Since we are in our 32nd month of sending out boxes, I thought it might be fun to throw it right back to the beginning of The Glittery Hands Box journey!
Around Christmas of 2015, I had this idea that I couldn't get out of my head...I had been subscribed to A Beautiful Mess's subscription box for crafters; Messy Box ( which sadly no longer runs), but wasn't madly in love with it. I couldn't find the type of box I wanted either, I didn't want a project to make every month but a collection of items I could make whatever I wanted with. So this idea floating around my head was to do it myself- to start my own craft subscription box business.
Of course, idea's like this always come to you at the most inconvenient time, I was ill- suffering really badly with anxiety and having daily panic attacks- so the last thing I probably need to be doing was starting a business! But it was an idea I couldn't shake.
I knew I needed some money to launch so went about setting up a Kickstarter campaign, This started the most terrifying and scary month of my life. Never think a Kickstarter campaign is a walk in the park, it will keep you up all night every day for a month, you'll have to beg everyone you know and will be sick to death of sharing your campaign with anyone that will listen.
In hindsight, there's a lot I would have changed about this part of my launch, but I reached my goal and launched with subscribers from the very first month.
I can't even begin to tell you how incredible it felt to be fully backed on Kickstarter, I was home alone and cried like an absolute baby, drank a very strong Malibu and coke and sat and reveled in the fact my life was about to change massively thanks to 46 friends, family and strangers, whom I will never be able to thank enough for what they have given me.
I'm an impatient person so ignored the recommended launch period and just went straight in, ordering boxes, finalising all of the details and starting a business! I did (and still do) everything myself from building the website to illustrating the logo- I live to google things to work them out, which means I'm always attempting to teach myself things, only 80% of the time actually getting it right! Here's my website, which didn't have a single photo on it for the first year of my business! (What was I thinking?!) So many pineapples!
This was the first logo I created, No idea what I was thinking probably something to do with Glittery Hands, but it ended up looking more like a logo for a fortune teller!
Eventually I came up with this, a version of which I still use today!
This photo was taken the day a lorry delivered the plain boxes to my house, believe me, you have never seen so much excitement over cardboard boxes!
I am notorious for ordering things the wrong size on the internet, luckily the boxes were perfect, the confetti I ordered, however, wasn't quite what I was expecting! It was massive! I had ordered it from a confetti canon place, the sort of confetti thrown out at gigs. But had expected it to be a little smaller! I still used it though, but it meant every single piece had to be separated individually, sprinkling this confetti just wasn't going to happen!
Everything was new and exciting in the time before sending out the first boxes, from buying a scoop to help me pack glitter and sequins to placing my first order with a wholesaler. Let me tell you shopping for craft supplies in bulk is still, two and a half years later one of the most fun parts of my job.
I packed all of the first boxes on the floor in my lounge.
Look at all the pretty babies ready to go!
For the first couple of months I paid for the postman to come to my house to pick up the boxes, since I wasn't as close to a post office as I am now, So off they went in the sacks!
The day after the boxes went out was super nerve racking, what if everyone hated them? Knowing that they were arriving at peoples houses, was such a weird feeling- this baby I had looked after in my own head for months was now being delivered by postmen up and down the country!!
But I needn't have worried, I spent the day refreshing the screen to lovely notifications and reviews- The Glittery Hands Box was here to stay!!
It's crazy to look back now and see how many boxes have gone out, how many themes have been covered and how far around the world the Glittery Hands Box travels every month. Lots has changed since those first boxes, things are packed differently, the website is hopefully more professional, I am no longer struggling with my mental health or learning how to do everything as I go! But fundamentaly it's still the same little box, filled with craft magic making your month a little bit lovelier.
I have lots of big things planned for The Glittery Hands Box for 2019, a name change being one of the major ones (eek!) as well as lots of other exciting things too! So here's to the next 2 and a half years of glitter!