*Disclaimer: this post is sponsored by Basic Invite. All thoughts & opinions expressed are my own! 

This past month I’ve been thinking a lot about how we connect with one another. In a time when we are unable to physically spend time with friends and family, finding ways to maintain our relationships in other ways is so important. Like most of you, I’ve been utilizing technology to stay in touch, but I’ve also found myself taking a more old-school approach with personalized cards and stationery, and Basic Invite has become my new obsession for creating custom cards to send to loved ones.

Some of the cards I designed using templates from Basic Invite.

No matter what the occasion, Basic Invite has hundreds of templates for you to use as a starting off point. From birthday invitations to shower invitations to thank you notes, you can create almost anything on the site.

With my birthday coming up, I decided to create a cute birthday brunch invitation (this was designed pre-quarantine, of course) as well as some thank you notes to send to friends and family. Growing up, handwritten thank you notes were always expected after birthdays and holidays, and I’m a firm believer that they are extra special to receive.

Exploring the Basic Invite website

My favorite part about using Basic Invite was how customizable all their templates are. Almost every part of the card can be transformed to your liking, from fonts and colors to the actual text.

For my birthday thank you cards, I was actually a big fan of the original color scheme, so I kept it pretty close to the default colors, but I did customize the notes with my name for a personal feel. And of course, I played around with some different combinations just for fun (there are over 180 colors to choose from, so the possibilities are endless!):

The original color combination in the middle, plus some other options I played around with. Can you tell I like a pink and green scheme?

Once you have finalized your card design, you can even customize your envelope color from over 40 options. P.S. the envelopes are all “peel and seal” if you are concerned about minimizing germ spread!

For any design, you can request a printed sample to be sent to you before placing the final order so you can assure the color, paper, and all other details are exactly to your liking. This comes in handy for anyone worried about getting their invitations or stationery just right!

My customized creation!

Whether you’re planning an event for the future or just want a way to send a note of gratitude to someone in your community, I encourage you to explore Basic Invite and try out one of their designs! And my little treat to you: right now you can receive 15% off your order with code 15FF51. Enjoy!

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My exact tie dye sweatshirt is sold out, but I'm sharing some other options with you!

One month into quarantining and tie dye has emerged as the official uniform of the stylish social distancer. It makes perfect sense: tie dye was already having a moment before coronavirus, and now people are looking for ways to pass the time and create new things, so tie dye presents itself as a great DIY solution.

Dozens of tie dyeing videos on TikTok and Instagram have tempted me to try my hand at creating a psychedelic sweatsuit of my own, but the mundane logisitical issues (mainly, where does one acquire tie dye materials, and what if I mess up or don't like the end result?) have kept me from ordering supplies on Amazon. There is, alas, a simpler solution: buy an affordable and pre-dyed item on the internet!

Seriously, there is tie dye everywhere at the moment, and in a vast array of cute styles, colors, and designs to fit your fancy. All these pieces that I found are under $100 (and a lot are event under $50) so you can stock up on some cool home-friendly items that aren't too pricey.

Shop Tie Dye:

It's hard to think about fashion right now. I love it—getting dressed each day is part of why I get so excited to wake up—but lately the world of fashion seems even more frivolous than usual. How can I think about pretty spring dresses when going outside requires a face mask? How can I dream about spending money on clothes when people are losing their livelihoods and loved ones all over the world?

It is a strange, strange time that we are in, and I know that looking cute is at the bottom of our priorities right now. But still, I can't help but think about how much joy fashion brings me, and how I hope that when our time of social distancing comes to an end (which, god, I hope is soon) I'll be able to spread some joy through fun and colorful outfits. Maybe it will cheer people up, or even just cheer myself up. I hope that's okay.

Anyway, here are some of the things that I hope we'll be dressing up in very soon. Leave a comment, let me know how you are doing, how you are hanging in there while working from home, whatever. I'm here for you! I may be wearing sweatshirts more than usual (I know, social distancing has changed me) but I'm still the fashion-loving Fashion Barbie and I hope to continue spreading positive energy your way!

Post-Quarantine Wish List

Like most of you, I've been holed up at home for the past several weeks in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus. As a social girl who actually enjoys going to work, socializing with coworkers, and of course going out to restaurants and bars with friends, this has been a period of adjustment.

However, with two weeks of work-from-home officially in the books, I've found ways to perfect my routine and my setup, including adding a few things to make my desk the ideal working space (before social distancing entered our lexicon, my desk was largely overflow storage for sunglasses, purses, lipsticks, and other assorted Fashion Barbie faves).

If you are still trying to get into the swing of things and finding your work-from-home groove, I figured it might be helpful to show my home office setup and some of my tips to make home life productive!

Here's what I did to perfect my home office setup:

Define your work from home space:

For me, leaving my apartment and driving to the office makes it pretty clear to my brain that it's time to get work done. When you work from home, you can simply wake up, grab your laptop, and begin your day without ever getting dressed. For me, this is a recipe for disaster (Netflix is just a click away), so instead I knew that I had to create a defined work space within my room. Just the act of sitting at a desk mentally gets me into that working mode, so I cleared off my desk (it's this one, to be precise) of all the lipsticks and purses and other miscellaneous items and created the setup you can see today in these pictures!

Find a cute desk chair: