Spellbinders the weekender virtual retreat

I have not gotten my box yet. Now floating around Greenville processing center. Maybe today.

I have never done a virtual retreat/kit type thing. I have, however, watched all the threads about you guys doing them for the last several years. I knew that going in without any sneaks was a risk. But in every thread I have ever seen, there were some things from each event that would appeal to me, and I thought hey, it's Spellbinders. I could go and click $200 worth of product on their site with my eyes shut, and there would be something that I could use and love. And I wanted product outside my comfort zone to push me a little.

But watching the unboxing video was so disappointing. There is nothing in there that is of in interest to me. And I know that is a personal thing, and one of the risks buying into something like this. I follow a lot of the instructors/designers, am very familiar with their work, and these products really do not seem on par with their other stuff. The use of the kits across the class content seems kinda lop-sided too, and does not showcase all the product evenly.



This whole kit seems kind-of thrown together at the last minute/no thought put in.

I may not open my box if it comes today. If there is discussion of a refund, I may see how that plays out. I cannot see the FB group so keep us informed, those of you who can.  I don't expect it, and  I will not be upset if they do not offer that. I accepted the risk when I bought without sneaks.  I also could be persuaded to sell the unopened box and class access at a discount if we are allowed to sell the product.

I know I sound like a big whiny baby, but I watched y'all do these retreats forever and have never seen a box that would be such as dud for me as this one has turned out to be. But live, and learn, and look forward to SCT C&C in September.

I got my box today. I'm on the fence as to whether I like some of them. I'm hoping to learn techniques I can use with other supplies I own. Yana's card is very pretty.

Looking at the booklet, it says on the first page on the schedule, all times are in PDT. That means the kickoff will be 8-10 p.m. eastern time. That's LATE!

Maybe subconsciously I expected everything to coordinate.  That makes sense.  I'm not sure exactly what I expected really.  Except that, like I said, I could've pulled random products from their store and would be more pleased.  Not gonna ruin my week over it, I guess.  In the grand scheme of things, NBD.  Like you, I am just surprised because I expected to be wowed.  That's on me, not SB.
 
Spellbinders is usually one of my faves.  

Yes LATE!!  I will be out of town for the first sets of classes so will miss them live anyway.  So not as big a deal to me the time, luckily.

I am hoping the classes will be technique heavy as well!

Whoa. This is not acceptable.

Ditto to all of this.  I am kinda "ah" with the box....

Just thought I'd pop in with my impressions of the kit. I signed up because I have really loved the Spellbinders releases over the past 6 months or so. I have club memberships for the large and small dies and have mostly enjoyed them. So I went into this with high hopes.

Major disappointment when I opened the box. In its defense, there is a lot of stuff in there. So the value was good. I go into any class like this with the thought that if 50% of the products are usable for me, I'm a happy camper. And most kits, I can. With this kit, I'm hard pressed to find 25% usable for the kinds of cards I make and donate.

I'll watch the classes and hope to pick up on some techniques like MDscrapaholic said. But this will likely be my first and last Spellbinders event.

I wholeheartedly agree Lindamh! I loved the Stitchmas calendar and felt Spellbinders really knocked it out of the park for 2 months this year, so I felt safe to order this retreat unseen. I really am not sure what to do. I don’t see myself using most of the products.

I haven't received my box yet so I haven't seen the booklet, what a disappointment to hear that the projects aren't that great. I watched the unboxing and liked what I saw from just the products - I have family members & friends who are really into cocktails, I have a few that are into biking, and one has a really vintagy bike like the die, some that are into embroidery and sewing - so there is stuff that will work for me. To hear that the designers just kind of phoned-in their card designs does suck, though, I was expecting a lot because imo SB really delivers most of the time. The only die I didn't love was the poppy die, but I was confident that Yana would make it look spectacular because everything she does is amazing, but if she can't make it work - what hope do I have, lol.

I agree with the person above who said this looks like a sampling of future collections coming out - the poppy die looks like it would fit into the modern flowers series that they have, for instance.

Ha, I love that! You should post it on the FB page FOR SURE

I tried to sell my kit on 2 different FB groups for $150 unused INCLUDING the classes and no takers So, I guess I'm gonna sit down and do the class prep. Maybe I'll get more excited once I start playing with the stuff. I'm going over to a (beginning card maker) friend's house to craft tomorrow and I'll work on it then. She's a graphic designer so I'll be especially curious to hear her take on the kit.

This is me too!! I can not spend the amount of time on each card for my normal squeezing craft time in, card making. I love taking classes and doing the events. I also love the value and amount of product in most of the events.

But most of my cards are fairly basic, from sketches and almost always made in multiples.

Per the Spellbinders Squad, there will be no upcoming coupon code to make additional purchases. They responded that there are tons of awesome sales running all the time.

My first Spellbinders class. This may be customary for them. I know sometimes others offer codes.