Bloomin' Flower Cards

Earth Day is just around the corner, one of our busier times of the year. This is a challenging time of year for our employees because we produce many rush jobs and employees don’t know what time they will be home at night. Ok, maybe we promise too many things sometimes. It is sooooooo hard to turn work down. Plus, our customers need us. Bloomin Promotions are perfect for earth day, especially with the flower growing season upon us.

Today I came in to work to find this little message on one of our picnic tables.

I was inspired! Even though we are overwhelmed with work, and last minute jobs can get a little frustrating, It appears that we have a lot of happy people around here. It might be hard work and long hours sometimes, but we have a lot of good people here and we love what we do. I love my job.

Tom Noyes

Our solar panels have been up and running for about a month now. We have 144 Kyocera solar panels now collecting the light of the sun that power our light, computers, die-cutters, letterpresses and more. Our 29.52 kW system should produce 42,082 kWh per year. This is approximately the amount of electricity we use.

Here are the guys from Independent Power working in December.

Hopefully we will break even on the deal in about 5 years. With all the incentives right now for solar in America, we couldn’t afford NOT to get this system installed. More importantly, we are excited about making a difference and being less of a burden on this small planet of ours.

ongrats to all the veterans that have served in our military forces, and specifically to those who are now  valuable members of our bloomin team, and. I know John, our production manager, and Shannon, our recently promoted papermaking sergeant, enjoyed their free steak at Applebees, (along with over 1,000,000 other vets) this Veteran’s Day.  Throughout our 16 years, we’ve found the work ethic and get it done mentality of those who have served to be second to none. Thanks to all of those who have served and are serving to keep the dream alive. You Rock.

Don

Hugh snows in October will not keep us from shipping our seeded paper products to the people who want them. As long as UPS can get here, products are shipping on time. We do our best to keep moving things forward. If anyone can get things done in a pinch WE CAN. We always do everything we can to get our customers what they want, when they want it. You will rarely hear us say NO. We want your business as much if not more than you want our plantable paper.

This is Samana assembling cards for leanin' tree today - not rain nor snow... over 20" of snow so far in this storm. Being lovers of sun, we put a huge glass door in our assembly area last year. It's much better for the well being of our people and myself not to be working in a dark warehouse.

By the way, if I haven’t told you lately, Thanks for the business. We really appreciate it. Seed paper is our passion and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

- Tom Noyes

Over the last couple of months we have been busy “rebranding” ourselves. With the help of Sandbox Collaborative, we have identified and defined exactly who we are.

We realize we have had many different looks with a variety of bloomin logos, and soon we will have a more unified look. Below you will see our new look. The colors may change depending on the product or category, but the look should remain the same.

bloomin - what you say grows

About three years ago I decided I wanted an electric car. It was then I realized than none were available, well except for golf cart type slow-little “cars”. I looked into building one out of my wife Sues 1973 VW bug, but I just didn’t have what it takes to figure it all out.  It appears that affordable production electric cars are just around the corner – finally. Please hurry up guys!

Here is a fellow Boulderite Jim Kasik in his homemade electric car. He and the car look good huh! This car is/was a 1967 Triumph Spitfire.

The past and the future, all in one.

Jim and his buddies built this car over a couple of months this summer for less that $10,000.

There's batteries in the front and back of this rig.

After tax credits, I think he said he will have $2500 into it, that’s right, the government should be crediting him back $7500.

I love the chrome plated ELECTRIC plate.

This car has went over 75 mph on batteries. Jim said it has a range of up to about 40 miles on a charge.

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD – GANDHI

Bloomin is always hauling stuff around town. Hopefully we will soon be doing it in an electric vehicle that is being charged by the 144 solar panels on our roof.

- Tom Noyes

We have been tinkering with the idea of solar power for two years now. Back then we had concluded that it would be great to save the world, but it wasn’t really economically viable to go forward with a huge solar project. Now two years later, we can’t afford not to get our solar array up and running as soon as possible.

Today we signed on the dotted line, and put out a chunk of change to get this project started. We chose a company in Boulder called Independent Power Systems to get this job done right, and hopefully we will be powered by the sun before the end of the year.

Our array will be a 29.52 kW Kyocera system made up of 145 high efficiency panels.

I think our array will look something like this.

We’ll be sure to tell you when our seed paper products is finally made using the power of the sun. I can’t wait.

- Tom Noyes

Over the years, we have enjoyed employing “differently-abled” individuals from the Boulder community. We also enjoy the opportunity to work closely with the Watshop and Boulder County Enterprises, who also actively support the inclusion of individuals with disabilities within our community.

Bloomin’ Flower Cards was also awarded “Employer of the Year” by The Association for Community Living. We are proud of this award and our relationship with the diverse community Boulder, Colorado represents.

Norman Tankersley is our longest standing employee, having worked with us for 12+ years. He plays a vital role in the production process of each and every card. Happy to be a part of our team, Norm greets each of us every day with a bear hug and a smile.

Jacque Alber has been a huge part of the Bloomin’ team for a few years now, and having her here as part of our employee roster, is nothing short of satisfaction on everybody’s part. Her infectious smile is the highlight of our day.

Thank you, Jacque and Norman, for being an integral part of our team here at Bloomin’.

It’s that time of the week again—dog day friday here at Bloomin’. We feel that not only is the end of the week a celebratory occasion, but it creates an even more casual atmosphere here in the office. Since we pretty much wear jeans or shorts any day of the week, what can make it even more casual than to allow Bloomin’ employees to bring their favorite furry friend to work? It’s been a heart warming experience and we love having our doggies around the office for play and companionship. Some are big, and some are small, but all in all they’re our bestest friends!

We’re very proud of this recent tradition, because we feel it brings all of our employees gathered together in one confined space where everybody is happy — the kitchen. A bi-weekly event to our company, every other Friday we host a different themed potluck plentiful with all kinds of delicious food. This week’s theme was everything and anything Asian. Some people brought homemade Indian cuisine, while others kept with the traditional Asian gourmet. Either way, we all loved it and ate it all up by day’s end. As you can see from the smiles on our faces, we’re pretty much satisfied with our full bellies! Mmmmm mmmmm good…