Just A Card

I don't know about you guys, but when I go to craft fairs and just buy a couple of small things like cards I sometimes feel a bit cheap, and terribly unsupportive of the designer/maker community. All these talented people trying to make a living selling their amazing wares and I ooh over their work and then just buy a £2 greetings card.

This is nonsense, of course! As a designer/maker myself I know very well how the small purchases people make from my shop are just as important to my business as the big ones, that every single purchase is a wonderful, much-valued gesture that says "I appreciate your work, I am supporting you"... and that those small sales add up to help pay for all the big important stuff like rent and bills and food.

The fact that small purchases can make a big difference is the idea behind the new JUST A CARD campaign.

 

As campaign founder Sarah Hamilton puts it...

"If everyone who’d complimented our beautiful gallery had bought just a card we’d still be open.”

When I read this quote by shop keepers who’d recently closed their gallery I thought - enough is enough - we need to fight back! As an artist and designer, who also makes cards, I know just how valuable each and every sale is, not only to independent shops and galleries which make our High Streets unique, but to their artists and designer suppliers. Regrettably it’s too late for that gallery, but others need our valuable support, and this is why we started our campaign JUST A CARD - to encourage people to appreciate just how invaluable every single purchase is.

I love the idea of this campaign. It's a great reminder that you don't have to suddenly start spending all your money on handmade stuff or swap your supermarket shop for local/organic everything to make mindful spending choices. Just remember that whatever small purchases you can make from designer/makers and from the independent shops on your local high street are important, and valued.

I'm lucky to have a local sewing shop that I can pop into in haberdashery emergencies, and a fantastic local art supplies shop too, and several arts groups in my local area organise awesome pop up shops and markets for artists and designer/makers.... but without customers, these things will vanish!

Buying a reel of thread or a tube of paint or just a card might not be much, but it's something... and it's something that I will be trying to do a bit more of from now on. 

Visit the JUST A CARD website for more info, to grab a button to share on your blog or to download flyers and posters.