Chloe is from Durham in the North East of England, where she runs Chloe’s Creative Cards with her Mum and Dad, it’s a family-run business which is the home of Stamps by Chloe.

She began crafting with her grandma when she was younger. “She was really arty and always making something, be it painting making toys or any craft, she was really creative!

She introduced me to cardmaking when I was around eight and my passion for craft grew from there, I can remember her teaching me how to stamp and emboss, I was mesmerised by how the embossing powder changed from the dull powder to a lovely bright silver, from then I was hooked! I continued to make cards for a few years and then whilst I was at school and college I used to sell my cards, my Mam shows dogs so I often had a sales table at the dog shows or we went to craft fairs on a weekend.”

“My job consists of all sorts – no two days are the same! I mainly spend my time on product design, which is what I love, but I also help with order packing and anything else that generally needs doing, as we are a small business we all just muck in!”

How and when did you launch your own products?

When I left college I didn’t really want to go to university, but loved to craft, so I started to draw images for stamps, as there was always things that I wanted that weren’t already out there. I remember ordering the first collection, in July 2011, which was 11 Christmas stamps, I could only afford to have 20 of each design produced so I ran with that, I gave-away three sheets and we sold the rest, we sold out almost instantly which was amazing! We then doubled the order, then they sold out and it continued from there. I was really lucky to be able to have a stall at a local papercraft show, I remember going in the car with my Mam, with one panel of grid wall we borrowed and setting the stand up, so nervous for the next day. The stamps and other embellishments we had flew out the door it was amazing! It was also at this show that I met Barbara who now makes finished sample cards for me, she encouraged me to start running classes and we’ve grown from there.

Can you pick a favourite product from your own brand?

That’s such a hard question to answer, it’s so hard to choose and changes on a daily basis! I think I’d have to say our stamps – I always think it’s amazing how you can take a blank sheet of paper and transform it into something amazing, be it a beautiful background or a 3D flower using a flower stamp it really is amazing what you can do.

What do you consider as your unique selling point?

I think our unique selling point is that a lot of our products are designed and developed from my own original hand drawings, which gives our products a unique look. Because I was a crafter first before I started Chloe’s Creative Cards I always look at things from a crafter’s point of view and how I want to make a card before we design the products. We always want to give as much value and versatility as possible.

And of course, there are your Stamps by Chloe cardmaking collection boxed kits you work on with Practical Publishing – this is an exciting venture!

I felt so honoured when Chris Cooke, the Group Business Development Manager at Practical Publishing, asked me to work on a box kit with Practical Publishing, it was an amazing opportunity and one that I never could have dreamt would happen. I absolutely love designing the box kits it’s always so much fun! Designing all of the elements and being able to offer so much value in one kit is amazing and to have a magazine that is packed with inspiration is just fabulous, that would have to be our aim with the box kits to be able to share our style of crafting and to let crafters try our products all in one box kit! The team at Practical Publishing are amazing to work with too.

And then there is your collaboration with WOW embossing powder – we know you love glitter – and love the sparkly side of your designs – was it down to this love of sparkle that started this partnership?

Yes! I love WOW! embossing powders and have used them for a long time, in my opinion they produce the best-quality embossing powders so to be able to partner with such a fantastic brand is fabulous. It’s been seven years now since we’ve partnered now and having my own totally exclusive colours means I can choose colours that co-ordinate perfectly with the papers we have to make it easy for you to craft at home with my products.

Which is your favourite WOW! Chloe embossing powder colour?

That’s such a hard question – can I choose a collection?! I love how the colours in the Summer Sparkle collection all work so well together and have such a lovely bright colour palette – it’s perfect for all of your spring and summer makes.

Have you partnered up with any other companies we’ve not mentioned? If so, who and for what?

We work with Crafter’s Companion USA, to enable us to take our products to the US and onto the HSN shopping channel, which is amazing. We’re a small company so we could never manage to do this by ourselves. It’s amazing that we are now able to showcase our products in America and reach out to crafters there.

What is it that you love about crafting?

I just love the crafting community, it’s so nice to be able to interact with our customers on social media, through our Stamps by Chloe Facebook Group. It’s always amazing to see what our customers make using our products and for me that has to be one of the most rewarding part of designing products getting to see exactly what can be made from them, it’s so inspiring!

If you had to pick between all forms of crafting and it was only this craft you could do for the rest of your life – what would it be?

I think it would have to be cardmaking! I love how you can create a beautiful project, but for me I like to be able to sit down to make something and be able to complete it then and there. I love all kinds of crafts, and would love to try more different styles of craft like upcycling, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day!

How would you describe your crafty/creative style?

I would say my style is definitely very sparkly and blingy, I love to add sparkle to my projects and I love creating 3D flowers and elements for my projects.

We’ve seen your shop and workshop space, but do you have a crafting space at home? If so, can you share pictures with us?

I do have a craft room at home, that I had all fitted out with craft furniture it’s great and I love working in it… although I have to say it’s not always this tidy – I don’t think you can ever craft and not make a mess it’s all part of the fun!

What’s the most used item in your craft supplies?

I think the item I could not live without would be my Tonic Spring Cut Scissors (I hope someone from Tonic is reading this as they’ve been discontinued) I absolutely love them and could not craft without them, I’m left handed when I cut out so for me they are fabulous I find them so easy to use.

What is your favourite-ever project that you’ve made (please supply images to accompany the answer if possible)

I think my favourite project I’ve ever made would have to be this blue sparkly card using our Ice Skate stamp – I just love how all of the colours and sparkle work so well together on this project. I adore this stamp as it brings back so many memories of ice skating with family over Christmas.

Who and what inspires you when you’re thinking about new product ranges?

I’m so inspired by everything around me, it might be a pretty flower I’ve seen on a walk or on a pattern on a dress whilst I’m out shopping, there is always inspiration all around, the majority of products are just ideas that I’ve had in my head for cards that I want to make.

We know you run workshops – what is it you love about this style of teaching and support?

I really enjoy running workshops, and love the interaction of a workshop. However, as I have been working on developing more products unfortunately we haven’t been able to run any workshops this year, this is something I would love to get back to doing though.

When did you start your blog, and what gave you the kick-start to launch it?

I first started to blog when I first started Chloe’s Creative Cards back in 2011, then my blog very much got abandoned in favour of posting on our Facebook Page, however the blog is back up and running now and we have some very exciting plans for 2020. I really want the blog to be an inspirational place where we can provide projects, tips and advice.

What would you say is the best thing about keeping a blog?

I think the best thing about keeping a blog is being able to share lots of inspiration and having one central hub where we can share downloads and ideas with our Stamps by Chloe customers.

We absolutely love your blog and YouTube page – and we find it all so inspiring! But which do you prefer, blogging, creating videos or running workshops?

I love creating video content for our social channels I really think that is the best way to showcase our products, we’ve started to move our warehouse into a second unit and I have a room saved at the back to use a photography and video studio so be sure to keep a look on our social media in 2020.

So is social media realy important to the company?

Social Media is such an important part to our business, we love interacting and sharing inspiration with our customers, our Stamps by Chloe Facebook group is also amazing it really is a lovely community with around 7,000 crafters who all share their makes and tips using Stamps by Chloe products it really is fabulous!

What advice would you give to a crafter who wants to start a blog, YouTube channel or selling their makes on ETSY or similar, who doesn’t quite have the confidence to do so?

Just go for it, you’ve got nothing to lose! Definitely put your projects out there, it’s always lovely as a product designer to be able to see what crafters at home are making with our products – it has to be one of the most rewarding parts of the job. Also be sure to tag the company’s products you are using in your posts you never know who might see them.

What’s your favourite thing about what you do?

My favourite thing has to be product design I love it! It always so amazing when you’ve worked on a product for months and the samples finally land in the office I always just want to craft straight away with them, I always have so many ideas for projects that I just want to work on right away.

You’ve been part of the craft world for so long, but if you hadn’t been – what job do you think you could see yourself doing?

I really don’t know, we were just talking about this in the office the other day! I’ve never really had a proper job or a CV so I really don’t know. I think I probably would have gone into beauty and maybe been a nail technician, that’s still a pretty creative job!

Aside from crafting, do you have any other hobbies and interests?

Aside from crafting, I love weightlifting so I spend most of my free time in the gym or doing something active. I’m really terrible at cooking and baking so you definitely wouldn’t be seeing me on The Bake Off any time soon! I’d love to travel more too when time allows, I’d love to see more of America – I really love it over there! I’d also like to see the Northern Lights as it looks so beautiful!