JULY/AUGUST NEWSLETTER 2022

As we promised (and warned!) in the last Newsletter, our Project for this issue is all about Christmas! We have some fab new ideas – and existing products – to get you thinking ahead about all the great products you can market to your customers in good time for the festive season!

However, before Christmas we still have Halloween and Remembrance Day to consider, and we have some brilliant suggestions and products to hopefully get your imagination working for those too – including a brand new pack!

Lastly, big news which was announced in our June Update email (in case you missed it) – we are trialling a 4 day work week! We intend there to be no drop in service levels to you, but we will need your help to plan your ordering around us being shut Fridays, to ensure you receive your orders when you require them.

Important Dates:

• Summer Shutdown – 22nd to 29th August (We re-open Tuesday 30th!)

Please remember to get your orders in early the week before and be patient the week we return as we work through the backlog asap – thanks in advance!

July/August Free Gift

Our July and August Free Gift celebrates the launch of our new ‘Standing Families’ product and our love of Gonks! You will receive a 45 x 25 mm (approx.) 3 mm MDF base with a slot, and one of our Brand New! Medium Gonk shapes to stand in the slot! The size provided will make an awesome little 3D decoration to sit on any desk or shelf! We hope this gives you lots of ideas of how you can design and market this great new display option to your customers – and as we want to see these ideas, read to the end of the newsletter for more info on how to send them to us and enter our fab Design a Gonk! competition (press the link also to download the blank template to design your free Gonk with!)

July/August Special Offer

The special offer for July and August is – more Gonks! (obviously!) 20% off any purchase of Gonks or Gonk Family Sets throughout these months – offer ends August 31st, so don’t delay – get your Gonk order in today!! P.S. a Gonk is not just for Christmas – they make great Gnomes, Elf Faces, and Mushroom Houses! Plus dress them up for summer, add costumes – the list is as long as your imagination…

New Products

• NEW! Budget 85 x 85 mm Coaster
• NEW! Xtra Value 85 x 85 mm Budget Coasters (Pack of 75 or 100)
• NEW! Build You Own Party Pack! – Halloween
• NEW! Elf on the Shelf Pack
• NEW! Standing Family Sets
• NEW! Gonks Galore!
• NEW! Elf Boot Shape
• NEW! Girl and Boy Shapes
• NEW! Skull Shape
• NEW! Skull and Crossbones Shape
• NEW! Pig Shape
• NEW! Fridge Magnet Gift Set
• NEW! Chromaluxe 283 x 283 mm Square
• UPDATED! Coffin Shape
• UPDATED! Bone Shape
• UPDATED! Unicorn Head
• UPDATED! Terrier Dog
• UPDATED! Chromaluxe Circles – EXT (Outdoor) Option Added
• UPDATED! Round and Square Pendant Settings
• NEW! Oval and Heart Pendant Settings

Wish List Items!

A request from March on our Wish List has been completed and is now available on our website! A fabulous  Girl and Boy shape requested by Laura Cadman – who has in return supplied us with a finished printed sample photo to share with you of a lovely Multi charm ‘this Nanny belongs to’ keyring featuring the shapes!

Please take a look at this Wish List item and fill in the form if you have any ideas that you would like us to consider adding to our range. We cannot guarantee when or if your request will be added as our design schedule can be a bit unpredictable, but we will consider all submissions!

Customer ‘Share To Win’ Photos

For the Share To Win we have one of Sandra Wright’s fabulous Coffin designs using one of the larger sizes! This is a perfect idea for Halloween, and since our Coffin Shape has just been updated with some brand new sizes (meaning more possibilities!) it is certainly worth checking out…

Seasonal/Marketing Ideas

Halloween keeps growing in popularity, and with this in mind, we have put together an amazing ‘Build Your Own’ Party Pack Listing (launching firstly with our ‘spooktastic’ Halloween option, but with more packs to follow soon!). This pack will help add an extra touch of spookiness to any horror themed Party!

Included are options for: bunting (maybe for creating a fab ‘Happy Halloween’ banner?), Name Place Cards and Bowl Markers (to help label up foods – perhaps with allergen information – and encourage guests to help themselves!), and  A4 and A5 signs. These can all be selected in your choice of quantities to match your’s (or your customers) budget and style. Finally you add a selection of our Halloween themed shapes (in your choice of a large or smaller pack) to be used as drink or food menus, coasters, placemats, and ‘spooktacular’ decorations – to create the Perfect Party pack!

Our Halloween shapes are all available as singular products too, so be sure to check out the Witch Hat, Pumpkin, Ghost, Spiders, or even the Letters – which can be great for spelling out all sorts of fun Halloween words! Our Coffin Shape and Bone Shape have been updated and are now available in some new sizes, adding even more potential to these great shapes – see the items for some fabulous jewellery ideas form Nicci’s resident ‘teen’ designer!

We have 2 brand new shapes for Halloween – a Skull and Skull & Crossbones! These shapes will make great spooky but fun decorations, wall art, clocks, keyrings, and more! The Skull in particular will look brilliant when used as bunting – you could even try pairing it with the Ghost Shape!

Remembrance Day is a time which is very important to many people, so it may be worth considering offering a selection of printed products. Using our smaller sizes of Poppy you can create beautiful badges that can be worn to show respect and commemorate the occasion. Our larger sizes can become touching pieces of wall art, or even a memorial plaque using either the Poppy or Cross Shape.

One Item – Three ways!

Our range of Bookmarks are always a popular seller, and we offer them in various sizes so you can choose the one that best suits your needs! We thought we’d show off some cool ideas of how you can print up these bookmarks…

Photos: Use photos to really add a personal touch to a bookmark. For an avid reader, this is a fantastic way to display treasured memories and fun times, plus it makes for a brilliant and thoughtful gift for any occasion! We used our 150 x 45 mm Luxury Tall Bookmark to create the example shown.

Reference: Using bookmarks as a reference tool is a great idea! Print them up with a history timeline, conversion tables, formulas, or fact files. We used the 200 x 55 mm Luxury Jumbo Tall Bookmark as this offers a lot of space to work with! Speaking of space, our example is a fact file all about Neptune!

Artwork: Artistic bookmarks look beautiful! Use drawings, sketches, and paintings to create some wonderful pieces that your customers will love. Our example is a wonderful Dog drawing printed on our 95 x 40 mm Budget Bookmark – a fab gift idea too!

Be sure to check out our Project for this issue, which is all about Christmas Displays and giving you lots of fun new ideas for the festive season!

Wowser! A jam packed seasonal inspiration newsletter! Hopefully you’re feeling the love for Gonks that we have and will enjoy printing up the free sample we have sent you this month – remember a Gonk is not just for Christmas! – so please print him up in any fashion you like, pop him in his funky stand and send us a phot of him in situ – we would love to see where he is going to live – on your desk, in your pressing room?

Remember we always give a £10 off coupon for photos we share, but this time we’ve decided to offer a bigger prize of £50 off, for the most creative Gonk photo – see our Design a Gonk competition page for details and also to download your blank template for the free medium Gonk you’ve recived!

Lastly a quick intro to a new member of staff – please welcome Lisa to the team, who will be assisting in the production and machine room!

Keep on subbing!

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