How and Why I’ve Licensed My Christian Greeting Card Designs
Over the last few months, something exciting has been happening behind the scenes at And Hope Designs. Some of my Christian greeting card designs are now being licensed for business-to-business sales!
Teal Press is an award-winning, family-owned Christian publisher and trade distributor, established in 1985. Based in Norfolk, they supply Christian greeting cards, gifts, and stationery to retailers across the UK and Ireland, primarily through Christian bookshops. They’re also the UK distributor for leading Christian brand DaySpring, giving them an established network within the Christian retail market.
This year, Teal Press has entered into a licensing agreement with four small, local businesses, and I’m one of them! But what does that actually mean? How did it come about, and why have I decided to share my work in this way?
Personally, I love learning about the ins and outs of running a creative business, and I suspect you might too, so today I’m going to share the story behind this new chapter…
What Does ‘Licensing’ Actually Mean?
In simple terms, licensing means another company has permission to use one of my existing designs on their own products.
I still own the artwork. It’s still my design. But instead of only appearing on my greeting cards and products I sell through And Hope Designs, the design can now be used elsewhere too. It’s like I’m renting out some of my artwork rather than selling it.
The company pays for permission to use the design for an agreed purpose, usually for a particular product, territory, and length of time. In this case, Teal Press has exclusive rights to use the designs they chose on greeting cards for business-to-business sales.
This means I can no longer sell these card designs wholesale. Selling directly to customers is fine, so nothing has changed on my website. They haven’t altered my designs, but they have chosen scripture to include inside each card, and some now have a specific purpose. For example, when you buy it from me, my ‘I have found the one my soul loves’ design is printed on textured card and is blank inside, but Teal Press has modified it to be a wedding card.
Why Did I Want to License My Greeting Card Designs?
Licensing allows my designs to reach people who might never come across And Hope Designs otherwise.
I have a wonderful small business, and I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who buys something from me, follows me on Instagram, subscribes to my newsletter, reads my blog, or shares my work with a friend. But there are limits to how many people I can reach on my own. Licensing removes these barriers. Teal Press will be taking my artwork further than I can take it myself.
Printing and packing wholesale orders can also take a really long time, so having some of that done for me is really attractive. For now, only 11 of my designs are licensed, but they plan to take on another 10 or 12 every term, so that bit by bit, someone else will be handling a lot of my Christian wholesale orders.
How Did this Opportunity Come About?
This is probably the bit that feels most surreal to me!
I didn't have a big five-year plan to license my designs. It wasn’t a goal I was actively chasing. Instead, it came about because someone saw my work, liked it, and got in touch. I received a random, out-of-the-blue email on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon.
Now, I get a lot of random out-of-the-blue emails, and most of them are spam. But a couple of months earlier, someone I know and trust had posted on Instagram about working with Teal Press. They were already on my radar, I’d looked at their website, and I was already interested before they contacted me.
Over the years, I've learnt you never really know who is looking at what you make. A product might be sitting on your website. Someone might see it on Instagram. Someone else might pick up one of your cards in a shop. While you’re diligently running your business, somewhere else, someone is thinking, ‘I wonder if she'd be interested in doing this?’ That's essentially what happened here!
Is There Anything Else We Should Know About Licensing?
There is, of course, a lot more to licensing than simply saying, ‘yes, you can use my artwork!’
Contracts, terms, permissions, and more need to be agreed. If you’re reading this because you’re considering licensing artwork, questions to answer include:
- What products can the artwork appear on?
- Where can they be sold?
- For how long?
- What will you be paid, and how will payment be made?
- Which designs can be used?
- How will the artwork be reproduced?
- What rights do you retain?
- And, importantly for me, does this fit with the values and ethos of my business?
I'm quite protective of my artwork, and I'm also protective of the messages I'm putting into the world. I wanted to make sure that licensing was done in a way that felt right for me and for the business. At first glance, Teal Press ticked a lot of boxes.
Next, I needed to check the quality of their products. If they were going to be printing some of my designs on greeting cards, I wanted to make sure they were using good quality cardstock. This is one of the things I pride myself on, and I didn’t want to do anything that might dilute my brand and the trust I’ve built with customers.
After the initial email, I had a phone call with Alison, who I’ve been dealing with throughout. She confirmed they have in-house printers and they use 350gsm cardstock and lovely thick envelopes. They choose new designs to license every couple of months, and I get a copy of each card to approve before it goes into their catalogue and is shown to hundreds of Christian bookshops nationwide.
What Does Licensing Mean for And Hope Designs?
This development feels like an important milestone. And Hope Designs has grown very organically – slowly and at a pace I’ve been able to manage as a mother of four young children who has plenty of other things to juggle.
I didn't start with investment, a big team, or a detailed business plan, and I still don't have any of these things almost seven years later. I began with a handful of cards and no real goals other than to enjoy creating. Since then, the business has grown into something I could never have predicted when I started. Licensing feels like another step in that journey.
It’s a new way to spread messages of hope and encouragement, and another stream of income for my business. It means I can keep doing what I love — creating artwork and developing designs — while letting those designs live beyond my own shop.
Couldn’t You Just Do This on Your Own?
Not as easily, no. Over the years, I have regularly emailed cathedral bookshops and a few other Christian bookshops about being stocked with them. While I have received a few responses, this is slow, hard work.
Collaborating with Teal Press accelerates this process. They already have the connections and contacts. They also have a sales team that travels and visits these places showing the designs in real life which is something I simply cannot do.
What I particularly love about our agreement is that they handle the sales, printing, packaging, and outreach. This means my designs can reach a much wider audience without me suddenly needing a warehouse full of every card in large quantities. My home office is already overflowing with cards and other products!
But Why License Christian Designs Specifically?
This is the market I’m most passionate about, and the people I hope to bring joy and encouragement to through my modern designs.
I don't just want to make pretty things. I want the things I make to say something. Faith has always been at the heart of my brand. Whether it's a Bible verse, a line from a hymn, a reminder of who we are in Christ, or simply a little message encouraging someone to keep going, I want my products to point people towards the hope we have in Jesus.
This is a niche I think has been neglected for a while, so a lot of the designs available are very out-of-date. It’s also a niche I love and have a heart for.
Does this Change Anything about the And Hope Designs We Already Know and Love?
No — and yes!
The original And Hope Designs products aren't disappearing, and you can still get them as-is on my website and at markets. But, if you shop in a local Christian bookshop or cathedral, some of those designs may also appear on cards in a slightly different form.
This is the bit I'm really looking forward to! Hopefully, one day I’ll pop into a shop while away on holiday and spot a greeting card I recognise!! Seeing a design that started life in my sketchbook appearing somewhere completely unexpected is rather wonderful. Last year, one of my Christmas cards was given to the librarians at the library I go to, and not by me! Having this happen on a larger scale is very exciting.
Where Can We Buy the Licensed Designs?
They are now available through The Christian Gift Company. If you run a business, you can also get them on the Teal Press website, or chat to their sales team when they are next in your area so you can see the cards in real life before placing an order.
Of course, you can still purchase the original And Hope Designs greeting cards and gifts directly from my own shop. This is still the best way to support me and my work, particularly if you value buying from a small business. Every order helps me keep designing, experimenting, and making new things.
Thanks for Stopping By
I don't think I'll ever get used to opportunities like this. Part of me still finds it slightly ridiculous that something I started at my kitchen table has grown into a business where other companies want to license my artwork and pay me royalties!
If you’d like to learn more about my creative process, how I’ve built my business, and what I’ve learned along the way, I’d encourage you to explore the links below…
