Update 7/8/2020: In an email sent on July 7, Cal Franklin, CEO and President of TN Marketing, said his company is bringing back the Craftsy brand with a new website set to launch in September.
“This will be a seamless process as you will continue to have access to all the great content on the Bluprint website during this transition,” he wrote. “Your subscription services, course materials, and individually purchased classes will continue through www.mybluprint.com until we transition to the new Craftsy website.”
What that actually means in terms of the subscription model versus buying individual classes and other issues remains to be seen. Stay tuned again.
—
Since I brought you the news in May that online craft learning membership site Bluprint (formerly Craftsy) was going to close “over the next few months,” I felt like I needed to share the next chapter as well.
The front page of Bluprint now features letters from Bluprint CEO John Levisay and Cal Franklin, CEO and president of TN Marketing, which Levisay says has “acquired certain assets” of Bluprint and that the new owners “agreed to honor previous customer purchases for classes and subscriptions and will preserve your access to Bluprint content.”
That means that “access to your subscription services and individually purchased classes will continue,” he writes.
Levisay is apparently stepping aside as CEO, as in Franklin’s note he calls himself “the new CEO of the wonderful Bluprint community.”
My team and I have long been connecting passionate crafters with their hobbies and providing online learning and instruction. We understand your passion and are focused on continuing the excitement, enthusiasm and loyalty you have had for Bluprint, and previously, Craftsy.
TN Marketing is “a global streaming video service focused on creating communities by engaging people with their passions,” according to their website. They produce content and package it for membership websites across hobbies including photography, model railroads, car restoration, quilting and sewing, among others.
To get an idea of how the cost of a Bluprint subscription might change as a TN Marketing property, I took a look at their sewing property, National Sewing Circle. It costs $7 a month or $49 a year for “premium level” access, which includes premium videos, pattern and project ideas, a weekly newsletter, 50 percent off video downloads and two free video downloads for people who subscribe yearly.
(I assume downloads are so you can keep content if you decide not to continue your membership, which is a feature Bluprint could use for those of us who purchased individual classes in the Craftsy days.)
They also have a gold level membership which has a 60 percent discount on downloads, 20 percent off sewing classes (I don’t know what the difference is, maybe they are live?), 10 percent off other shop purchases and 8 video downloads, as well as some exclusive content. An annual membership is the only option for that one and it runs $114 a year (which evens out to $9.50 a month).
I don’t expect Bluprint prices to go down (it was $15 a month if I’m not mistaken) but the tiered membership levels might be something they explore in the future.
It will be interesting to see what develops. Franklin says more communications will be “coming soon.”
I am also curious and anxious to see how this evolves — although I’m also very happy that Craftsy/Bluprint won’t disappear completely, killing the huge amount of great content they have!
Since you briefly compare with the National Sewing Circle, I wanted to share my 2 cents: the NSC is the kind of platform that every now and then (more or less regularly) has some kind of crazy promotion to get the yearly membership ~90% off. I must admit I would have never paid +$100, but after Christmas they had one of these offers and I got the Gold one for something like $3, and then they offered the Platinum for another 90% off and in the end I got the highest yearly subscription for something like $16… which is more than affordable.
They have many videos and project ideas, although I must say that in the last couple of months (Covid-19?) they’ve changed the format of their newsletters and I feel they are not publishing anything or much new.
Thanks for the update. I wonder if I can get anything done about the 11 “Own Forever” class coupons that disappeared from my account after May 31. I received no notice that these coupons would not be honored after that date. The original expiration date was December 31, 2020. Big slipup on Bluprint’s part.
Thanks for that insight! I just peeked at it really quickly so I didn’t see a lot of details.
Be aware that if you were a Bluprint member, the new Craftsy (owned by TN Marketing) has the credit card number that you provided to Bluprint. TN Marketing will charge membership to that card. Look carefully on the profile screens to see that they have your credit card info.