Our Cardie friends!
Want to meet some of our favourite Cardie pals? You do, excellent!
So here’s the thing about the greeting card industry. We ( the UK card industry ) are THE best in the world. And that’s not an outrageous brag, simply a statement of fact. Having invented the greeting card easily gives us a 150 year head start in the tradition of sending cards. Combine that with a strong and vibrant creative scene plus our excellent/quirky/dry British humour and you can begin to see why we are world leaders! It’s a great industry to be part of, people are genuinely nice folk, talented, funny and come from all walks of life AND they’ll go out of their way to help each other.
The reason we’re waxing lyrical about our industry? Because we want to share our favourites with you!
For a number of years we’ve toyed with the idea of adding some of our trade pal’s creations to our website with the aim of expanding your choice and making our website more varied.
The card and gift companies featured meet the following criteria:
- They are either good friends or jolly nice people or both AND we think their creations are excellent.
- Their designs fill in the blanks with the occasions we haven’t covered ourselves.
- If you’re not keen, everyone at Team Little Dog likes them, so that’s all our Christmas and Birthday needs sorted!
Animal Cards
First up are industry newbies “Not at all Jack”. A husband and wife team based in Nottingham. Mark has a medical background was an A&E doctor for many years and Rebecca trained in fashion. Their company was born from a friendly but highly competitive challenge between themselves to come up with the best card design. Mark won so Rebecca took over running the business while Mark juggles designing with his day job. These two are at the start of their journey so it’s unlikely many of you will have come across their designs, but trust me when I say, every time you purchase one of their cards, you can be certain that you will absolutely have made their day, not least because it increases space at home!
Want to see more? Then follow this link! … Not At All Jack
Male Cards
Next up we have Rosie of Rosie Made a Thing fame. Rosie and myself go way back and we like to think we played a small part in getting Rosie started by sharing our customer database, mistakes and life lessons gleaned from decades of faffing around in this business of greeting cards. Rosie is as funny in real life as her cards. And clever and astute and upbeat and quick to find the humour in all adversity that life sends her way. In our humble opinion, she does some of the best male cards in the business which is just one of the zillion reasons we’ve included her in our gang.
We could very well have filled our little website with Rosie’s designs but have started off with her male cards just in case you found yourself browsing and remembered some upcoming birthdays.
Want to see more? Then follow this link! … Rosie Made A Thing
Funny Quote Cards
The Quotish Collection from Brainbox Candy is in the mix because a gold foiled, dry humour quote never goes out of fashion. When Mark and Ben burst onto the greeting card circuit it was a case of hold onto your hats because these two are insane. Razor sharp funny, unpredictable, innovative and laugh out loud rude, in a good way! Many have followed in their footsteps, but for us they are the real deal which is just one of the reasons we’ve added them to our “We LOVE them” gang.
Want to see more? Then follow this link! … Brainbox Candy
Children & Birthday Cards
We started with Not At All Jack newbies, now we move onto industry legends Paper Salad. Karen and Claire are straight talking Northern lasses and very talented. Their cards celebrate everything that is fabulous about colour, texture and design. Please forgive my limited photography skills but rest assured, when you receive a Paper Salad card you will likely let out a delighted little Ooo and if you are an appreciator of print finishes you’ll most definitely find your mouth starts to salivate, their designs are truly colourlicious!
Want to see more? Then follow this link! … Paper Salad
That’s the new cards covered. Feel free to pop back whenever you are idly scrolling as we’ll be adding more of our favourite designers in the coming months.
Now, if you have time, do visit out Pet section and cast your eye over some gorgeous doggy drying robes. Noel Coward eat your heart out! We came across Harbour Hounds whilst exhibiting at Crufts and instantly loved their product. The pandemic sidetracked us in teaming up with this company but at long last we’ve added some robes for your perusal. If you do treat your pooch to a Harbour Hound drying coat we’d love to see a photos of them model it.
Want to see more? Then follow this link! … Harbour Hounds
One of a Kind
And finally, if you are an appreciator of crafting genius then you may well like Bay Nielsen’s one of a kind miniature dogs which we have been showcasing in our Handmade Temptations section. Alison runs our sewing department two days a week and was inspired to pick up a pipe cleaner having seen a little 1920’s dog I was gifted. In the last year she has gone from strength to strength and her creations sell quicker than I can upload them, but you are very welcome to follow her progress via Instagram @BayNielsen, find her on Folksy or pop back here every 3 weeks to see what she has created. Alison is currently working on a circus theme and her little elephant is exquisite, if you use social media then she is well worth a follow.
And that’s about all for now folks. We have lots of new designs and gift lines working their way through the supply chain and onto our website, many of which are exclusive to us meaning you won’t find them in the shops. The quantities are small as we test their popularity so if you see anything that takes your eye, you can either snap it up or wait and hope it proves popular enough to get reordered! The choice is all yours. Thank you as always for your continued interest and support. Best wishes, Anna and Team Little Dog
