Introducing Seasonal Kits!

We have so many new project kits and instructions slated for 2012 (a few sneak previews below) so, to make room for the new kits we are developing with our “By Artists for Artists” project designers, we are making some of our kits seasonal.  (But Blue Buddha instructions will continue to be available year-round.) We are starting with our winter/holiday-inspired kits: Holiday Ornament, Wrapped Ornament and the Winter Pendant.  On January 18th, we will pack them away until September 1st (still allowing plenty of time for you to make them for the holidays *grin*.)  This is your last call to scoop them up before the fall!

We are also planning to discontinue several kits next month (mailing list subscribers should look out for a special sale of these kits *hint hint*.)  For both our seasonal and discontinued kits, you will still be able to purchase B3 instructions on our website year-round.  We will provide you with a shopping list—to be found where you can now view Ring Sizes used in each project—to help guide you and make sure you get everything you need to complete the project.  These changes are the very beginning of a complete overhaul to our kits and instructions section that will allow for more flexible shopping (and more customization options) as well as the ability for us to integrate our project instructions with kits, supplies, classes, and more.  We are really excited to work on these updates and provide you with an even more well-rounded chainmaille learning experience.

So it’s “goodbye for now” for some of our kits…but get ready to say hello to the projects below and many more this year.

Change to Combo Order processing as of Jan. 9, 2012

After many long conversations, much number-crunching and several debates, we have finally comes to terms with the fact the combining customer orders free of charge is actually hurting our business.  We have always combined orders placed by the same customer within a short amount of time from one another.  Back when Blue Buddha was a one-woman show and Rebeca was receiving about 4 orders per day, it made sense to offer this service on-the-house — it was just one of those “treat others how you’d like to be treated” customer service choices that was easy for Rebeca to accommodate.

This special touch was something that we kept doing, even as the company grew from Rebeca’s spare bedroom to the ever-expanding small business it is now.  We even had our database developer create special back-end tools to notify us of possible combo orders and reinvented the procedure over and over to streamline it for as long as we could.  The truth is however, that what was once an easy thing for Rebeca to do for her small customer base now can take hours a day due to our increased order volume and an increase in the number of customers who place combo orders.  When our customer service folks are spending so much time sending refunds and processing combo orders, everyone’s orders are delayed.  We knew something had to change.

When we began addressing this issue, we knew right off the bat that eliminating this service altogether was not an option.  It just doesn’t make sense for people to have to pay for shipping two or three times just because they forgot something (plus, it’s not very Eco-friendly to pack these orders separately, print separate labels for them and potentially have them each be carried by different mail trucks!)  It was easy to cross that option off the list.  However, knowing the process was hurting the business and yet wanting to keep it in place put us between a rock and a hard place.

We finally came to the resolution that we would charge a small fee for the convenience of combining orders.  While we dislike charging our customers more money, it seems like the best compromise we can strike.  Basically, for every order that we combine with your original order, we will continue to reimburse your extra shipping minus the $3 convenience fee (updated 3/4/13).  This still saves you money (and helps save the environment) but it should also go a long way to help make up for the time we spend processing these kinds of orders.  And it should speed up the order process for everyone (if we need to hire extra hands to handle combo orders, the fees will take care of that, rather than us needing to overwork our current staff.)

We are also working on creating tools that should help make your ordering process more organized, including customer accounts (which allow you to browse past orders) and wishlists to save and share.  We know what it’s like to click submit and suddenly realize you forgot something for your project and we hope that these new tools will help to prevent that from happening.  And if it still does, you can rest assured we’ll be able to add it to your original order (in most cases) for a relatively small fee.

These kinds of decisions and changes are bound to come up in a growing business (the processes that made sense years ago just can’t keep up with what the company is today) but know that we will always approach these decisions with that same “treat others as you’d like to be treated” mentality that has gotten us where we are today.  We hope you understand why we had to make this change and welcome your feedback about it and how we might better be able to help you during the ordering process so you get everything you need in your original order.

Congratulations to December’s Featured Product Winner! PLUS – don’t miss your chance to vote for our first ever Mailler of the Year!

Voting for December’s Featured Product of the Month contest is officially closed and the winner as chosen by you is……

 

Heidi V. and her piece “A Little Here, A Little There”!


Congratulations, Heidi! Your creativity has earned you a B3 gift certificate for $25! To claim your prize, please send an email to [email protected].



This also means that Heidi has claimed a spot alongside our previous 2011 winners in our first ever “Mailler of the Year” contest. Cast your vote now to decide who will win grand prize of a $100 Blue Buddha gift certificate (and bragging rights for the next year!)

 VOTE FOR THE 2011 MAILLER OF THE YEAR!

 



Thanks to all our 2011 participants.  We can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in 2012.  We’re starting the year off with our enameled copper jump ring contest.  Search “enameled copper” in our blog search bar above for tons of inspiration and pay close attention to out new submission instructions!

Happy Weaving!


Featured Product of the Month Contest – January 2012


 

January’s featured product is enameled copper jump rings – any size you choose! Show off how these brilliantly colored rings can really shine in your designs. We can’t wait to see what you invent.

Type “enameled copper” into our blog’s search bar to get all kinds of inspiration including weave ideas and our recent post featuring music-inspired color palettes!


HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

*NOTE: the submission process has changed!*



Make a project which primarily uses our featured product. The project can most definitely use other rings and components, but the featured product should really be the star of the piece.  Please see the complete rules and details below for more information about qualifications.




Take a picture of your project and submit it using our official Featured Product Contest form (link below.)  You may post the piece online somewhere and provide us with a link, or upload it directly in the form.  You will be asked to provide your name and an email address we can use to contact you in case anything goes wrong with your submission—or if you are the winner of the contest!

GO TO THE SUBMISSION FORM

Submissions are accepted between the 1st and 15th of every month and are limited to 2 per person.




Get Votes! Submissions will close on the 15th of each month at which point the B3 Staff will choose our favorites. The top entries will be eligible for voting through a survey which we will post to our blog. If you are one of the finalists, feel free to share the link with friends via email, Facebook, Twitter or any other means.

Voting will close on the last day of the month.


 


We will award the top voted finalist each month with a $25 B3 Gift Certificate and will feature YOUR project in a special blog post and possibly even future B3 ads to inspire fellow chainmaillers all over the world.




Complete contest rules and details:  Submissions are limited to 2 per person and must use the featured product of the month as determined by Blue Buddha Boutique.  The project is not required to be made from Blue Buddha Boutique rings, however any winning projects that use primarily rings from another supplier or rings made by the artist will not be eligible for posting on our blog or use in our ads to prevent false advertising.  Pieces do not have to be specially created for the contest but should be no more than 12 months old.  Current employees and interns of Blue Buddha Boutique are not eligible for this contest.  Finalists are chosen by Blue Buddha Boutique and voted upon anonymously by the public to determine a winner.  Submissions may be disqualified at the discretion of Blue Buddha Boutique if they are deemed inappropriate in any way.  If a winner does not claim their prize within 15 days of notification, the second place winner will be awarded the prize.