...Release scoop!

We're scurrying about behind the scenes getting all ready for the release tonight, and I just wanted to let folks know the schedule. It's been a while since we had a release and I don't know about you but I'm a little rusty!! LOL!!

Anyhow here's the scoop for tonight's release:

• 6:00PM my time - WMS Store will close for the last little adjustments to be made to the new stamp set pages.

• 7.00pm my time - Our release will go live here on the blog - the new sets will be revealed in their entirety. 7:00PM is approximately equivalent to the following times in these places.

In the USA - 11:00 am Pacific, 12:00 pm Mountain, 1:00 pm Central, 2:00 pm Eastern
In Australia - March 2nd, Queensland 5:00am,New South Wales 6:00AM
In Canada - British Columbia 11:00AM, Ontario 2:00PM. Nova Scotia 3:00PM
In Germany - 8:00PMIn Netherlands - 8:00PM
In South Africa March 2nd 9:00PM

• 7:15PM my time - The WMS store will re-open and the new stamps will be available at the store.

Future Releases

I also wanted to take a moment to let folks know what else we've been planning. Looking at what has gone on in the previous year with regards to my own work flow, and taking into consideration the idea that I feel like I am churning out stamps, with very few samples in between, I have reviewed the release schedule.

I feel that it appears that I am only interested in making samples at release time. This is not the case. What first attracted me to stamping was the generosity of spirit in sharing new ideas and techniques and the friendliness of the folks involved. I find that I spend a long time drawing stamps, and that I don't really have long enough time in between releases to use them, and to help folks really get the best out of them.

It feels too fast. I open a new set, make 2-3 samples and have to put it away almost immediately to prepare for the next release. Most of the folks who come to WMS live in Northern America, Canada, Australia, Malaysia. These folks wait on average 2 weeks for the goodies (when the shipping is operating normally). My fear is that I feel like I am releasing new stuff almost as soon as these folks have just got their last order. This bothers me.

As a stamper, I would like more time to play with my new goodies. I don't want to feel like my latest sets are already old hat just as I am peeling them open. As a business owner, this may well be complete madness but I am going to take the leap and change our monthly release format into a new schedule. Henceforth (Trumpets please! lol) we will be releasing new stamps every two months.
So today, being March 1st, we are having a release!!!

Next month, on the 1st April we will embark on a new bimonthly event. Instead of having more new stamps we will be taking time to showcase the sets we released today, and possibly some older sets. We want to make sure that you get the very best out of your stamps. We will be showing more ways to use your new goodies. There will be a sprinkling of tutorials and techniques and there might even be a competition. Our aim is to make sure that there is still plenty going on in between release months and we think it will open up more time for us to all come together and really make sure that we are getting the best out of our investments.

So from now on, release months will be followed by a special recap event the following month.

I'd love to hear your feedback on this as it is a huge step for us. Most companies in our position do release new items every month and I do completely understand the necessity of this from a business point of view. Who knows what way things will go for us from now on, but my overriding principal has been to try to make WMS the sort of company that I would appreciate as a stamper and I guess I am lucky that I can take this chance while we are still small enough not to have to worry about the effect of fewer releases on staff. Wish us luck!!!!