simple dreams

Dew Drop Changes

I would like to thank one of our loyal customers, Angela, for bringing this to our attention. With life speeding along faster than I can blink an eye the following change blew right past me. When we received our last order of Dew Drops I had considered changing the photos in our store because The Robin's Nest had changed out what I thought was the cap only on their bottles. It appeared that they had relaced the black lid with a white lid. I thought it was purely cosmetic and didn't have the time to reshoot all the pictures. What I did not realize is that they have changed out the entire bottle. Sadly I must tell you that the new Dew Drops are arriving in bottles that are smaller. They hold approximately 1/8 of an ounce less than previously. This came without any warning to us whatsoever and is a complete shock being the prices have increased. I have been meaning to change the price on our store as well, but haven't gotten around to that either.

Below is a picture that I would like to share so that I can keep you informed. We will do our utmost to update our website as quickly as possible, but please know that we are sad to tell you that the price is increasing and the size is decreasing. I am so sorry!

So with this news I would like for you to take advantage of the inventory that we have! For the next week, until April 21st we will continue to keep the Dew Drops at the current price of $4.99. Unfortunately at that time we will be raising the price to reflect the additional cost to us. The new price will be $5.99.

Currently we have a mix of the old black cap bottles and new white cap bottles. We have no way of determining how many of each type of bottle we have in inventory and therefore we will not be able to let you know which bottle you will be receiving. Please assume that you will be receiving the white bottles being we have very few black capped ones left. Needless to say it will be a substantial savings (17%) if you purchase these in the next week before we must readjust our pricing to reflect the amount we are being charged.

Thank you again Angela for bringing this to our attention and I apologize for not realizing this sooner. We appreciate your enthusiasm for this product, but would like to hear from you as to whether or not you would like to see us continue to carry it or not with all the changes above. Please email us at customerservice@ellenhutson.com if you have any concerns or questions.

Nestability Tracking Number

Yes, I actually have them!!! They will be arriving here on Wednesday. We are so excited to FINALLY be able to ship these out to you. Please know that we will give it our very best effort to get these shipped out to you this week!!!

Copic Update: In speaking with Kate today I am optimistic that we will have the backordered items by Friday! Kate - I hope you are reading this - LOL! I'm counting on you :D

So much to do - so little time. Sorry for the lack of posts, but I am working hard to make certain that your orders will go out in a timely manner and correctly. I will do my best to get back here to post something inspirational though as well.

Thank you once again for your continued support and patience - I am optimistic that you will find it well worth the LONG wait! Cheers!!!

Nestability Update and Spellbinder Thank You Blog Candy

They are arriving - they are almost here!!! I am so thrilled to tell you that a partial shipment has landed!!! OK, so it's not all here just yet, but within 7-14 days I am hoping to have ALL of the new dies in my possession to fulfill your orders!!! With this I can promise you that we are SO ready to get your orders out to you and we plan on making good on our promise of having these shipped out to every one of you who has supported us, by ordering through us, as quickly as possible. It is with much excitement and a tad bit of stress that I sit here and await their arrival - LOL!

So with this news I would like to announce a special promotion on the Wizard for the month of September. Many of you already have a diecutting system that you love and I want to once again assure you that it will definitely work just fine with the Nestabilities!!! But for those who are considering investing in the Wizard I wanted to give you the opportunity to do so before the dies arrive and do so at a price that is competitive to other places you can find on the internet. So for this month please enter the promo code: wizwon to purchase the Wizard Embossing and Die Cutting System at a savings of $30 - promotional price will be $99.99. There is no other die cutting system that exerts the same level of pressure provided by the Wizard system. So with that I will warn you that if you do not watch the video or read my directions be aware of plates projecting across the room - LOL! You will also want to know that when the Wizard arrives in your house fresh and new that the first run throughs of your cardstock and dies may be so tight that you will end up with embossing on those first cuts. But with no time that "effect" will pass and you will need to run your projects through the machine twice - first pass to cut, the second pass to emboss. It is just at the beginning when the machine is fresh out of the box will you perhaps get the embossing on those first pass throughs.

Now for some additional exciting news!!! Once again I have the privilege of announcing that we have on order some BRAND NEW Spellbinder products to aid you in your creating. The first is a magnetic plate - yes, you heard me right!!! No slip slidin' away Ü No need for temporary adhesive as shown in my little tutorial as to how I hold the Nestabilities in place to ensure proper placement. Yes, Jeff and Stacey have done it yet again. They solved the little dilemna I placed before them. It has been so amazing working with them. I kid you not when I say that they are solution oriented! They have been a pleasure to work with and so very accomodating. So for $6.99 we will be providing a magnetic plate for you to use to keep your dies exactly where you want them. Being that it is brand spankin' new we hope that there will not be any set backs, but they are working hard to get these out pronto. I am hoping for shipment of these within a week or two!!! This leads me to the next annoucement!

We have been in a dilemna as to what we were going to do. Spellbinders is completely sold out of Wizard Charm Embossing kits and it will be some time before more can be manufactured. Let me tell you - I have learned SO much about the manufacturing process and the hold-ups and change-ups, and.... believe me it is not easy for items to be produced in a timely manner being that so many variables are constantly involved. If you want a quality product you have to constantly be open to change, follow-through, yada, yada, yada. Talk about stress, it is a continual and ongoing thing it appears. So with this dilemna we started brainstorming and I am THRILLED to tell you that we are going to have a new addition to the line-up of products. Put a few braincells together and voila you have a solution. That solution is going to be a special package of Wizard Tan Mats - yep, you heard me - we will be selling tan mats only. They will come as a 2-pack and be the same size as those that are provided with the machine when purchased or as seen in the Wizard Charm Embossing Kit. These will also be priced at $6.99 for two!

As soon as I have the pics and all details I will be uploading them to my webstore for your shopping pleasure. We are trying so hard to work towards total customer satisfaction. We have SO VERY MUCH appreciated your patience with the delays that have occured and rest assured we will work so hard to continue to provide you with the best products we possibly can.

Last, but certainly NOT LEAST I am finally going to share with those of you who preordered the Nestabilities through us what surprises we have in store for you. Preorders placed before September 1st will include the following "Thank You for your patience gift". Orders valued between:

• $24.99 to $79.99 will receive 1 free Mystery die - there are loads of styles and they are sent to us randomly, therefore we will just pull one out of the bin and be including it with your order.
• $80 to $159.99 will receive 1 free size S3 die of my choice - again this will be totally random, but the selection I have purchased includes:

 

SYMBOLOGY and

DECORATIVE PHOTO CORNERS

• $160 or more will receive 1 free size S4 die of my choice - so what did I pick? I hope you will enjoy the surprise of an additional set of Nestabilities - the STARS! (Unfortunately I don't even have a picture of these to share at the moment, but I'll see what I can do about that come Monday Ü)

Now just a little bit of food for thought to help get you organized for the arrival of your dies. Storage - the big "S" word Ü Well in this case it's the little "s" word - LOL! I want to share my solution with you in hopes that it might be beneficial for any of you trying to think in terms of how you will store your new dies.

My DH went out and purchased me a CaseLogic Double CD holder. Then Malena pulled out my Xyron machine and using the laminate/magnet cartridge we adhered the magnet to an 8 1/2" x 8 3/4" sheet of cardstock. We then cut this sheet in to four equal pieces so that the final size of 4 1/4" x 4 3/8" is a wonderful fit for each pocket in the CD case.

Voila - no more dies tumbling around or waiting to get lost. I'm guessing I could have gone lighter on the magnetic pieces, but I just love a unified look and this did the trick for me. I hope this helps some of you who may be in a dilemna as to how you will plan on storing these. I now can store hundreds of dies in one little case!!! TOO COOL!

It has been an incredibly hectic few days. With the month end comes many bookkeeping tasks, planning for the new Stamp of the Month Packets, and much, much more. I hope to continue my series of COPIC articles and intersperse more Nestability education in here as well over the next few weeks. Thank you again for your patience and support - it is so very much appreciated!

To celebrate and show our appreciation we will once again offer some amazing blog candy!!! This time round all you need to do is leave me with some words of wisdom of your choosing. Leave me a saying, or your favorite quote or your best advice - let's make this easy. I am going to once again use the random number generator to select our winner. This random drawing will occur for all those who participate before midnight, Wednesday, September 5th.

Do you want to know what I'm giving away? Naaah - you don't want to know, do you? OK, OK - I'll give it up! Once again you will be charmed I'm sure if you have the good fortune to win the complete CARGO Alphabet and Number set! OK, so perhaps charmed isn't the best word, but ribbon slide just didn't fit in to that sentence. I am only guessing here being that I don't own this alphabet, but that guess is that these little 1/2" tall cuties make THE perfect ribbon slides - so how charming can that be - LOL!

So leave your words of wisdom for me - I can always use some sage advice :D

Yet another update - LOL!

Well it's Monday - maybe I should start calling it Monday Maintenance being that I make a lot of phonecalls on Mondays!!!

Spellbinders Nestabilities: Here is the latest update - they are scheduled to be air freighted here to the U.S. the first of September which means now that we are looking at mid-September for actual delivery. Fortunately we (Ellen Hutson LLC) are at the very beginning of the list of those receiving the dies and we are SO ready to ship these out as soon as they arrive here in Seattle! Please keep your fingers crossed that the manufacturer has NO delays above this timetable. All Spellbinders can do is keep those phonecalls going to make certain that work is proceeding and that these are being made correctly and then we wait, and wait and hope for the best.

COPIC: I am thrilled to report that this morning I was told that ALL merchandise has landed. I would have danced if I could have, but instead just grinned from ear to ear and bounced in my chair. We have our team prepped and ready to go to blast those babies out of here as soon as they come. The crew is madly working at their warehouse in Oregon to get these out to us pronto! NO MORE BACKORDERS on COPIC I hope! By next Monday I hope to have all Preorders taken away from the COPIC section of the store. I am trying to stay ahead of the game as well on new order possibilities and therefore I am so very hopeful that in the future we will have a better understanding as to how much inventory to carry. Being so new in this business of selling has made it a challenge to "guess" and yes, it is truly a guess each time I place an order for a new item. If anyone has a secret formula for how to inventory I would LOVE to hear it - LOL!

Foot: WOOHOO I am SO excited! I went to see the doctor again today and they sawed that cast off!!! They took another x-ray and the bone has signs of putting that initial layer of "glue" down, so the healing process has just begun!!! They have allowed me to have a boot instead of a cast. For this I am eternally grateful - it's the little things that matter at this point :D To be able to take it off and allow the skin to "breathe", to allow me to ice it and rub those aching muscles and gently stretch out those charlie horses, to be able to shower or bath that skin and apply lotion - it is SUCH a relief!!! Oh yes, the little things in life :D Casts are claustrophobic!!! - LOL.

Unfortunately I am not allowed to walk yet. I must use my crutches and only put a tiny amount of weight on it. In fact they want me to use both crutches for at least another week and then I can slowly work myself down to a single crutch by six weeks. Oh the patience I must continue to have - I have true empathy for those who don't have an opportunity to do this and are permanently injuried. My heart goes out to these people more then ever before! At  six weeks they will do more x-rays and reevaluate whether I am able to start weight bearing and Physical Therapy. Hopefully at six weeks they can then "work me" out of the boot. I learned so much more about the break that occured at my visit today and the ramifications of putting weight on it too soon are not good. So it is going to be another LONG three weeks, then two more weeks of working up to using it. The bone I broke takes 7-8 weeks to "clinically heal" and then 18 months to strengthen back to normal. Ouch!!! I am so "not good" at sitting around and therefore I am slowly beginning to lose my mind - LOL! The only bright spot is that being I can't get myself any food except stuff like chips or stuff I can carry in a bag I haven't gotten myself anything. I refuse to gain one more ounce sitting in this chair and so I think I may actually loose a couple of pounds with this adventure - woohoo!

The lack of ability to create has been extremely frustrating. Not being able to multi-task is not something that is easy for me to accept - LOL! It is all I can do to keep my family moving along preparing them to get ready to go back to school, keeping them helping do the laundry and cleaning house, and trying to promote loving behaviour between these two monkeys!!! Believe me when I say that I think it is time for them to have more of a break from the 24/7 time together stuff - LOL! They are so loving and yet all this "togetherness" is just a little too much. The remainder of my time is spent here in a chair with my leg up doing computer work and keeping the girls who help me up to date with the webstore as well.

There is so much on my creative to do list that I would like to do and share, but all good things are worth the wait. Right?!?

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all for the well wishes - your cards brighten my day like a ray of sunshine. I plan on taking a picture of these beautiful creations once I am a little more able to be mobile by myself and share it with everyone.

Hopefully I'll be back with something creative in the next couple of days because the long-awaited Limited Edition 2007 release is right around the corner along with some spectacular new Lockhart images. I can hardly wait to share these with you!!!

COPIC and Nestability Updates

WOW - you all never cease to amaze me. Your generosity and patience are so very much appreciated!

First I want to update you on your Nestability orders. We are still slated for the product arriving here in the U.S. the end of August and thus we hope to turn it right around and get it out to you without delay immediately upon it's arrival. I will continue to keep you posted as to the arrival date and if it should shift in either direction you will be the first to know. But as it currently stands we are still looking at the end of August/beginning of September.

Your enthusiasm regarding the new Spica Glitter Pens has also taken me by surprise. We have immediately placed a much larger order and so hopefully this time we will not sell out in two days. It is scheduled to arrive here by Monday I believe. At that time we are thrilled to be able to provide you with a wonderful zippered storage pouch for just pennies more. If you would like to purchase all 13 colors it will now be easier, instead of having to enter all 13 colors separately you can just use this item - COPIC Spica Glitter Pen Set and you will receive the glitter pens in the pouch shown below.

Last and certainly not least we are still on track with the dates of product arriving at COPIC on August 17th. They will then be working madly to get the product pulled and shipped to us ASAP and we in turn are ready to roll with shipping your markers as soon as they arrive here. I can hardly wait to get these markers to you. I know that you will enjoy them for many, many years to come.

Fun Flock and Glue Pads are

on there way. The glue pads are here and I hope to have them up on the store in the next couple of days and I'm hoping that the Fun Flock arrives soon as well. I have so many ideas I would like to try and share with you all. I apologize for not getting this done immediately when I posted the Faux Velvet Ribbon project, but I have been training the newest addition to our team in the fine art of pulling orders, updating inventory, packaging your goodies and much, much more. It is so important to me that your orders and questions get answered ASAP and I was beginning to have a difficult time doing it all by myself. Well, I guess I shouldn't say beginning being that I have been burning the candle at both ends for months now. I am SO excited to have someone who I can count on to help me out with the important tasks each day while our kiddos are in school allowing me more time to create and think up new things :D So watch for updates soon on the arrival of these funky little jars of candy-colored goodies.

Pearls and Piercing Templates

Great news ladies!!! FINALLY the piercing templates and pearls (including white - jumping up and down here) are arriving - YEAH! I am expecting them on my doorstep tomorrow or at the latest on Monday. So for those of you who got in on purchasing Preorder items at the end of my sale I can happily say that they are FINALLY going to be here and your orders will be completed and sent ASAP. I truly apologize for the delay and I can assure you that I have done everything in my power to get these goodies here. In fact I can tell you that some of these goodies were hand carried back from Europe just for you!

So if you have been waiting on these the inventory information has been updated to reflect the numbers that are arriving and you can place your orders now. I truly thank you for your patience and we are working towards a solution of getting more of these here so that we don't end up with the delays that have been arising.

More Giga Scalloped Ovals

are on their way - 24 to be precise! You can find more information and place your orders here. Thanks and I'll be back later today with more information regarding tomorrow's party :D

Pearls, pearls and more pearls

I just wanted to let you know that I have pearls, pretty little pearls! I just received one of my shipments today. So they are back up in the store and you are welcome to head over there. I do have to tell you that I also have some other amazing goodies that are still in the box though, so if you want to save on shipping you might want to hold out a little while. The white, light pink and light green pearls are still not in stock, but I've got my fingers crossed for the beginning of April on those.

It's a hurry, scurry day today at our home. Piano lessons, dance lessons, choir recital for my little one, new goodies arriving, boxes shipping and more fun things to come. AAACK - off I go :D

Decorative Pearls and Product Updates

Wowie - I've been hopping like a bunny and it's not even Easter yet! LOL! This week has been VERY busy with the arrival of new products and punches. I have posted a message at my webstore requesting that you please email me if you would like to purchase the Giga Scalloped Circle punch at this point. I only have three left and I do not want to oversell them being they are so difficult to obtain. Thank you again for your amazing support! All punches are shipping out unless they were ordered in conjunction with the Snap Stamps or Palette Noir ink pad -then they will be shipping out as soon as the Snap Stamps arrive on either March 14th or 15th.

I have finally been able to upload one of the products I discovered at CHA that I am just giddy about - these awesome little decorative pearls.

They are quite similar to the Creative Candy Twinkle Stickers from A Muse in that they are self-adhesive. All you have to do is peel and stick. Currently I have nine (9) yummy colors available.

I TRULY hope that I have some time this weekend to create and share how I see these being used here on my blog. I have enlisted the help of my entire family to help with packaging so that hopefully I get a moment to create :D I have so many ideas spilling out in this brain and I can't even get to them - LOL! I'm off like a shot - perhaps it's a shot in the dark, but at least it's a shot :D