Many of you kindly took the time to answer my questionnaire just before Christmas and I'm very pleased that by far, the majority of people are completely happy with our products and service :)
Several of you mentioned some changes you would like to see on the blog and in the shop so I thought I'd take the opportunity to address them here.
Search facility
It was suggested that I have a search option on the blog so that you can find things a little easier, in particular card samples made using specific stamps. So if you look towards the top left corner you will now see a google search tool. Hopefully this will work well. I have also added product codes to all the cards in the galleries so if you search for ideas using a particular stamp, they should show up in the results.
Currencies
Many people outside of the UK asked that prices also be shown in other currencies. This was the most popular request. At the moment the online shop does have the facility to show either the Euro or the USD (but not both at the same time). The reason I have not used this feature yet, is that I would be responsible for keeping the rate of exchange up to date - there's no way of it being kept up to date automatically. I fear that with fluctuations, if the price was not accurate, you might get an unpleasant surprise when you see your credit card bill and I would hate that to be the case or to mislead you in any way. However, I am interested in finding a solution and will look into this further...
Personalised stamps
A few of you mentioned how much you miss the personalised stamps we used to make. I miss designing and stamping with them too! Unfortunately it is something we simply can no longer manufacture. Previously, we had a huge machine which engraved the rubber straight from a design on the computer, without the need for plates and moulds. This machinery was extremely expensive to run and maintain so we made the decision to outsource our manufacturing instead. With the new method (vulcanising), plates and moulds are needed and it would simply make personalised stamps not only *extremely* expensive but also the turnaround time very long.
More clear stamp in a set for the price
I'm certainly bearing this in mind as I design new sets.
Clear stamps available as rubber too
Although I cannot offer every clear design as a rubber stamp, I may look into having a selected few available. If you have any particular favourite's leave a comment and let me know!
Limited edition designs
Someone mentioned they'd like to see limited edition designs. I'm afraid I don't have any plans to do this as I think our products should be easily available to everyone, all the time. This is why it will be rare that we discontinue designs too.
A Muse
A couple of people asked that we license more designs through A Muse so that they can distribute them in North America. I didn't want to ignore these requests so want to elaborate just briefly - The license agreement with A Muse was for a 2 year trial period which ends in Oct 09. Although I very much appreciate A Muse's hard work and efforts in disseminating our products throughout the North American territories, unfortunately our relationship has not worked out as I would have hoped and I have decided not to license any more designs.
We have no plans to offer the smaller sized stamps ourselves at any time in the future.
Daily blog posts
Arghh, there just aren't enough hours in the day for me to post every day, lol. However, I will be starting a monthly guest designer feature this month so there will be more varied samples, more regularly :)
I'd like to see creations shown on the blog by people other than the DT and Elizabeth.
We have fortnightly challenges set by the DT where anyone can play along. There's also a showcase every week which gives you an opportunity to show off your talent! To make it a little more interesting, I have started a monthly draw so anyone who plays along is automatically included for the chance to win an elzybells gift voucher. And as I say, we have some fabby guest designers lined up!
Customer accounts
A few people mentioned how useful it would be to have accounts which customers can log into to check order status / view order history / static wishlist. This is something I wanted when the online shop was set up but unfortunately our web designers do not offer the facility at this time. It would be very handy to convert the reward scheme to an online system too... but that won't be in the near future I'm afraid 
Option to view more products on one page
A few people mentioned it would be nice to be able to select to view more items on a page. I will ask my web designer if this is possible.
A larger range of products in the shop; papers, inkpads etc
I am very keen to introduce more products to the online store in the coming months. We have moved to larger premises which makes it more practical, so watch this space ... :D
Make the paypal button easier to see
Unmounted stamps available with foam already attached
I'm afraid we have no plans to offer this option - it would mean more work and packaging for us and so price increases for you. For us, offering the naked rubber is the best option, so customers can use their preferred brand of cushion / mounting method and we can keep prices down.
Stamp packaging
Someone mentioned they'd like to see all our unmounted stamps individually packaged.
We do this for our wholesale customers to make it easier for the stores to present the products and for customers to see the stamp design clearly without having guess by looking at the rubber. However, we have no plans to apply this to the unmounted stamps sold online as the price would increase dramatically due to the extra time and costs involved.
We pride ourselves on our extremely reasonable prices and feel the majority of customers would rather spend their money on more stamps, not the packaging. We do however, now pack the majority of unmounted stamps into a resealable clear bag before putting them into a padded jiffy envelope so that you don't lose any small stamps when you open your package.
I think that just about covers it! I have put a long list of amendments together and I'll be chatting with my web designer about the possibilities, as well as working on a few overall design tweeks. So hopefully the changes will be put in place over the next month or two.
Thanks for reading. If you do have any comments or suggestions, just leave a comment or drop me an email.
