At the Stroke of Midnight…

You have let us know loud and clear that you’re in love with Green Thumb!  Thank-you for all of your support, emails and of course, orders!  Our little company is growing by leaps and bounds with each new release, and we are SO grateful to our customers for that!  Allison asked through the comments section of yesterday’s post about what it is like for us at midnight when a new set is revealed.  I thought that would be a fun question to answer.  (Sorry, no project today!  I have to get the June stamp set designed AND Paper Crafts assignments done this week!)

Jane & Julie (my business partners) are up in Cincinnati, while I am in Tennessee.  Julie  is the center of attention the evening of a reveal because she is our web master.  For the first 4-5 hours leading up to midnight, Julie and I are on the phone.  (Yes, I said hours, and we pretty much don’t get off the phone with one another unless we need a bathroom break!)  I design all the web elements, email them to her and she places them and makes sure everything runs smoothly and is easy to maneuver.  During these marathon phone calls, we always come up with great ideas, such as the Guest Star Stamper contest and the Come Grow With Us program.  Around 11:45pm, Jane (Julie’s mom) calls her cell.  Julie has both her land-line and cell at the same time! (I know, we need to look into 3-way calling!).  But it is at that point that the anticipation and excitement is more then we can bear!  Did we get everything done?  Is everything linked correctly?  How will the customers react to this set?  Do we have enough in stock?  Are we REALLY ready?  And than Julie let’s us know that it is time to upload.  We wait to hear the infamous  "REFRESH" from her, and get the first glimpse of all that is new on the site.  The SECOND the updated site is uploaded the orders start coming in!  This particular reveal we had over 50 orders placed within the first 30 minutes, and they just kept coming even after that!  It was VERY exciting. Then I have "splitcoast" duty!  It is my job to head over to the splitcoast message boards to get a feeling of what the customers think of the set.  I read all the comments to Julie & Jane.  Meanwhile, Jane keeps an eye on the orders and updates us every couple of minutes with the numbers.  Julie mans the customer service emails, helping you with order issues, questions or mishaps.  Around 12:45am we do a little celebratory cheer.  Yawn collectively, bid each other good night (and Jane ALWAYS tells Julie & I to "sleep tight"), exhausted we hang up and GO TO BED!  I have say though, it is always tough to go right to sleep after all that excitement, even though I am incredibly tired! 

So that is what happens in the "moments" before a reveal!  So, on April 15th, when you are waiting for the next debut, keep in mind that Jane, Julie & I are waiting with you.  And maybe by then, we’ll even have 3-way calling!

BTW,if you haven’t already heard, be sure and check out Gina K’s new stamp set that debuted in unison with ours.  Her set is designed on behalf of Autism Awareness month.  $8 per set will be donated to this worthy cause!  Go here for more information.

I’m going out of town for a few days but will be back at the end of the week.  Many of you will receive your Green Thumb stamp sets while I’m gone!  Be sure to post a link here if you create anything with your new "toys"!  I would love to see what you create!