's not secret that I don't handle stress well. In dire situations, I can be unusually calm, collected and cool, but when constantly pressured, I break. If a troubled child pushes me to a breaking point, obviously that's not good. But, also, who is to say that I'll break? What kind of a break? Will I cry? Will I need to go get my meds adjusted? Will I need to go see a counselor? (probably a good idea, anyway.) Those are all ok. But what if I need to be admitted? Highly unlikely. But what if!? That's always going to be in the back of my mind.

I think that the best option for us would be for us to foster. This may sound wrong or inappropriate, but it's the cheapest route, and therefore the most feasible and practical in our situation. Getting into severe debt just to have something that will cost us even more in the short and long term and forever term doesn't make any sense to me.

Precious.

4.  We want to be parents anyway.

"We" is a relative term. Adam is more of a "if everything is peachy keen, let's do it", whereas I'm the irrational, spoiled brat who always gets what she wants, and throws a fit when she doesn't get it. I believe what everyone else says, that there is never an opportune time to have children. You just have to do it, and things work out somehow.

I've been trying hard to be patient. When I pray and plead with God to give me a child, I hear him tell me to "be patient". Ugh! Fine. I guess I don't have a choice much, do I? lol.

Soul.

5.  I'm making this post because I want to explain that I'm going to be shamelessly promoting my (hopefully decent) work so as to earn money to obtain a Precious. 

I don't know why I feel like I have to announce this. Maybe so it's that I can tell myself that I should do this. Because I AM awesome and I CAN do this. Maybe my stuff IS good enough that people might want to buy it. And if I do get money from it, I want people to know that it's going to something that I'm passionate about.

However, I know that if none of this goes my way, Adam and I will just grow old together. 

And that will be ok.

Endless Love.

Coupons.

You know those cliche coupon books that you make for your hunny for their birthday or valentine's day?

No? Just Google Image search "Coupon Book" and you'll see a plethora of them. Most are pretty cute, some are professional, some people have templates so you can make your own.

For me, I didn't like anything I saw. I had an idea in my head of how I wanted it to look, and I couldn't find anything similar online except something along these lines:

Of course! Vintage. Although I love modern and contemporary, I think vintage and antique are more of what I'm drawn to.

Now, again, there are people who have graciously given us freeloaders templates so we can make our own coupons in a time efficient and quite cute manner. However, even though I love free, I also love to create and do things myself. Naturally, therefore, I made my own:

And of course, I added a message at the end:

The book was adhered together with two heavy-duty staples that I stole from work. I wanted to have it look fairly authentic, so I wanted the back of each coupon to not be colored white. I simply printed the background image on the back of the paper before I printed the front.

The company name of "Whyte" and Sanchez" are just random names I came up with. I was trying to be funny. Adam didn't get it.

The background I found from Far Far Hill. This chica is crazy, I tell you. Nearly everything she makes is free and she posts new freebies daily. DAILY. FREE. Not even lying.

Here are screenshots:

I have put these up for sale on my Etsy shop! 

Contact me if you're interested in something like this!

(see the widget on the right hand side)

I learned so much in the process, and pretty much taught myself everything by trial and error.  I taught myself how to make the "Whyte & Sanchez Co." sign, which I actually ended up doing in Microsoft Publisher using the "WordArt" tool, how to cut the edges off of the corners of the coupons, and I learned from just a quick search how to take a .jpg (an image with a white background) and to use Photoshop to edit it appropriately with the magic wand tool to make it transparent, then obviously to save it as a .png to keep the transparency. With that done, I was able to use the precious (free) vintage women on the cover!

Side tracking for just a minute:

Adam learned in college that there's a "right way" to do everything in programming, even if another way may produce the same results. The "right way" is the easiest, simplest and most direct way to accomplish what you are trying to achieve. This concept was hard for him to understand, because if you produce the same results, what's wrong with your method?

Answer? I don't know, or at least I don't remember what my husband told me, but that's just the way it is.

The way I did this whole project was definitely not the "right way". I know that if it were, everything would have been done in Photoshop or a like program.  Obviously it was not.

I am shamefully able to admit that I used Silhouette Studio to perform my magic. Other than the tidbits I told you about above, with the help of Publisher and Photoshop for two elements, everything was done in Silhouette. But the good news is that I was able to cut everything out in two seconds! lol...

In the end, I had a ton of fun, even though it ended up taking me days upon days to tweak everything "just" right. Adam thought it was one of my coolest crafty projects ever, and still has not torn a single coupon out. He says he doesn't want to because it looks so cool!

UPDATED: Kali.

UPDATED:

Kali sent me a card back, so I was able to take a picture of it! She added some stringy glitter (what is this called??) and some bling to make a cute doorknob!

I have put these up for sale on my Etsy shop! 

Help support the Tessa-Wants-A-Baby Fund!
Contact me if you're interested in something like this (see the widget on the right hand side)

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A few weeks ago I volunteered myself to make my cousin 75 "We Moved/Christmas" cards. It took a LOT longer than planned, as things always do.

Because I forgot to take pictures before I sent them to her, she was kind enough to send me this picture.

I used my Silhouette to cut out Bird's House Card, which she graciously allows everyone to use her files for any purpose entirely. Kali picked out the blue; she said it's her favorite color and she uses it all over her house for Christmastime.

I love the way the cards turned out, and so did Kali!!

52.

My mother's birthday was on the 1st of November and I still haven't gotten to the post office to mail her gift. Now I've decided I might as well wait until my niece's gift arrives that I ordered for her birthday, so I can ship both gifts at the same time to save myself a trip. Because, you know, going to the post office is SUCH a bother. ....

Even though she may read this (chances are low), I didn't want to wait any longer to share the gift I made her.

I'm sure you've seen this; it's been all over Pinterest since Pinterest existed. Even though it's almost cliche now, I don't care. I had a ton of fun making it, failing at it, and then completely surprised and how awesome it turned out.

Behold: 52 Reasons I Love You (and then some):

Even though I could've purchased this awesome deck of cards:

Vintage Series 1800 Bicycle Playing Cards

I feel a gift is special when I make it; when I put my personal signature on it. If I purchased this (awesome) deck of cards, it still would've been neat, and maybe it would've been cooler looking, but I would've wondered what I could've made myself. Could I do it? Would I try a few techniques and fail and give up?

I don't have to ask myself that. I made it. I had some major fails, some errors, and I even had to purchase another set of cards to replace some ruined ones, but I did it. I had fun! AND I like the end result :)

Rule number one: never follow internet instructions regarding how to age playing cards because none of them are good and every one of them completely ruined the cards. Most of the cards got completely stripped of all color and some backs got separated from the front. I should've taken a few pictures and submitted it to Pintrosity.

Through trial and error, I found a great method, which consisted of an arduous 7-step process of aging the cards, and then a 5-step process in aging and typing and adhering the reasons. It seemed like it was going to be a fast and easy project, but I made it much more time consuming than it probably should've been!

I am so funny :)


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UPDATE: March 4, 2014

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My husband and I are adopting (!!!), and we are doing anything and everything to raise the $14(ish) grand.
In said effort, I am offering to make you a deck of cards, with the promise that every penny you give me will go directly to the adoption agency.

Note that I am not trying to *steal* Ms. McNabb's idea. I'm just doing whatever I can to get a baby in my arms!  I give full props to Lowri for her creativity. I didn't use Lowri's template which she sells on her website. Everything here I did myself, with the inspiration from the lovely Lowri McNabb. 

If you would like to take a gander at the many other styles and decks that I've done for others,
and to see about helping me out yourself by letting me make you a deck,
please visit our "Rathsack Adoption Option" blog
and/or my Etsy shop!

Sneak Peek:

So many deck colors and options, it's ridiculous.

Star Wars!!!

Book binding!

Love, puppies, kittens, and babies,
T