I hope you all have had a wonderful and restful holiday season! I've been spending time with my family and friends and working on my end-of-year inventory counts, so I've been both relaxed and productive.

I've had a couple requests for an update, so here's what we've got:

Stickers:
The replacement stickers have arrived! As you may remember, the stickers I ordered initially when the campaign concluded ended up being both smaller that I wanted and blurry. After some research and a couple test rounds, I found a new manufacturer! The new stickers have already been ordered and arrived to me very quickly, and I am so stoked to show you guys the new versions:

These stickers are much brighter than the previous ones and came out nice and crisp. I am very proud to be using Hub City Slaps for future orders.

Production:
Along with the stickers, the Familiar keychains are done with production! These were only shipped yesterday, but I hope to have them in-hand in a week or two when I'll be able to share pics of them :)

The enamel pins are still in production, and will likely need another couple of weeks to finalize. I reached out to the manufacturer for some update/ in progress photos of them, but with the holiday making an extra long weekend, it'll probably be a couple more days before I have anything else to share on these.

I am currently working on backing cards for the pins and packaging for the mystery bags. I'm also spending time working on a special, larger backer card for the Major sets, which will (hopefully) look like a book, that when you open it, will show either an illustration of Cryptic Grove or a school map on the inside front cover and have the 3-pin set on the other. One of my favorite parts of doing themed campaigns like this is making special packaging for you to make receiving/ opening your order extra special :)

Surveys and Failed Cards:
As of today, there are only 4 unanswered surveys! Thank you everyone for being so on top of it this campaign :)

Unfortunately there are still a handful of cards that have been declined. Please double check your email for a message saying your card was declined! If you changed cards recently, or had one expire, please update your payment info by going to your backerkit profile in the upper right hand corner of the screen, clicking on "Your Pledges and Surveys", and navigating to Cryptic Grove. If you have any issues finding this, or if you aren't sure if your card was accepted or not, feel free to send me an email at [email protected] or DM'ing me on Instagram (ApothecaryOctopus) or leave a comment on this update.

One last update- PinTopia 2026!

I am pleased to announce I was selected to participate in PinTopia 2026! Join me in January for another fun filled enamel pin campaign- this one bakery themed! Because you backed Cryptic Grove, you'll also be eligible for an exclusive freebie sticker for backing the Beetle Bakery~ Check out the pre-launch page here or click the below photo to be taken there.

I've been having so much fun with all the campaigns this year, but I'm also ready for a short break. PinTopia might be the only campaign I do in 2026, but rest assured I will continue making art and designing new merch! I'll be focusing on my stand-alone shop as well as some wholesale and consignment opportunities. Keep an eye out for future project announcements on my Instagram, TikTok, and Threads!

I hope to have another campaign update for you soon, so keep an eye out for more :)