Soooo this happened!
In August, I entered a Greeting Card Association (GCA), Ohh Deer and Sainsbury’s design competition on Instagram. The GCA teamed up with Sainsbury’s to provide a very exciting opportunity for designers like myself to have our greeting cards stocked in 107 stores across the UK throughout the month of October in celebration of Black History Month.
The GCA said that they had 999 entries and could only choose 26 designs, and I am very proud to say that one of my submitted designs was selected!
My winning design
I entered several designs for this competition. Each design celebrated the diversity of people from African diaspora and were taken from my existing Royalty Collection.
My designs use bright colouring, unique portrait illustration and empowering messaging, which I believe are perfect ways to celebrate not only Black History Month, but every occasion.
The winning design features the wording ‘You Are a Queen‘ and a stunning portrait of a joyful black woman with short hair. With no specific occasion, it can be sent to your recipient on their birthday, wedding day or during any special time during which they need a positive affirmation. You could even keep it for yourself and frame it!
The story behind the design
This design originates from my Crown & Story collection. I first created it to celebrate women with short hair after my mum lost her hair to chemotherapy over 2 years ago. I hope it helps women with short hair (by choice or circumstance) feel beautiful and represented as it’s rare to see on greeting cards and in general media.
Where to shop!
My You Are A Queen cards can be found in the following large Sainsbury’s stores:
Ashton Moss
Badger Farm
Bamber Bridge
Banbury
Barnstaple
Beckton
Bicester
Bishop Auckland
Blackhall
Bognor Regis
Braehead
Brentwood
Broadcut
Bybrook
Calcot
Cannock
Cameron Toll
Carlisle
Castle Court
Castlepoint
Cheadle
Chesterfield
Chichester
Cobham
Colne
Crayford
Crystal Palace
Crystal Peaks
Darnley
Darlington
Durham
East Mayne
East Kilbride
Edenthorpe
Edinburgh Longstone
Ellesmere Port
Emersons Grn
Halifax
Hamilton
Hampden Park
Hankridge Farm
Harrogate
Hayes
Haywards Heath
Hazel Grove
Heaton Newcastle
Heaton Park
Hempstead Valley
Heyford Hill
High Wycombe
Irvine
Kempshott
Kidderminster
Kiln Lane
Kings Lynn Hardwick
Leamington
Leicester North
Leigh
Lincoln
Livingston
London Colney
Longbridge
Longwater
Low Hall
Mansfield
Milton Keynes
Monks Cross
Newbury
Newport
North Cheam
Oldham
Osmaston Park
Penzance
Pepper Hill
Pound Lane
Preston
Prestwick
Purley Way
Romford
Rugby
Rustington
Salford
Scarborough
Sedgefield
Sevenoaks
Shorehead
Springfield
Sprucefield
Stanway
Stirling
St Clares
Sunderland
Sunderland North
Swadlincote
Sydenham
Tamworth
Thetford
Upton
Wakefield Marsh Way
Wandsworth
Warren Heath
Washington
Watchmoor Park
Wednesfield
Weedon Rd
West Belfast
White Rose
Wigan
So, please visit the store, buy a card and take photos! You can tag me on Instagram (@leanne_creative), Twitter (@leannecreative), Facebook (@leannecreative) and TikTok (@leannecreative). Buying a card (and hopefully selling out) may lead to more orders from major stores such as Sainsbury’s and would be a huge achievement for me as a small business and us as a nation in celebrating and representing diversity.
Thank you so much in advance!