Flora & Feather - Jigsaw Puzzles & Decorative Tins

Tin Sample Pics :)
about 2 months ago – Mon, Sep 23, 2024 at 05:21:51 PM

Back for another quick update! 😊 First off, all the smoke test surveys that have been filled out went super smooth - so I went ahead and sent out all the remaining surveys. So everyone should be getting their surveys today. And for those of you who filled them out already, I have already begun locking the orders and packing your orders up to ship! (Except, as I mentioned before, the deluxe puzzles & tins which will take a little longer.)

I do have some good news on the tins though!

The sample arrived for the first tin - and it's gorgeous! It turned out even better than I hoped <3 The colors are beautiful and the surface gleams. There were a few issues with the samples - they put the hinge on the wrong side and they forgot to put the clasp on it, but those should be easy fixes. The hard part is getting the colors to print perfectly and they did! 

I really think you guys are going to love these! As I mentioned before, it will likely still be a few months for them all to be made and shipped to me - but I really think they will be worth the wait. 

And, I wanted to add something special to the deluxe sets to help make up for the delay - so I am adding a matching magnet of the painting into each of the deluxe sets as well - which also will hold the gold foil print nicely to the inside lid of the tin. I did a little experimenting with magnets and I was happy to find a way to secure the gold foil print inside the tin without any kind of adhesive or tape - and the magnet works beautifully. So hopefully that little extra surprise will also help make it a little more worth the wait as well. 😊 I am also ging to include the matching magnets with each tin purchase as well, as a way to say thank you for everyone's patience as I work to get so many different things made this year 😅

Ok - that is all for now - I am going back to busily wrapping and packaging up puzzles to ship! So excited to see these going out into the world and I hope you guys love them! 

First surveys are out in the wild! :)
about 2 months ago – Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 12:28:12 PM

Luckily the final polishing on the surveys went super smoothly and everything looks to be in order. So I sent out the first wave of surveys a few moments ago! 

These first few surveys are the 'smoke test' where Backerkit selects a small percentage (at random) from each tier to get the first wave of surveys - that way if there are any hiccups, we can easily address them one on one. Once we get most of those back and make sure there are no problems that need to be fixed, we can then send out the rest. This step usually only takes a few days. So, if you don't get the survey today in the first wave, you will be getting it in just a few days once we double-check these first ones. 

I'm so excited to be moving forward with getting these puzzles to all of you! 

Some quick notes I wanted to reiterate:

Shipping Schedule: I will be shipping these out ASAP! Any orders that don't include the deluxe puzzles or art tins, I am going to be trying to lock the completed surveys daily and shipping them out as fast as they come in. :) 

The tins are still being made, so any orders that include them or the deluxe puzzles will still be a little longer before I can fulfill them - but I am hard at work on getting those finished as well! The first sample of a completed tin is scheduled to arrive tomorrow according to tracking, so I will have some pretty pictures to share of that as well. 

Bonus Rewards: In my last Kickstarter, there was a little confusion about the bonus rewards in people's carts. The bonus rewards are free, and you will not be charged for those extras in your cart :) I triple-checked the segments to make sure everyone was grouped properly with the right rewards, but it is a tricky process lol - so if you think you might be missing a bonus reward that you don't see in your final cart - please reach out to me so I can fix it. 

The bonus rewards that are 'shared' between this campaign and the pin/bookcharm campaign will ship with the charms. These are the gold foil stickers that are still in the process of being made - so I figured better to ship them with the other campaign rather than delay shipping the puzzles. 

I think that is everything for now :) I will have some art tin pics to update with shortly though!

Surveys this week! :) probably - hopefully - fingers crossed
2 months ago – Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 10:21:34 AM

Surveys:

Happy update :) I finished getting the BackerKit surveys built this weekend and have submitted it for review to the BackerKit team.

So I am waiting to hear back about the final finishing touches they usually have to setup on their end (such as adding multiple choice options to the bonus rewards) - but assuming they don't find any big problems that need fixing, and we are able to get the final touches finished up in the next few days - I will be able to start sending out the surveys later this week!

Once we reach that point, there is always the smoke test, where we send out a smaller first wave of surveys to make sure everything goes smoothly before sending out the bulk of surveys. That usually lasts a few days and if it goes smoothly, we send out the rest pretty quickly from there. 

I'm hopeful everything will go super smooth with these next few steps and everyone will have their surveys by next week :) 

Shipping:  

As I mentioned previously, the tins are still in progress, but the puzzles are already here :) So rather than make everyone wait who didn't order tins, I decided to have two waves of fulfillment rather than one. I am going to be shipping out puzzle orders that don't include the art tin or deluxe puzzles right away - just about as soon as you fill out your survey I will be getting the order completed and shipped to you. This way a bunch of you will be getting your rewards ASAP and then when it comes time to do the fulfillment for the orders with deluxe puzzles and tins, those will also go faster since there will be a smaller number of them for me to do. Since I pack and ship all the orders by myself, having a bunch done ahead of time will definitely help me get through the second wave of orders faster :)

The tins and deluxe puzzles are still a few months away - but I do think it will be worth the wait :) The extra side wrap paintings ended up being so much more of a time-consuming project than I imagined, but I think they are turning out beautiful and you guys will love how they look on the tins! I am finishing up the last two side wrap paintings now and they are making the first sample now of the quetzal tin, so I will share photos of it as soon as it arrives. 

Overall, everything is going super smooth (albeit a little slow on the tin side) and I can't wait to get a bunch of these puzzles into your hands!

DragonCon:

I got to see a few of you at Dragoncon and give you your puzzles there, which was so fun to see them going off to their new homes. I was overwhelmed by all the positive feedback I got for the puzzles at Dragoncon, from you guys, as well as from all the lovely attendees there and it definitely was encouraging to see. This summer has been challenging to me, as I came close to biting off more than I can chew and have been working round the clock to catch up with everything and make sure I keep so many projects organized at the same time. I wasn't sure if this was a good direction or not but, after such a positive response (and selling out of the puzzles I brought with me to Dragoncon) I am excited to go further down this path, and I would love to do the other four Flora & Feather paintings as puzzles in the future as well! :) 

Thank you so much for sharing all your enthusiasm and support with me for this project. It means so much and definitely helps keep the discouragement at bay when I feel overwhelmed. At the end of the day, I truly love creating beautiful things that bring joy and value to other people's lives and being able to see beyond the curtain of my studio to some of you in real life enjoying these new creations definitely helped refill my well 💖 love you guys and thank you so much! 

Woohoo - Puzzles are here!!
3 months ago – Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 03:30:32 PM

An update with (mostly) good news 😊 the puzzles have arrived!! 

Yesterday afternoon a giant freight truck pulled up out front and dropped off two palettes of beautiful new puzzles. The delivery was a bit delayed, but I'm so happy that it has finally arrived - and the puzzles themselves printed so beautifully! ✨💖 I can't wait for you guys to see them in person! 

(Thankfully my husband was willing to help move many, many boxes lol) 

So, that is the biggest step checked off - however, the tins are still a ways off from being completed. I have ordered the first round of tin samples - so progress is being made on them - slow and steady. 

But, I also don't want to make a bunch of you wait, who got puzzles without the matching tin - so I've decided to go ahead and start fulfillment on the orders that don't include the decorative tins early. (And then, of course, I will do the fulfillment on orders with tins as soon as possible as well, once they are ready.) That will also allow me to ship each group as quickly as possible. 

I also tried to take some quick, yet pretty photos of the puzzles for you guys :) but please forgive my terrible photography skills lol. I always struggle to get photos that are not blurry or too dark or light - but I wanted to try to show you guys how pretty they turned out!

I also have one last 'but' - but, the puzzles also arrived 3 days before I am about to drive across the country for Dragoncon 😅 so, I am buried up to my neck in convention prep boxes and now puzzle boxes lol. I am leaving on Monday to start my trip down to Atlanta, Georgia for Dragoncon - so I will have to wait till I get back from the show before I begin getting the surveys sent out for the puzzles. But I do have the Backerkit page about 90% complete, so it should be pretty quick after I return that I will be able to get the surveys out to all of you - and begin shipping some puzzles out! 

And, if any of you will be at DragonCon - let me know and I can arrange for you to pick up your puzzles from my booth - to save you any shipping cost and get them in your hands ASAP! :D 

Aaah - so exciting to see these puzzles in real life and share them with all of you! 

Checking in update :)
4 months ago – Sun, Jul 21, 2024 at 03:18:25 PM

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