A Carlisle greetings card business has officially launched its first online marketplace.

In 2017, Carlisle duo John Kelso and Ben Little founded You Said It, a small print and design company based in Denton Holme, Carlisle, specialising in funny cards and mugs.

The pandemic saw many people turn to the internet for their greetings cards and that, coupled with a wider variety of designs, saw the business really take off.

Since then sales have remained strong with the pair enjoying busy periods on the run up to Christmas as well as other key dates like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

As well as cards for special occasions, You Said It offers a huge range of greetings cards for birthdays, anniversaries and new babies.

To continue its growth, You Said It has now officially launched its own marketplace. Designers are able to upload their own artwork and select which channels they would like it to be sold on.

John said: "It’s exciting to be able to offer our designers the ability to easily list their card designs on a variety of platforms. We get to sell fantastic new designs and those that work with us earn money from sales across the internet without having to pay for marketing or manage sales channels and inventory."

Designer accounts are free to open and can be created in minutes. At first designers can add up to 10 designs with the option to add more once the You Said It team are happy with the quality and content of the artwork.

Ben said: "We encourage anyone with great graphic design skills who’s interested in making some extra money to consider signing up."

You Said It are also committed to keeping their carbon footprint low, and plant a tree for every 30 cards they sell.

John adds: "We’re a small company but we have a big customer base which we’re keen for our designers to benefit from."

"We’re also very aware of environmental issues. Even as a small independent company we try to make sure that we’re environmentally friendly in everything that we do."