Behind the Scenes

Our Shipping Process & How We Pack Each From the Heart Art Order with Love & Care

Welcome to the From the Heart Art Blog, where I share weekly inspiration to encourage & uplift you on your faith journey!

From stories behind the art I create to behind-the-scenes looks into the creation process to DIY tutorials and more... I post a new blog post every single Wednesday to share, uplift, & encourage you on your journey! Welcome to the blog & I can't wait to connect with you through this new blog space every single week. If you want to know when new blog posts go live, make sure to join our exclusive email newsletter community! Pssst... as part of my exclusive email subscriber community, you'll also get first looks into sales & specials, too! Click here & then scroll to the bottom to join!

When I first started out in this business, I made sales in person or over the phone.  I delivered everything directly to my customer.  I can still remember how it felt to receive so many requests that we have a website to shop online…. It was frightening!  I had only sold my artwork in person, the internet was very new to me and the idea of how to make it all work was daunting!  

Starting to Sell From the Heart Art Products Online...

It took a little while, but I finally got up enough courage to take steps to try selling my work online.  I met a fellow crafter at a show in a tiny town in Georgia.  My new friend was making purses and bags out of empty juice pouches she had sewn together.  I watched in amazement at how quickly they were selling and I was scratching my head at how in the world did someone come up with that idea in the first place!  During downtime at the show she explained they sold even better Online.  She was selling them as fast as she could make them on Ebay. 

My First "Shipping Department"

Before that weekend was over she had convinced me to open up my own Ebay shop and give it a try and she even gave me some pointers on how to get the shop up and going.  Before I knew it, I had my own online shop!  I quickly realized that I had no idea how to ship anything. It was one crash course after another but well worth the effort.  I quickly realized first hand how many new doors had just been opened to me.  The Juicebox lady tried to tell me, but I guess some things just have to be experienced.  For many years my “shipping department” was a small room in the back of our house.

Shipping Quickly Became One of My Favorite Parts 

Because I love gift wrapping and gift giving, the packaging quickly became one of the favorite parts of my business.  I would buy pretty tissue paper and wrap it like a gift.  I wanted to show my appreciation to them for purchasing my artwork through the delight of a beautifully packaged order.  It was a time full of learning, frequent overwhelm, and scrambling for solutions.  

Now I've Been Blessed with a Team to Help

That was about 17 years ago, and I have learned so much since my time spent in that little back room, but because the internet is growing & evolving faster than the speed of light, it still gives me many reasons to keep learning, frequent overwhelm and scrambling for answers but now I’ve been blessed with a team to help me carry the load. 

Once we added our own website to serve as our online shop, we were eventually able to close the Ebay Store & our online presence grew substantially. As we grew, there came the need for more space. 

We purchased a 10x12 metal storage building to work out of and used that building for everything, until we experienced more growth and found ourselves in need of more space. At one point, we converted the original metal building to production, added a bigger metal building for all the shipping, had an additional metal building for craft show displays & storage and added on to the original tool shed to convert it into my studio. 

We Continue to Grow, Move, & Rearrange...

We’ve grown, moved, rearranged, added more space, grown some more, moved, rearranged, more times that I can count!  I’m just thankful that God blessed me with a patient and very handy husband.  Friends teased that we had a compound in our yard... we do!

At the end of 2018, we had outgrown our spaces again and were all miserable.  We took a big step of faith and purchased one building large enough to house everything except my painting studio.  I can’t describe how wonderful & exciting it was to have everything easily accessible and have everyone in one building.  Our shipping area now can store all the boxes we need to keep on hand for shipping, instead of having to run down the street to the rental storage units, they are handy and easily accessible.  About half of our new warehouse is devoted to shipping and inventory!

They have a designated space for their shipping computer and printers and are no longer packed in with barely room to move.  It’s been such a tremendous blessing!  So throughout the years we have moved and rearranged to accommodate the needs but one thing has remained consistent…. We want our customers to be thrilled and delighted when they receive a package from us!

We Want Our Customers to Feel Like They've Received a Gift!

We want it to feel like they’ve received a gift. Not only do we want it to be pleasing to the eye, we want it to be accurate!  A product has been checked multiple times by several different people before it ever makes it to the shipping counter to be wrapped up in pretty paper and tucked safely in its box to be sent to its new home - YOU!

The ladies in our production department take great care to provide a product made efficiently and with excellence. The ladies in our Shipping Department have an eagle eye for detail to spot an error or blemish, but have the gentleness to lovingly & carefully wrap up the Reminder of Hope and Encouragement and send it onto its new home. 

I am very thankful for my team & I hope you feel the love and joy they package into every From the Heart Art order when you open it!

Sincerely,
Pam Coxwell | From the Heart Art