Your Fan Club shop update

It's been too long since I posted a fan club shop update! I've been adding new button designs little by little instead of saving them up and listing in huge batches. These buttons have all been added in the last month or so. If you want to stay up to date on new arrivals, you can check out my New Additions to Your Fan Club page right here! I add new buttons every week so keep your eyes peeled! You'll also find all of these buttons there, too :)

Your Fan Club changes

After a brief hiatus, Your Fan Club is back open again as of this morning. I decided to close up shop & reevaluate everything during the holidays.

Your Fan Club was actually a pretty big source of stress for me in 2014. Once I factored in labor (there was, surprisingly for such a small, cheap item, a lot of work involved in making each pin) I was barely making any money from the sales, even though producing the pins was taking up a whole lot of my time. I also had a lot of supply-and-demand issues. My acrylic supplier got backed up around the holidays and even after I started paying rush fees & expedited shipping upgrades I *still* didn't get the supplies quick enough. UPS lost one of my overnight packages and USPS lost a next-day air one. I have the worst mail luck, I swear!

I realized that I'd have to close up shop or make a drastic change. Either stocking a ton of supplies so that I'd always have them on hand, which wasn't financially feasible, or coming up with an entirely new way to make the pins. So with some of my Flapper Doodle Christmas sales I invested in a 1" button machine. I've wanted one for a long time and I'm so excited about all of the new products I can make with it! But most importantly, I can make fan club buttons!

I think that most people who looked at Your Fan Club assumed at first glance that they were buttons to begin with (and then probably scratched their heads and wondered why a button would be $6) These are the same size, same design, same selection, just a different material. They're WAY easier for me to make, and, because they're also way cheaper to make, I get to sell them for only $2 a pop!

And here's the best part -- because I can afford to keep a healthy stock of supplies on hand at all times, these will be shipping super fast now. Like usually within 1 business day. Yipiee!! And shooting new product photos also gave me the opportunity to do a slight tweak in my branding as well. I have a new dark chalkboard background that really makes the buttons pop off the screen, and I'm carrying that texture over into my logo as well.

A lot of my products and projects evolve over time, and although sometimes the road can be bumpy I'm always thrilled when that "ah-ha!" moment eventually happens and everything falls into place. I've really loved the idea of "your fan club" ever since it first occurred to me, and I'm so glad that I found a solution that allows me to continue working on a project that I love without the accompanying stress :)

Extra, extra, read all about it!

It's been ages (ages!) since I sent out an update to my Flapper Doodle mailing list, so I've decided to just start a new one instead. I'm pretty sure that anyone who signed up in 2009 would, at this point, scratch their head and wonder where the heck the email came from.

If I *had* sent out a newsletter today, it would have said that I'm offering 30% off at Flapper Doodle with the code "MISTLETOE." Additionally, you'd get (infrequent, I promise!) updates on new products, behind-the-scenes peeks into my studio and work process, exclusive discounts and subscriber-only free downloads. If you're interested in any of that, then you can sign up right HERE.

Behind the scenes

Behind the scenes --waiting for the glue to finish drying on a big batch of fan club pins. Clothespins are my new BFF, they hold the pin back on firmly while the glue is drying. This is my favorite part of the pin-making process. I love when the glue has cured and I can pop them off the clothespins. It's their last step before getting packed up and sent off to their new homes!

Your Fan Club shop update & improved design

As promised, a giant fan club shop update! I included a few seasonal pins in this batch (pie! scrooge! santa!) that are perfect accessories for all of the holiday festivities coming up soon. All of the new pins are available in my fan club shop here.

Please note: my cut-off for *custom* pin & patch orders is going to be the first week in December, so if you want to buy a custom design as a gift, hurry hurry hurry! :)

I also made a small but wonderful change to the pin design -- they have new pin backs now. I've been using tie tacks (kind of like the backs on Disney pins, if you're familiar with those) but I've found that when I wear them they have a tendency to spin, so the design can be upside down sometimes. And, like other tie-tack pins (cough, Disney pins, cough) sometimes you can lose the backs while you're wearing them. With these new brooch backs your pin will be better secured to your clothing and it'll stay upright the whole day long. Nothing else has changed -- they're the same price, the same size, they come on the same cards and they weigh the same. They're just better at staying wherever you choose to put them :)

Your Fan Club shop update

It's been a while, but I finally have a mini fan club shop update! A couple of these were requests and a couple (like Walternate and Fauxlivia from Fringe) were on my own fan club wishlist :)

All of the new pins are available here. And, as always, if you don't see what you're looking for I have custom pins here.

Turn any fan club pin into a patch

I've had a lot of requests for fan club patches, so I'm happy to announce that I am now offering sew-on embroidered patches at Your Fan Club! You can turn any pin design into a patch, and I'm also offering 4 for the price of 3, as well! You can check out the listing here.

Your Fan Club shop update

I just added sixteen new designs to Your Fan Club. Most of these were requests, but I have to admit, the potato and garlic pins were mostly for me. I'm attending a garlic festival this weekend and I simply had to make a pin for the occasion.

In honor of Robin Williams, all of the profits from the sale of his fan club pins will be donated to one of his favorite charities, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

The pins are available at Your Fan Club here.

Your Fan Club shop update

I added 19 new fan club pins to the shop today -- Richard Ayoade isn't new, he's just tagging along at the end because I wanted to have an even amount in the photo. You can find all of the new pins right here. Over 100 pin designs in the shop now! Yay!

Your Fan Club shop update

I've added some new pins to Your Fan Club the last week or so. And I have another batch of 20 new additions coming sometime next week! I'm really enjoying coming up with new ideas for these -- after the update next week I'll have over 100 pins in the shop to choose from. Pretty exciting!

You can find all of the new additions at Your Fan Club.

Your Fan Club mini update

Just a small little update! These three new designs are available at Your Fan Club here.

Your Fan Club update

My first Your Fan Club shop update includes some requests along with some of my own favorites, like Dana Scully, Bigfoot, Kurt Vonnegut and Willy Wonka. You can find all of the new pins, as well as all of the original designs, in the Your Fan Club shop here.

Your Fan Club

I just opened up a new etsy store for my newest project, Your Fan Club. The idea is that you can find a pin for any fan club imaginable -- burritos, obscure classic movie actors, tv icons, cult classic stars, etc. I started out with about 40 designs and plan on adding more on a semi-regular basis.

Each pin is laser-cut from black and white acrylic & features one of my drawings in the center. I'm especially excited about re-purposing some of my older classic film drawings and paintings that have been collecting dust in my studio drawer. I for one would definitely want to be a member of the Robert Montgomery Fan Club.