Thursday Focus On...

As a new normal begins I thought it would be nice to introduce you to some of my wonderful indie suppliers who have helped keep Chirpy going over the last few months, whose cards & gifts we have been able to continue to bring to our Chirpy customers through our online shop and now back in store.

So every week I'll be introducing someone for you to find out a little bit more about them and the wonderful products of theirs you can buy from Chirpy.

Starting with Lizzie Chancellor whose cards we love in Chirpy ...

C: Tell me a little bit about yourself & your company

L: Hi, I’m Lizzie, owner and founder of Lizzie Chancellor, a stationery company specialising in original and simple hand drawn designs.

C: How did you get into doing what you are doing?

L: I loved to draw as a child and my mum always asked me to make birthday cards for her friends, whilst my brother and sister would ask me to do their art homework for them causing a lot of confusion for their teachers! I studied Art & Photography at A level and Textiles & Fashion at Leeds University. I then went on to work for a contemporary British artist in London. Seeing the way he worked every day and be creative really inspired me to set up my own business and a few years later when I got engaged, I decided to design my own wedding invitations. I really enjoyed the process and realised that my business could be greetings cards and prints, so I decided to go for it!

C: What does a ‘normal’ day look like?

L: I’ve just finished my maternity leave second time round so my working days are starting to feel more ‘normal’ again.  As soon as my husband leaves the house with the kids to take them to nursery, I make myself a cup of tea and check my emails.  I like to make a list of all the things I need to do that day so I can focus on where to start.  Usually I get the boring jobs out of the way first so I can spend a bit of time in the afternoon being creative.  Running the business by myself means I need to wear a lot of hats and split my time over lots of different areas which can be tricky at times, I find myself doing 5 different things at once so planning the day out always helps!  I break for lunch with my husband (he also works from home) and then I pack my orders for the day.  I spend a bit of time planning my social media content and then any time I have left after that is spent on drawing, designing and being creative – my favourite part of the day! 

C: What’s been your biggest achievement to date?

L:Hmm, that’s tough one! Biggest life achievement is definitely giving birth (twice). It’s a pretty empowering feeling and I’m grateful I had two very straight forward births. As for my business, I still feel so ‘young’ in terms of how far I’ve got to go but I did have my best month of sales EVER last month, which was pretty exciting. I just love the idea of my cards being sent around the world, keeping people connected and making people smile. I make personalised photo cards and this father’s day I sold so many I lost count, the thought of all those daddy’s opening them on the same morning was a lovely feeling.

C: What’s been the favourite thing you’ve designed?

L: Since having children my designs have been more led towards children, I love my children’s cut out age range, the colours are just so bright and paired with the bold shapes, they make such fun cards. I also love my happiness range, which are designed to be sent to your loved ones ‘just because’. I think sending a card to someone for no particular occasion is even more special and unexpected. That feeling of receiving a card or letter from a friend or loved one out of the blue is so heart warming.

C: What’s the best thing about running your own business?

L: Definitely being my own boss and having no one to answer to!!

C: What advice would you give to anyone looking to turn their hobby into a business?

L: I’d say it’s very easy to test the water and see if people would buy your designs with social media. Start with an Instagram account and post pictures of your designs, notice which are causing more of a reaction from your audience and go down that path. Expand that design to a few more similar designs to build your range. You can very easily set up an Etsy account and use that as your online shop to begin with. Just go for it! Learn on the way, listen to feedback and most importantly, be original.

C: Is there a craft you haven’t tried but would like to?

L: Ooh good question! I’d love to try glass blowing, it looks really hard but I’m really intrigued by it. I was lucky enough to go to Murano in Venice with my old boss, I got to watch the guys there blowing beautiful glass pieces, it was incredible.

C: Why do you feel people should shop local?

L: Because it’s a double win! By supporting a small business or shopping locally you are gifting twice, once to the small business and again to the recipient of the gift. It makes you feel good knowing you are supporting a small business and it’s lovely to be able to tell your friend who the gift is for, a bit about the company your bought it from.

C: Have you had to adapt your business during Covid & any positives you’ve managed to take from it all?

L: I’ve been extremely lucky and have actually had a lot more sales during Covid. I sell mostly online, direct to customer and I found that as people were unable to go to brick and mortar shops, they were coming online to buy their cards and prints. I wasn’t quick enough to design products especially for the lockdown period though as I had my two children at home and had to juggle the business with being a mum!

We hope you like Lizzie's designs as much as we do - we stock a wide range of her cards and I think one of my favourite range are the ones that remind me of spirographs from my childhood.

Lizzie also does personalised cards and can be found online at www.lizziechancellor.com

If you'd like to find out more about any of our other suppliers, or you're a supplier you'd like me to do a 'Focus on...' then just let me know