Hello Blog Friends! Today I thought I would take you to behind the scenes at Flourishes. You see the fabulous images and can look around our store and see the latest and greatest in timeless card making. But, what you don’t see are the wonderful people that keep Flourishes’ “home base” up and running.  We run a pretty lean and mean machine so to speak, so each of the folks that I will introduce you today are very special in my book!

First, I have to introduce you to…..

Sharon

This wonderful lady has been a friend, partner,  and now a part time worker here at Flourishes.  We all love her — her sense of humor is great and she keeps all of us in balance.  Her specialty is purchasing all of the wonderful products that you find on our shelves.  She laughs and will tell you she gets to spend Flourishes’ money! She makes sure that all of our designers (on all three teams) gets the products they need in time and handles all of the winner packing and shipping from our Winner Circle and Challenges.  She has a special place in my heart, and has helped me through the best and worst of times.  She is a true friend and so loyal to Flourishes.  She left Flourishes for a while and called one day and asked if she could come back and “play.”  My heart spoke a resounding “YES!”  We all love this special lady.

 Mike   

Mike, a.k.a . “The Shipping Guy” is also my darling husband of many years.  He has retired from the Army and the U.S. Government and now has a non-paying position at Flourishes that he loves.  He treats us very special, by starting each days with a tray of coffee or tea. He keeps the orders printed, and is in charge of the picking and packing of all of your orders both retail and wholesale.  He takes this job very seriously, often taking it  upon himself to meet any special requests in shipping that a customer may request.  Be on the watch, if he answers the phone and delivers something extra special,  he just might ask to be paid in cookies! LOL!

Mike T. 

Mike T, affectionally know as “T” is our “can do everything” guy around here.  He is extremely adept and has kept  all of our computers up and running, teaching us to do the things we just need to know and know now!  He can fix anything and build anything.  His mind is always running and looking out  for ways for us to function better here at home base.  He even keeps our flower pots looking beautiful at our entrance.  I love this guy and know that one day (probably sooner that I wish) he will move on, and he will be sorely missed.  We will enjoy the time he will be with us and he surely will be hard to replace.  He did NOT  want his photo taken, so I was sneaky and got this photo on the fly any way!

Rachel

Sorry no photo as she on maternity leave.   Rachel, heads up the inventory of all stock.  She is great at organizing and labeling.  When new product comes in, I know it will be a matter of minutes before it’s inventoried, labeled and easily found by any one of us that may be packing your orders. She just recently became a mother to Madelyn Rose Marie.  The Baby Book that I have been working on and have blogged about on my personal blog is for her and Madelyn.  We’re already set up with the pack and play so when she returns from maternity leave, Madelyn will be able  to come with her and get lots of lovin!

 Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn, is the newest member here at home base.  She joined us last month as my personal assistant (Yeah!).  She was  an answer to my prayers.  I needed someone that already knew the crafting industry and could easily help me with customer service.  She is bright, very organized and loves to “come to work to get paid for doing what she loves”.  She helps out with both picking and packing orders.  She is also helping me by sharing her creative talents by keeping me focused, and assisting me in design layouts.  She is a very quick learner.  For the first time since Flourishes began, home base is neat and orderly. She keeps track of all the products that I am working with or helps me test products before they make it into the Flourishes store.

Theresa 

Theresa, is our end of the day girl.  She has a full time job and had worked for Flourishes before taking her current job.  Again, both she and I found it hard not to have her around, so now she comes in after her day job and finishes up the out going orders to make the final deadline for UPS and the USPS.  She keeps our delivery files in order. She is a tender-hearted friend.  She fills the leaky holes and even comes in on Saturday mornings to help pack and ship during busy times.

So now you can “see” this wonderful crew that I am so very blessed to have.  All of these folks are rarely  acknowledged for the great job that they do as well and the important roles they play in keeping Flourishes up and running.  They can all pinch hit, filling many roles.  Sometimes things are very hectic here and this small crew jumps in to process orders, answer the phone, take care of customer service or send out  emails to customers who have questions. They are the unsung heroes of Flourishes.  I hope that you can now put a face and name together when we answer the phone or send you and email.  We are all like family and you our customers are our extended and loyal family.

Thanks for sitting across the desk from me today.  I love that you took the time to visit.

Ciao,

From the Desk of Jan, News |