Sunday 13 November 2016

Birthday Wags

Good morning - hope you're having a great weekend so far.

I seem to have lost my mojo somewhere this week so only have one simple card to share today, a card for the youngest member of our family who will turn one this week coming.


I love the super-sized numbers in the Decor and More range from MFT - they make such a statement for an age related card.  Obviously I used the number one but you have everything from 1 to 0 so you can make those big number cards for milestone birthdays too.  I just used some bold papers to  make it pop.

I paired it with one of my favourite die sets for adding quick impact to birthday cards - MFT's Blueprint 26 - I just love the large balloon border!  A little strip of the same paper on the bottom frames the card and draws the eye down to the focal image.

For that, I used the super-cute new Playful Pups which may not seem very "birthday like" but by combining sentiments you can use them in a variety of ways and I think they are perfect images for little people!   I coloured those with Zig Clean Color Markers and a water brush for a soft shading effect - they are great pens if you've not tried them - a lovely set to pop on your Christmas wish list!  We will be getting the brand new 80 pen set in stock soon too - every colour they do finally in a set!



NEWS FROM THE STORE

It's going to be a busy old week in the store again....

  • Mama Elephant have a new release (including the ninja's we saw a few months ago) on Tuesday and fingers crossed ours should be delivered tomorrow so we will have them live in store on Tuesday.
  • Neat and Tangled's new release has arrived in the UK but is in customs at the moment but we should get it mid-week.
  • Concord and 9th's new release (and restocks including perfectly penned) is also in customs at Heathrow so again hopefully midweek.
  • Lawn Fawn have confirmed our order is ready to ship, but so far it hasn't yet left the USA.  There is a SLIM chance if it ships tomorrow we'll have it by the end of the week.
  • We are still loading all our new goodies from Tonic Studios - there are LOTS of items to add and we want to launch with them all at once, so bear with us.  It takes at least 5 minutes to add each item and when we have HUNDREDS of items each month, you can imagine how long I sit at a computer every day!  There is only me and my husband who do EVERYTHING, from ordering the stock, answering your emails, printing and packing orders, running the blog, managing Facebook and Instagram.  There is no team.  We work as fast as we can but we have no magic wand to wave sadly!!!
ROYAL MAIL AND CHRISTMAS

We have noticed that there has been a significant increase in the number of parcels that are taking longer to reach their destinations.  This happens every November/December.  Once people start to do their online Christmas shopping (not just with us but online in general) then the volume handled by the post office increases significantly and more parcels get stuck/lost.  We are generally very lucky and so far this year can count on one hand the number of lost parcels which considering the thousands we've shipped is not a high number.  Whilst we know it is upsetting if it doesn't arrive as quickly as normal, there is nothing we can do about it once it is in the hands of Royal Mail.  We still ship orders within 24/48 hours but after that any delays are down to the Royal Mail system.  You can see all the delivery estimates and how long you need to wait before a parcel is officially classed as lost on our Customer Service Page.  We will help you out after the full period of waiting time has expired but please do try to wait as it can turn up even when you think all hope is lost!

It's a little early to be discussing Christmas shipping dates, so will let you have those in a couple of weeks, but please bear in mind if something is required for a specific date over the next couple of months, the longer lead time you have give it, the safer you will be.

Thanks and see you next week.

Tara






4 comments:

  1. A very cute card! You and your husband do a very good Job. I received my parcels always quick with a nice "Danke" and Smiley from you, thanks Maria,Vienna

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  2. You and Rick are working your socks off! No one could ask more. I love the card - those playful pups are totally adorable and look great done in Zigs <3 I'm going to have another look at the super sized numbers... they seem really useful. Thanks as always for the update!

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  3. I love your cute card! I really appreciate all that you and Rick do and I can't fault your service at all. My packet arrived safely yesterday - thank you very much. I'm planning a stamping afternoon followed by a die cutting session in front of the Strictly and X factor results tonight!

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  4. I love your big number and balloon with the little dogs. Just perfect for the occasion. I must say, your shop is number one for speed of delivery in my experience although obviously it may slow down over the Christmas shopping period. Last week I ordered some items from you and from another store and I've already used the ones I bought from you, while the others have not arrived.

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The Seven Hills Crafts Design Team