newpea
Shy Member
Posts: 37 
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Post by newpea on Nov 13, 2020 21:46:31 GMT
They are changing the name to "Modern Memory Keeping kit" and taking away half of the pocket cards. In place of the cards they are putting a few sheets of white 6x8 card stock and the owner will include instruction sheets for at least 2 memory keeping projects each month.The price will remain the same. Still on the fence of how I feel about this. Maybe if I could see how the kit was going to look I might be more positive but if you want to be able to cancel you have to do it before the next kit happens so there's no way to know what it will look like. On first reading the email it seems like a reduction in kit contents. Not to mean any harm to the owner but the instruction sheets do not bring value for me because I may not scrap the same way as her and there is already free inspiration from the creative team each month. I also don't see the value in a couple sheets of white card stock.
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Post by mom on Nov 13, 2020 22:34:10 GMT
oohhh. Thats not good. I havent subbed to CD in forever as their artwork just isn't my style. But I would be frustrated if I did sub and they were just sending 6x8 paper and some instructions.
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Post by refugeepea on Nov 13, 2020 22:38:46 GMT
Isn't Becky Higgin's new thing My Modern Story?  |
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newpea
Shy Member
Posts: 37
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Post by newpea on Nov 13, 2020 22:39:36 GMT
oohhh. Thats not good. I havent subbed to CD in forever as their artwork just isn't my style. But I would be frustrated if I did sub and they were just sending 6x8 paper and some instructions. The embellishments stay the same. the only thing that is changing about the kit is that they are removing half of the journal cards (which is roughly 14 cards) and replacing them with a couple sheets of white 6x8 cardstock and an instruction sheet from the owner with 2 projects each month. I just didn't see the value of the price staying the same when the kit is loosing half of the journal cards and only gaining 6x8 white card stock and an instruction sheet. The title of my email announcing the change was "Now it's even better." Unfortunately I didn't really see it as being better. There was a reason I subbed to a pocket kit....for pocket cards. |
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Kerri W
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,768
Location: Kentucky
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Post by Kerri W on Nov 13, 2020 22:40:23 GMT
To be fair she did say this allows her a little more wiggle room with the embellishments and is in response to customers wanting more flexibility to scrap different sizes, not just pockets. But...I get a 'circling the drain' vibe. Maybe I'm paranoid? I finally unsubscribed from her emails today. I swear everything she's sent in the last week she's had to send a second email to correct something. And she already sends a lot of emails.
ETA: Here is the text from the email: "We’ve received some questions about the changes to the Pocket Memory Keeping kit, so I wanted to address that the value of the kit is not changing. I apologize if our previous email was confusing. The Modern Memory Keeping kit still retains a retail value of over $50, lessening the number of cards allows me to have a little more wiggle room with embellishments and different items that I'd like to add to the kit and show how to use via the instruction sheet. The reason we made the change is that we've heard from customers that wanted more flexibility in how they memory keep so we wanted to provide an option that covers a wider scope of memory keeping. There is still plenty of cards in the kit if you are a pocket memory keeper, but now the kit will also work for those wishing to try out 6x8 layouts, create 12x12 layouts as well as create some fun mini albums."
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scrappymeg
Full Member
Posts: 286
Sept 18, 2020 22:59:35 GMT
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Post by scrappymeg on Nov 14, 2020 0:02:30 GMT
I subbed to the pocket kit for about six months, and I would have been ok with reducing the number of pocket cards in exchange for some additional embellishments, but for some white cardstock? No thanks, I have plenty!
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newpea
Shy Member
Posts: 37
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Post by newpea on Nov 14, 2020 0:15:44 GMT
I subbed to the pocket kit for about six months, and I would have been ok with reducing the number of pocket cards in exchange for some additional embellishments, but for some white cardstock? No thanks, I have plenty! You may like the new kit then. The second email said that the value would remain the same and in dropping some of the pocket cards she may be able to play more with different embellishments offered. I think I may stick around and see how it goes. I really do love the kits and all the designs are so different than other kit subs. I also do occasionally make a 6x8 layout here and there to go with my PL page. I would also like to see more variety of embellishments offered. I have always felt that the pocket kit was so HEAVY on word sentiment embellishment. So I would definitely stick around if more variety is introduced....embellishment wise. I'm just not gonna be happy if everything remains the same and I have half my journal cards replaced with some 6x8 white card stock and an instruction sheet. |
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julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,611
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Post by julie5 on Nov 14, 2020 2:31:46 GMT
This morning I was actually wondering if it was time for a price increase. Nope, just reducing the cards down a bit. I’m ok with it. I was actually comparing my cocoa daisy kit to the recent citrus twist kit and even with the changes, the cocoa daisy kit is more full.
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Post by scrappyem on Nov 14, 2020 13:02:57 GMT
Thanks for sharing this. I've thought about subbing to their pocket kit starting in January. I didn't use a kit at all in 2020 and since I'm going back to 9x12 or 12x12 size, I wanted to start subbing again. I'll be curious what the new kit looks like when it's all said and done.
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Post by vsimone on Nov 14, 2020 19:39:49 GMT
I'd be more interested in subbing if it was 6x8 patterned papers. White card stock does nothing for me.
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Post by artisticscrapper on Nov 14, 2020 20:47:42 GMT
I get that she may be reducing the number of cards so it will be more cost effective for her. But I don’t get adding a few pieces a white card stock. I really don’t think that’s going to spark someone’s creativity. Adding 6x8 coordinating pattern paper or even matching colored cardstock would have made much more sense.
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newpea
Shy Member
Posts: 37
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Post by newpea on Nov 14, 2020 21:34:26 GMT
I'd be more interested in subbing if it was 6x8 patterned papers. White card stock does nothing for me. the pocket kit already contained 4 double sided 6x8 pattern papers. I'm guessing those aren't going away but at this point I have no idea. |
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Post by Frazzled Mom on Nov 14, 2020 21:53:14 GMT
To me the original email made it sound like they were taking away half the cards and substituting white cardstock and Christine's sheet of ideas. Granted they sell the sheet of ideas from the TN kit, so I guess they feel it adds value. I think it's weird to assign a $$$ value to inpiration when other companies provide product ideas for free on social media, but whatever... So for me it was definitely not an attractive trade off. I saw today's email about "oh no you misunderstood, we're going to be considering different embellishments..." as an "oh crap, they noticed" reaction to the complaints and concerns they got about the decreased value.  |
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oaksong
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,163
Location: LA Suburbia
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Jun 27, 2014 6:24:29 GMT
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Post by oaksong on Nov 17, 2020 10:55:08 GMT
I haven’t subscribed to the pocket kit since last year, but there were always way too many cards, and I used my kits to the max. Like most of their communication, the messaging on this was confusing.
CD has a beautiful product, but I always manage to do something wrong when I try to add or change a subscription. Then a kit I don’t subscribe to has something I want, but it’s sold out before reveal. It’s a source of endless frustration. I just cancelled my subscriptions, and am going to use all of my leftovers for memory keeping in the year to come. Time to move on.
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Post by Frazzled Mom on Nov 29, 2020 4:16:13 GMT
Well I just checked out reveal and the new memory kit still shows twenty four 3x4 and four 4x6 cards. I thought maybe Christina decided to keep the number of cards the same. Nope. You have to look at the teeny tiny print at the bottom of the contents section to see the disclaimer that your kit won't match the photos because kit items are packed randomly. So they split each set of cards and you get a random half? I often decide to buy a kit based on certain cards and now you can't be sure which cards you'll get.  Also I got a chuckle that they're valuing the new four 6x8 pieces of white cardstock at $4.99 and the idea sheet at $5.00.  |
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newpea
Shy Member
Posts: 37
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Post by newpea on Nov 29, 2020 4:55:54 GMT
Well I just checked out reveal and the new memory kit still shows twenty four 3x4 and four 4x6 cards. I thought maybe Christina decided to keep the number of cards the same. Nope. You have to look at the teeny tiny print at the bottom of the contents section to see the disclaimer that your kit won't match the photos because kit items are packed randomly. So they split each set of cards and you get a random half? I often decide to buy a kit based on certain cards and now you can't be sure which cards you'll get. Also I got a chuckle that they're valuing the new four 6x8 pieces of white cardstock at $4.99 and the idea sheet at $5.00. Yep. Glad I cancelled! What a joke. I also didn’t see anything REALLY amazing and new that helps make up losing half the pocket cards. So disappointed. I really did love their kits but I think I’m just going to go digital. I really need to cut my scrap budget way down anyway so at least their new kit is helping me do just that! |
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Post by Embri on Nov 29, 2020 11:47:32 GMT
Also I got a chuckle that they're valuing the new four 6x8 pieces of white cardstock at $4.99 and the idea sheet at $5.00. I believe in the industry this is called 'creative accounting'. 5$ for 'ideas'? another 5$ for a handful of white paper? Delusional. |
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Post by carolynhasacat on Nov 29, 2020 13:53:13 GMT
Very disappointing! I'm looking for a sub for 2021 (haven't had one for a couple of years) and was thinking of getting this kit. Now I'm not interested in CD at all.  |
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Post by scrappyem on Nov 29, 2020 14:01:48 GMT
Very disappointing! I'm looking for a sub for 2021 (haven't had one for a couple of years) and was thinking of getting this kit. Now I'm not interested in CD at all.  Same. |
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julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,611
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Post by julie5 on Nov 29, 2020 15:37:05 GMT
Well I just checked out reveal and the new memory kit still shows twenty four 3x4 and four 4x6 cards. I thought maybe Christina decided to keep the number of cards the same. Nope. You have to look at the teeny tiny print at the bottom of the contents section to see the disclaimer that your kit won't match the photos because kit items are packed randomly. So they split each set of cards and you get a random half? I often decide to buy a kit based on certain cards and now you can't be sure which cards you'll get. Also I got a chuckle that they're valuing the new four 6x8 pieces of white cardstock at $4.99 and the idea sheet at $5.00. Idk what you’re looking at but the new memory kit only has 12 cards, and they are pictured. And assorted is for items with a * next to it. That usually is for things like sequins and ribbon that cannot be accounted for exactly. |
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Post by Frazzled Mom on Nov 29, 2020 16:59:19 GMT
Idk what you’re looking at but the new memory kit only has 12 cards, and they are pictured. When you click into the kit description where pictures of the contents are shown, there are 24/4 cards in the photo. Now you only receive a random half of the cards pictured if you read the itemized content list. |
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Post by cannmom on Nov 29, 2020 23:33:23 GMT
Idk what you’re looking at but the new memory kit only has 12 cards, and they are pictured. When you click into the kit description where pictures of the contents are shown, there are 24/4 cards in the photo. Now you only receive a random half of the cards pictured if you read the itemized content list. It’s the same photo as the one for the pocket cards only, which does come with 24 3x4 and 4 4x6 cards. I wonder if they screwed up when putting the photos up. |
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Nov 29, 2020 23:44:10 GMT
If they took out some cards and made larger patterned papers to be used in TN's or cut down for PL, okay, sure...but removing half of the main NEED of the kit for it to be useful and not reduce the price at all is some bullshit.
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Nov 29, 2020 23:45:18 GMT
Other than the fact that they announced it ahead of time, they sure sound like they're trying to become the new Studio Calico.
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julie5
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,611
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Post by julie5 on Nov 30, 2020 0:02:02 GMT
Other than the fact that they announced it ahead of time, they sure sound like they're trying to become the new Studio Calico. with all due respect, they are FAR from being studio calico. Christine has done everything possible to keep from raising prices both on shipping and kits. This is a very minimal change and I’ve been there 2 years. I get 7 kits each month, all on time and nothing missing. And no one realizes there’s usually 2-3 freebies every month in our boxes. |
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Nov 30, 2020 0:33:16 GMT
Other than the fact that they announced it ahead of time, they sure sound like they're trying to become the new Studio Calico. with all due respect, they are FAR from being studio calico. Christine has done everything possible to keep from raising prices both on shipping and kits. This is a very minimal change and I’ve been there 2 years. I get 7 kits each month, all on time and nothing missing. And no one realizes there’s usually 2-3 freebies every month in our boxes. I wouldn't call losing half of the cards in a kit minimal. Embellishments are great, but cards are the base of a PL kit...fewer cards means fewer resulting projects. As I said before, if they swapped them out for patterned paper instead of the cards then I wouldn't see the big deal because patterned designs that coordinate with traditional cards makes PL more enjoyable for me personally, but swapping out designed cards for plain white cardstock/paper IS cutting the usability of the kit in half. Unlike larger layouts, it's not common to use an abundance of plain white cardstock in a PL spread. Their kits are already quite pricey, so cheaping out by switching the foundation pieces to something so cheap comes across poorly to me.
In terms of my statement above, it comes across that they're trying to provide less content for the same amount of money (solely to increase their profits) which is not a good look. You have your feelings on it and I have mine. I'm glad you're happy with your kits, but if I were in your place I wouldn't be okay with a company deciding to provide me less content, especially the content that is likely the cheapest to produce, while charging me the same amount of money, so I stand by what I said.
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ComplicatedLady
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,037
Location: Valley of the Sun
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Post by ComplicatedLady on Nov 30, 2020 0:45:11 GMT
I’m going to see my next kit goes and decide if I should cancel or not.
I really like the kits, but I don’t use them every month so I’m starting to get a backlog of kits that are taking up room.
I will eventually get to using them, but unfortunately, I just don’t keep up with the pocket and TN kit each month.
I’ve been thinking about canceling my subs, but since I really like this one, I’ve held on to it.
We’ll see if this change helps me make a decision.
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kstampin
Junior Member
Posts: 88
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Post by kstampin on Nov 30, 2020 1:25:31 GMT
I feel like the kits are getting cheaper. I've been in CD for over 3 1/2 years. We used to get 10 sheets of paper in the TN kit, then at the end of last year it went down to 8 papers and now this month it's only 6. Embellishments in the kits used to be better or more in quantity as well. It was less paper type of embellishments. The chipboard completely went away for a while in the pocket kit, but a thinner version has come back recently. I still like CD and I still enjoy the kits, but I do feel like she is trying to charge the same or more for kits while decreasing the quantity. Since I have changed kits over the course of my subs, I have had to deal with price increases. But I suppose people who always subbed to the Tn kit from the beginning still get the price they signed up for which I believe was 26.99 from the beginning. The kits are now up to 29.99, for less or cheaper types of product.
I noticed the planner kits are the same, I honestly feel like all the kits feel a lot slimmer this month. Overall, I also think her prices are higher than what they should be. Why does 6 6x8 paper cost $8.70? 4 sheets of 6x8 white cardstock at $4.99 is pretty steep when you can get whole sheets of 12x12 for less than that.
Also items like the notepad holder and sticker book were included in kits in the past and this month are now a separate purchase. I have to say I love my last sticker book and it's full, so I purchased another one this time even though I do think the price was high.
I understand business has been tough with Covid and I'm sure that's impacted her so I get that some of these changes may have been necessary, and I'm willing to stay for a while longer and see how things go. |
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Post by cannmom on Dec 1, 2020 19:08:23 GMT
I just started subbing to Cocoa Daisy. I get the TN memory keeping kit. I looked at a bunch of different companies trying to decide who to sub with and I think Cocoa Daisy is a fairly good value. I quit Ali Edwards to switch and I like what I have seen so far. When subbing to Ali’s kits I had the Story and stamp kit first and then quit that and started getting STBTM. Everything started be too much the same after a while and I was not using my kits up.
I do think that if Cocoa Daisy had added patterned paper to the pocket page kit instead of the plain white it would feel less like losing something from the kit.
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Post by happyscrappydo on Dec 1, 2020 20:20:15 GMT
I just started subscribing 6 months ago and this Jan. Kit will be my last kit before I can cancel. I think the cards will be the same ones as shown in the kit picture as she uses specific cards in her project so I do not think she will send random cards because of that but we shall see. As far as cards concern I think it’s a small sacrifice but it’s me. Maybe we can convince her to make them one-sided one day:) Small businesses raise prices, Felicity Jane kit went up in price during this year. CD is relatively small business to not be affected by shipping costs, price increases, etc. I honestly think that the pocket kit was the least popular and she is genuinely trying to change it up to make it more appealing to up the quantity to get it more cost effective. Other kits prices/ contents did not change that much. We also get some free digitals by being subscribers. I think the value of the contents is in the eyes of the beholder, sometimes magnetic flair are priced as $3.50 and to me they are not worth that much. I think CD is one of not many subs out there where the resale value is relatively high due mostly to subscription model. In the last few months they have more inventory leftover due to the wave of the cancellations from the UK due to VAT charges and also other changes. I hope that Christine stays successful as she is the owner that truly loves her brand and business and is passionate about customer service and feedback.
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Same. 
