Happy Monday, friends! We are so excited for today’s Meet & Greet, a blog feature that highlights one of our partners and gives you a closer look at the business and the people behind it! We love Honey Bee Stamps, and we want you to love them as much as we do too! We think you will after learning a bit more about this brand from owner Melissa Hewitt and seeing their beautiful products!

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Tell us your history! How did Honey Bee Stamps begin and how did you get to where you are now?

I started Honey Bee Stamps in 2015, as what I assumed would be a fun side hustle. I had dreamed for many years of designing my own own craft line that would combine my career as a graphic designer with my love of paper crafts—and Honey Bee took flight! I never expected it would take off and grow to this size… but it’s been a blessing and such a fun journey. It’s truly a joy to be a part of this crafty community – full of big-hearted, sweet and supportive people!

Tell us a little about your team!

We have a small team, but they are all rockstars! Lisa is our COO and handles our wholesale accounts, social media accounts and so much more! She wears many hats! If you watch our Live crafting videos every Tuesday and Thursday on Facebook or Instagram, then you surely know Kelley! She is our queen of videos, and also does our product videos each release. She is so much fun to watch and always does such a beautiful job with each crafty livestream! She also runs our Buzzworthy Challenges Facebook group! Working in the warehouse, we have such an awesome team preparing your orders and making everything run smoothly! Sarah manages the office, and Jamie manages our customer care. If you’ve ever called the office, you know how wonderful she is! Allison, Liz, Teri and Alyson are behind the scenes pulling and packaging your orders with love. We also have several part time helpers who help package and ship when we are at our busiest times and need extra hands: Julie, Karen, Kate, Sheri, and even my sweetheart Mom, Sandie, come around to help when we need it! I am beyond grateful for my amazing team. I couldn’t do this without them!

What product in your shop best represents your brand?

I think we have many awesome products that we have become known for over time, but we have two product lines in particular that our customers adore and are always asking for more. The first would be our Buzzwords line of large sentiment stamps and dies with great sub-sentiments that can all be mixed and matched beautifully. The large word dies include both the word and a shadow… but what makes them unique is the 2nd shadow layer that includes awesome pierced dot details around the edge!

The second series of products that really represent our brand is our line of Lovely Layers dies! They make the most stunning focal points for your card—with a range of flowers, leaves, bugs, and more!

What can we expect to see coming in 2022 that you are excited about? 

We have so many exciting things coming in 2022! Our biggest release of the year is coming in April, when we will be celebrating our 7th birthday! We have some new products coming, including a new mini die cutting machine called the Bitty Buzz Cutter. It’s an awesome quality, portable machine that we are all incredibly excited to release in April!

If someone has never heard Honey Bee before, what is the one takeaway you’d like to give them, aka your ‘elevator speech’ or mission statement!

At Honey Bee Stamps, we believe that crafting is soul therapy that feeds creative hearts. Our standard are set high, and we only create products that we love to use ourselves. We design and manufacture our stamps from the highest-quality photopolymer so that crafting with them is a delight from the first impression. We offer 100% steel dies, paper pads, stencils, embellishments and so much more! Our innovative products get the job done right, but most importantly, they’re fun and easy to use. We believe great crafting tools should bring you plenty of joy, inspiration, and encouragement to keep creating.

Any Honey Bee secrets you’d like to share?

Many people ask me about our designs and if I design everything myself. In the beginning years, I designed everything and ran every aspect of the business by myself. As we have grown, I’ve been blessed to be able to hire on other talented artists to help me create my vision for each release! Along with Lisa and Kelley, we brainstorm each release and come up with our concepts and themes for each release. Once the release has been conceptualized, I act as the creative director to bring the images to life! It’s truly my dream job, and I absolutely love what I do.

Another thing that customers ask me about often is how we got the name Honey Bee. The answer is multi-faceted, but a fun connection of meanings. The name Melissa, in Greek, means honey bee. My dad told me this as a child, and I was always his “little honey bee”. My dad’s initials were BE, and he used to draw a small honey bee near his initials on everything he drew. (He was an artist and entrepreneur as well, which is where I got my talents). My dad was my best friend, and my biggest cheerleader. He always pushed me to reach for my dreams and do what I love in life. Sadly, I lost my dad in 2012 to cancer. He never got to see me achieve my dreams, but when it came to naming the business, the first thing that came to mind was “Honey Bee,” as a nod to my dad. I like to think he is still cheering me on and proud as can be. ????

Thank you so much for taking the time to read more about me and Honey Bee! I am so incredibly grateful for the support of our amazing customers and this beautiful industry.

Honey Bee Stamps: Shop | Blog | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok | Twitter

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Thank you to Melissa for sharing her love for the Honey Bee brand with us today! Now, go out and start clicking on the links above to see what makes Honey Bee so special, and why we love partnering with them! Have a great day, friends!