I just love getting my monthly Sampler…it truly is almost as good as Christmas morning when I was a kid. My favorites this month include a Zombie Escape Plan notebook from re-conceived.com, necklace and pin from Art School Dropout, earrings from Manic Trout, card from Lizard Press, hairpin from Sweet Stella Designs, recipe cards from Allison Biggs Graphic Design, fabric from Sassy Cotton and a hand mirror from Eclectic Elements.
For those of you not familiar with the Sampler (you must living under a rock) each month indie shops send samples into the Sampler and those samples are then divvied up and sent out to the Sampler subscribers and contributors. Some contributors send in as little as 25 samples and others send in 200+, so each each sampler may be completely different from every other Sampler. To give peeps an idea of what is being sent in, the folks over at the Sampler post Sneak Peaks as the samples come in. I always get super excited from checking out the sneak peaks. You can even sign up to receive sneak peeks via the email Samplergram.
Find out more about contributing to the Sampler here and find out more about how to subscribe to receive Sampler goodies here. Just to let you know, every sample contributer does receive a complimentary sampler.
The neato keen Sampler folks are doing something new called the Sampler Select. This September, October, and November, in addition to the Sampler proper, three very special Samplers will be available in the Sampler Shop. Each Sampler Select will have a theme and this month’s theme is stuff for the home and will feature products from My Favorite Mirror with artwork by meganmary.com, Botanical Earth, India*Romeo, Sublime Stitching, Green Chair Press, Little Flower Designs, Bread and Badger, The Small Object, and a special, Sampler Select Exclusive print from The Black Apple!
The September Sampler Select will go on sale September 18th, so don’t miss out, these will sell out fast.
Btw, I also used to get the Sampler before I was a media contact and I loved it then too.
It is important to remember that the very nature of the Sample is to provide samples or little tastes and teasers of what the participating shops can make. Sometimes, you can luck out and get a really good score with “full-size” products in your Sampler, but that is not always going to be the case. Most indie shops cannot afford to send in 25-200 full-size products for distribution. I still enjoy the samples and think it’s an excellent way to get exposed to new shops.
Hi, Alison and Naomi! Not sure if you’ve ever seen The Sampler’s Media Contact Page, but Indie Fixx is listed on it. What that means is that she’s eligible for different samples because of the help she puts into promoting The Sampler. Hope that clears up some of the mystery!
Same here, Naomi. I found my Sampler to be pretty lacking compared to the way it looks on the craft/design blogs. Do people in the business get a better Sampler than everyone else? I suspect so.
I’m looking forward to contributing to The Sampler soon. Hopefully you’ll get some of my products 🙂
This seems like a good idea. I was lucky enough to buy a three-month Sampler subscription and was sad to find that there were only a couple of really neat things in mine. No cute pouches or plushies or jewelry. Oh, well.