An apology & some news!

OK, this is a bit long-winded but it goes a long way to explaining where things have been going wrong for Plastic Bat of late.

I have a big appology to make - my old site went down a few weeks back due to a complicated technical hurdle.  I was ill equipped to fix without spending masses of time (which I dont have) trying to figure it out or throwing cash (which I also can't spare) at someone else to fix for me so I decided to jump ship & start fresh with Shopify!

Basically, when I launched my first website for Plastic Bat (2005) sites like Shopify & Big Cartel etc. were either non existant or in their infancy, my only options were to plod on with Ebay - which was becoming over saturated with handmade jewellery - or to wing it with my own E-commerce soloution, I opted for the latter with Zen Cart.

I was HUGELY out of my comfort zone with Zen Cart, I had a lot of help setting it up & managed to tart it up a bit with some very basic CSS tweaks here and there - not before playing around with the PHP and mistakenly inserting an apostrophe which somehow negated EVERYTHING... seriously blank screen.. no website!!  Thankfully I managed to get past these initial ass pains & got everything working.  This was fine until any major changes need done or a problem arose, I was back at square one trying to remember how I did everything in the first place.

I struggled on like this for years, avoiding any major changes to the website or spending large sums hiring lovely people to fix my problems - not a soloution that was sustainable for my income level or one that I was comfortable with.  It was also affecting my ability to create, I put off doing work because it meant facing up to some really hard technical problems and so I lost my MOJO, my new output of late has consisted mainly of bunting necklace variants which is a total design cop-out. This has all been coupled with becoming a parent & learning all the stuff that comes along with it.  I could easily blame my recent down-turn on the poor economy but I have no-one to blame but myself, a hard thing to actually admit but I'm in a sharing mood!  But onwards and upwards, I'm feeling tons better about the business & I'm really looking forward to launching the new site! 

Soooo that brings us back to today, a fresh start on a new platform, armed & ready to make Plastic Bat bigger & better than ever.  Now that the website stress has been lifted from my shoulders (thanks Shopify!) I can now get back on with getting some new designs made,  I'm also looking to expand the brand with some fun unique pieces to liven up your living space including homewares and original art!

If you want to be kept in the loop about any of our upcoming launches, special offers or any other news please follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Thankyou for your patience during this transitional phase, we really appreciate your continuing support and look forward to serving you very soon!

Also even bigger thanks if you made it this far.   Rambling over!
Tracy x
AKA. The Big Kahuna at Plastic Bat

Sale now on!

Happy New Year!

So - the world didn't end in 2012 and to kick off 2013 (Plastic Bat's 10th anniversary year!) with a bang I've decided to retire a few of my older designs - including a few long running best sellers - to make space for some super special shiney new things!  

I'm the first to admit that the selection of new stock has been fairly lack lustre over the past couple of years but I really want to change that this year.  Its make or break time for Plastic Bat!

The market has changed so much in the 10 years I've been running Plastic Bat and where we stood out in a small pond back then, now we're a pretty small fish in an ocean and this needs to change - I haven't quite decided what those changes will be - my notebook is full of ideas including - close the shop altogether & get a better day job (worst case scenario!!!) /  complete re-branding - new name new style / launching a siser company... who knows what this year holds so keep your eyes peeled for BIG news in the months to come!!

I appreciate that you have a huge selection of fab designers to choose from now & I'm so thankful to those of you who have chosen to shop with us over the years (especially our regulars - you know who you are!), I'd love to continue doing what I love & I can only do it with your continued support.

So heres to 2013 - hopefully the year that changes everything!

xx

WIN WIN WIN!

Once again Christmas has crept up on us - say what!!??

I really do appologise for the lack of any sort of blog updates but theres just been so much going on - between working the day job, chasing a lively toddler and a couple of really lousy craft fairs my head has been spinning.  Hopefully my new years resoloution of more blogging will stick this year!

As a treat we're doing a giveaway over on Facebook to win one of only 2 special edition Glitter Las Vegas Necklaces EVER MADE! You heard me - theres only 2 of 'em anywhere in the world!!

To enter head on over to http://www.facebook.com/plasticbat  or click the image above,  'Like' our page and click the Competition tab at the top - no question to answer, no catch just fill in the details and  BINGO you're in with a chance!

Best of luck!!

Whats been going on this month...

1 - Worked on wholesale orders for Hannah Zakari & new stockist Misty Blue Accessories
2 - Went to the funfair!
3 - Ate funfair sweets
4 - Blew bubbles with Cora
5 - Hung out in my parent's Summer house
6 - Enjoyed the lovely weather
7 - Almost finished my first patchwork blanket (10 months in the making!!)
8 - Baked Cappucino cupcakes with white chocolate icing.  Nom!

What have you been upto lately?

This week at PB HQ...

 

This week I:

Did some serious baby-wrangling!  Cora is crawling and generally acting like a tiny hilarious drunk! (Hence very few updates!)

Had piggy cuddles - Trouble is 5 now!  This makes him a bit of an old-timer in the Guinea Pig world

Flipped through my stack of vintage photo albums for inspiration - this page is a favourite - the dog in sunglasses next to the souvenir postcard of Grace Kelly's wedding - confusing!

Found an amazing Star Trek knitting pattern booklet... now to learn proper knitting!

Got Instagram on my android phone at last! (follow me!  I'm plasticbat!)

xxx

We're back and better than ever!

Its official!  The new look Plastic Bat website is now open for business!  We're so pleased with the new look - what do you think?  Not only is it super pretty but we've tried to improve your shopping experience with the following features:

 - new clean and simple looking sign up page
 - more useful links in the footer menu

- a fresh new shopping cart display

 - super easy Paypal express checkout!

Our new express checkout option means you don't even need to create an account with us!  Its done automatically when you sign in to Paypal or enter your details so you can check on your order status - a password will be emailed to you when checkout is complete!  Simple!

We really hope you love the new look be sure to give us feedback!

Happy shopping!

New look wesbsite coming soon!

As you may have noticed, our shop is closed for the moment, this is because its getting a long awaited face-lift!  We've had the current look for a few years now so its time for a change... maybe something more grown up?  More fun? Way cuter?  Answer: All of the above!  Keep you eyes on this blog as well as our facebook and twitter feeds for news and updates regarding the re-launch!

See you soon!

Merry Christmas!

Well, thats it for another year! Plastic Bat is closing for a much needed festive break - we'll be back on January 5th with a fantastic sale!

Thanks for your support this year, we appreciate your patience with the reduced stock available but as you can tell from the cheeky grin in the photo above, we've more than had our hands full! We hope you shop with us again in 2012 when we hope to have lots more lovely things to show you!

Happy Holidays!

Tracy x

Last Posting Dates!

 

Time to get your christmas pressies bought, or if you're super organised buy yourself a little something!

Orders must be placed by 12pm on the above dates to ensure your items get packed and posted in time.

30% off Terriffic Tuesday bonanza!!

30% off and Glittery new things!

Due to the tragic loss of our Guinea Pig Little China our planned Cyber Monday discount didn't happen :( Sooooo, to make it up to you we've created our own super discount day - Terriffic Tuesday!!  For 24 hours only you can save a massive 30% on everything in our shop including our fabulous new glittery necklaces!