We’re reaching the end of our month of promotions celebrating the new-look Treasure Bin.  Today is the last day of 20% off in our Mind Body Spirit section (use redeem code Beal20MBS at checkout) and tomorrow starts the final week of discounts, with 20% discount in our Gift section (code Beal20Gift).

New stock this month includes ribbon (gingham, polkadot), CanCan Disco ruffle yarn, Communion cake decorations, incense and more.

Our website has had an overhaul this week …  we’ve freshened the look and added a few functions to make it easier for you to view and buy. There’s still a little tweaking to do but, in the meantime, take a look and see what you think!  

Here’s the changes which won’t be immediately obvious: 

• Our loyalty scheme for customers re-ordering within one month wasn’t working consistently, so we’ve now changed that to enable customers to get a discount when re-ordering within 2 months instead, to allow more leeway.  We had to reduce the percentages accordingly - you can get full details here.
   
• We’ve been able to negotiate a better rate with our couriers so our maximum charge for delivery within Ireland (inc. Northern Ireland) is now just €8 instead of €10 for orders weighing less than 30kg. We offer flat-rate postage of just €4 for club members and FREE nationwide delivery when you spend over €50. Local customers can order online and then collect from our shop.
   
• Unfortunately, the cost of courier delivery to Britain and elsewhere has increased dramatically over the last couple of years and we can no longer maintain our maximum charge of €15. Orders weighing more than 2kg will now cost €28+  Orders weighing less than 1kg will usually cost between €1.50 and €8 (depending on size, weight and destination) and we’re still offering flat-rate postage of just €6 for club members for as long as we can.
   
• A button has been added to our homepage to enable you to subscribe to this monthly (more or less) newsletter without needing to create a customer account. For more regular updates, follow us on Facebook - we have 2 pages:TreasureBin for crafty news and tips; TreasureBin.holistic for details of our mind/body/spirit products and inspirational quotes. You can also follow us onTwitter, Tumblr and Pinterest.
   

May Madness

In case you think there was more bad news than good news above, we’re letting loose with some Bealtaine Bedlam (May Madness) this month. We’ll be running a series of promotions and, as always, we’re offering extra discounts to our Friends/Fans/Followers - that’s YOU!  Use the following coupon codes to get 20% off a different category every week.

Week 1 (30 April to 5 May) : Cardmaking : code Beal20Card
Week 2 (6-12 May) : Jewellery : code Beal20Bead
Week 3 (13-19 May) : Bridal : code Beal20Bride
Week 4 (20-26 May) : Holistic : code Beal20MBS
Week 5 (27-31 May) : Gifts : code Beal20Gift

To get your discount, use the appropiate redeem code at checkout. Each code can be used once per customer, giving you a total of 5 opportunities to save money!


Craft Classes

Our craft classes are finishing up in May with wedding invitations, headpieces and decorations.
But I’ve just finalised our autumn schedule so you can already start planning for the long dark evenings ahead!


Charity Pick 
Our charity selection for the month of May is Walk in My Shoes, supporting mental health services for young adults.
 

As always, we welcome your comments, suggestions and requests.Email us.

The clocks have gone forward, the birds are chirping, the sun is shining and the temperature is rising … slightly - this is Ireland, after all!  

Here at Treasure Bin, we’ve been spring-cleaning and clearing out some older stock to make room for lots of new goodies. We’re expanding some existing product lines but also adding new product lines.

We’re now selling feltmaking supplies. We’ll be adding more kits over the coming months.

We’ve been selling craft magazines for a few months now, and have added more titles by popular demand. You can buy a single issue or subscribe for 6 months or 1 year to get a discounted price. We’re selling back issues for charity.

The wedding season got off to an early start this year and we’re already selling plenty of icing, flowers, feathers and wedding invitation cardstock & stickers. Last week we got some silicone moulds which can be used with sugarpaste, chocolate, clay, plaster or soap (they’re small but would be ideal for mini guest soaps). If you’re using the moulds to make edible products, you should keep them just for that and keep separate moulds for non-edible crafts.   They’d  make great chocolate decorations for Easter - just pop our candy melts in the microwave and then pour into the mould for a quick and easy treat.  Or you can melt Ultra Thick Embossing Powder with a heat gun and pour into the mould to make an unusual embellishment for scrapbooking or cards …  or brooches!

The Hunkydory card kits have finally arrived, as have the self-adhesive crystals.

By the way, we have a huge range of Peel Off stickers in stock. It will be some time before I can get these all listed on our website but most of them can be viewed on the Doodey website, then email me with code numbers (and colour) of the stickers you’d like to order. We also have a small selection from Goldlabel. All Peel Offs cost 1 Euro each.

As always, if you have any suggestions, recommendations or comments, please let us know.

Happy Christmas,
Yuletide, Hannukah and Winterfest

As another year draws to a close, we at Treasure Bin would like to wish you all a happy and peaceful season, and to thank you for your support throughout 2011. In particular, we are grateful to all those customers who purchased from our Lucky Dip category and have so far helped raised well over €300 (which was donated to Irish Autism Action, Breast Cancer Ireland, Donegal Pet Rescue, Movember and other local and global charities). I will be spending the Christmas break expanding this category with a huge amount of items (jewellery, books, etc) donated by some very generous customers.

Our website was relaunched last year and we spent a lot of time this year tweaking it to create a more pleasant shopping experience for our customers. Improvements include the new Shipping Estimator - when you click on Add to Cart for any product, you will then see a Shipping Estimator button so you can check the postage cost for any individual item or get a running estimate as you shop.  
In May, we introduced discount schemes for small businesses and bulk buyers. In August, we created the Treasure Bin club (which entitles members to discounts on most products, and flat-rate or free postage). We have many other discount options, including loyalty discounts for repeat orders within one month and other discounts for various spend amounts within one year.  And we reduced the spend needed to qualify for free postage (€50 within Eire/N.I., €100 to GB)

Of course we have added several hundred products to the website, and are continually adding more to give you the best variety and value for money possible. Unfortunately, several computer problems prevented us from adding products in October and early November, but we are now catching up with all those wonderful goodies delivered over the last few weeks (including craft magazines).  
We are happy to take requests for new products, and suggestions for website improvements are always welcome.

So, what about that FREE POSTAGE offer?  It’s for one day only, and exclusive to members of our F Club. What’s the F Club? That’s Friends, Fans and Followers of our Facebook page, Twitter account, Blog or this monthly newsletter. So, if you’re reading this, you’re a member of our F Club!  Which means you get FREE POSTAGE on 1 December 2011 when you use code FREEP at checkout.

Click here for the latest posting dates for Christmas.

Treasure Bin will be closed from 25 December to 3 January inclusive. We reopen on Thursday 4 January with our usual fabulous sale.

That’s it for this year, folks.   May next year bring you & yours all you desire.

Love & Light
Teresa
TREASURE BIN

Following recent customer feedback, we are implementing a new Club scheme on a trial basis.

There will be 3 levels available, costing from 20 to 75 Euro. Members will be entitled to discounts ranging from 5% to 15% and postage within Ireland/UK will be charged at €4/€6 (or free). Click here for full details.

We will introduce this scheme from 1 August and will tweak it as we go along, to give customers the best possible value for money while maintaining our quality of service. Your suggestions and feedback would be appreciated!

We have also reduced the spend needed for Irish customers to qualify for free postage - from €100 down to €50. 

Five years ago this month, Treasure Bin moved from Church Lane to Manderley House. We’re celebrating with a 5% discount on our website all week - for our Treasured Friends only! Use coupon code Move5 at checkout. (Expires 5 June.)

And for those of you who still haven’t visited our “new” shop in Letterkenny, click here for map, driving directions and opening hours. We might be just a little bit harder to find now, but we have plenty of parking spaces and wheelchair access … and thanks to all the extra space, we’re MUCH tidier now so you can see our lovely goodies all the better. 

Treasure Bin is continuing its (new) tradition of cheering people up on Friday 13th with special offers. This time we’re offering free postage when you shop at www.treasurebin.com on Friday. Just use coupon code FRY13 at checkout.

It’s March already! How did that happen? Even though Easter is late this year, I still feel like the year is flying by already.

I was at a major trade show last month, investigating new products for my website and looking at lovely things to expand my range of existing products. The new stuff is now starting to arrive and I’ve spent the last couple of days unpacking boxes of adhesives, ribbons, beads, angel magnets, scented candles, gifts for Mother’s Day and lots of other things. And there are even more boxes on the way - Popcorn CDs, unusual buttons, self-adhesives rhinestones and OODLES of other goodies. Keep checking the website - or create an account there and subscribe to the Product Notifications to find out first as and when the new stuff is unpacked. I’ll also upload some photos here.

CHARITY PICK: Each month I choose a different charity to benefit from our Lucky Dip sales. For March, I’ve chosen the Hanly Centre, commited to breaking the cycle of alcohol-related harm.

So, I’m about to head off on my annual buying trip. I look forward to this each year as I not only get a chance to check out all the latest crafty products, but I also go to workshops to learn new techniques. It’s a great “busman’s holiday” and so much better than just looking at craft supplies in brochures.

It usually takes a couple of weeks for my orders to be filled, so www.treasurebin.com should be brimming with new goodies from March onwards.

I’m always happy to take requests, so feel free to email me.