Mother and daughter’s love of Cricut leads to successful business

17 June 2021

We’ve learned that thanks to Cricut, sometimes, dreams really do come true. We were humbled to hear about this Mother-daughter combo, where a joint love of crafting led to a successful Cricut business and couldn’t wait to share their story with you.

Where it all began

Mother-daughter duo Sue (56) and Hannah (33), from Buckinghamshire, had been using their Cricut for personalised gifts for friends, work displays and supporting community groups. They saw the joy handcrafted and personalised gifts brought to people and turned their passion into a family business, setting up Strange Magic Crafts. The duo saw their most successful year yet during the pandemic with the quality of gifts produced with Cricut leading to positive reviews and repeat purchases.

Lifelong crafters Sue and Hannah have always been close. They set up Strange Magic Crafts, a successful craft business, together, in 2018. The business, specialising in customised gifts and drinkware, has enjoyed real growth over the last 12-18 months with products available through their Etsy shop as well as local, independent handcraft stores run by the Craft Coop.

Sue has been crafting for over 30 years, trying everything from decoupage to scrapbooking, but it was when she first bought a Cricut Explore™ in 2007 that she realised the potential and versatility the machine would bring to her crafting. She introduced Hannah and they have been fans ever since, now using Sue’s Cricut Joy™, Cricut Explore™ and Cricut Maker to create personalised gifts for friends, displays at work and t-shirts for local community groups. They saw first-hand the joy that creating a handcrafted, personalised item can bring people.

Building a business with Cricut

Hannah, a full-time teacher, suggested turning this joint passion for crafting into a business in 2018. Huge Disney fans, the inspiration for the business came from creating their own personalised t-shirts to take on trips to DisneyWorld.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK in 2020, Hannah moved back in with her parents, and this gave an unexpected boost to the business. Sue and Hannah were able to spend more time working together on new designs, creating more products and focusing on developing their social media presence. Coupled with an increase in consumers buying local, buying independent and buying from businesses able to provide products that were current, they experienced their most successful year with a water bottle supporting the NHS, their top-seller.

Sue says: “It’s wonderful working with my daughter, and we’re lucky that we get on so well and are equally passionate about crafting with Cricut and building our business. We recognise each other’s strengths so take different roles within the business. There will always be times we have frustrations or creative differences but being family means we can overcome these more easily.”

For anyone looking to start their own business, Sue has the following advice: “It’s so important to learn by reading everything you can and just being patient – don’t expect it all to happen overnight! Try to find your niche and work within that by developing different ideas and designs to see what works. We’ve found that using Cricut products has given our business and products a quality that ensures good reviews and repeat purchases which is so important for us as a small business.”

Find Strange Magic Crafts Online

Strange Magic Crafts Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/StrangeMagicCrafts

Strange Magic Crafts Instagram:https://www.facebook.com/strangemagiccrafts/

Strange Magic Crafts Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/strangemagiccrafts/