christine-murphy dot net

…will probably open on Monday.  I got the prizes yesterday, and I hope I can make a video for the contest by Monday.  We are going away for the weekend, not returning ’til Sunday night.  Perhaps I might haul my video cam, tripod, and such to beautiful downtown York Beach, Maine, and give you a video from there, to kick off the contest!

Stay tuned!

…over at Scrap-Mart.com.  This will run for 24 hours only. from 12 noon Friday, July 20 until 12 noon Saturday, July 21.  They are in Oklahoma, which I think is on Central time, so adjust the time depending on where you are located.

I have ordered from this site before.  They ship wicked fast, and customer service is excellent.  For this sale, shipping within the U.S. is a flat $5.00, international shipping is $12.00.  Sale is limited to QK items that are in stock, no back-orders.  All orders for the sale must be placed online, not via telephone.

Discount code to use at checkout:  Halfprice.

Sadly, I probably won’t be able to take advantage of this sale, as we are going away for that weekend and leaving on Friday…likely before the sale begins.  Since I’m in the Eastern time zone, noon in Oklahoma is 1PM our time.  Yep…we’ll have left by then.  Oh, well!

But still, I thought I’d alert readers to this sale, in case it’s something you might be able to take advantage of!

Remember how I was ranting about how I never got my replacement QuicKutz die?  Now I am thinking that they did mail it after all…and the Evil Post Office lost it!

You probably came here from my main blog, so you might be familiar with the saga of the Evil Post Office.   The post office in my town is the worst one in the entire world.  They have consistently lost mail, including bills.  And for the longest time, they refused to deliver any mail addressed to Mike.  In fact, they were shipshod about delivering mail addressed to ME for a while, after I married Mike and changed my last name.  I did get my new drivers’ license when I did the name change.  But my Social Security card?  Still don’t have one!  It’s been almost seven years now, and I have not had a social security card with my legal name on it since then.

Oh, the government knows what my name really is, as the IRS has been kind enough to send us the tax documents every year.  After we got back from our wedding trip, I went and spent half a day in that oppressively hot Social Security office, surrounded by The Great Unwashed in The Waiting Room From Hell.  And when it was finally my turn, I was waited on by a very nasty, evil woman who yelled at me for no apparent reason.

And after all that, I never got a new card in the mail.  I had spent the other half of that day at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and believe it or not…the palce was not only air-conditioned, but the people who worked there were nice.  Howsabout that?

I got my new license in the mail two days later.  So the Evil Post Office doesn’t lose EVERYTHING, just some things!

Because of all of this, Mike had to go and get a P.O. box in another town, so that we could by-pass the Evil Post Office almost completely.  I should have told the QK lady to send my die to that address, but I guess I just forgot.   There’s nothing I can do about it now…if she sent it,  and it got lost in the mail, that is not their fault.  And since they offered to send it for free, I can’t ask for another one.

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…the newest Cuttlebug dies?  Take a look!

Some of the ones there are from the original line, but there are many, many new ones.  These include longer, border dies that I had not seen before.

I was at Michaels the other day, and saw that they had some of the newer die designs.  That was a pleasant surprise, as this store usually has nothing but the *same-old, same-old* of everything.  I bought a few of them, and I’ll be using them soon!

Remember, you do NOT have to have the Cuttlebug machine to use their dies.  They will work in a regular Sizzix machine (with System Converter), as well as the BigKick or BigShot (with Multi-Purpose Platform).  Smaller dies will work in the SideKick or Tag-A-Long.  The 3 x 3 inch dies won’t, though…not in the smaller SideKick or Tag-A-Long.  But they will work in Sizzix, BigKick, or BigShot machines.

But, if you are looking for a multi-purpose die-cutting machine, that will work with all dies, I have heard good things about the Cuttlebug machine.  I am still in love with my Sizzix BigKick, but the Cuttlebug is lighter in weight, takes up less space, and is less expensive.

Or maybe not…at least not the cheaper part.  A.C. Moore is having a one day sale Tuesday, July 10, and they have the BigKick on sale for $59.99.   That is cheaper than the Cuttlebug.  And if it’s the same starter kit that I got, it comes with the Multi-Purpose Platform, as well as everything else you need to use the machine right out of the box.

Anyhoo, check out the Cuttlebug dies…they are cute, and I think you will find new ones that you will like!

I got my Sizzix.com order today…the first one, with the Go Slim alphabet dies that I got dirt cheap.  I had already gotten the lower case set, which no longer seems to be available…glad to have gotten it when I did…but today I got the upper case and numbers.  I love that font, and was glad to snag it at a bargain price!

I am positive now that I am NEVER going to get the replacement QuicKutz die that was promised me.  How long has it been now?  I lost track.  In any case, I am completely disgusted by their shoddy customer service.  My last option now is to write a snail-mail letter to the company, and attach a printout of the e-mail from one of their reps who promised to send me the die for free.  I sent my address as they asked me to…but no die ever got here.

I would have, and still am, willing to pay for the replacement die.  But how can I, when their communication sucks?  At this point, I know I did the right thing by not calling, and giving a credit card number over the phone.  If they are this unprofessional, who knows where they might leave that number laying around.  I wanted to just mail a check, but this was pretty much ignored.

The moral of the story… if you have any QuicKutz alphabet sets, be VERY careful not to lose any of the dies.  It may say on their website that they will sell you replacements for any lost dies in a set, but don’t believe it for a minute.  It’s a bald-faced LIE.  Trust me, and learn from me.

If they can’t replace the dies, then they should NOT offer this replacement service.  AT ALL.  Chances are, they just don’t have any more, and can’t be arsed to e-mail me back to tell me.

This just pisses me off to no end.

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In other news…I’m getting a tripod soon, so I can work on my new video podcast.  There will be more news on that, as I work on it.

As for my contest…soon!  Once I know that the prize items have been shipped, and nothing is on forever backorder…I will post the rules and all!