Welcome Back #930!!!

We are designing new templates, but they take a while, so in the meantime, we brought back another old template... #930 Custom Tiles.

I'm planning to make some background choices on this one so you can go "solid" in any color, "tiny check" or "larger check" or the "tiles" like it is now, but that will take a bit...

 

So, this is what happens if you chose "White" for the background color:

 

 

But, if you choose "No Color", you can get a solid white background:

 

 

More soon!!!

 

Welcome Back #903!

I told you that we found a few old templates that had been discontinued and we are dusting them off and trying to add them back.

The first one is #903: Custom Fancy Solid (incidentally, would anyone mind if I renamed all of these templates at some point?)

This is the old thumbnail:

 

I tried playing with it and it's maybe a bit "Busy":

I'm going to fool around with it a bit more when I have a moment.

 

I seldom use a white background, but in this case, I really preferred it:

 

But, then, I also made ones with just the background words:

And then, just the foreground words:

 

The fonts are a little formal, but actually pretty cool. They are hard to see on these small images on the blog, so here are some close ups:

 

 

Not too shabby!!!

 

 

 

When you are previewing your pages online, if you want to see it closer, click on "Open PDF" at the top and a PDF file will open on your computer in a MUCH larger image, with the ability to shrink or enlarge and get a better idea of what you are ordering.

 

 

 

We wish you a wonderful and prosperous week!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

VACATION!!!

Tom & I took our first REAL vacation in 2½ years this last week!! Every time that we have gone somewhere, it has been a "Trip."

You know the difference:

• a trip is when you GO somewhere, but it's for something else like a  wedding, an anniversary, a reunion, etc. We've done a LOT of that!
• A vacation is when you go somewhere just to go there and see it! :)

Buuuut.... while gone, we were in constant contact with our printer/IT guys and working on updates to the website! We made some changes, discussed future changes, set up customers with log in info... We definitely tried to keep up the momentum even though we were on the road and seldom had wifi! (We literally chose our breakfast location TWICE because they had wifi!! lol!!)

Anyway, these are a few of the accomplishments (baby steps) we made while we were gone:

• Template #901 had a bug with the color yellow which has been fixed
• When you log out, you now will go to our Blog
• We have rearranged a few of the colors - this is in preparation for adding our 3 new colors (hopefully coming soon!)
• We are looking into reorganizing the tabs at the top - we're not sure that the program will do it, but if so, I think they will make more sense.
• We found a few old templates that SS&M had discontinued. Inevitably, they were discontinued because they didn't sell well. But we think that they have potential, so we are going to add them back and then change the fonts/sizes, etc and see if you like them! (This is easier for the printer to do than adding our brand new ones, so we decided to start with this).
• We have been getting together our list of fonts. Soon, several templates will have font options.

We are also preparing to go to CHA. Are you going? We won't have booth, but find us in the aisles walking around showing people how easy our system is to use! Look for us!!

Have a great day and more soon!

Referrals...

We get requests *ALL* of the time from consumers asking for a referral to a store who carries our custom paper....

It's kind of sad because they usually start by telling us that they used to get it from "such-n-such store" but they have now closed. :(

If you have ordered since Mid-January, when we became owners, of course we know who you are and are referring customers to you! Maybe you don't make the paper that they are looking for, but maybe you'd like to consider it?

We hope to add a store locator soon, but please know that if you order, we ARE telling consumers about you!!

Thank you to all of our wonderful stores!! We're so happy to be working with you all and we hope to continue to do so for a LONG time!!


~ Tom & Gena

And The Award Goes To...

I'm a "numbers gal" (along with being a crafter - YES! You can be both at the same time!!)

so I love looking at the numbers and analyzing things!!

So, in case you are as curious as I am, I thought I'd share our Top 5 most popular templates with you

(well, year-to-date anyway)...

 

In first place:

#908 - Custom Diagonal Spirit Names

This one is BY FAR your most favorite!!!

This template holds the top spot by nearly 2x the #2 position!

 

I love it too!! I like the diversity between the two fonts and font sizes.

Plus, I think that the fonts were really good choices!

And I like the ability to have two different lines of text.

 

If you could, is there anything you would change??

 

 

 

In second place is:

#906 - Custom Spirit Names

Also quite a leader ahead of our third place template, this template is extremely popular.

 

Probably because of the two different lines of text with the ability to customize each color.

Why do you like it?

 

 

 

Coming in at #3 is

#1820 - Make It Your Own

You guys LOVE to customize!!!

 

And, stay tuned because we are still fine tuning our full-page-image-upload template,

PLUS, I have some other fun ideas in store for this template that I hope to share with you soon!

 

 

 

Your #4 selection is

#901 - Custom Marbled

We like to do companion pages with this one leaving one of the sets of words as "No Color" so that you can make a set that go together, but are different. It encourages customers to buy two sheets instead of just one.

The "suggestive sell" helps both the customer and the store! The customer gets informed about how to use the product and the store gets a higher average ticket.

 

 

 

And still making a strong showing at #5 is:

#927 - Custom Varied Spirit Names

I *love* this template!! I will admit, however, that it can be frustrating with certain word combinations...

I have that on my UBER long list of "to do's": to see if there is something that can be done about it. Unfortunately, my gut feeling is "no".... we'll probably have to live with it like it is!

Our workaround is to switch around words or add words to make things work out a bit better.

I still love it, in spite of its periodic frustration!!!

 

And, in case you were curious... here are the rest of the top 10:

#6 - 922

#7 - 921

#8 -907

#9 - 904

#10 - 926

 

 

 

 

So... what do you think???

 

Do you agree?

Do you completely disagree??

Which is your favorite?

And, do I dare ask, which is your least favorite????

 

Shop Hops & Bus Tours & Road Trips, OH MY!!!

Is your store participating in a group store event this summer???

Create custom paper for your event, or even YOUR STORE!!!

Customers will snatch it up to use for all of those fun photos that they will be taking along the way!

 

You can create it just for this year, or just for your store, or using your group's name

(be sure to get permission first)

 

Or use one of the repetitive papers and cut it up for decorations, party favors, a card that they make, the trim across the bottom of a 6x6 page or whatever!!!

 

We've created custom Shop Hop paper at our store and sold out completely during the event!!

 

And, remember, since you only need to purchase 12 sheets of any one style, and you can buy in any increment beyond that, you can order exactly how much you need!

Plus, we do not have a minimum dollar amount to order!

 

 

 

The So Cal Shop Hop is coming up at the end of July.

Rachel, the owner of the So Cal Shop Hop and the Northwest Paper Chase,

has allowed permission for So Cal Shop Hop stores to use the name: "So Cal Shop Hop" when creating their custom papers!!! Thanks Rachel!!

 

The theme this year is recipes. You can add your store name and what your recipe is and use that to create your 6x6 recipe page! Or whatever!!!

 

 

 

Do you need a swatch sheet?

 

Email me!!

info@customscrapbookstuff.com