New Site Coming Tomorrow Night!

Below is the newsletter I just spent a half hour trying to send out with no luck. I will have my programmer try from the new site tomorrow. In the meantime, please share this with anyone who would be interested.

Tomorrow we launch the new Jenni Bowlin Studio website and we couldn’t be more excited! We have a new look, new products and a new, easy going way to maintain a membership!

Many of you have been anxious to start a membership again. While in the past we have required a 3 month commitment, the new site will only offer one type of membership, indefinite! This means that once you sign up for membership you are set-up for recurring billing until and if you choose to cancel (with no minimum length requirements). Super simple – no more having to keep track of when your membership ends. Be sure to read our new membership policy at the site once it is launched.

Also check out our variety of new products! We have 5 styles of Junque Boxes (a new product for those who love using vintage bits and baubles on their pages), exclusive JBS products available for individual sale, a new Mini Brag Book Kit that includes the new JBS papers in miniature and a Limited Edition Ornament Kit. You will also notice an area with past kits for sale in case you missed a month. This is all of course in addition to our two monthly kits.

The Gallery, which is now under the header “Create” will be loaded with the archived months in the coming days after the launch. You will see the archives here as well as the new December Gallery which will launch on the 12th. We will also be introducing a new “Share” area for our members to upload and comment on layouts (coming mid-month).

We are planning on launching the site at 8:00 central US time. However, depending on your ISP you may or may not see it by then. The vast majority of people will but it could take longer for some (a day+ in some rare cases). We have not sold out of the Papercrafting Kit for the past several months and 90% of the other products now offered are in high quantity and can and will be re-stocked. In short – we will do everything we can to meet the demand!

One last thing, while we plan to offer gift certificates and other gift services in the future, for now, if you would like to place an order or start a membership as a gift you simply choose yourself in the billing section and enter the person who is to receive the gift in the shipping area.

Think that is it! Please bear with us as we try to make this transition as smooth as possible for everyone. We appreciate the patience our customers have always afforded us!

Jenni, Jared and Ruth – Jenni Bowlin Studio

Another Peak. . .

I am busy, busy, busy getting the site ready for Friday! In the meantime, here is another little peak at the December kit - a new exclusive JBS Rubber Stamp!

Speaking of Friday, the 1st - I'm not sure exactly what time we will go live that day (- it will not be midnight however). I will continue to post updates here as the week goes on and I will send out a newsletter on Thursday.

And, for your comedic enjoyment, here was the prayer head across our Thanksgiving table this year by the 5 year old:

Dear God . . .

-thank you for the builders who build the houses (very important- they are always included)

-thank you for the yummy bread (my children think they are vegetarians)

-thank you for our family,

but not for Maddox because he destroys my stuff (this is his 2 year old cousin)

A-"burp" (yes, he literally belched, very loudly, at this exact moment)

Glad to know that I am doing a good job at teaching him to love others and to show good table manners. . .

A promise is a promise (and it's even Monday)!

I left the door wide open when I said I would show the previews "next week", didn't I? I bet you were thinking Friday! ha!

Photos aren't great as they were taken with the flash (not alot of sunlight this morning).

This is the limited edition ornament kit. I didn't take the photo wide enough, but there are vintage chandelier crystals hanging from the bookplates and the beads are from old mercury glass beaded garland.

Also - here is a peak at the first round of JBS papers - exclusively premiering in the December Kit! This is a "snipet" of one of the papers!

And - I confirmed my December Guest Designer this morning. She is one cool girl you all know well (I can't give it all away in one e-mail)!

I know, bad blogger!

Between getting the new site ready, packing Junque Boxes, product development and some other surprises, something had to give. Unfortunately, for the moment, it has been this blog.

I really do have some fun sneak peaks to share (I will tease the the new JBS papers for the December kit this week) as well as a limited edition ornament kit that will be available in Dec.

I promise, it will all be worth the wait.

Okay - back to my desk. I have beautiful old mercury glass beads laid out everywhere (these will be a part of the ornament kit as well as the limited edition "Mistletoe" Junque Box!

*** here is the URL for those of you on Macs who keep crashing http://www.jennibowlin.com/MonthlyInspiration.aspx

the new site can't come fast enough!!

Finally got the gallery finished. . .

It was actually completed yesterday, but just in case you didn't make it over there, now you know! I would still like to add one more layout to the gallery though.

I got two good leads on where you can find the B-line stamp I have used in the gallery in past months. Stamp Diva apparently has it in stock now and I also got another tip that there is an e-bay seller who stocks it. Her seller name is paisley-jaynes-art.

We just finished watching The Polar Express - the Christmas season has officially begun! I actually picked up a couple of presents at Target today (as well as a new (vintage look) Santa covered in Mica Snow)! Speaking of Mica Snow, if you like the look of the old chipboard houses in sweet pastels sprinkled with this, you will LOVE next month's project kit!

November Gallery . . .

is up, but not fully complete. Still missing a few layouts in my gallery and the journaling jumpstart. These will be loaded by Tuesday at the latest.

I was so excited to highlight the girls who help me pack the kits each month - they are so very talented and many of them teach as well at our local store (Scrap It!). This is all of them, minus the very cool Doris Sander who has a conflicting commitment. All of you who are exclusive 12 x 12 scrappers will enjoy this gallery!

We still have both kits available for sale at the site so go take a peak!!

A Tiny Surprise. . .

Kits will be going out tomorrow instead of Friday! I am headed to see my family for the long weekend and had to push it up a day!

New Gallery will be up late Sunday night (12th). The guest designer area will be a little different this month - we have 5 ladies contributing. More about that on Sunday!

Have a great weekend

Seriously excited. . .

I really can't tell you how much I am looking forward to December 1st! The launch of the new site not only brings with it a fresh face for the front (you should see the opening animation!) and the back end (a membership process that is so simple you just won't believe it!) but it also brings with it many new products and new areas at the site including:

- past kits for sale (finally)! If you missed out on a month, you may be able to find it here!
- JBS exclusive products for sale (like the name/date stamp, spiral notebooks and journaling cards
- a member gallery where you can post your JBS kit layouts and leave comments!! (coming later in December)
- JBS Junque boxes (see below)
- JBS limited edition kits (such as ornament kits and gift book kits)

I have been very busy getting ready for the introduction of the Junque boxes. Here is another sneak peak of what you will find in the box:

I am still trying to nail down my offerings, but there will be 4 different themes of boxes. Each will contain a collection of antique and vintage items (a $9.99 retail value) to use on your pages and other works of art! The boxes are almost 4" square and will all contain several squares of antique papers from ledgers, early readers and notebooks plus an assortment of embellishments such as buttons, trims, ephemera and findings. There will also be a limited edition box on most months. Each box will have a specialty focus, such as the "Hollywood" box which will contain vintage glass rhinestones, early rhinestone buttons, old sequins and trim. Hopefully you get the idea!

What I can promise you on these is this: I have purchased "altered art" or "collage" materials from ebay and elsewhere before only to be disappointed with the assortment I get. Things are either not old (the 80's does not count here!) or they have no real functionality for scrapbooking. These boxes will only contain the things I love. If I wouldn't use it, it won't be in there. I am very picky on this and plan to hold them to a higher level then most people would expect. Having said that, you have to love the old and embrace imperfection to love these boxes. Your buttons might need a nice babywipe bath and your trims may have a color spot here or there. You also need to be somewhat aware of the fact that vintage millinery ribbon and old rhinestone and glass buttons are highly collectible and can hold a high value in and of themselves (as well as other things). To counter this and to keep the cost down, you will not receive full yards of most trims (12" to 18" depending on the trim) and you will get a wide variety of buttons, for example. Much of this will be on the site (more specifically) so that you can make a decision before you buy. This is such a joy for me - I have such a passion for "recycling" the old and giving it new life and I am thrilled to have found a way to share it with you!

I am grooving right now . . .

to the MSN link (thanks Kris). Jared told me about this yesterday but I had yet to get over there. Too bad I don't have the cool camera laptop like Donna and Cathy Z. Lucky for you, hubby has promised me one soon and you can check out my very 80's dance moves!

John Mayer live - so good for my mojo - as I'm working on new journaling cards for the December kit right this second (and making some Santa Fe Chicken Soup)!!