About

MarJo's Gift Shop was originally named Fair Designs and was started April 2024, it was a happy little accident.

Initially I was sewing things for friends and family, then I started getting requests so I started making more, charging peanuts just to have enough money to buy more fabric, I was enjoying myself so much that eventually my output exceeded the demand so I needed somewhere to sell them. I came across a local outdoor event that was happening in June 24 costing £15 per pitch, we already had a gazebo so I went for it, we also had some fold up tables so I just bought some tablecloths to make it look a bit more presentable and made as much items as I could beforehand, I also found I had to get 'Public Liability Insurance' as well. The day arrived and I sold one item for £5.50 - but - I was buzzing, my husband had come along to help and support me and we both said we loved it, the atmosphere the music the people coming in to see what I had and the chats we had, absolutely loved it. While still at this event I said to my husband that I'd like to do another one and he said he was more than happy to help and support me, now my husband loves flying model airplanes and he knew of a 2 day event happening Aug/Sept 24 so I emailed them there and then, they emailed back within an hour, we could attend this 2 day event and have our caravan parked behind our gazebo all for £90 plus we could arrive from the Thursday prior and leave the following Monday - guess what - I booked it. 

I then went into production mode to make as many things as I could, as the event got closer I started to panic, worrying I wouldn't have enough stock, my husband suggested buying a mug press, some mugs and ready printed clipart to have a few mugs on the table to bulk up my stock so that's what we did, it certainly took the pressure off me and I started to relax. We didn't stop there, next thing we knew we purchased a t-shirt press, a sublimation printer and at least 4,000 clipart images, we then built our range of products to include mugs, coasters, mouse mats, bags and greeting cards, how did we get to selling a few mugs to all these products, I don't know but it was fun. It also gave me new things I had to think about like inventory, ID No's, how people were going to pay for items, I have a lot of spreadsheets and I purchased a SumUp card reader.

I said to my husband we've actually started a business now, we can't call this a hobby anymore, well my husband is retired and said that he was happy to help at events with setting up and keeping me company but he didn't want to be a part of a business so as I am still of working age I took this on as my business.