For Moments Big + Little.
Having been born in two separate parts of the north of England, our families both moved in our early years and settled on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire.
Our paths first crossed in 2005 towards the end of high school, and again in 2009 whilst James was at University, and I was at College studying Media Studies.
After we finished our studies, James went onto working in the leisure industry in gyms for 10 years, working his way up from Café Worker to General Manager, whilst I started out my career volunteering for a local Web design company to get my foot in the door, where I progressed to become their Senior Designer and Accounts Manager.
In 2015 for health reasons, I decided to go freelance as a web designer and a year later left the industry completely to pursue a dream of becoming a full-time illustrator and designer.
In the following 2 years I dabbled here and there with selling different items; from prints to planners and stationery, then towards the end of 2018 I opened this current Etsy shop under the name One48 Paper, exclusively selling bridal greeting cards. The shop took off considerably after one of my cards went viral on a wedding Facebook group.
Twenty-Nineteen was a big year for us as we tied the knot in spring, and by summer I’d expanded the shop further by adding our, now bestselling, map prints into the mix. Then in the autumn we found out we had a little one on the way!
When COVID hit everything changed, and a few months after our son was born, James got made redundant and we had a massive, ‘Well what now!!’ moment. Once the initial panic had subsided, we put our heads together and decided it was now or never to make a go of this biz together. So at the beginning of 2021 we rebranded as Studio One48, invested in a laser cutter and set off on our journey of expanding into the world of laser engraved gifts.
Over the next 18 months we grew our product range enormously, adding coasters, keyrings and signs to the laser side which then enabled me the time to start creating our first hand-illustrated ranges of cards and prints, which now feature in our Safari Friends, Dino Pals and On the Farm collections.
After finding our feet in laser cutting, we expanded again to add a whole new arm to the business of acrylic cake décor, including cake toppers and charms to celebrate birthdays, weddings, babies and more!
Now as we enter another chapter we have embraced the new direction we want to take the business and have rebranded as Boldly Whittle. We’ll continue to create unique personalised gifts and keepsakes to help you celebrate all of life’s milestones, no matter how big or little.