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Thursday, March 26, 2015

New Products ON SALE

There are NEW additions to the Clearance Rack!!!!

Since Blendabilities were discontinued, new things have been added to SALE-A-BRATION. 
While supplies last!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

It's Spring!

I have been a pretty sick girl for the past few days. A trip to the ER even. bleck! I am at home resting and feeling better today. I have a follow up visit with Doc. tomorrow.

Anyway, while being quiet and resting, I have been coloring with my Copics:) I used a new digital stamp image. I didn't have all the colors of Copics I needed, but it still turned out nicely I think. Yeah, I uh kinda got on the Marker Pop website and ordered more colors. I know, I know, I swore I had enough colors at Christmas. But I really didn't have many yellows... I used Stampin' Up! Perfect Plum and Hello Honey cardstock. I LOVE their cardstock, the quality and the colors - big sigh.

Product Update


Remember, the strikes at the west coast ports and China not shipping out any products during the Chinese New Year, have caused massive delays for many many companies. I ordered some more  opic Markers yesterday, and the first three vendors had such low inventory, they didn't have all the colors I wanted. I finally found all 5 colors in stock at one vendor. Copics come from Japan and are all shipped into ports on the west coast.

Stampin Up! Related an update about the butterflies!
The Butterflies Thinlits have shipped from China, and we are awaiting an arrival confirmation date; that means at this time we do not have an availability date. Once we have more information, I will let you know. 



Now, about Blendabilities.

Over the months we’ve noticed quality issues with this product, but they were within normal tolerance. However, when corrections and complaints became more and more frequent, we increased the sophistication of our quality testing. Our manufacturer is now reporting a 30 to 40 percent fail rate before they are shipped to Stampin’ Up!—which is unacceptable.



The decision to pull the Blendabilities line was painful for all of us here at Stampin’ Up! We carefully selected a reputable manufacturer whom we believed could produce high quality, alcohol-based markers. But with the manufacturer reporting that 30–40 percent of the product produced could not be shipped to Stampin’ Up!, and with other defects being discovered by us when we tested the product here at Stampin’ Up!, we’ve come to the conclusion that the company are in a no-win position. Due to the nature of the defect, the problem would only become more widespread. That leaves us with only two possible courses of action: to keep selling the product (with uncertainty about whether the manufacturer could ever repair the defect) or withdraw it from our offering. We felt that we would rather pull the line than continue to try and sell a product with such a high fail rate and such an uncertain future.


I sure have learned a lot about commerce, business and manufacturing. It makes me sad that the US has to rely on China to make so many of our products. I mean EVERYTHING you know? Anything made here in the US costs more, and for companies to keep the cost down they go to China. Those poor people are making nothing for their work in factories. Little kids are working in the clothing factories. Wow. How on earth did things get so messed up, and how do we fix them? Some people blame labor unions. I can see that to some extent, but it can't be just that simple. I haven't had really nice towels since the textile industry left us. Doesn't matter what brand, how much I pay for them, they all have hems and they rip out. Towels never used to do that. We didn't have hems either, did we?
 


Tuesday, March 24, 2015

A Different Look

I did a handful of the first cards for thank yous to take to Church. When Card Ministry last met, we noticed that they were low on thank you cards. I didn't want them to run out before we met again and made more. It's a different look, and I like it. I wanted the Ministers to have some that were not so girly you know?
Project Details
Stamps
 Postage Due, Gorgeous Grunge, a very old Magenta stamp on left border
Card Stock & Papers
 Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold, Soft Suede
Ink
 Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Accessories
sponge daubers, (scripture done on computer)
Tools



Project Details
Stamps
 Beautiful Bunch, Bloom With Hope (greeting)
Card Stock & Papers
 Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White
Ink
 Hello Honey, Strawberry Slush
Accessories
 Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffled Ribbon
Tools
 Lovely Lace embossing folder, Modern Label punch

Friday, March 20, 2015

Stamp Your Art Out

I've said this before but I have the best time with this group of ladies! They are so sweet and such fun to be around. Since the group has grown, I tried a more assembly line approach this time and most of it worked better for us. One part did not, but you know, these ladies were so patient and helped each other out, and helped me. It was awesome:) What didn't work? Well, in my head, the second card design was going to work well, because half the group made one color combination with one set of flower stamps, while the other group made a different color combination and flowers/punches. In real life it was confusing. Plus it was not easy trying to design two similar but different cards. So, I won't do that again. I have a couple of requests for next month. Using more vellum with heat embossing, and something that can be used for a wedding. Kathy brought some cards to show us. I always love when people do that:) Which reminds me, that I did not! I thought about it, I even told myself some cards I bet they would like to see. Did they make it into my traveling case? That would be a big nope! Okay, next month!


Project Details
Stamps
Papillon Potpouri, Peaceful Petals (sentiment)
Card Stock & Papers
Very Vanilla: card base 5 ½ x 8½ score at 4 ¼
                           1 ¾  x 5 embossed layer
Crumb Cake: 2 x 3 ½
Vellum: 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ punched
Color Collections Paper: ¾ x 3
Ink
Crumb Cake
Accessories
Pearls Basic Jewels, Linen Thread, Stampin Dimensionals
Tools
Decorative Dots Embossing folder, Punches: Tag Topper, 1 ¾ Scalloped Circle, Bird Builder, and Corner Rounder


Project Details
Stamps
Beautiful Bunch, Flower Shop, Petite Petals, Mixed Bunch, Happy Watercolor (sentiment)
Card Stock & Papers
Blackberry Bliss/Tangerine Tango base 5 ½ x 8½ score at 4 ¼
Whisper White: 2 ½ x 5 ½
                          3 x 6 ½ stamped images
Hello Honey/Melon Mambo: 2 ¾ x 5 ½  
Ink
Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss/ Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango and Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories
Stampin’ Dimensionals
Tools
Punches: Fun Flower, Blossom, Pansy, Petite Petals, Modern Label and Word Window

Project Details
Stamps
Another Great Year (sentiment)
Card Stock & Papers
Whisper White: card base 5 ½ x 8½ score at 4 ¼
                                butterfly layer 3 ½ x 4 ¾
Patterned Paper: 4 x 5 ¼
Ink
Calypso Coral
Accessories

Tools
Butterflies Thinlets