Thursday, September 27, 2007

Feelin SAS-y and an Update

I know, I know, I know, it has been awhile since I have posted, my last was a few days after the store opened. It has been a busy two weeks. We got off to a great start with just a few glitches and your responses were wonderful. We had so many nice comments about our newsletter, Lori put it together in Word and it is so easy to read and well organized. We just got our second newsletter out yesterday with a new mail program so if you did not get it contact me at stoneaccentsstudio@hotmail.com. We have a drawing going on until the 2nd, everyone that spends $15 or more in one purchase will be in a drawing for one of ten $10 storewide coupons, so get shopping! Right after the store opened I took a little time off to spend with Beth before her leave was up. I had been too busy getting ready for the store that I was not able to do much with her and I didn’t fix as many of her favorite meals as I hoped. She did understand and was very happy for me and just glad to be home. We spent a lot of time chatting and getting to know each other in a new way. The last two years in the Air Force have done so much for her. She has matured and become a wonderful young woman. A few days after she left I got terribly sick. I think that the last 3 ½ months of long workdays and not taking care of myself caught up with me. I got bronchitis and ended up spending most of five days in bed. I was just glad that it happened after the store opened, I guess I was moving too fast for it to catch me before…LOL but the minute I relaxed …WHAM. It was frustrating but it kind of worked out because I was forced to relax. I had a lot of catching up to do when I felt better but I am getting there now.

I was unorganized for a while and I don’t function well when things are messy so I have spent a lot of time getting organized and making all kinds of lists.. I like lists…LOL. I really want to prioritize what needs to be done first, what I decided is that my first responsibilities are to get the store and forum all ship shape and I will be getting back to blogging regularally. So with this in mind it might be awhile until I can focus on my designs for the store. This is something I have to do since I feel a responsibility to all of the great people that have become involved with SAS, I want to do everything I can to help SAS to mature into a solid community and a successful store. To my posting contest winners, I do not want to keep you waiting for my designs so if you would like to trade in the coupon for my products for a store wide coupon let me know and I will get you a new one ASAP. I have an awesome kit that I will be giving out here in October starting next week so be sure to check back in then.

Here is the last part of Feelin SAS-y, the frame comes with and without broken glass and of course some great beads, I just can’t make a kit without beads. I want to acknowledge Al at Action FX, I used a few of his styles and the buttons are from his new scrapbook collection. His subscription plans includes access to over 100,000 items for an extremely reasonable price, so check it out.

I am removing the links to the downloads and the quick pages from my previous kits but I will leave the Feelin SAS-y QPs in the gallery active until Friday the 5th so be sure to get the ones you want. All of the links to Feeling SAS-y are still active (I just reactivated part 2) including the one in the members giveaway, the link to the forum is below. While you are there check out some of the beautiful layouts made from the September Mega kit. I hope to see more of your layouts in the Member’s Gallery. Enjoy!



Download Feelin SAS-y part 5 Here

Go to SAS Forum for Feelin SAS-y Bonus 3+ 4 from 8-29

Friday, September 14, 2007

We Made it and a freebie

I want to give you a little update on our grand opening. We had a few little glitches but all in all things went well. I tried to send the newsletter out and it looked like it worked but I have heard from lots of you that you did not receive it. I did get it sent last night so it should be in your mailbox, I am sorry if you received it more than once but I am pretty sure that it did not go out to very many people. This was the only major problem we had and I am so grateful and relieved for this. You know how technology can be, it is your friend, until it turns around and bites your hand off…LOL.

We also had a few problems with three of the links, Brown Baggin #3 and Brown Baggin #2 from the Free with purchase set. I forgot to add the Brown Baggin #3 to the downloads so some of you got it with only 6 links and Brown Baggin #2 was corrupt. It was the last thing I added to the store and it was around 4 a.m. and I was barely functioning by then so it is not surprise that I hade a mistake. If you purchased this and had bad links e-mail me at stoneaccentsstudio@hotmail.com with "links" in the subject line and I will get you new links through 4-shared so it will be easy for you to get them.

There were a few people that made the qualifying purchase and did not add the kits to your cart, if this is the case e-mail me with your order # and with “Free with purchase” in the subject line and I will send you a coupon to get it. I have done this a few times myself and I know how aggravating it can be, I do not what you to miss out on this.

I want to give you a little warning about the quick pages from my past freebies, I will be removing them in the coming weeks starting next week so get the ones you want before they are gone. These are the quick pages from Feelin Wonderful, Butterfly Garden, Dusted Blossoms, Eastern-Spice and Infatuation.

It has been a long three-month, I have learned so much and I could probably write a book on how to open a store. It still amazes me how it all fell into place piece by piece. It hasn’t been easy but after almost 24 years of being a SAHM it is something that I needed to do. I have always been grateful to be able to stay at home with my children but lets face it, your ego can only get so much out of doing the laundry and cleaning house. After I shattered my elbow I could hardly even do a decent job of that. I am no “spring chicken” either, I never thought that at my age I would be able to work 14-18 hours a day and function on 4 hours of sleep. There were a few times when I was so tired and overwhelmed that I wished I could throw in the towel, but knowing that I had made a commitment to so many people that had joined me in this kept me putting one foot in front of the other. But now I know I can still accomplish what I set out to do. I was really surprised at how many of the women that contacted me for various positions who are disabled. It was so good to see that many of them have found a new life through the Internet and digital scrapping. It has given so many a new ways to express themselves and to interact with others, it really has opened up new and exciting possibilities. I am so grateful to be a part of this and I know I have found a place to call home at Stone Accents Studio.

We had a few unreleased pieces from the mega kit so I want to share them with you today. Of all the color palettes I have put together this is my favorite, if I could still paint walls and hang wallpaper I would redo a room in my house these colors. Scroll down to see a detail of some of the highly textured pieces. The freebie from my Family History kit is still active below. The frame in the FH kit it has “glass” in it, I debated about including the frame without glass but it would have added a lot to the size of the download. I would like to offer those of you that bought the kit the frame without the glass if you would like. Send me an e-mail with your order number and with “Frame” in the subject line and I will send you the link to it. Depending on the response I might just go ahead and include it in the kit.

We still have the brag book pages in the store for the scavanage hunt and lots of challenges going on. Some of the designers are giving ot freebies on their blogs also so check the out, the links are on the right at the top of this page. Thank you all for you response to the opening, everyone has been so kind in their comments, it is the kind of thing that just makes this all the better. Enjoy!
JulieO
stoneaccentsstudio@hotmail.com




To download the SAS Mega Kit Freebie click here
To purchase the SAS September kit for 40% off click here

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Stone Accents Studio Opening Today!

Today is the day! We are officially opening the store at noon central. When I first put out the call for quick pages over three months ago I never thought it would lead me to this point. It has taken a lot more time and energy then I could have ever thought but I think I have found what I want to do when I grow up…LOL be a digital scrapbook store owner. I am so proud of the team I have put together, they have been so dedicated and worked very hard to bring everything together. We have spent the last week tying up loose ends and making sure things work. We did a few test runs of the store and I think we have the bugs worked out but I am sure that a few things will pop up here and there. We will be monitoring the store and will respond promptly if there are any problems. It is 4 am now so I will probably sleep until around 10 central but I hope that I wake up to a busy store and very few problems. We did loose our web master this week so I am looking for a dedicated person with the skills to handle a site like this to join our team, if you are interested in this opportunity e-mail me at stoneaccentsstudio@hotmail.com.

I kept trying to get more of Feelin SAS-y on the blog for you but I have been so busy from the time I got up until I dragged myself to bed that I was just never able to. I know I promised you more of Feelin SAS-y and that will come soon, but today I have a freebie from my Family History kit. This is the only kit I had time to design with all of the other things I had going on. With the store open and most of the hard work behind me I hope to be able to get back to blogging and designing, some clean laundry and a good dinner or two would be nice also…LOL

I just finished sending out our first newsletter, Lori did a fabulous job putting it together and if is full of specials and freebies that are only available to those that have registered in our forum, if you are did not receive one you can view it here

I have included a close-up preview of our mega kit, I just had to show you the incredible detail of these embellishments. The subdued fall colors will go with so many things, the designers have come up with some beautiful embellishments and such rich looking papers. It is on special this month so be sure to snatch it up for this special price.

I also have a close-up and a full view of my heritage kit and your freebie is below those. Those of you who were lucky enough to have won a coupon in the SAS posting contest or who have had a birthday since the forum opened will be receiving a coupon for one of my kits free soon. I only have this one kit in there now but I have a few in the works so you will have some choices to make, I hope to get the coupons out by Sunday.
I want to thank all of you who have been so encouraging to me as I worked towards this day. It had been a rough year with shattering my elbow but the silver lining to the very dark cloud is what we are unveiling today. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you and Enjoy!


Over 70 embellishments and 54 papers for only $5.95 Click here to go to the kit


A close-up of Family History, click here to go to the kit



Download Family History freebie here