There's a lot to talk about in this update, so I'm going to jump right in!!

First, I'm thrilled to be partnering with Carly K of Mythic Mgmt to offer these incredible exclusive pin displays! Carly makes fantastic displays for small collectibles like coins, cards, and enamel pins, and they designed the perfect displays to hold the entire Nocturnal Nouveau collection, with extra room to pin constellations and create a night sky full of stars. 

The pin displays are available in two unique designs and two different woodgrain finishes...but we can only include ONE of the four options in the campaign Add-ons, so this is where you come in. Please VOTE by August 1st for the color and design combination that you want to see available as an Add-On in the poll below.

Of course, to create constellations we need the Little Star! Since we are so so close to unlocking the Stellae accent pins, I've decided to go ahead and make them all available as Add-Ons! They will officially unlock when funding reached $10k, and the Stellae Collection—with one each of the three accent pins—will be free for everyone pledging for 6 or more pins when we reach $18k!

And finally, you might have noticed that there are a few new Pledge Levels!
By popular demand I've added the 3" stickers to a new Pledge Level that includes all 6 enamel pins and all 6 stickers. And now that everything is unlocked, I've added the Ultimate All-in Get Everything bundle. If you've absolutely got to have everything from the Nocturnal Nouveau Collection, this pledge level is your best value!
I've also added a very special and VERY limited tier for a custom enamel pin with the nocturnal flora or fauna of your choice!
You can edit your pledges any time before the campaign ends to get more pins or additional goodies.

Thank you again for your support and for everything you've done to help me make this collection as stellar as possible!

<3 Carrie

Hello my friends!

Can you believe it's almost November? It's time for a quick update and a sneak peek at some new art!

Production on the pins is continuing smoothly, and they're scheduled to arrive to me by the end of November. I'm getting everything prepped to do a super fast turnaround and ship all the orders out the first week of December. All of the US/Domestic orders should arrive before Christmas and there's a good chance that International orders will too.

Heads up that I will be processing credit cards for the shipping charges on Monday, October 30! In the unlikely event that there is an issue with your payment, you'll receive an email with info on how to resolve it so that your shipment isn't delayed.

What's next?

Folkgore, my collaborative project with Kim Kuzuri is ending on Tuesday, so there's still time for any of you horror fans to add some uniquely spooky pins to your collection. Our enthusiastic backers have unlocked SO MANY new pins, and there's still a couple more to go!

Development on my next pin collections for 2024 have already started and I'm hoping to have the first one launch in January or February. I have so many ideas that my biggest challenge is deciding what to do! Calming Cats part 2? A followup to Frantic Familiars? Something new entirely? I've even started working on studies and sketches for Nocturnal Nouveau 2, and here's a little teaser:

I'll be sending out updates as new launch dates approach, so stay tuned! And if you'd like to know what I've got going on outside of Backerkit, be sure to sign up for my Aspenhearted mailing list for all the news on upcoming product and art release, special events, sales, and more! (Just in case you've got holiday shopping to do, watch for a big discount coupon coming in early December.)

That's it for now! Thank you again for all of your support—I still can't believe that this is my real actual day job, and I absolutely could not do it without you. I can't wait to share all of the exciting things I have planned for next year! <3

All my best,
Carrie

Hi everyone, 

The sample pins arrived sooner than expected and I wanted to share some photos!! 
These are not the best photos because I only have a phone camera and tiny, shiny things are a challenging subject, but you can still see how great the details and colors turned out. I'm so pleased with the work my manufacturer has done to turn my art into into these exquisite little pieces.

Since everything turned out perfectly, I'm going to have these sent into final production. One step closer to fulfillment—I can't wait to get these into your hands!

<3 Carrie

Hello friends,

Dropping in with a quick update! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone for filling out your surveys so quickly! I'm going to be locking orders tonight and you'll receive an email with a final 48-hour opportunity to confirm or change your order. After that, I'll be sending the final quantities to my manufacturer!

This is also the last chance to pre-order pins if you missed the live campaign! Click here to order before Wednesday, September 20th!

Production-wise, all of the stickers have been ordered and will be arriving to me in about 10 days, but the pins will take a little longer. I have a lot of trust in my manufacturer but because of the intricacy of these designs I've ordered samples to make sure everything looks good. The samples are going to arrive in early October, at which point I'll make any necessary tweaks to perfect them and then the final round of production will begin. The manufacturer anticipates that final production will take around 4-5 weeks, so the pins should arrive to me in early to mid-November. Once they arrive I'll spend a few days grading Every. Single. Pin.* to make sure backers are getting only top quality pieces, and then I'll start shipping them out to you! Waiting is always the hardest part, but assuming there are no major issues with the manufacturing process, your order should be in your hands before the winter holidays.

In the meantime, I'll be hard at work on some upcoming projects, including Folkgore, a collaboration with my friend Kim Kuzuri, launching here on Backerkit on October 3rd! Below is a sneak peek at a couple of the pieces I designed, inspired by birds from spooky folktales of yore. Sign up here to get notified when it launches—you'll get limited-time pricing discounts and a free sticker for backing early!

That's all for now—thank you again for all of your support, and I hope you're enjoying these updates on the project! I'm looking forward to sharing some photos of the pin samples when they arrive! 

*Want to know just how many pins? As of today, the total number of pins ordered stands at 2,432!

The opossum “plays dead” when shocked and overwhelmed. This is an involuntary response that the creature cannot control whatsoever.

I’m gonna take a couple days to recover because OMG we did it! Thanks to your support we hit the final stretch goal in the literal last minutes and kept going! I am an overwhelmed opossum right now, but I’ll get the Backer Surveys sent out in the next couple of weeks so that I can get production of the Nocturnal Nouveau collection into full swing and you can get your rewards!

Again, thank you so so much! Special shout-out to everyone who made it to the livestream, I hope you enjoyed our antics and maybe even learned something XD
(If you missed it, the replay is available at the top of the campaign page!)

<3 Carrie

Sorry to be popping up in your inbox again so soon, but I just finalized a few things and have some very important updates!

First the boring news: The campaign Shipping info has been updated with price estimates for the larger Pledge Levels and pin displays, plus some important additional information for international backers!

Now the exciting news: We did some number crunching and reworked the final stretch goal to offer an opportunity to ALL backers! Now, if we hit $18k in funding before the campaign ends, EVERY backer will get a free North Star accent pin!

Finally, the SUPER exciting: I’m going to do a Final Day Celebration Livestream at 3pm PST on Wednesday August 16th!

I’ll be joined by author/artist Kim Kuzuri, designer Carly K, and Backerkit’s own marketing pros, Crystal T and Anna G , to talk about how the whole Nocturnal Nouveau collection came to be and ways that Backerkit can help emerging artists run successful campaigns to fund their creative projects, followed by an audience Q&A and some fun Nocturnal Animal trivia!

The Livestream will be open to everyone, so if you know any artists or creators who’d love to learn about ways to run a successful campaign with a small (but dedicated!) fan base and an even smaller marketing budget, please invite them! 

We’ll be streaming directly from the front page of Nocturnal Nouveau, so add it to your calendar and stop by at 3pm on Wednesday to join us. You’ll be able to ask questions live in chat or you can post them below in the comments!

Thanks for your support, for sticking with me, and I hope you'll be able to join us for the livestream on Wednesday for an exciting final day!

<3 Carrie

We’re counting down the last few days of crowdfunding for Nocturnal Nouveau! Thank you ALL for your overwhelming support for this campaign and my art. 

The data from my very scientific polls indicated that whopping 56% of backers DO love reading campaign updates, so here’s all the news you need to know for the final week of Nocturnal Nouveau!

We are only 34 backers away from unlocking a free 3” sticker for everyone who pledges! Because the vote was pretty close for the bats and possums, I’m gonna go ahead and make both of them. So when this achievement unlocks, whether you’re #TeamBat or #TeamTrashCat you’ll get the sticker of your choice for free!

The votes are in for the pin displays and the winner by a landslide was the Nouveau Halo in ebony! (My favorite, too!) The Add-ons and Pledge Levels that include a pin display have been updated to reflect the Backer’s decision. There will be another opportunity to unlock the other displays in the Backer Survey after the campaign ends. You can pledge for the display now to lock in the lowest price and then choose from any of the unlocked styles later.



That’s all for now! Thank you again to everyone who has supported, shared, and cheered on this campaign, I seriously could not do it without you!

<3 Carrie