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Newsletter April 2007...
Dear all,
Lots has happened this year and the craft industry
continues to be very exciting. We also have a few new
products for you. One major thing that has happened
this year is that we now take credit and debit cards.
Having fought it for so long, we have finally given
in, as it makes it so much easier for everyone to order
over the phone and pay for it at the time, rather than
have to send a cheque later. The only extra cost to
you is that there is a 30p charge if your order is under
£10.00.
The other thing that has affected us quite considerably
is the postal charges. One particular problem is that
our little pots of glue that used to cost us a 2nd class
stamp of 21p to send, now costs 84p to send as a packet!
So if someone ordered a £1.50 pot of glue and
nothing else then we actually lost money!! So we have
had to re-think some of our charging. I still didn't
want to add a separate postal charge, as it really annoys
me when I'm a customer; and our system of putting a
small charge onto each item does actually seem to work.
So I'm afraid one or two items have had to increase
drastically, whereas most things have either not changed
or increased slightly.
The other exciting news is that as we now take credit
cards, we have developed a new web site on which you
can order on line. This suits a lot of people who like
to do their shopping at midnight, when it's a bit inconvenient
to phone the order through! Also there are lots of pictures
of the items so it's easier to see what you would like.
It is also still possible to add your items to the shopping
cart and print off the order to send with a cheque if
you don't like using cards on-line. Alternatively, feel
free to phone your order through as before, especially
if you have any particular requests or questions. On
the subject of phones - as we are not a shop that is
open all the time, we are often out, probably teaching
parchment craft. So please still phone, but you may
get the dreaded answer machine! Please do leave your
number because I promise I will phone you back later.
Also on the web site are some short video clips of 'how
to' use certain tools and to do various techniques,
which I hope may be of some use. I am open to suggestions
for these, so if you are having difficulty with some
aspects of the craft then let me know and I'll see what
I can do, but bear in mind they can only really be a
maximum length of 1 minute each, as it takes too long
for the clip to download.
Some new products are -
* Crystal parchment. This is the same weight as normal
parchment - 160gms, but has a white fleck over it. It
can look quite pretty with coloured work on it - especially
if you want a snow storm!
* A4 leather embossed card. Also available in cream
and deep blue as well as white.
* Flower punches. I've added a range of punches including
the mini daisy punch as these are brilliant to use with
parchment - either colour the parchment yourself or
use the rainbow parchment, and layer 2 or 3 different
sized flowers.
* Tiny confetti. These tiny stars, hearts and flowers
are quite unique in that they are so small. They could
be used for shaker cards, or stick them in the centre
of punched flowers, or onto parchment scalloped edges.
* Stardust gel pens. These lovely pens come in lots
of colours and can be applied directly to your parchment
or onto a pallet and quickly picked up with a brush
for a softer effect. The clear pen is particularly lovely
on white work.
I run weekend and week parchment craft courses with
Christine Coleman in Paignton, Devon; and weekend courses
with Wendy Stone in Bournemouth. The next available
weekends are in Bournemouth next February and March,
as I'm afraid all the others are booked at the moment.
However do check the web site regularly for any updates
that may be squeezed in. I also run small weekend workshops
at my home covering all sorts of techniques including
painting on parchment. If you would like details of
any of these courses then please get in touch with me.
We will be exhibiting at British Empire and Commonwealth
museum, Temple Mead, Bristol on 5th May; Portsmouth
on 20th October; Ringwood on 28h October (lots of parchment
craft exhibitors including Christine Coleman and Judith
Maslen, and lots of trade stands); NEC 8th - 11th November.
Do come and see us. If you need any further information
on the shows give me a ring.
Happy crafting
Alison Yeates
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