FEBRUARY UPDATE 2023

Welcome to our February Update. We have been working hard to offer some help in these difficult times with us all battling rising costs and supplier shortages, and have a trio of ideas to offer you…

Firstly, to assist our customers struggling to meet our minimum order, we have decided to trial a ‘no minimum order’ Friday throughout February! More details below…

Secondly, we have added some budget ‘Xtra Xtra Value’ Offcut Packs, again, info further down.

And thirdly, we are working with our payment gateway providers to add a credit option to help you spread the cost of orders (we will email again once this in place).

In this update we are also recapping our products and ideas for all Love Themed Occasions such as: Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Weddings, and Anniversaries! We also highlight some of our other new products – read on to see how you can use and market them!

Important Dates:

• ‘No minimum order Fridays’, every Friday in February!
• Mother’s Day – 19th March
• Easter – 7th to 10th April
• Our Easter Shutdown – Friday 7th April to Friday 14th April (We re-open Monday 17th April!)

This year we have added an extended Easter Shutdown in our effort to improve work/life balance for us and our staff. We are closing the 3 days after Easter Monday to give us all a much needed spring break! We will continue to be in contact in the weeks leading up to remind you of our closure and to keep giving you plenty of warning to get stocked up ahead.

We are removing our standard £39 order threshold on Fridays throughout February to trial allowing small orders being placed, with a couple of caveats. We are not open on Fridays, so can’t answer queries on these days and as we are not open, all orders placed will obviously be processed the following week – so these small orders may have a slower turnaround than normal, as larger orders will always be prioritised (so it will depend what is ordered and  how busy we are the rest of the weekend and following week as to when they despatch).

January/February Free Gift

A quick reminder that the first Free Gift of 2023 is a Token Set in an organza bag! Print up this cute little inexpensive 8 circle gift set as a ‘token’ of love for someone in your life – be it a friend, soulmate, or relative. These are great gift ideas for any occasion or they could be given as keepsakes at weddings, or as incentives for children – they can earn tokens for chores and swap them for screen time!

January/February Special Offer

The Special Offer for January and February is 20% off our Updated! Wedding and Events Bumper Collection. This pack features a discounted selection of our decorations, table ware, cards, signs, bunting, wraps, toppers, jewellery, shapes, and gift items that are ideal to sample if you are intending on marketing into this sector – offer ends February 28th so make sure to take advantage before then!

New Products

• New! Xtra Xtra VALUE! Offcut Packs – 500g or 1kg
• New! Standard Token Set
• New! Luxury Token Set
• New! Leaf Shape
• New! Daisy Shape
• New! Doily Shape
• New! Tudor Rose Shape
• New! 8 and 12 Point Clocks
• New! Cash Cards
• New! Themed Signs
• Updated! ‘Natural’ Fancy Shaped Clocks
• Updated! ‘Object’ Fancy Shaped Clocks
• Updated! Wedding and Events Bumper Collection

Our New! Xtra Xtra VALUE! Offcut packs are jammed full mixed packs of small pieces, sold by weight, so you can trial and experiment to your hearts content, without wasting more expensive blanks. They are available in a white only selection or mixed selection which is mostly white with some silver and gold. We are sure our most creative customers will be able to conjure up some masterpieces with these too, at the lowest cost-per-piece possible…

Token Sets!

Our New! Standard Token Sets and New! Luxury Token Sets are a wonderful idea, perfect for wedding gifts and keepsakes, but also for Valentine’s Day and Anniversary gifts! Choose from our selection of standard shapes: circles, squares, and rectangles, or fancy shapes: hearts, hexagons, and more – all are available in packs of 6, 8, or 10!

Then, be sure to add one of our bags or luxury tins to bring the product together nicely. Our Tins come with matching toppers that can also be personalised as part of the set, making this a truly special keepsake that will last.

Each set can be personalised depending on the recipient and the purpose of the set. Print up the tokens with milestone dates in a couple’s life, or print them up with different things that is loved about the person – a beautiful gift from one half of the couple to the other. Alternatively, use them as date night tokens, or even as tokens to redeem – this makes a great wedding present, but it can also be lovely for anniversaries and as a sweet Valentine’s Day present too!

Aside from romantic gifts aimed at couples, these Token Sets could make great reward tokens for children to earn with good behaviour and redeem for extra screen time or other benefits! Equally, these sets could be gifted to close friends or family and printed up as memory tokens, gratitude tokens, or inspirational quote tokens!

New Shapes!

We have recently launched some brand new shapes! Check out the Daisy Shape, Doily Shape, Tudor Rose Shape, and Leaf Shape!

The Leaf is available in 3 styles: a leaf with a stem, a leaf without a stem, and a notched leaf that can double as a pine cone. The Tudor Rose can be printed as a flower or the Yorkshire or Lancashire rose – so many design possibilities! The Daisy and the Doily are cute shapes that slot in nicely with the rest of our flower shapes!

These Shapes would all make lovely jewellery charms, brooches, fridge magnets, coasters, or even note cards as an alternative to giving a normal card! Plus, they can be combined with all our other lovely flower, flowerpot, basket and wreath shapes to create some stunning items.

Love Is In The Air!

Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are coming up on February 14th and March 19th respectively, and offering beautiful personalised gifts to your customers for these occasions is a wonderful idea!

Consider practical gifts such as bookmarks for the avid reader, keyrings, or a lovely piece of jewellery. Our Heart Shapes (available in 4 different styles – Traditional, Puffy, Classic, and Folk!) also make beautiful fridge magnets and hanging decorations that can be printed up with a heartfelt message or poem for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, a Wedding Day, or an Anniversary!

Our A5 Triptych Set and A7 Triptych Set are wonderful products that can be personalised with photos of the couple – you could use the panels to create a story of memories that progresses with the photos, and even mix in some lovely quotes.

Combining products is a fantastic way to create a really special gift or decoration – especially for a love themed occasion! Our A5 Horseshoe with holes combined with our Large Traditional Heart to create a lovely ‘Just Married’ Wedding Hanging Decoration was a brilliant idea from a member of our new Design Team.

Some of the products on our website are actually designed with combining in mind – the Horseshoe being one of them since it is available in 3 different styles! We created a special keepsake of our bosses Nicci and Carl on their beautiful horses using the A4 Filled Horseshoe with the A4 Horseshoe with holes overlaid on top using foam pads to give a cool 3D effect!

Our 85 x 54 mm Business Cards are always popular, and can be utilised in so many different ways! Staying with our theme of love, consider printing the business cards up with poems, romantic sayings, or anniversary dates for a lovely little keepsake that can be carried in a wallet or purse. We also offer a range of Wallet Cards with Cutouts that can serve the same purpose, but with an added extra touch of cut out hearts, pawprints, horseshoes, and more!

Decorations and Jewellery!

We have a wide range of existing products that can be used for all sorts of love themed decorations, jewellery, and keepsakes! Personalisation is key here, as people will treasure products printed up with designs personal to them.

Jewellery is a great option for special keepsakes and gifts, especially for a wedding party! From Cufflinks for the Best Man or Father of the Bride, and a Brooch or Jewellery Charm for the Maid of Honour, Bridesmaids, or Mother of the Bride. Practical items like Wedding Name Badges (a simple 85 x 34 mm badge, which can be partnered with a magnetic backing so it doesn’t damage expensive wedding outfits) can make a fabulous gift for the guests, being an icebreaker in introductions, and also doubling up as a place marker!

Our Standard A5 Ricoh and A4 Ricoh sizes as is, or with a score to be ‘Free Standing’ are super simple but very effective and versatile products! Use them to create signs for tables in the case of a Wedding or Anniversary Party. Alternatively, personalise the signs with dates, photos, and treasured memories to create beautiful decorative gifts for couples, Mothers, and other loved ones. Be sure to check out our range of display stands and clips for ideas on ways to display the signs and decorations!

Our Small Wine Labels and 85 x 34 mm Labels are brilliant for adding a touch of personalisation to a bottle of wine or any other gift! Personalising the labels makes them into another keepsake the recipient can use to remember the occasion. Similarly, our New! Themed Signs Bride and Groom plaque can be used as a lovely decorative sign. You could even bend it to wrap around a bottle of the couple’s favourite drink – creating a wonderful Wedding or Anniversary gift!

 

That’s a wrap for now, but as mentioned earlier, we will email again when we have added a credit option to checkout.

And don’t miss out, as we will have more new initiatives to unveil in the next newsletter – due for March/April, including a brand new focus on how to use our metal with new ways of purchasing … so watch out for this launch, as we will have loads of info on brand new techniques and inspiring ideas to share with you!

 

Kind Regards,
Nicci, Carl, Claire, Caroline, Pippa, Jodie, Emily, Louise, Tina, Nigel, Jo, Brandon, Rob, Bill, Lisa, Petal the Doberman, Trixie the Jack Russell, & Donder and Blitzen the Sprocker Siblings – the Subli Metals Team!