Friday, August 29, 2014

Employee Spotlight: Meet Terri! (...TAKE 2?)

The Paper Style Blog doesn't often feature articles using the first person. Most articles are written using the "editorial we" because The PaperStyle Blog is a representation of Paper Style as a whole. The author of any given article is merely a spokesperson on the blog, on behalf of the company.

But I have a funny story, so I'm going to write this blog post as myself. Allow me to introduce me: Aimee, Social Media Coordinator for Paperstyle.com.

I've worked for Paper Style for a little over two years now, and as you can all see on our sidebar on the right side of your screen, The PaperStyle Blog has been around longer than that. Before I came along, the blog was run by another member of the Paper Style team. About a week ago, I decided I wanted to write a blog post for this week featuring an employee who wears, like, a billion different hats and does some really cool stuff here at PS HQ. I had it all figured it out. I was going to have her chronicle all the things that she did in a day and blog about it for our interested readers. I was even going to call it Employee Spotlight: Meet Terri!
TK!
Turns out, someone beat me to it. As I wrote out the title to the post, I thought to myself, huh, that sounds familiar.

Now, when I took on the role of Social Media Coordinator and we really stepped up our blog game in 2013, I made sure to read our entire blog. You know, five years worth of blog posts. No big deal. So since the title sounded familiar, I figured there must have already been a post with that title. Not for Terri, surely, but for someone.

As it would turn out, three years ago (almost to the day!) The PaperStyle Blog featured a blog post about our Merchandising Manager, Terri. It was called Employee Spotlight - Meet Terri!

...I would like to emphasize the difference between using a colon and a dash, because I refuse to believe that I thought I had this cute and original title and then it ALREADY EXISTED.

To sum up the coincidence: same person, same title, almost same day, three years later. Craziness, no?

Anyway, I decided to combine the old post with this new one to preserve my pride and make an even better blog post. It's impressive to see the difference between the first article and all the things that Paper Style is involved in now. The craziest thing, though, is that Terri looks practically identical. Good genes, that one.

Anyway, here's the original Employee Spotlight - Meet Terri!

And here's what Terri's up to these days!

On an average day, Terri comes in early in the morning. Like, real early. Stock orders have usually piled up overnight, so Terri pulls all of the stock to fill the orders, takes them to the shipping department to be boxed up and then places orders (usually for Caspari paper products) for whatever items we're running low on. Terri is in charge of maintaining relationships and orders with many of the brands that we carry on our website. So, basically, she's got lots of friends. 



Periodically, Terri picks specific designs from our website to be used in emails that go out to all of our customers. Because Terri has a close relationship with all of our designers and ultimately chooses which designs we'll sell, she definitely has a great sense of what's popular and what people will most want to see. And because of that skill set, a large part of her job is merchandising and re-merchandising the content on our site. She'll make sure that the most popular invitations are right where people will be able to find them, and that products that aren't selling are removed, to keep the process of choosing your invitation convenient. 

Also because of those relationships with our designers, if a customer calls with special requests pertaining to an invitation, Terri will email the specific designer to see if the request can be addressed. She also sends out weekly emails to the designers with calls for specific types of stationery or invitations, for particular events or holidays. Essentially, anything having to do with our designers and/or designs is right in Terri's wheelhouse. In our current partnership with Laura Ashley, for example, Terri works with Michael, our Graphics Specialist, to develop designs and get approvals. 

But even all of these things don't encapsulate Terri's job. Though some of her responsibilities aren't every day things, it's important to note that she also helps put stock shipments away when the shipping department is too busy. She coordinates the process of receiving, organizing and stocking large shipments of holiday products (literal Christmas in July, no joke). And these are just the things that we see her do. She's got a lot of hats. Fortunately, she looks good in hats, so her job is a perfect fit for her. 

If you have a question for Terri, or you just want to tell her how awesome she is, you can email her at terrik@paperstyle.com, or comment below!

Happy Friday!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Paper Style Says Goodbye to Andrew!

Yesterday, we all had to say goodbye to our Director of Content Management, Andrew, as he prepares for a big move with his fiancĂ© to Peoria, Illinois. Andrew has been with Paper Style for 10.5 years, almost since the beginning, and certainly longer than most of us.

This guy.

So, we felt it necessary to celebrate Andrew and all his hard work for Paper Style with some roasting and toasting! (And a feast fit for a king!)

Potluck style. If there's one thing we all know how to do at Paper Style, it's eat. Samosas, green beans, chips and dip, tomato basil bake, pita and hummus, pasta salad, fresh fruit, cheesecake, banana pudding, gooey bars, brownies, hot pineapple casserole (and probably a few other things, too).

So we all gathered together in Type Stylist Land to eat and talk about how great Andrew is. 

#paperstylefam



Then came the stories and teary moments.

There are some members of the Paper Style team who have worked with Andrew long enough to remember him as a youngin'.



At Paper Style HQ, we have a wall in the very front of our office space that is covered with caricatures of every member of the team. That wall is a great representation of who we are as individuals, and as part of a larger unit. We sent Andrew off with his caricature and the "invitation" we had posted around the building for this "roast & toast".



You've got big things coming your way, Andrew. Best of luck with everything. We love you and we'll surely miss you!


Thursday, August 7, 2014

Introducing: Our New Laura Ashley Vellum Wrap Invitations!


We're so excited to finally talk about a project that we've been working on for a while now! As many of you know, Paper Style has teamed up with Laura Ashley to design some truly beautiful invitations using some of their wonderful patterns! The new line of vellum wrap invitations features our awesome gatefold-style invitations which come complete with pre-assembled ribbon; the side flaps open to reveal the card inside. It's like opening a present and an invitation all in one!

Our classic gatefolds are made from our signature cardstock and then folded. But these new wrap invitations are special. Your invitation information will be printed on a 5x7 piece of designed cardstock (and you can choose from various stocks), which will then be placed inside a gatefolded sheet of patterned vellum, which is translucent, and gives little glimpses of the invitation inside. The whole package is finished off with a coordinating double faced satin ribbon!

Currently, our line houses holiday invitations as well as wedding invitations. We think they're breathtaking. What do you think?

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Laura Ashley Holiday Invitations

And don't forget about the wedding line! (I mean, who could forget about the wedding stuff?!)

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818-57-0057WD