‘I love to sprinkle some fairy magic’
Victoria Moore, 38, lives in Ormskirk, Lancashire, with her husband Jonathan and children, Erin, six, and Nieve, one. She runs Little Letter, creating miniature gift letters.
‘Watching the little girls playing fairies at a party, I couldn’t help thinking how magical children’s imaginations were. If only there was a way I could bottle that and give it as a gift, I thought. Then I had an idea: what about tiny letters from the tooth fairy, which parents could leave under children’s pillows along with a coin.
My daughter Erin was six months old and I was keen to try something new. I ran a business importing furniture but was sick of the not being in control of quality. Plus, I wanted a chance to put my design studies to use.
FAIRY TALE
When I told friends and family I wanted to bring my idea to life, they thought I’d lost the plot but my husband had faith in me, which made all the difference. I sketched out the details: a tiny stamp; a wax seal with a fairy handprint; and a mini magnifying glass to read the letter with.
The only problem was, I had no idea how to create them! But when I popped into a local graphics shop and asked for help, a designer agreed to create the templates I wanted for £150.
I watched Youtube tutorials on wax seal techniques, and when I tracked down tiny ready-made magnifying glasses and little boxes that could be posted as letters, I was ready to launch.
In August 2013
I set up a website and Etsy shop, selling my letters for £14.99 each. I’d spent around £1,000, but I didn’t know how to market my products, and sales were slow – about 40 a month.
In a last-ditch attempt to turn things around, I applied to online retailer Notonthehighstreet.com with the fairy letters and some new Valentine’s designs I’d created. Customers could write a personalised love note, which came with a magnifying glass and mini photo frame for them to put a picture of
their loved one. I was thrilled when I was accepted and soon I was hitting 700 orders a month. I took on my first part-time member of staff to help put the kits together, which freed me up to develop new products. I created letters for Mother’s and Father’s Days, new babies, christenings and Christmas.
In 2014, Notonthehighstreet featured my Christmas letter in its TV advert. In 2016, we broke into the wedding market, and now we average 2,000 sales a month with a turnover of £180,000.
Erin’s six now and still believes fairies work in my office with me. Sometimes I even put pretend fairy footprints on the steps outside to convince her!’ • littleletter.co.uk