Payment plan for new A4 die cutting system

After several requests I am pleased to confirm we have set up a payment plan to help anyone thinking if buying the new system . It will work as follows . You may call us at the warehouse to register on 01623 818910 . One you have done that , the girls will take your initial payment for your machine . This must be £25 . You can then top up in instalments of minimum £25 as you go along in the run up to the arrival if the machine mid to late April . We hope this helps some of you out . Gordon

A4 EMBOSSING FOLDERS : YOUR VIEWS !

 I would like to hear from any of you who use and A4 size embossing folders . How do you use them , what do you use them for as oposed to smaller sizes .

Please leave your views here .

Do you prefer designs to run vertically or horizontally ? For some designs i know this does not matter , but for some it may . It just depends how you use your folders .

Gordon

NEW SPELLBINDER RELEASES AND WEB SITE

Hi everyone.

The new Spellbinder dies are now on there way to us and should be here on thursday or friday of this week. As our new website is experiencing problems , we will be taking any orders by phone . The same offer of 4 for £60 will apply with a couple of exceptions . We have decided not to stock the new range of Embossing Folders from Spellbinders due to the cost . Even at the price we were going to retail the new so called 3D Folders for ( £9.99 ) , they look expensive . We have our own range of folders under developement in 3 sizes , A4 , 8X8 and 6X6 . These will all be much more affordable and therefore we will be sticking with our own range in the future to provide better value for money.

If you know what you require from the new die range please give us a call on 01623 818910 and the team will deal with your orders from THURSDAY onwards . It will be first come first serve as the last time.

Our new web site now looks like going live within the next two weeks as we are now solving the glitches that come with a new sophisticated web site .

Gordon

New web site : first glimpse

Here is a glimpse of our new site coming very soon . We apologise for the delay due to technical difficulties . We hope you like the looks of the new site . Gordon

Stevenage show

Sandra with the new machine .

Deposits for A4 Machine

We have been asked by lots of customers if they could put a deposit on the new die cutting system. The answer is yes . You can reserve your machine with a 50% deposit with the balance payable just prior to delivery which is still expected mid to late April.
Just call the warehouse on 01623 818910 to reserve your colour.
Gordon

New Craft Channel...

This is just to thank you for taking part in this discussion , its a very hot topic and one which interests us all.

However you should know that this is nothing to do with us here at Once Upon a Stamp.

There was a runour going around the trade show about this , but i really cant tell you much more .

We will all have to wait with patience to see if anything materialises from this .

We were asked if we were interested in getting involved so we do know which channel is involved but further thn that , you know as much as we do .

We are hearing further rumours , but that is all they are at present , as soon as we hear more concrete details we will be sure to let you all know.

I can tell you i have heard the names ...Allan and Barry mentioned , but that may only be speculation , you know how rumours etc can spread in this crafting world.

I will keep you all informed .

Gordon

Grand Calibur vs New A4 Machine.

I have just watched the Calibur on c&c and have just realised that to everything it is capable of doing you need to spend £97.86 . This is there special club price for everything you need . I did not realise this was the case , i am quite surprised by this .

Even if you spend this ( which is at the lowest club member price ) you still cant do most of the things our new machine can do or can you ?

Lets compare :

Calibur                                                                                         New A4

spellbinder type dies                                                                     same ( but easier )

not possible                                                                                   SIZZIX BIGZ DIES !

not possible                                                                                   sizzlet dies

emb folders                                                                                   emb folders

not possible                                                                                   texture plates ( fiskars etc )

stencils                                                                                           same ( but deeper)

not possible                                                                                   coins and charms

not possible                                                                                    bottle caps

 not possible                                                                                   fabric and soft leather

 not possible                                                                                 thicker metals

not very good                                                                                 embossing leaves

How many plates required ?

4 top plates !                                                                                  2 top plates !

Please tell me if im wrong here , but to me all of a sudden the calibur just does not look cheap or easy to use with this mixture of plates to do a variety of tasks. Is this a sandwich recipe for disaster ?

You need at least two different plates in the calibur just for using different embossing folders never mind anything else ?

Please give me your honest opinion , even if you think i am wrong .

I value your input.

Gordon

NEW DISCUSSION : CRAFTING SHOPPING CHANNELS

You will not know this , but there is a new Craft TV Shopping  Channel   coming very shortly .

We want your views on what is good on Craft TV and what you dont like .

What is missing etc .What annoys you most ?

Please let us have your views on everything Craft TV related .

Im afraid i cant actually tell you any more at this time , but all will be revealed very soon.

Gordon

The wait is over !

New machine prices etc:

Colours :
Mood : two tone lilac
Cool : dark blue , silver grey
Vintage : dark brown , teal
Fresh : pastel green , pastel blue
Retro : black and white

And the price is .......

£135
Including all plates and embossing mat.. There is nothing extra you will need to buy!
Exclusive offer : free delivery and a free A4 embossing folder with each per order .

Per orders begin from Wednesday by calling the warehouse on 01623 818910.

We hope you like what we are offering .

Gordon

Here we go , it's Sunday at last !

Prices for our new dies and embossing folders ... Available from April !
A4 folders :
Single layer : £9.99
Double layer : (3d ) : £11.99

Dies :
Borders : £9.99
Large Snow Star: £18.99

Pre order from Wednesday onwards !

Gordon

Karen at the trade show

Demonstrating the new machine

Lucky show kitty .

This is our lucky Chinese cat waving people to our show stand . Next to it you can see the name of our new company and our next venture . Gordon

Machine colour swatches !

Here are some of the colours of our new machine .

Here we are at the NEC Stitches trade show

Our stand at the show and a glimpse of some of our new dies and embossing folders coming very soon . Gordon

On a lighter note !

Here are some wonderful pics of our lovely little Cockerpoo. , Harry . Hope you like . Gordon & Justin

ONE WEEK TO GO !

In one weeks time from today we will be taking PRE-ORDERS for our new A4 Die cutting system.

You will have a choice of five different colours .

Price will be announced this Sunday .

We are already being overwhelmed with enquiries from retailers all over Europe and beyond in the lead up to the STITCHES TRADE SHOW which begins this Sunday at the NEC.

We have offered retailers the chance to have the machine made in the colour of there choice subject to a minimum order , so it may be that there will eventually be more than five colour choices.

Keep an eye here Sunday for more info and the retail price.

Gordon

New Machine Price and other things

Please note we will be announcing the price for the new machine on SUNDAY 17TH FEBRUARY following the launch at the NEC TRADE SHOW. We are still working on this as the final information is still coming in to us , but we are almost there now . Following this we will begin taking advance orders for the FIVE COLOUR CHOICES from WEDNESDAY 20TH FEBRUARY .

The shop is now open 6 days a week from 10.30 am until 2.30 pm .

As we still await the finish of our much delayed web site ( AAAARRRRGGGGGHHH ) , you will have to call in your order to the shop by telephone on : 01623 818910.

At this moment we are expecting delivery of the machines sometime in APRIL.

We have decided that the machine will come complete with ALL PLATES you will need to do everything in the machine instead of selling it to you and then telling you that you will also need this and that . We are still thoroughly testing the machine and formulating the most comprehensive instructions for any die cutting system. Our aim is to make things as simple as we can for you to follow the instructions , the last thing we want is mistakes being made .

We are very confident that our machine cannot be broken ( famous last words i know ) , but we have really tried to put it through many tests and we have forced the machine to see what happens without any problems whatsoever .This is the most important issue to us as we know of all the problems with other machines and we hope to avoid any of these issues.

The machine will of course carry a full 12 month warranty against any manufacturing defects and we will be the ones monitoring all of this and taking care of any problems if they should materialise . You will not have to deal with anyone else but us if you have any issues , we stand by all we say about our new machine .

Gordon

How about Pink anyone ?

Do you like this ? Let us know !

Our new Logo for machine and dies

I forgot to mention this , we hope you like the design of our new name and logo which will appear on our new die cutting products from April onwards .

Gordon.

Black and White machine pic

Can i ask you all what you think to the pic i have posted.

Do you like the look of the machine in these colours ?

Let me know what you think.

Many thanks

Gordon

FIRST MACHINE PIC AND MORE INFO !

Here is a sneak preview of the new machine ! This is a prototype colour only. Just to let everyone know where you will be able to see the new machine and the new colour swatches .

We will now be at the following shows with the machine :

February :

STEVENAGE

March :

HARROGATE

HOBBYCRAFTS ,  NEC .
...Please note we have now booked a stand at this show for you  to see and pre order the new machine. OUR STAND NUMBER IS B03 , Just opposite the entrance ! We only have a small stand next to PINFLAIR but big enough for the new Spellbinder dies and to be able to demonstrate the new machine.

May :
Port Sunlight on the Wirral...our favourite show !

We look forward to seeing you at one of these events.Gordon

73000 people read this Blog .

Some interesting facts for you all . 73,000 peole from 106 countries are reading our Blog . The highest majority are of course from the UK and the lowest with only 1 person comes from GUAM.

Just thought id share this piece of useless info with you all , its amazing how universal crafting is worldwide and of course the internet plays a huge part in this.

If you are reading this from one of those countries you are most welcome and a big HELLO goes to the one person from GUAM .

Interesting stuff !

Gordon

New machine colours finalised and production is underway !

Here are the final two tone colours of the new machine :

VINTAGE : DARK BROWN AND TEAL GREEN

FRESH : LIGHT PASTEL GREEN AND LIGHT PASTEL BLUE

MOOD : LIGHT AND DARK LILAC

COOL : MID BLUE AND SILVER GREY

These are the four colour choices you will have on the machines .

We think they look very good aand give a good choice .

I hope you like the colours , the machines are now in production .

Gordon

A4 Embossing Folders in production

Our first three A4 Embossing folder designs are in production. Two of our new designs are Double Layer Folders just like the all new 3D Folders from Spellbinders. We will be revealing these three designs at the trade show and thereafter on the new web site . I will aslo post info here on the Blog. Gordon.

A4 System information update.

We will be launching the new system at the upcoming trade STITCHES trade shop at the NEC on 17-19th February.

After this we will be announcing our retail price on the Blog .If the new website is up and running ( please god ) we will then show the  four new colour combinations and the machine will be available for pre orders only.

At this time we are looking at early May for the arrival of the new system , but experience has taught me that giving dates is usually not a good idea.

Following this we will then announce details of our new die and embossing folder range . This will begin with a small range and build up gradually as we expand .

I know everyone wants things now , so do we , but we are progressing as quickly as we can.

Gordon

Latest on new A4 Machine

We have been testing our new machine further .

Just to let you know we have been practicing with SHRINK PLASTIC . We have found we can cut even the most intricate of die designs in Shrink Plastic on the new machine with no trouble at all.

We have tried this before on other machines but have always found it to be a problem especially with intricate designs , but not on this machine because of the pressure involved.

We are now testing further with other mediums and will let you know how we progress.

Gordon