Ribbits everyone!

A few minutes ago I've sent off all the surveys!
The smoke test (a small % of backers get the survey early to test if things go well) showed one hiccup with the local pickup but it should all be good now! In this update a short summary of things to keep in mind.

In your mail you will receive an email with an url to my survey. 
Follow all the steps, add any items you might missed out on, fill in your address and hit 'place order'. This will make sure your survey is finished and I will receive a tally of all chosen enamel pin designs, which I need to place an order for all the enamel pin designs.
Around the time the enamel pins are done with their production I will write another update I am about to lock and charge the survey. This means the choices you've made will be permanent and means you will pay the missing amount. This amount is extra added add-on's, shipping (and possible tariff duty fees) and any missing initial payments. 

When the enamel pins are being sent my way (this will be late May early June) I will update again and lock the addresses. Until that update your got all the time to change your address if need be due to a move for instance. But no worries, I will write an update for that before starting fulfillment.

PLEASE fill in your survey as soon as you possibly can! I will need these choices to place an order. I usually wait until 80% is filled in to have an accurate overview.

For those that qualify for Early Amphibian sticker, Returning Amphibian sticker, Pin banner sticker and/or Cross collab freebie, you will find those items in your survey basket already set up! 

For those who backed both Birds of North America and Frogtastic Frogs you qualify for combined shipping if you want to. You will pay the shipping costs at Birds of North America but these won't be paid in Frogtastic Frogs #2. In my survey you will fill in your address as otherwise except for your country you choose 'Local Pickup'. I URGE you to fill in the rest of your address this due to administrative paperwork on my end.
Important notice: this is only available if backed both of our projects. We will check if you qualify for this.

Also good to know is that actual local pickup (at cons or otherwise) is NOT possible.

Only backed Frogtastic Frogs
If you only backed Frogtastic Frogs, you can ignore this information and carry on like usual for surveys and fill in your shipping information so you pay the correct amount.

For those who missed out or have friends asking about enamel pins, the pre-order shop is open. This is a shop via Backerkit which means it's credit card only and fulfillment of these orders will be done together with the Backer pledges. (In de pre-order shop you cannot get the Early/Returning/Pin banner freebies, nor the cross collab freebie pin.)

I believe that's all the important parts, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me via Backerkit support (the 'Contact us for help' button on your pledge page). Or you can use the contact form on my website, that way you reach me immediately by email and I can help you out much easier. Please keep an eye on your email when you reach out. I usually respond within 48h to your questions.

- Appel

Ribbits everyone!

We're only 10 days away from the launch of Frogtastic Frogs #2!

Getting pretty exited for it and I wanted to share the full line up of amphibians in their complete colourful finished piece! A total of 15 amphibians to unlock this time around, 3 more than last time. With 3 toads, 7 frogs, 2 newts and 3 salamanders! (And if we unlock all of these very early on I'll have stretch-stretch goals set up for more amphibians!)

During Pintopia we have several special sub Banners where you can get something extra! Frogtastic Frogs #2 is in the banner Pin Safari and if you back 3+ projects in that banner you will receive an exclusive Polaroid vinyl sticker from each backed project. Frogtastic Frogs #2 polaroid has a very disgruntled frog on it!

All that's left is to finish up the Early and Returning Backer freebie vinyl stickers. These I will share closer to the start of the project along with a full overview of possible pledge levels, add-ons, freebie incentives and the cross collab freebie enamel pin!

Have a newt-tastic week everyone!

- Appel

Ribbits everyone!

The past week surveys have been filled in and we've just crossed the 80% mark, thank you so much for the speedy work on your ends! Fun to know is that the Harlequin toad is the most favourite, followed by the Northern Leopard frog and the Luristan newt!

Sadly we hit a big hiccup whilst surveys were being filled in and some have reached out about it, thank you all!

US backers need to pay tariffs, that's a stupid fact but I cannot avert this. Best I can do it collect them upfront from US backers for speedy and smooth delivery.
For combined shipping: Local pickup didn't add tariffs for US backers, shit.
I reached out to Backerkit and together we figured out a way to add it.

Another problem popped up: everyone now in Local Pickup paid tariffs, even local Dutch and EU/UK/Canada customers. Frogs, back to the drawing board but luckily we found a solution. It's sadly a long tedious and manual solution on my part but should be very easy and clear for backers.

For those who qualify and go for the combined shipping: please fill in your complete address but choose 'local pickup' instead of your country. This will remove the shipping costs but will add tariffs.

For the NON-US BACKERS: These added tariffs will be removed manually by me. You will not pay them, as you should not pay them. BUT: I need your full address (except country, choose 'Local Pickup' for that) to double check if you are a non-US backer, so please help me with this to make my work easier. I will have to say your are a US backer if your address is all N/A. (I will use the streetname/postal code/city to search which country it is in, hence me needing your full address.)

This work will be done before I will charge the survey. This due to the constant changing of the tariff percentage. (As it is now, it's not even 35% anymore, but we never know what he cooks up next....) So for now ignore those tariffs if you are not a US backer.
That's it. That's the solution! Thank you for your patience!

In other news: I saw some mention in their survey that they couldn't get Local Pickup fixed, I will manually change that for you. So those mentions are noted down, not to worry.

And a HUGE thank you for all the sweet and kind words, it really is fuel to the motivation. Even more so with all the amazing suggestions! Snakes is a big one on the to do list for enamel pins, as well as more frogs of course! Also mentioned: caecilians, gecko's, snails, turtles, chameleons, lizard, bearded dragon and more.

The only thing (and this isn't mention yet) that I sadly cannot do is insects. There might be a few lucky insects (ants, bees, moths, butterflies, weevils, beetles) in the far future, but I have a big fear of spiders and while I now there are bunch of cool and neat ones.. I- I just can't look up reference pictures and study them, ahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa. I usually spend half an hour to an hour looking up reference pictures, of different angles, types, etc for the past enamel pins and would not survive me doing that for spiders (or geji-geji, or mili/centipedes or earwigs, etc).

That's it for now. I'm preparing for a 4 days con out of country starting next week and haven't gotten time to fully vectorize the enamel pins yet. So that's on the to do after the convention to get the ball rolling with my manufacturer!

As always if you need to reach out to me, do not hesitate to contact me via Backerkit support (the 'Contact us for help' button on your pledge page). Or you can use the contact form on my website, that way you reach me immediately by email and I can help you out much easier. Please keep an eye on your email when you reach out. I usually respond within 48h to your questions.

Wishing you all a frogtastic weekend!