It’s always greener on the other side of the fence….

Well hopefully it won’t be in our case. After a Girl Scout trip to IKEA for a tour of their recycling center, I was inspired to find even more ways to become a greener company. We have been doing our part with the usual recycling of all of our cardboard, glass, plastic bottles. Then we also recycle our ink cartridges, catalogs, junk mail, and newspaper with my daughters’ school. Food that is nearing expiration date goes to our local food pantry. And any outdated containers or gift items go to GoodWill. We also try to choose as many local vendors as we can to keep shipping costs and energy waste down. 
We don’t use shipping peanuts but when they come in they always go back out with a gift. We did learn on our trip that Styrofoam never leaves the environment and should always be recycled.

I learned from our trip that there are places that take those plastic straps around our boxes we get with our shipments and the soft plastic shrink wrap we take off of cases of stuffed animals or smaller packages.

The recycling manager at IKEA also said if we don’t buy recycled products we can’t continue this effort. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurchase is what she had hoped people will understand. We can buy recycled printer paper, ink cartridges and shipping boxes and materials.
So really we have only touched the tip of the iceberg on recycling for our company.  We’d love to hear how you have become a greener company  or how your company has become green. 

Let us know here or on our new facebook page. If you haven’t already, become a fan  to be entered into a drawing to win our Giant Fortune Cookie this month on St Patrick’s Day.
We wish you Many Gifts & Blessings ~ AwesomeCreations.com

How do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways….

In February we love to focus on our customers. Without you we wouldn’t be awesome. So for the month of February we are going to pull a facebook fans name and also a customer who has purchased this month and send them one of our popular Giant Fortune cookies. So follow us on Facebook for a chance to win. Also, visit the AwesomeCreations.com   for some more Awesome ideas for Valentine’s Day.

Here’s to a New Year-a New Decade!

Awesome Creations has been so blessed these past 10 years. We can look back today and see all the hardships and blessings of so many people and hope that tomorrow brings us something new. A fresh start. We at Awesome Creations are looking back to see what we can do better, what we have done well. We are always extremely grateful to our wonderful customers, some of which have been with us for many years.
It has been a tough year for us. Our first year without Sandi, my mom. She’s definitely been here in spirit, inspiring us to fill every day with fun, humor, and hard work.
We will have many new Awesome designs this year. Our whole website will get an overhaul. From designs to a new logo.
We will continue to find ways to be as green as we possibly can. We are doing more work with our favorite charities and will have more designs that will contribute to those as well. So your gifts will give twice!
Many blessings to you and your families. We wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year filled with much laughter and lots of heart warming gifts!
Christy and the Basketeers at Awesome Creations

Sympathy Gifts ~ when is it too late?

I recently was asked, “How late can you send a sympathy gift?” I have heard some people say after the services it should just be a card of condolences. I have also heard up to a year is appropriate.
What if you just found out a few months later? Can you still send something?
Most people will welcome a gift or card at any time as there is no time limit for grieving. They would love to know someone is still thinking about them and their loss.
Some people send ‘memorial gifts’ on the anniversary date to let the family or friend know they were not forgotten. This can be a small gift, card, or even just a phone call to say, “I was thinking about you today. How are you?” And then let them open up if they need to.
Use your discretion with how you feel the gift will be received. But a card with heartfelt sympathy written in it is always a sincere gesture.

Introductions

Just wanted to start out by introducing myself. My name is Christy and this is my very first blog post. Not quite sure what I am doing but hope to pick it up as I go. We are starting this blog to add content to our site www.awesomecreations.com

We are going to put gift giving etiquette (we have a lot of corporate customers who ask about this) but also gift trends, holiday and tradition facts and Awesome Gifts we have or have found elsewhere.
My mom, Sandi and I started this business 10 years ago as something to do together. We had a great time, had a lot of laughs, tears and got to do gift baskets for famous people like Oprah.

In January of 2008, my mom got Leukemia and passed away during a stem cell transplant in May of that same year.
I’m keeping the business going to help friends and family bring money home during these difficult times but also we are starting a comfort gift basket section, where we will be having baskets and gifts for people undergoing treatment for cancer. A portion of every gift ordered in this section will go to my mom’s favorite charity, St. Jude’s Hospital as well as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital. We should start having gifts up this month. So come check us out if you have time.
We wish you many gifts and blessings!