Ribbits everyone!
A few minutes ago I've sent off all the surveys!
The smoke test (a small % of backers get the survey early to test if things go well) showed one hiccup wit...
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Appeltjesgroen
22 days ago
Project funded; what's next!
Ribbits everyone!
Last Thursday the project ended and we fully funded all goals including all the stretch goals! I took some days off from the project, mostly to have a week...
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Appeltjesgroen
26 days ago
Less than 5 hours - all Axolotl unlocking info!
Ribbits everyone,
The last 5 hours are happening and we're super close to unlocking the first two axolotls! (EDIT: while writing the update we just crossed the €9000 mark wi...
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Appeltjesgroen
29 days ago
Last 3 days left, frog hopping to the end!
Ribbits everyone!
We've entering the last few days and there are still some amphibians to unlock from the stretch goals!
That said we've unlocked a massive pile of 18 amphib...
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Appeltjesgroen
about 1 month ago
Only 7 days left! Art reveal stretch goals
Ribbits everyone!
It's been a while since I wrote an update. I had to fix some other deadlines (taxes for one.. yuck) and I had my birthday come up!
But now I'm back on t...
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Appeltjesgroen
about 2 months ago
Fully funded + New stretch goals 🐸
Ribbits everyone!
What an amazing start to the campaign in the first 24 hours! Thank you all so much for the support from the start!!
We've fully funded so that means al...
A few minutes ago I've sent off all the surveys! The smoke test (a small % of backers get the survey early to test if things go well) showed one hiccup with the local pickup but it should all be good now! In this update a short summary of things to keep in mind.
What to expect
In your mail you will receive an email with an url to my survey. Follow all the steps, add any items you might missed out on, fill in your address and hit 'place order'. This will make sure your survey is finished and I will receive a tally of all chosen enamel pin designs, which I need to place an order for all the enamel pin designs. Around the time the enamel pins are done with their production I will write another update I am about to lock and charge the survey. This means the choices you've made will be permanent and means you will pay the missing amount. This amount is extra added add-on's, shipping (and possible tariff duty fees) and any missing initial payments.
When the enamel pins are being sent my way (this will be late May early June) I will update again and lock the addresses. Until that update your got all the time to change your address if need be due to a move for instance. But no worries, I will write an update for that before starting fulfillment.
PLEASE fill in your survey as soon as you possibly can! I will need these choices to place an order. I usually wait until 80% is filled in to have an accurate overview.
For those that qualify for Early Amphibian sticker, Returning Amphibian sticker, Pin banner sticker and/or Cross collab freebie, you will find those items in your survey basket already set up!
Combined shipping -> "Local Pickup"
For those who backed both Birds of North America and Frogtastic Frogs you qualify for combined shipping if you want to. You will pay the shipping costs at Birds of North America but these won't be paid in Frogtastic Frogs #2. In my survey you will fill in your address as otherwise except for your country you choose 'Local Pickup'. I URGE you to fill in the rest of your address this due to administrative paperwork on my end. Important notice: this is only available if backed both of our projects. We will check if you qualify for this.
Also good to know is that actual local pickup (at cons or otherwise) is NOT possible.
Only backed Frogtastic Frogs If you only backed Frogtastic Frogs, you can ignore this information and carry on like usual for surveys and fill in your shipping information so you pay the correct amount.
Pre-order shop is open
For those who missed out or have friends asking about enamel pins, the pre-order shop is open. This is a shop via Backerkit which means it's credit card only and fulfillment of these orders will be done together with the Backer pledges. (In de pre-order shop you cannot get the Early/Returning/Pin banner freebies, nor the cross collab freebie pin.)
I believe that's all the important parts, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me via Backerkit support (the 'Contact us for help' button on your pledge page). Or you can use the contact form on my website, that way you reach me immediately by email and I can help you out much easier. Please keep an eye on your email when you reach out. I usually respond within 48h to your questions.
It's been a while since I wrote an update. I had to fix some other deadlines (taxes for one.. yuck) and I had my birthday come up! But now I'm back on the Frogtastic Frogs 2 train and I wanted to share the artworks for the big pins!
Giant Salamander, American bull frog and Cane toad
We've unlocked 2 already and are getting closer to unlocking the Cane toad but it's a real rollercoaster ride at the moment, ahaha. I do hope we can unlock it and the four Axolotl designs after it!
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Backing several campaigns in a short time can be a bit confusing so here's a little overview for Frogtastic Frogs 2!
• All designs are unlocked, except the stretch goals above. Totaling in 17 amphibians to choose from as of right now. (The big pins will cost the same as the other enamel pins: €12 no extra costs.)
• If you back both Frogtastic Frogs 2 and Birds of North America you will get the researcher collab pins of both of us added for free. One frog, one bird!
• Birds of North America and Frogtastic Frogs 2 are both very local so we are offering combined shipping! Perfect for those who wish to push down the expenses a bit. Info about this in the survey of Frogtastic Frogs 2.
• For US backers tariffs are calculated and added during the survey. At this point enamel pins made in China are 35% tariff so keep this in mind. We collect the tariffs so you don't have to expect any extra expenses when you receive the parcel this summer.
• Backers of pledge levels 3 pins or more get a free new mini pin set of 3 tadpoles! This mini pin set is also available as an add-on for the regular price of €12.
• We're part of Pin Safari which means if you back 3+ projects in Pin Safari you will get a free polaroid vinyl sticker of those backed projects added for free. Good to know: Birds of North America is part of that too!
• Previous Frogtastic Frogs 1 and Poison dart frog & Salamander enamel pins are all available as add-ons! So you can make your collection complete while backing this project.
That's it for now! Hope you all had a nice start to February, I know I did I got birthday cake!
What an amazing start to the campaign in the first 24 hours! Thank you all so much for the support from the start!!
We've fully funded so that means all 15 amphibians are available to choose from when the campaign ends. And every backer that pledges 3+ pins gets a set of tadpoles mini pins added for free! (These are also available as a purchasable reward.) You can switch from pledge levels if you wish to qualify for this set of free mini pins.
Extra stretch goals
The campaign is active for another 20 days so let's try to unlock some extra stretch goals I've prepared! To begin with three big pins for three big amphibians: Giant salamander, American bullfrog and Cane toad. The last two goals are for the axolotl fans: each goal unlocks two different axolotl shapes with different colour variants. The first unlocks the Leucistic axolotl and the Dirty Lucy axolotl. (Pink and pink with dusty spots on their face.) The last goal does the same but then for the Wild axolotl and the Heavily marked melanoid axolotl (brown spotted and very dark almost black variants.)
New pledge level
For those who wish to pledge for all the available pins (including the new stretch goals when unlocked) I've added a pledge level called 'Whole pond - one of each'! With this pledge level you will literally get one of each unlocked amphibian and you don't need to specify later on when the surveys are send out after the campaign ended. (You will still receive the survey for address, combined shipping or add-ons.)
Perfect for those who just wants the full collection! (In case we don't reach the €10.000 goal I will update you in advance to take steps if needed.)
Last year I was so surprised with how well Frogtastic Frogs went so this time we prepared a bit more, with extra amphibians in the first goal list and already though out for the stretch goals. I assume that this is enough until the end, but in case you all would like to prove me wrong, (hehe) we can always make some polls for other amphibians to turn into pins! So feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments below, I will take all suggestions with me, even if that means it's for the next project.
Previous pin designs available
For those who missed my summer project with Poison dart frogs and Salamanders: these are available as an add-on! The add-on is called: 'One previous amphibian pin (previous projects)'. Both Frogtastic Frogs 1 and the Poison dart frogs and Salamanders are available in that add-on. A great way to make your collection complete if you missed out on it!
Other news: I received the enamel pins of the poison dart frogs and salamanders this afternoon, so let me share a picture of them! Fulfillment will start one of these days so for those who backed the original project, keep an eye out on your mail box!
And that's it for this update. Thank you all so much for the support, the great responses and the fun DM's over on social media. I love that you are as enthusiastic about this all as I am! 🐸
We're only 10 days away from the launch of Frogtastic Frogs #2!
Getting pretty exited for it and I wanted to share the full line up of amphibians in their complete colourful finished piece! A total of 15 amphibians to unlock this time around, 3 more than last time. With 3 toads, 7 frogs, 2 newts and 3 salamanders! (And if we unlock all of these very early on I'll have stretch-stretch goals set up for more amphibians!)
Plus a sneak peek at the cross collab pin you can qualify for if you back Frogtastic Frogs #2 and Birds of North America!
During Pintopia we have several special sub Banners where you can get something extra! Frogtastic Frogs #2 is in the banner Pin Safari and if you back 3+ projects in that banner you will receive an exclusive Polaroid vinyl sticker from each backed project. Frogtastic Frogs #2 polaroid has a very disgruntled frog on it!
One disgruntled frog polaroid as a freebie!
All that's left is to finish up the Early and Returning Backer freebie vinyl stickers. These I will share closer to the start of the project along with a full overview of possible pledge levels, add-ons, freebie incentives and the cross collab freebie enamel pin!
Last Thursday the project ended and we fully funded all goals including all the stretch goals! I took some days off from the project, mostly to have a weekend off but it's back in the saddle this week!
First of all, thank you all so much for supporting the project! We'll make 22 enamel pins with all types of new frogs, toads and salamanders. Plus one collab freebie pin and mini pin set which puts the total to 26 enamel pins! Thank you again!
Some fun numbers
In total we have 293 backers who pledge for a total of 769 new enamel pins plus another 110 tadpoles mini pin set (added for the 3+ pin pledge backers plus placed as an add-on)! There are 82 enamel pins added as an add-on for previous project pins. Speaking of add-ons: 69 sticker sheets, 30 socks, 12 acrylic key chains and 16 vinyl stickers were added! That's all gonna be a fun packing session. And 249 people backed both Frogtastic Frogs #2 and Birds of North America!
What's next
The past days Backerkit has been charging the payments. So far I've seen 2 backers are still waiting to get charged and so far we have 25 failed charges. I recommend checking your card details to see if payments went through and if you can fix anything right now.
The following two weeks I'll work on setting up the survey. Via this survey you will be able to let me know which designs you want and fill in your address. For US backers you will also see in the last page how much of tariffs/duties you will be paying. (This is collected so you don't have to pay a surprise amount when the parcel arrives at your door.) In the survey you can add more items too if you wish to.
When you receive the survey it'll be send via an email. Please fill it in as soon as possible. I will use the info filled in with to order the amounts of enamel pins I need. Via the survey I will also collect the shipping costs. This means your card will be charged again at a later part for shipping costs (and possible extra added add-ons). I will post an update as an heads up before I will lock the survey (no changes possible) and charge the cards again. The address can still be changed until I start shipping!
Combined shipping, how?
For those who backed both Birds of North America and Frogtastic Frogs you qualify for combined shipping if you want to. You will pay the shipping costs at Birds of North America but these won't be paid in Frogtastic Frogs #2. Information for this will be in Frogastic Frogs #2 survey. To give a heads up, you choose Local Pickup instead of your country, same as last year. Do note: actual local pickup is not available.
Important notice: this is only available if backed both of our projects. We will check if you qualify for this.
Timeline
So in 2 weeks you can expect a survey at the earliest (maybe even a bit later). When about 80% is filled in I will place the order for the enamel pins, this will probably be around end of March. Then the production has the start which will probably take 1-2 months due to the amount of pins. When I receive the shipping notice I will update and lock and charge the cards of the survey. If all goes well I assume it'll be late May to mid June when I can start fulfillment.
That's it for now! I ask you to wait for the survey and fill it in as soon as possible and in the meantime I'll send an update when I got something fun to show!
Thank you all once again, we did it! Even unlocked the last two axolotls despite me offering to pay them half out of pocket. The collection and family will be complete!
As always if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them.
Have a fogtastic week everyone! - Appel
P.S. I will also open a pre-order store via Backerkit in these two weeks for those who missed out on the project.
