We're currently sitting at 92% of surveys complete! 🎉 At this moment, we have around 35 people left who still need to select their designs.
We're getting close, so I've went ahead and received the quote for the pins and will be sending the artwork to the manufacturer this week!
❗❗ IMPORTANT: This means orders will be locking on March 12th around 8pm EST ❗❗
With locking the orders, I will also be charging the cards on this day too! Please ensure your card info is up to date this week!!
You will still be able to update your addresses up until I start fulfillment, and I will give another heads up once I'm in that stage.
After the pins are in production, everything will officially be in motion! The stickers and sticker sheets have already been ordered and are well into production at this point. 🎉🎉🎉
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out via email or comment below!
Great news: the smoke test went well and the surveys have officially been sent out to every backer, so please check your emails!
🌻 Survey Phase 🌻
Every backer should have received an email with a link to fill out your survey. During this phase of the project, you'll be able to select the designs you pledged for during the campaign, add on any additional items you may want, and pay for your shipping.
❗Please fill out your surveys ASAP! The sooner everyone fills out their choices, the sooner I can have accurate counts on items and place the production orders. ❗
🌺 Card Charging Phase 🌺
Please note that filling out your survey does not mean your cards will be charged instantly. My hope is that most backers will have their surveys filled out within a week, but I will be adding on an additional 1 week buffer before I attempt to lock orders and charge cards on March 12th. Before that date, you will be able to continue editing your survey if anything needs to be adjusted including items ordered and shipping addresses!
I will be in touch again soon!
If anyone has any questions at all, feel free to comment below or shoot me an email contact (at) alexandraconley (dot) com and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can.
This project has been such a whirlwind, I haven't had time to say until now, but THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!
This has been my most funded project so far, and I can't thank you all enough for the support of these little floral kitties I love drawing so much 💖
🌺 Some fun facts of the campaign:
⭐ Back Cat Botanicals reached 553 Backers with $29,663 in total funds raised!! ⭐ You all collectively ordered 2,483 enamel pins, including sets & mini pins!! ⭐ You smashed through every single stretch goal I had within the first few hours of going live!
I am truly humbled and overwhelmed by the response to this project. 😭💙
Now that we have the sappy stuff out of the way... let's talk next steps.
❗Check Your Payments! ❗
Most pledge payments have processed without issue (thank you!), but there are still a few thousand dollars of failed payments, so this is our first formal reminder to please double-check the cards you used for your pledge!
If your payment details need to be updated, no worries! Backerkit will remind everyone untilFebruary 26th to correct any payment issues you have. After that, the funding will be locked and you will no longer be able to pay for your pledge, so please get those corrections in as soon as possible!
🌻 Survey Phase & Next Steps 🌺
I am hard at work on setting up the surveys all backers will be receiving soon! For those unfamiliar with crowdfunding, a survey will be sent out, usually two weeks after the campaign ends, so that backers may select the designs that wanted for their pledges as well as add on any additional items.
📢 In addition, the surveys will also be where you will pay the fee for shipping the items in your pledge! 📢
Shipping is charged during the survey phase rather than the campaign phase in order to more accurately account for carrier costs frequently changing as well as allowing a smoother fulfillment process overall.
I am aiming for the surveys to be sent out around February 25th, with a smoke test being sent out to a select few backers ahead of time in order to test the survey and ensure everything is laid out properly. So please keep an eye on your emails!
As always, if you have any questions at all, please feel free to comment or reach out!
I'll be in touch again soon when payments close and surveys are able to be sent out.
Thank you all so much for voting in the last poll to determine which item I would make as the last item for the campaign.
The poll overwhelmingly showed that folks were interested in another pin set mini series, aka, another set similar to the Pumpkin & Gourd pin set.
Someone had suggested ivy in the last update, and I thought having a leaf motif could be cute for this themed set! Introducing: The Ivy & Monstera Albo pin set.
The nearly-final designs are shown below, and this set can be added onto your pledge right now!
Please note, that while I try to show the closest to finalized designs as possible, the Ivy pin may need to be tweaked slightly to be able to account for the cut-outs of the holes in between the leaves if they are too small to cut.
I hope everyone enjoys this set, and I hope it's a satisfying way to endcap the campaign's new designs!
The campaign has been such an overwhelmingly pleasant surprise, and while I would love to keep jumping on new ideas I have for the series at this time, I want to keep the amount of product I'm already managing for this project as reasonable as I can, so fulfillment can still go smoothly!
As a reminder, I am one person and I draw, manage, and fulfill every single package from my apartment. Every single parcel is lovingly packed by yours truly!
Cutting off the workload of new designs here will allow me (and you all as well!) a smoother and efficient fulfillment experience, and I'll be able to get your items to you in a timely manner.
Does this mean there won't be any more Black Cat Botanicals ever?
Absolutely not! Quite the contrary, I'm already cooking up ideas for what Series 5 and Series 6 might look like, along with a lot of other items like stationery for future campaigns, so please look forward to them. ❤️
And as always, I can't thank you enough for the support you've shown for this project! I feel excited for what the future holds and especially excited that my work can still make people smile.
