OCTOBER UPDATE 2022

Welcome to our October update!

This time we feature the results from our Design a Gonk Competition – thank you to everyone who entered their designs for a chance to win a £50 voucher 🙂  We’re also revisiting our Bee shapes – and we have a couple of new products to show you that tie in nicely!

We have a fun World Cup project for all those Football fans out there to check out, along with a reminder of how you can work with your local community to create some great products…

We are always striving to add value to our range – so have identified 3 more Best selling products to give the Xtra VALUE! bulk pack treatment – 73mm baubles, Baby-on-boards and A6 sheets –  plus for convenience shopping we have also added these as smaller pack versions and in turn made them available in our Subli Essentials (no minimum order) range.

And of course, Christmas gift ideas and products are still forefront, as we start the Christmas run in …

Important Dates:

• Christmas Shutdown – Wednesday 21st Dec (last orders Noon that day) to Bank Holiday Monday 2nd Jan (We re-open on Tuesday 3rd January!)

We’re giving you a lot of notice for our Christmas Shutdown to allow you to plan your orders accordingly – before and after the break!

September/October Free Gift

The free gift for September and October is our newest and most economical sizes of Coaster – the 85 x 85 mm Budget Coaster in 0.5 mm Brushed Silver with either an MDF backing or 5 cork bumps!

September/October Special Offer

A reminder that the special offer for September and October is 20% off our NEW! Coaster and Placemat Luxury Gift Set! A choice of 4 or 6 Placemats and Coasters in an A4 super tough white plastic box with a choice of printable toppers – a super elegant set, packaged AND priced to sell and send (or give) – take advantage before October 31st!

New Products:

• Updated! Game Board and Wall Chart Listing with new Hook and Loop Squares (inc FREE World Cup wall chart 2022 artwork)
• NEW! Xtra Value A6-6×4-150x100mm  250 sheet pack 
• NEW! Xtra Value 100 Best selling 73mm bauble pack
• NEW! Xtra Value 100 Baby-on-board pack
• NEW! Subli Essentials Best-selling Baby-on-board pack x 20
• NEW! Subli Essentials Best-selling Baubles x 20
• NEW! Subli Essentials Best selling A6-6×4-150x100mm x30
• NEW! Hexagon Frame
• NEW! Keyhole Shape and Keyhole Frame
• NEW! Coaster and Placemat Luxury Gift Set
• NEW! Luxury Placemat Set
• NEW! Build Your Own – Bunting Sets
• NEW! Build Your Own: Christmas Hanging Wall Art
• NEW! Build Your Own: Mini Panel Hanging Wall Art
• NEW! MDF Slotted Display Bases
• NEW! ‘themed’ Shape Coasters and Placemats and Pot Stands
• NEW! Cute Bee or Snail Shape
• NEW! Realistic Bee Shape
• NEW! Flying Bee Shape
• NEW! Beehive Shape

Design a Gonk Competition!

Thank you so much to the 3 entrants we had for our Design-a-Gonk competition, thankfully quality of quantity was the rule for this competition – as all the Gonks entered were fabulous! As we only had the 3 entries, we have decided to double the prize pot and have 1 winner and 2 runner up prizes, as all that entered were so good they deserved a reward!

So in joint 2nd place, winning a £25 off voucher is Claire Maxwell’s super sweet entry, photographed in their pretty pine forest grove:

ElllieEllie’s super clever Lioness England Footballer and Teacher Gonks, also photographed in their natural habitats lol, win a £25 off voucher as well:

and, drum roll for our overall winner please…. We couldn’t resist the super cute Halloween Gonk from Samantha Williams, surrounded by all their super cool sublimated metal Halloween signs – £50 voucher goes to you Sam!

World Cup Board and Football Project!

With the Women winning the Euros fairly recently (woop woop!) and the Men’s World Cup fast approaching, Football is still the UK’s favourite – both watching and playing!

Speaking of the World Cup, with matches due to start in November, we quickly got to work creating a World Cup Board (much like our Euro 2021 Board!). Admittedly, the World Cup Board was a little harder to design as there were more teams that needed to fit onto the board! We used our A3 Ricoh sized metal for the board itself, with 20 x 20 mm squares for the flags and small hook and loop pads to allow the flag squares to be attached to the board – a cheaper alternative to using our magnetic steel board 🙂

This is available for you to purchase as a set on our Updated! Game Board and Wall Chart Listing so you can get started creating your own World Cup Boards – both magnetic or hook and loop sets are listed. The artwork pictured in our example is also be included as a FREE download upon purchase of the set!

Alternatively, you could use the pieces included in the set to instead make some fun game boards for the whole family, or even use it to track other things – weekly planners, good and bad behaviour, and more!

Consider creating mini trophies using our MDF bases, or use our free-standing products, fridge magnets, and badges for Player of the Match type awards for local teams! These could be personalised with player names and dates (maybe using sharpies to keep the budget down), making it a really nice keepsake for the player to receive and treasure.

Bees, Hexagon Frames, and Keyholes!

We have recently launched not just one, but three Bee Shapes! A Realistic Bee, a Cute Bee or Snazzy Snail, and a Flying Bee (all in multiple sizes), along with our Beehive Shape (available in 4 sizes) which could also become a shed, kennel, chicken house or greenhouse – perfect for dry wipe signs! We also have a new Hexagon Frame shape and new Keyhole and Keyhole Cut Out Shapes!

Pair any of these shapes with our existing Hexagons (or maybe a Mason Jar for a jar of honey, or a cute little Bee Gonk like the one in our example!) to create some awesome Bee themed products and displays! We used some Hexagons to create a lovely mirror and a fab plaque – we got a bit crafty when we attached some of the smaller bees using our strong foam pads to create brilliant 3D items!

You can create fantastic built up 3D scenes and decoration pieces with our new Hexagon Frames using a standard Hexagon as a backplate and a range of our Bee shapes to give it the 3D effect. Alternatively, try using our new Keyhole and Keyhole Cut Outs to create all sorts of wonderful products! You could use the Keyhole to imitate looking through the keyhole and out into a beautiful garden filled with flowers and Bees, or look back in time by creating a beautiful memorial or Remembrance Day design…

Christmas and ‘Build Your Own’!

We have printed up the full set of items available in the Elf on the Shelf Pack with some great designs (which are available to download FREE upon purchase of the pack to allow you the option to print up your own set as soon as you get it!). We hope this gives you a lot of ideas for creating your own designs too!

Our Stocking/Penguin Wall Art, Standing Family Sets, and Mini Panel Wall Art listings are perfect for those of you who prefer to order an already pre-determined set. However for those of you who prefer to have a lot more control and flexibility over the sets, we have started to introduce some ‘Build Your Own’ Listings! These listings allow you to choose exact amounts of shapes, plus any hanging options and accessories where relevant so you can tailor the sets to be as close to your needs as possible!

Be sure to check out our ‘Build Your Own’ Christmas Hanging Wall Art, ‘Build Your Own’ Mini Panel Hanger Sets, and ‘Build Your Own’ Bunting Sets if you are interested in putting together your own sets for these! We also offer the option to buy our MDF stands individually, allowing you to pick and choose your own shapes to create all sorts of different Standing Family decorations!

Coaster and Placemat Sets!

Our Coaster, Placemat, and Home Decor category has seen the beginnings of a revamp with new listings being brought in for Fancy Shaped Coasters and Placemats/Pot Stands! We also have a new Luxury Coaster and Placemat Gift Set for you to check out, along with a Luxury Placemat Gift Setto complement our existing Luxury Coaster Gift Set!

Our new Budget 85 x 85 mm Coaster (which is also the free gift) is included in the Coaster and Placemat Luxury Gift Set. While using our white metal will give you the closest representation of the colours that you see on your screen, using another of the finishes we offer – such as brushed silver, brushed gold, or satin matt – can give your products a look of elegance and sophistication! This is especially effective on Coaster and Placemat sets as it gives the product an extra layer of luxury. You do have to account for the slight colour change, but we believe that it is well worth the results!

We now offer the choice between Cork or Poly Bumpers, or MDF backs for our range of Coasters and Placemats/Pot Stands. All options give a nice finish, but MDF offers an extra layer of luxury and sturdiness – we already offer our placemats with MDF backs, but will soon offer pre-glued, or glue/tape yourself for our MDF coasters too!

Hopefully we are continuing to inspire you to create some fab metal items to help those winter World Cup and Christmas sales! See you in November…. until then Happy Subbing!

Kind Regards,
Nicci, Carl, Claire, Caroline, Pippa, 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!