Whether you've been an avid customer at Chloe's Creative Cards for years or have just stumbled across us recently, there's a chance that you don't know anything about us or how we started. So we thought we'd put that right and tell you our story! So grab a cuppa (and maybe even a bickie or two as a treat) and settle down to read all about our humble beginnings.
It all started back in 2011 when the then 18-year old cardmaking fan, Chloe Endean, was selling her handmade cards at local (to her) craft fairs and markets. She struggled to find images she wanted to use on her cards, so she decided to draw her own designs. After receiving requests for them, Chloe turned her designs into stamps. At the time she had just left college and, as a recent student, couldn't afford a huge run on stamps, so she could only get 20 sheets of stamps produced, with the packaging done at home, printed off her inkjet printer! Chloe's Creative Cards was born!
Bit by bit, Chloe was able to both produce more stamps at a time, and also introduce more designs to the range as they grew in popularity. The word began to spread and Chloe was soon in a position where she was able to have a stand at a local papercraft show, hosted at the Rainton Meadows arena near Durham. Her designs were a huge hit and she sold out completely!
As well as being a good day sales-wise, this show was where Chloe met her first ever Design Team member, Barbara, who, funnily enough, actually lived just around the corner from her. Barbara is still very much an integral part of the Chloe's Creative Cards family to this day.
As is the case with lots of start-up businesses, to begin with everything was run from Chloe's family home. The lead-up to various shows got rather interesting in the house, and must have been a real test of their love and patience, as none of the family could move for all the boxes dotted about while packing everything up! Eventually, Chloe's mam, Corinne, allowed her to transform the spare bedroom into a mini warehouse, complete with grid-wall to help store and display the stamps.
It was during this time that Chloe felt she was ready to take the next step with the business, so she contacted the TV shopping channel, Create & Craft about showcasing her designs on air. The buyers invited her down for a screen test in December 2011 and loved her range so were eager to get her on straight away. In February the following year, Chloe made her big TV debut on the channel and proceeded to become a regular guest with her designs.
Things took off in such a big way for Chloe's Creative Cards that in the Spring of 2012, Chloe's mam left her job to work alongside her full time. By this point, they had completely overtaken the house with stock, so Chloe took on a unit. Initially, it was meant to be purely for storage but customer demand led to Chloe opening it up as a shop one day a week on a Wednesday. In fact, it became more than just a shop these Wednesdays; every week a group of local crafters would meet up and spend the day crafting and chatting!
With the business expanding in such a great way, it was only natural that our product range would too. Initially, Chloe added a beautiful collection of embossing powders to the product offering, including exclusive colours from WOW! that Chloe herself developed. Following the introduction of embossing powders, Chloe also added metal dies and Sparkelicious glitters. It became a real family affair, and Chloe's dad, David, volunteered to pot the glitters... not realising just how popular they would become!
The business then took another giant leap in March 2019 when Chloe went international, following an invitation to be a guest on the US TV shopping channel HSN, truly cementing both Chloe and Chloe's Creative Cards as a household name within the worldwide crafting community.
Throughout the growth of the company, one thing that has never, and will never, change is the Chloe's Creative Cards ethos; to place customers at the heart of everything we do. As a small team, we ensure our focus is on delivering you, our fabulous customers, the very best customer service, and by creating innovative new products following latest trends, as well as inspiring you to get the most out of your crafting with a host of educational and aspirational projects and tutorials, through our online videos and our kit-based magazines.
Thank you for being part of our journey!
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