Green at Heart
Kioshi
Cappella
Max & Whiskers
Sugar Rush
Origins
Basics
Release dates, as far as I can tell, are:
Sugar Rush and Origins ~ Already available (MEMORY WORKS has them HERE)
Green at Heart and Kioshi ~ Shipping very soon
Basics, Cappella, and Max & Whiskers ~ Shipping in April 2010
It figures that the 2 lines that I like the best ~ Basics and Cappella ~ are available last :( I’m really liking Basics with all the graph and lined papers. Cappella is sure pretty and I love the colors. The only one I really don’t care for is Origins and I finally figured out why, now that I’ve seen the entire line together in the catalog … it’s the emerald green … which actually happens to be one of my favorite colors, it just doesn’t mix well here for me.
THIS is where the Peas are talking about it. Like with every new line by every company, there are lovers and haters, and some that just say “meh.”
If you’re looking for layouts and inspiration for these new lines, check out blogs by KELLY GOREE, LAYLE KONCAR, and the January BG NEWSLETTER.
For all you fellow BG LUVAHS out there … did you know there’s a Basic Grey Challenges BLOG? Check it, home slice!
What do you think of the Basic Grey new releases? Do you have any Origins or Sugar Rush yet? Do you plan to buy any of the remaining lines?
Check out THIS recent 2Peas thread. Interesting, huh?
So this scrapper enters a blog contest, she wins, and then never receives the prize. Seems to be a common occurrence in the scrappy blog world these days. When I read about Connie’s plight with FLOWER SOFT, I wasn’t sure what to think. As I’ve gotten older (ahem…), one thing I’ve realized is that I should try to give people the benefit of the doubt more often. Instead of jumping right to the conclusion that these blog-prize-failing companies are super lame and suck big lemons, let’s back up and see if it wasn’t just a misunderstanding, a miscommunication, or something like that.
Luckily, this incident did have a happy ending, a contrite company who accepted full responsibility and fault, and a scrapper who got an even bigger prize than she originally won. Score!
As someone who has given blog RAKs away myself, I also have to be more understanding because I’ve been known to lag for quite some time before getting prizes in the mail to their deserving recipient. My excuse is that I get just plain get busy and either forget or honest-to-God don’t have the time. In the grand scheme of my life (3 jobs, mom, wife, scrapbook consultant, puppy owner, etc.), sometimes buying a prize and something to mail it in, and getting myself to the post office during their business hours ~ which happen to be the same as my work hours, darn it ~ isn’t higher on the priority list than working for pay, feeding my kids, and hassling my husband…erm, I mean…making life for my husband heaven on earth (good save, good save…right?).
Anyhoo, I do see a difference between me, lowly mom blogger who makes no money for this blog, and a company who is selling their product and therefore their image, customer service, and reputation. They have a VERY vested interest in keeping their prize winner (and all her scrappy friends) happy. If I piss you off, what’re you gonna’ do, quit reading my blog? NO NO NO! Don’t leave, Pissy Miss. I’m just sayin’. It’s apples and oranges.
But I do understand that life sometimes gets in the way. Sometimes mistakes are made. Now, sometimes people are buh-twipes too, you just never know. The point is ~ and I DO have a point ~ that if you’re a scrapbooking company, you DO NOT want to piss off a scrapbooker if you care to stay in business past this coming Friday. On the 2peas board, they call it the “Power of the Peas.” What that means is that 2peas is a FEE-YOU-JUS message board community and if a scrapper posts on there that they were somehow cheated or mistreated, the Peas (once they verify the story and that this isn’t some troll) are going to Back a Sister Up.
They will hunt you down and … well, okay, not really … but they will use the power of the internet to spread the word about your lousy company and you will rue the day ~ yes, I said RUE! ~ that you messed with a Pea. The best example I can give is the DONNA DOWNEY boycott. That happened 8 months ago and “we” are STILL boycotting everything she has a part in. I’ll just bet Donna is full of rue, don’t you think?
So just some ‘food for thought’ for you scrapbook company owners, bloggers, etc. out there in Scrap Land. If you promise a prize and you don’t deliver, we will patiently wait and politely pursue you. But if you ignore us or lie to us (don’t bother, we know how to take screen shots), we will take you down. Yes, we will take you down to China Town. (Oh, chill! I’m not being un-PC, I’m just quoting DeNiro in Meet the Parents…sheesh).
Or like my Italians say: “You messa with me, I messa with you. Capice?”
Capisco. Loud and clear, Vindictive Scrappy Girl, loud and clear…
So, were you one of the lucky Michaels shoppers to receive an offer to join a rewards program? Yeah, me neither. What up?? I heard about it HERE, and here are samples I copied from the thread of offers being sent out:
Join the Michaels Rewards Program and get…
40% off any one regular price item every time you shop
20 points for every $1 you spend at M’s; once you reach 2000 points we’ll automatically send you a $10 M’s Gift Card
60% off custom framing all year long
An exclusive membership card
One full year of membership
Here’s How it works:
Save on all the things you love – join M’s Rewards for only $24.99 a year.
Save every time you shop, use your card and get 40% off any one regular price item, earn points and save 60% on custom framing.
Stay updated and track your points online.
Get rewarded, earn 2000 points and get a $10 M’s Gift Card
Continue shopping with your card to get your discounts and earn points.
Or this….
10% off your entire regular price purchase every time you shop
An exclusive membership card
One full year of membership
FREE membership
Or this…
$9.99 to join for one year
40% off one item everytime i shop
50% off all framing
5 points for every dollar spenr
2000 points=$10 gift card
As I said, these are just summarized from the 2peas thread. Theoretically, if I had gotten an e-mail offer, I would consider joining the rewards program. Geesh, for all the free publicity I give them, shouldn’t THEY be paying ME to give me a discount and rewards points? Yeah, yeah, that’s what I thought! Maybe it all has something to do with this NEW GUY, Mr. Experienced in Craft Sales Marketing.
Seriously though….did you get an offer, what did it entail, and are you going to join the Michaels Rewards Program?
Hey, did you notice it’s snowing on my blog. I just really {heart} WordPress.
Okay, let’s start with a shopping report, because there haven’t been enough of those lately. Tonight I went to Michaels and used my 40% off coupon on a really snazzy 5-up photo album by Recollections. Sorry, I coudn’t find a photo of it anywhere online. It was back with the frames and photo albums, not with the scrapbooks. It’s my latest idea for storing extras of “already scrapped” photos and bad shots that I can’t seem to throw away. Each page has some vertical and some horizontal. I figure whatever slots I don’t have photos for on each page (does that make sense?), I’ll slip in some paper and do journaling or a title. Or just some decoration. I have to keep it flat, though, as I doubt this album would be able to handle lots of embellies. If you’d like a photo of it, leave me a comment and I’ll take a pic of mine. I’m going to start collecting these with future Mike’s coupons. I think they’re normally $25, but worth it, with a simple, classy looking cover and the plastic protecting cover that I love…
I also got a kit by K&Company, which was on sale for 30% off. It’s a paper pad with embellies attached (bling!) to make ornaments, which I’m going to give as gifts. And I’m sure keep some too. Every year, I make an ornament for each child so this year’s will be made from this kit. Again, couldn’t find a pic to post for ya’ ~ SAH-REE!
I also got some cinnamon-scented pinecones because I love how they make my house all smelly! I came right home and put them in 3 crystal bowls distributed around the great room area. Mmmmm!! And I got 4 bags of chocolate melts, because they were on a good sale. We’re going to make our traditional PEPPERMINT BARK with the recipe I coulda’ sworn I got last year from BECKY HIGGINS blog. But now I can’t find it on her blog, so I’ll refer you to a sweet CKMB’er, LIZ aka HicksChick, who also has it HERE. We made 2 versions, with Oreos and without. I thought I would like the Oreo version better but just to warn you, it is SUPER sweet. I could take about 2 bites and be done. Hey, wait! That’s a good thing! Last year, we used boring old white chocolate melts but this year, they had RED and GREEN. Totally cool! Here’s a pic of Liz’s peppermint bark so you can start drooling now…then go buy the stuff to make it, you won’t be sorry…{Hi Liz!!!}
Then I went to Target. Yawn. Their scrapbooking aisle has gotten so boring. Nothing was on clearance, and what they call “Sale Items” are, like, 30 cents off the regular price. I do want one or five of THESE KI Memories card and scrapbooking kits. Here’s the Christmas Cardmaking Tin:
And my favorite of the scrapbooking tins, Birthday:
I hope they don’t sell them all, and then put them on Clearance near or after the holidays.
Okay, what else is going on? I got the most recent Scrapbooks Etc and am really enjoying it. I hear a lot of scrappers saying on the message boards that SBE has replaced CK as their favorite scrap mag. I’m not quite there yet, but I get what they’re sayin’. Now the January CK is out and getting rave reviews at 2PEAS. I seeked…sought…sooked…oh, whatever!…but did not find it tonight on my shopping jaunt. Bummer, dude. But I did get the Jan/Feb issue of Simple Scrapbooks. Can’t wait til bedtime when I can browse through it.
I found a very cool LINK where you can download a list of all the Cricut cartridges released to date.
Well, that’s it for now. Back to work! Hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas season and maybe getting to scrap a little? Yeah, me neither but making Christmas cards and ornaments and gifts for soldiers is so much fun this time of year. “Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo!” {Did I get that right, Anne Marie?}
Just a quick post about this, because it’s a HOT TOPIC over at 2peas. It’s what I used my 40% COUPON on the other night.
I think it’s so cool that KELLY GOREE (from Basic Grey) is a Pea, and I admire how she handles herself over there. HERE’s a blog post where she talks about how important PEA-ing has been to her. You’re a talented designer and a class act, Miss Kelly…
You know, I need to find out what’s behind the name of the company, Basic Grey. Because when I see their scrapbooking lines, Basic and Grey are two of the LAST things on my mind! Here is their new line called Two Scoops…
Here are some threads on 2PEAS and CKMB where this new line is being discussed. The 2peas thread has links to all the samples I’m showing below. Here is what Ms. Kelly Goree from Basic Grey says in her 2peas post:
“Hi, everyone! I just wanted to take a minute to introduce you all to BasicGrey’s newest line, Two Scoops! It’s yummy, sherbet-inspired color palette really lends itself to all types of layouts from birthday to Valentines to Wedding or anything in between. For me, though, it’s the adorable embellishment stickers that come with the collection pack that really makes the line. And just you wait – it gets better….this line will also have some gorgeous stamps, a rub-on book with such super-cute phrases, and much more! This line will be shipping soon to a store near you, so be watching. I bet you can’t stop at just Two Scoops!”
Kelly’s link: “Such a Flirt” using TWO SCOOPS:
Kelly’s link: “Mr & Mrs” using TWO SCOOPS:
Judi Vanvalkinburgh-Garber’s link: Two Scoops Cards (beautifully modeled by Charlotte):
Judi Vanvalkinburgh-Garber’s link: Two Scoops Love mini book
According to Kelly Goree, “There will be four stamp sets released with this set,” and the BasicGrey website says the stamps are “Made of high-quality, durable material, BasicGrey clear stamps come on 4×6 sheets. Use with inkpads, paint, or scrapbook-safe markers to add playful accents in any color.” Here they are:
Basic Grey: Two Scoops – Monogram Stickers
80# heavyweight paper • Coordinating die-cut stickers • Overlays perfectly on our Elbow Chipboard Mini Monograms.
Basic Grey: Two Scoops – Mini Monogram Stickers
0# heavyweight paper • Coordinating die-cut stickers • Overlays perfectly on our Middleset Chipboard Mini Monograms
The website shows 18 individual papers; here are a few of my faves…
I love about 80% of this line. If they would please stop using that weird flower on everything, I would be 100% happy! (See the Flower Swash Stamps?? That big flower in the top middle…). That same flower was in the Infuse line too, which was the only thing I didn’t like about that line. Time for a new iconic flower, Basic Grey! (Oh, lordy, please hear my plea so I can be totally infatuated with BG again). Do YOU like the goofy flower they use now?
Other than that, I LUH-HUH-HUV this new line by Basic Grey. Even the names are cute and oh-so-sherbet-y. My favorite items are all of the rub ons, the Sweet Sentiments Stamps, the Glazed Brads and the Chipsticker Alpha. Let’s hear your reviews – give us the scoop (sorry, it had to be said…).
