Small Business – Esselle Crafts

I am super excited to share that I have opened a brand NEW Etsy shop called Esselle Crafts Makes!

Continuing my lifelong passion for papercraft and upcycling, I am making good use of any scrap paper materials that I find and turning them into beautiful, upcycled art ♻️

Some of my zero waste, eco-friendly greeting cards are already in the shop, including these that I made out of old wall calendars.

Three square greeting cards made from upcycled wall calendars. Two of them feature bees and butterflies and the other one features capybaras.

I also have several greeting cards featuring colourful mosaic designs. I originally made each of the mosaics out of upcycled cardboard packaging, then scanned them and had them printed onto high quality 300gsm card.

A square greeting card with a green mosaic heart design on the front made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging.

All of my cards come complete with a recycled brown kraft envelope, but these cards also make great gifts for home decor. Framing the card and displaying it instantly turns it into a unique piece of art 💚

A square greeting card with a green mosaic heart design on the front made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging. The card is displayed in a square frame on a shelf.

Speaking of art, I have also been busy making my own recycled Kraft card frames for my original mosaics! They are super lightweight, weighing just 50g, so they can easily be propped up on a shelf or fixed to the wall using a poster strip or an adhesive hook.

A red mosaic heart design made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame.

My upcycled mosaic art looks amazing displayed like this 🥰 I can also customise them with any short word, name or initial that you would like to have across it (up to 5 characters). Here are some examples:

A pink mosaic heart design made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame. The word MUM is displayed across the middle in white capital letters.

A rainbow mosaic heart design made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame. The word PRIDE is displayed across the middle in white capital letters.

They make great personalised gifts for Valentine’s day, birthdays, wedding anniversaries, or to celebrate Pride month or Earth Day 🌍

A red mosaic heart design made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame. The word RUBY is displayed across the middle in white capital letters.

My aim is to continue creating unique art from any packaging or paper materials that I find so that nothing goes to waste – even the tiniest scrap of card can’t escape me!

I’ll also be making good use of my own papercraft templates to make some beautiful, upcycled gift packaging! ♻️

Don’t forget to check out my NEW Etsy shop!

Three square greeting cards made from upcycled wall calendars handmade by Esselle Crafts. Also two mosaic heart designs made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame.

Happy upcycling! ♻️
Suzanne

Back in June 2020, I became a #SBS official winner over on Twitter after entering Small Business Sunday! This is a weekly initiative, set up by Theo Paphitis in 2010, which now has over 4,000 #SBS winners and supports small businesses here in the UK. 2025 sees the 15th anniversary of #SBS Small Business Sunday, since Theo launched it in October 2010.

Small Business Sunday official winners badge awarded to Esselle Crafts

I’d entered several times before, with no joy, and so I changed my pitch slightly and was thrilled to find out the following evening that I was one of six small businesses to gain a repost by Theo to his half a million Twitter followers!

A tweet from Theo Paphitis welcoming Esselle Crafts and five other small businesses as his Small Business Sunday winners

It’s incredible to have support from Theo because he’s recognised all of my hard work and has helped spread the word about what I do to his following. I was so thrilled I created this box card ‘award’ to celebrate my achievement! 🎉

A 3D paper craft box card made in the style of an award with stars popping out of it to celebrate Esselle Crafts winning SBS

Part of being a #sbswinner means that you are invited to attend the #SBSwinners event each year in Birmingham. For many reasons I was unable to attend until this year and, oh my goodness, it was amazing!

A view towards the stage at the SBS event 2025 inside the Birmingham ICC

I got to meet and network with lots of other winners, had opportunities to hear from businesses such as Google and Natwest on how to grow in business and got to hear from Theo Paphitis who spoke on stage. He is thrilled to welcome new #SBS members every week and highlight just how important it is to support small businesses here in the UK. His vision is that everyone who has ever won a #SBS re-tweet from him becomes part of a friendly club; like-minded individuals who can share successes and learnings.

A view of Theo Paphitis on the stage at the SBS event 2025 inside the Birmingham ICC

At the end of the event I collected my certificate and queued up to meet Theo and have a photograph taken with him. Such a proud moment!

Suzanne from Esselle Crafts receiving her SBS winners certificate from Theo Paphitis at the SBS event in Birmingham 2025

Anyone looking for a small business boost from Theo should post to him on X, LinkedIn or Instagram about their business on Sundays between 5pm and 7.30pm and include the hashtag #SBS. Six lucky businesses are chosen every Monday at 8pm and then invited to enter their profile on the #SBS website, attend the annual #SBS networking event and take advantage of the networking opportunities made available.

Absolutely can’t wait until next year to do it all again!

Suzanne

Tag: Small Business

NEW Handmade Etsy Shop 🎉

#SBS Winners Event 2025