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Time to stock up for 2024

I don’t know about you, but before I started my own greetings card shop I would try to get all my cards organised early.  As a family who’s events all fall into the first half of the year (mostly) it was important to keep on top of it.

Of course now I have my own shop, it’s not quite as important to be organised and we have fallen into the ‘last minute selection of cards’ on more than one occasion.  Thankfully with a new supplier I have some lovely new designs to choose from.  I will add them to the website when they arrive.

So, grab a cuppa (or something stronger) and write down how many cards you need this year.  Don’t forget engagements, weddings and new baby cards too!

Cari

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Exciting new greetings card designs for 2024

Well, it’s almost Christmas 2023 and I firstly want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has stuck around through a turbulent year for my business.  It seems quite appropriate to be writing this as I listen to the wind howl outside.

2023 saw the sad closure of Flamingo Paperie, something which none of us saw coming.  This led to me seeking out new card suppliers and thanks to my former ‘team’ I am now buying cards in support of The Trussell Trust and have new designs to share next year.  At first I wasn’t sure what to do, but now I’m happily combining my Christmas stock with my other business The UK Christmas Store and growing this website alongside it.  I’m not sure yet what 2024 will look like but I know I have enough stock to trade for most of the year.

Please bear with me as I try to keep my stock system up to date.  The cards were all printed without barcodes so when something sells at a market I have to manually update it and I do miss things sometimes.  I know updating my website is high up my list over Christmas break.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year, see you in 2024.

Cari

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Still time to buy and send Christmas cards

As our last Christmas market weekend is looming, here’s a final reminder to get your Christmas cards and support charity at the same time.  Royal Mail have their last posting dates set as Monday 18th for second class and Wednesday 20th for first class, so if you buy Christmas cards from us today you will have plenty of time to write and post them on Monday.

 

I love this Christmas card design, and it seems my customers do too.  By far the best seller this year.

There are plenty of other designs of charity Christmas cards available too, and I will be adding more next year so I’m ready for Christmas 2024.

 

Ive been busy adding our lovely craft kit range to the website too, and I have limited stock of each design for this year.  If they sell out I will be getting more in 2024.

I’m excited for what’s in store in 2024, with new greeting card designs and more coming! Watch this space!

Cari

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Do you send Christmas Cards?

I read recently that more people are sending cards again, and certainly the new stock I ordered supporting The Trussell Trust has sold very well.  One of my favourites, Holly and Ivy, has gone out of stock a couple of  times and I’ve placed my last order before Christmas now.  This means that when they sell through they are gone.


However there are plenty of other designs including the reindeer ones that arrived earlier this week.  I still have stock that needs to be added, there just isn’t enough time in the day.

So, do you still send Christmas Cards?  I’ve got really bad at remembering since I started my other business, I’m usually flat out with everything else.  My daughter makes up for it though, raiding my Christmas card stock regularly.
We are sending out orders right up until the last posting dates recommended by Royal Mail (19th December) so there is plenty of time to get your cards and wrap order put through.

Cari

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Stocking fillers for children

Are you searching for stocking filler ideas?  When our children were young, we would always hang a stocking on their door and fill it with money, sweets and some fruit.  Now they are older, it gets harder to find things to keep up the tradition, but they still get a satsuma for a Christmas morning snack.

Luckily I have quite a few ideas for younger children, with our Christmas Tree growing kits and magic snow now in stock.

Along with these fun activities we also still have lots of colour in fun crafts, which will be added to the website when I can find five minutes – it’s on the plan for next week as it’s our half term break here in North Yorkshire.  Alternatively they will be available at Gisborough Hall Hotel on 12th November and possibly at some of the school fairs we have booked.

We are now dispatching parcels at least twice a week, so please order early to ensure your goodies arrive in plenty of time.  We send everything through Royal Mail and they, like other delivery services, get very busy at this time of year.

Cari

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Time to buy your advent calendars!

How did it get to the middle of October?

I guess it’s a sign of getting older that the years are flying past.  With only a couple of pay days before the festive period, now is the time to start thinking about advent calendars.

I stocked up on our advent calendar range before Flamingo Paperie closed it doors, then bought a bulk stock of them from another partner who was closing their business, but this stock won’t last much past 2024.  If you want a choice and prefer to avoid chocolate one use advent calendars, then have a look at the range of designs from Cari’s Cards.

I have advents with only slot in characters, advents with a combination of slot in and windows to open and smaller ones with only windows (which I currently need to add to the website).

If you prefer to shop in person we will only have them at Gisborough Hall on 12th November at the moment.  If you follow our sister business https://www.theukchristmasstore.co.uk on social media you will see a free entry voucher.

My favourite advent calendar I think will be the first to sell out.  It’s already selling and features a selection of woodland animals in a lovely Christmas scene.

In addition we have a selection of advent calendar cards which will be added to my website soon.  They make an easy gift for sending to a loved one.

Cari

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Prepping for the next three months

I think autumn has to be my favourite season.  The air gets cooler, but not too cold, the trees begin to change colour, there are conkers to find and Christmas is on its way.

We have Christmas fairs booked but this year I’m concentrating on growing my online business.  I’m not getting any younger and attending a Christmas fair usually means a near 12 hour day working, not to mention all the prep the week before to make sure I don’t forget something.  It’s exhausting.  Our children help of course, they’ve grown up with us attending Christmas fairs (right from birth!) but I know this isn’t what they want to be doing.

I have piles of Christmas stock all waiting to be added to the shop.  I really need to push myself to get that done for you all, otherwise they will still be sat here this time next year.

 

Are you starting to prep for Christmas?  Let me know if you are, or if it’s still too early.

Cari

 

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I’m not wishing the year away!

Isn’t it typical that the sun makes an appearance just at the end of the school holidays?

Im not complaining, but I had grand plans to sit in the back garden each morning, sipping my coffee and watching the dog entertain himself with all the various scents from the nighttime visitors.  We rescued an old garden table, bought a parasol for it and collected garden furniture off freecycle in preparation, only for me to have to purchase a cover for it all a lot sooner than I had anticipated!

A final flourish from summer before I return to my day job at school, where thoughts inevitably turn to the next significant holiday.  Christmas in our family means lots of Fayres and markets every weekend, followed by a small family celebration and then New Year.  This heralds the family birthdays, which all fall into the first half of the year.

It’s handy having a card shop, with lots of birthday cards to choose from, when this time of year arrives.  Honestly, it does feel like we just get one out the way then another arrives!  In 2024 I hope to have some lovely new designs to share with you all, but if you need to be organised then the majority of my birthday card stock is available from the shop section now.  One advantage of having a card shop in your dining room is that you don’t stock up then lose all the birthday cards you’ve just bought after putting them ‘somewhere safe’.

Anyway, I’m almost wishing the rest of 2023 away, and the run up to Christmas is my favourite time of year.  All of our Christmas card packs support charities, with the newer designs (which are arriving soon) supporting Trussell Trust.  If you don’t want to shop online with me then I will be sharing a list of events we’re attending soon.

Cari

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A day for home projects

All work and no play – not that I’d say today was a ‘play’ day, but anyway.

Our dining room/stock room has been a dumping ground again, although not as bad as in previous years, and it was well overdue an overhaul.

I finally treated myself to the wall clock I’d had saved in my basket for about six months, and today we decided to put it up.  This involved moving the dining table round to give us more floor space ready for the run up to Christmas.  Our dining table doubles as a packing bench as the website orders come in from The UK Christmas Store and from this business too, so more space made sense.

So, all the chairs and assorted junk went outside, at which point the dog decided to join in and take all his toys into the garden.  The clock was assembled and hung, the table moved and the chairs returned to their places.  Junk sorted, ready for a tip run tomorrow.

Im now shattered, but glad it’s done.  All we need now is a new light fitting (which is the next ‘treat’ project on the list.)

How have you spent today?

Cari xx

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Our gorgeous advent calendars

Please forgive me for turning your thoughts to Christmas already, but as I’m now nearing the end of listing the everyday greetings cards I’ve been sorting through the Christmas stock in preparation for listing.

I was fortunate enough to buy a stock clearance of Flamingo Paperie advent calendars both in the closing down sale and from a former Flamingo partner.  I now have plenty of advents to manage my Christmas event bookings and to add to this shop.  In fact I have quite a few (I need to buy a second basket for them).

We’ve transferred all the packs of Christmas cards into one of the 64 litre tubs I have – yes they filled it!  I think it’s safe to say I have lots of stock available for you all, and the best bit is the card packs all support charity.

So, although adding the stock is still a work in progress (I’m determined to have it all done before September) we are all set to start posting out your orders.  I’m so excited to turn my dining table into a packing room!

Cari xx