Giving Back

Almost three years ago Kerry and I sat around my parents’ kitchen table and brainstormed about plans and ideas for our new company. We both agreed that using our product to “give back” in some way should be a top priority. We have accomplished that goal and we couldn’t be more excited about it.

www.BellflowerBooks.com has become charitable partners with www.PinkRibbonGirls.org The Pink Ribbon Girls is a Cincinnati-based non-profit that was founded to support young women dealing with breast cancer. The organization offers education, awareness for early detection, support and an outlet to express fears.

Kerry’s mother-in-law is a breast cancer survivor and my mom passed away from Triple Negative breast cancer 18 months ago, so this is a cause that is very meaningful to both of us. One of my mother’s defining characteristics was her ability to recognize the good in people and to make sure they knew why they were loved and how their lives made a difference. That is exactly what a Bellflower Book does for somebody…it allows a group of people to tell somebody exactly why she is loved, supported and appreciated. We believe from first-hand experience that this is the best gift for somebody going through breast cancer treatment or achieving a survival anniversary milestone.

A portion of the proceeds from each Bellflower Book sold will go towards donating books to the Pink Ribbon Girls. These books will be given to women currently undergoing treatment, women reaching exciting milestones (like 5 years of being cancer free!) and amazing volunteers. In addition to donating books, www.BellflowerBooks.com is also extremely committed raising awareness about The Pink Ribbon Girls. Our wonderful software developer, Jared Saunders at www.LittleGreenCube.com, donated his talent and his time to create a special book design to honor this partnership.

Please help us spread the word!
www.PinkRibbonGirls.org

A special thank you to Kerry's cousin-in-law for donating her services as our photographer. Check out her amazing work at www.AngelaDugan.com.

Meaningful Person of the Month

Mac the Bike Guy

The other day I took my daughter to get her first bike. Instead of going to one of the large chain stores, we went down the street to visit “Mac the Bike Guy”. Mac is 89 years old and for the last 17 years he has been fixing up and recycling used bikes and giving them life again. He uses his garage as his storefront and workshop. He has every type of bike you can imagine, but my favorites are the vintage bikes that just need new straw baskets before they are good to go! The best part about buying my daughter’s bike from Mac was his genuine enthusiasm for his product. Not only did a get a great deal on a “recycled bike” but I also had a great conversation with Mac and left feeling really good about my purchase.

People like “Mac the Bike Guy” give a community like mine character. I love meeting people with a passion for something that brings joy to others. Thanks to Mac, old bikes in Perrysburg are rebuilt instead of thrown away!

Vacation Memories

My mom recently turned 60. We celebrated her birthday where we always do, Rehoboth Beach, DE. The Corrigans have been visiting Rehoboth for over 30 years, so it was the perfect place to celebrate such an important birthday!

Since I am in the business of supplying people with meaningful gifts, I could not let my mom's birthday pass without the creation of a Bellflower Book! I decided to put together a collaborative book of vacation memories from Rehoboth over the years. I contacted all of the friends and family who visited us there and received a great response. In addition to the pages the contributors created, my sister and I created many wonderful pages full of our own favorite memories, photographs and traditions.

The Bellflower Book I created ended up being a gift not just for my mom, but for the whole family. I can't wait for my children to read it so they can relate to the traditions we are now doing with them. One of my friends liked the idea behind this book so much she immediately started one for her own mom honoring their family traditions in Harbor Springs, MI.

Now that I am a parent myself I see how much work goes into family vacations. Until around five years ago I think I thought the cottage magically cleaned itself and that my mom actually enjoyed grocery shopping and making dinner. I now know how much work goes into making a family vacation special. I am so happy I could create a book for my mom honoring everything she has done over the last thirty years to make our family vacations happen!

A Little More About Us

Let's just say we're not your typical CEOs...

There are just two gals behind Bellflower Books- Kerry (Corrigan) Wellstein and Heather (Waring) Smith. We became friends at age 3 and business partners at age 6. It's pretty crazy to think that we're already celebrating our 25th anniversary as business partners and we're only in our early 30's...

We dabbled in a bunch of small creative businesses growing up such as our annual summer carnival, the monthly publication we called "Kid's News," the year we ran a summer camp, and our participation in numerous craft fairs. But, we're ready to try something new and we think we're on to something this time.

We created www.BellflowerBooks.com after wracking our brains to find meaningful, personal gifts for events such as Kerry's Father's Retirement or Heather's Mother's 50th birthday. We both remembered one particular gift we had been given during important times in our lives- a collection of letters and photos from our closest friends and family members, gathered in a box or album. It was one of the most meaningful gifts we had ever been given. We realized it would make a perfect retirement and 50th birthday gift.

As we created the gifts for our parents, we figured out that this gift required a LOT of time and effort - mailing out letters to participants, postage expenses, the effort required for participants to write and submit letters via “snail mail,” and the process of collecting all the letters in a book or album.

We've created www.BellflowerBooks.com as a solution to creating this truly meaningful gift. Whatever your occasion, Bellflowerbooks.com automates the logistics involved with the creation of this collaborative gift, and the end result is a beautiful, professionally bound book which recipients can keep and proudly display.

In the end, this is more than just another business to us. It's a fun way for us to help others spread joy and give back. But, then again, it's also a great excuse to get together and celebrate our 25 years as business partners over a glass of wine (or two...).

The Perfect Pick-Me-Up!

What do you send someone who is sick, recovering from an illness or has just found out they are pregnant? I always struggle with this. I love to give gifts that are both practical and meaningful, so sometimes flowers just don’t cut it.

I have recently discovered a wonderful product called Comfort Crunch www.comfortcrunch.com. A woman in my hometown, Lambie Stout, started creating this product with her young daughter right after she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I find her story inspiring. It is worth visiting her website just to read the background on this delicious treat.

The Comfort Crunch she created is one of the few things that Lambie found palatable during her extensive chemotherapy treatments. I remember being pregnant and unable to eat much for the first three months. The next time a close friend of mine is in this situation, I am sending them some Comfort Crunch. For years I have tried to find that perfect little gift to send someone who is feeling down, and now I have found it!

The original Comfort Crunch is made with an assortment of peanuts, cashews and dried fruit. She also offers 3 more unique flavors: Pepita-Pick-Me-Up, Toffee Talk and Ginger-In-A-Snap which throws fun items like sunflower seeds, chocolate, ginger and old-fashioned toffee into the mix. Every flavor is low in sodium!

Did I mention that a percentage of the profits from Comfort Crunch go to furthering cancer research projects? Like I said, this product makes the PERFECT gift!

Just what we love to hear!

With my sister's bridal shower coming up, I had been searching for a meaningful gift rather than something off her registry. She had presented me with a scrapbook at my shower years ago, but I simply didn't have the time to manually compile one...that's when I turned to Bellflower Books. It was such a great concept - everything was done electronically and I could watch the letters and pictures be submitted by all of her friends. It was so easy - and I didn't have to check the mailbox, go to a store and buy a scrapbook and all the accessories, it was all done for me! When I received the book in the mail I knew right away everyone would love it! The design was beautiful and the letters and pictures just added to the keepsake. My sister opened it at her shower and was so surprised...it was truly a cherished gift. Thanks Bellflower!

~Jennifer Noel

Meaningful Gift Found on Vacation...

A big thanks to Emma Justice and Corinna Sager from Lifestyle International...two lovely ladies who were semi-strangers before tonight (I briefly met Corinna at the Harbor Springs Zoll Street dog park 2 days ago and my dog, Lulu, fell in love with her!).

These ladies graciously relinquished part of their dinner conversation tonight to help brainstorm ways to position, promote and communicate ideas about Bellflower Books and for that we are very grateful. How's that for proof that meaningful gifts can, indeed, come in small packages???

What a nice reminder to end the day...you never know who you might meet as long as you're willing to strike up a conversation. Thanks, ladies!

Check out their company at www.lifestyleintl.com.

"Lifestyle International is a boutique communications agency for live presentations, marketing events, trade shows, meetings, video/TV productions and digital media, serving a broad spectrum of clients around the globe.

Simply put: We bring projects to Life, with Style.

Live . Video . Digital"