Another note for current subscribers

(all of this info. only applies to those who signed up for membership LAST month)

If you did not get an e-mail asking for you to update your billing information, please check your junk folders. Yahoo and AOL are automatically putting them there (and some others) because it has a link in it. It is a secure link, so please fill it out and send it over!

If you still don't have it and signed up for a subscription, send a note through the site or to sales@jennibowlin.com and let us know.

You do not have to have this updated before tonight to get your kit, so don't worry about that!

Paypal Cancellation (current subscribers please read)!!

We are sending out an e-mail about this (to current subscribers) in just a little while. . .

As long as you reply to the e-mail we sent last night to update your billing information, you are all set to go for March and April!! We had to cancel the subscription in Paypal so that you were not double billed. We had to move everything over to our new cart so that you are billed directly by us for now on (not Paypal).

I’m so sorry to cause alarm.

We have been passing around a stomach bug all week and last night was my turn. I am still trying to recover!

I have a few people who sent me e-mails about NOT getting a billing update e-mail last night (who thought they signed up for membership). I will check on those and get back to you as soon as possible this afternoon. Thanks so much!

For everyone else - tonight is the night to buy the March kits!! If you signed up for the newsletter e-mail, you should be seeing it come through this evening.

March Teasers

Just as I promised here are some photos of the March kits! Here is the Papercrafting Kit:

And here is the Project Kit. I am soooo excited about this. It has been a vision in my head for awhile and the subject matter (family values) is something my husband and I have been wanting to get down on paper for a long time. It is meant to be displayed in your home somewhere (not really meant to be folded up and stored as the rooflines are different so they don't line up when you have it closed). The third door from the left opens up to an accordion folded book with more journaling. The ribbon keeping it closed is antique (and I'm sharing it)!!

I loved how "Bowlin" fit in the window, so that is what I did. But, my suggestion for everyone else is to do "Family" there, with "values" underneath. You could personalize they door in some way (with your monogram, etc.). The Project Kit Instructions and tips will be password protected this month (and for the future). You will get the password with your kit contents. This kit cost is $18.

Off to make dinner and take care of my little one. Jared got a virus last Thursday (he was on 3 planes in 4 days which isn't good to do in Feb.) and Christian drank after him on Friday. He came down with it last night. Already seems to be feeling better though - its amazing how little ones do that!

Membership Information

Okay, so it seems that many of you that signed up as members (or are considering it for March) have a lot of questions. First of all, for current members, we will be sending you an e-mail (should be Monday) that will ask you to update your billing information. Other than doing that, you are all set for March and April! We did not have a problem with the database recording the memberships, so if you purchased it, you are signed up and will get the e-mail soon! If you thought that you signed up, but don't get an e-mail by Monday night, send a note through the website and we will check on it. I am adding a "Member Information" page to the website and this is the information it will have on it:

If you are thinking about becoming a member, please read through all of the information below. Hopefully it will answer any questions you may have!

Once you sign up for membership, you will be billed at checkout for your first month. If the current month’s kit is no longer available, you will be billed and then shipped for the next month’s kit once it becomes available. After your first month, your credit card will automatically be billed on the 5th of the following two months. Once your card is billed on the last month of membership, you will automatically receive an e-mail asking if you would like to continue your membership (it will not continue automatically). Just respond to that e-mail and you will be set up for another 3 months. As long as you reply to the automated e-mails, you can be a subscriber for as long as you would like to!

During each 3 month period you are required to purchase each kit at the discounted price. We do not allow you to skip a month, skip and extend your membership by a month, or return a kit. Our specific Terms of Membership are listed below:

*Terms of Membership – Memberships for the first month of sign-up are billed immediately at checkout. After that, for the extent of your membership, you will be billed automatically on the 5th of each month. Kits are then shipped to you by Priority Mail on the 10th (or nearest business day). By signing up for membership, you are agreeing to purchase three consecutive Papercrafting Kits at the discounted price. Early termination of your membership will result in a $25 cancellation fee.

Because our Project Kits will vary drastically in price and style each month, they are not available on a membership basis currently. You can, however, add the Project kit to your Papercrafting Subscription each month (in order to save on shipping costs) by going to the site and purchasing the Project Kit before the 5th of the month. (See the Project Kit page for more details).

Keep in mind that all of this information is effective March 1st (as we are not currently set up for you to go ahead and purchase the next kit as it states above. You will be able to do this, however, beginning when the March kit sells out).

I have been testing our new cart this morning and it is looking good so far! I am off now to take the photos of the March Papercrafting Kit. I will tease it here this weekend! Aren't you glad Feb. is a short month!

Isn't she lovely??

Well I suppose that rubber stamps aren't "hes" or "shes" but if they were, this one would be a girl.

It's from Savvy (Impress) Rubber Stamps and it's all mine!!! Oh, and your's . . . it's a part of the March kit!

Speaking of kits, as of yesterday we are officially sold out of the Feb. Papercrafting Kit. In a perfect world, you would be able to sign up on the website officially for the March kit at this point if you wanted to. But, as most of you know, my shopping cart is far from perfect. So, we have fixed it. All on site. No pop-ups. No Paypal. Actual Shipping Charges. This will debut March 1st (we are starting to test it now). But, until this is in place, we are unable to store information through the site securely. So, if you want to sign up for March, the best thing to do is sign up to receive the newsletter if you have not already (this link can be found under the sold out button). We will send you a note on Feb. 28th reminding you that the new kits will be available on March 1st at 12a.m. At that point you will be able to sign up for membership (or just purchase). Once March is sold out, you will be able to register to receive the next kit on the website. We have quite a bit of kits ordered above our current subscriber base so hopefully we will be able to accommodate those of you who wanted to start with March.

We are off to Cracker Barrell - its Broccoli Cheddar Chicken night!

March's Guest Designer

As you have figured out, I am using childhood photos of my guest designers each month in their gallery. I wanted to tease March's designer by posting her photo here, but I forgot to have her send it to me before she left for the Netherlands!! (there's a big hint in itself)!

She has the initials "AE"!!

(I'm so excited!!!!! She is the coolest and one busy chick, so I'm so thankful she agreed. It wasn't planned, but March's kit could have been designed just for her!).

Any guesses???

So, do you want to know what happened? He smiled when he opened the card and just assumed that I had bought the same one he did. Took him a minute, but he caught on!

All was well with the world though when he handed me a Banana Republic gift certificate!

We have been spending most of our days and nights answering e-mails and packing boxes. I will be so glad (as most of you will be) to get our new shopping cart up and running. About 10 more days I think! No pop-ups!! Clean and simple. Combined cart and actual shipping - yeah!

I have experienced so many "random acts of kindness" this week! So many nice notes from so many people and an AWESOME surprise on Heidi's blog. There is really nothing like knowing that you are respected by someone whom you hold such high regard for. Loved her style for so long and am so thrilled to carry her product in the kits. Wish I had an ounce of the enthusiasm and optimism that she carries with her each day (and the style . . .pink really is her color)!

Speaking of Heidi - here's another hint for the March kit . . . Think brown chipboard diamonds and lemon-lime glitter dots!!!!

Cutting it a little short . . .my big man is "SuperBear" this quarter for his class and we are off soon to the PTO meeting. Happy Thursday!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Want to know a secret? I stole my own card. My husband, being the master of surprises that he is, bought my card at Target the other day when we were shopping together (okay, so he did go through a different check-out line. He gets a point for that).

He then left it sitting in my car - where it was still sitting at 3:00 this afternoon.

So I stole it. Signed my name. Put it with his gift.

And you thought that I would actually make him a card with all of that cute heart paper I have laying around?? ha!

Hope you had a great day!

And the countdown begins . . .

So I have been missing for a few days! We have been so busy over here, but we pulled an all-nighter Thursday night and got all of the packages sent out on Friday. Looks like a few of the TN girls even got thier's delivered on Saturday! We received several orders over the weekend and those are all packed up and ready to go out tomorrow morning.

The Gallery went up on Friday as well (thanks for all of the nice comments I have been getting on it). Didn't you love how Faye cut out the diamond paper on the "dancer" layout? Oh - and that picture of Tyler!!! She is such a cutie. We are still making a few changes to the looks of it, but I at least wanted to get the ideas posted. Be sure to give the Project Kit instructions a few seconds (or minutes if you have less memory on your PC) to load. It is a large file. I am going to try and shrink some of the images this week to see if it works better for some of you.

Sorry this is short tonight - still so much to do! I am planning to share some fun things that I'm working on in the next couple of days (including some more hints on the March kit). Have a good night!

Guess who's packing your kits??

Just wanted to assure you that we have quality controls in place. Don't you feel better now?

Deep Thoughts . . .

I have spent much of the past three days in a state of craziness. Seems like I figure out one thing just about the time I realize something else needs fixed. Ever have those days? I am sitting here tonight finally finishing up the projects for the Gallery this month, and decided to take a break to share something I realized today.

In the midst of everything that has gone wrong the past couple of days, SO MANY THINGS HAVE GONE RIGHT! So many people have come my way and reminded me that all is "right" with the world:

Ali Edwards - she is the real deal. Thats why people love her. You get what you see. It's real and genuine and I wished she lived next door. I love this girl.

Faye Morrow Bell - she is my voice of reason and her daughter likes to talk to call me on her Barbie phone. She is so many things that I wish I was.

Mary Grace Abuzman - do you know this girl? Too bad if you don't. She gives great hugs, makes me smile and is AMAZINGLY talented. The more I get to know her the more I love her.

Theresa Collins - you know how you can look at someone and just know that they get where you are coming from? We have both been there and done that and she gets me. Besides, she is just a "nice" person. Nice is good. Some people say that won't get you far, but I beg to differ.

Michelle Cochran Wells and Maegan Buchanan - they offered help and comfort to me and it was so unexpected, but so very much appreciated.

My Mom - she flew in to watch the boys while we were in Vegas. Although we got back on Wednesday night, she was still the primary care giver for the past three days and received little attention from me. She never complained and still offered to help more.

My husband - he is just a cool guy. Stays positive through almost anything. He is a glass half-full kind of person and can kit scrapbook paper like nobody's business.

There are so many other people I have encountered in the past week that have been "reminders" to me. It is so easy to lose yourself in the things that stress you - you give them so much more power when you do that!!! Note to self - don't do that anymore!

Have a great night!

Kit Buyers - here is your "easy" button!!

I think about now, some of you are really looking for one! I think I have a solution for you. If you are having problems purchasing the February kits, please see below:

I think we have come up with a temporary solution for those of you having trouble ordering through the website. Just follow the directions below, and we will send you an invoice through PayPal (so that you may pay with your credit card or account transfer). Just pay the invoice by the 5th and you will be all set.


Please send the following information to sales@jennibowlin.com:

1. Full Name
2. E-Mail Address to send invoice
3. Shipping Address
4. What you would like to order (the Papercrafting Kit, the Project Kit, or both)

I am trying to get through all of the e-mails sitting in my in-box upon my return last night. If you sent me one, please know that I am working through them and will get back to you no later than tomorrow.

I appreciate everyone's patience with this! We have learned alot, and unfortunately these type of things always seem to happen with a new start-up. We have a meeting with our web designer tomorrow about the details for the new shopping cart for March. The biggest problem people are having is with the pop-ups at checkout. If you are not seeing anything add to a cart (or seeing a cart at all) it is mostly likely due to this. I don't want this to be stressful to anybody, so please just follow the directions above if you have any problems at all with the site.

Also, we are not sold out of either kit yet! A few of you have sent me notes about this. On the page where the actual photos of the Papercrafting kit are, you must scroll down past the entire list of what is included in the kit to see the buttons where you add the kit to your cart.

And, if you want to purchase a subscription AND this months Project kit, see my last post (or just follow the directions above).

I'm off to get back to the e-mails, but I will post again soon about the upcoming Gallery (which will go live on the 10th) and some more fun info. about CHA!!!

Thanks again to everyone for being so kind and patient!

Off without a hitch?!?!?!?!

Boy, it should would have been nice to debut without any glitches, but unfortunately, there were a few. Here is some information that should be helpful:

1. If you are signing up as a member, paypal does not let you add a project kit to your shopping cart. In actuality, becoming a subscriber has it's own checkout. However, we don't want you to pay for shipping twice, so what you need to do is pay for your papercrafting kit subscription, and once you are returned to the home page, you can add a project kit to your shopping cart. Check the box that says Combine Shipping, and it will ask for your email address. This will help us verify that you have already purchased a papercrafting kit subscription. You will then proceed to checkout, and you will be charged $12.50 for the project kit, plus $5.50 for shipping. It boils down to an additional shipping cost of $1.50 for the project kit, and $7 total shipping cost for your entire order.

2. Any of our friends who have ordered prior to this email will be receiving a note to let you know how we will be correcting your shipping cost.

3. For next month we are already working on a specialized shopping cart that is built into our site to make the check out process smoother.

Thanks to everyone for your interest and your patience - wow, this has truly been an adventure!

So now on to the fun stuff. . . we are finishing up today at CHA and I'm so excited about what we are going to be bringing to the kits in the near future!! I will try to share some images and some fun ideas we have come up with in the next few days as we get settled. I have met and re-connected with so many people in the past two days - it has really been a blast!

Have a great day- we are headed back out to the show floor!!