2023 Reflection

As we come to the end of this year, I find myself taking a pause to reflect, not on what might have been, but on what has brought me endless joy, challenge, grace and peace. I hope as this year comes to a close you are also able to breathe, put your feet and take some time to be grateful. After all, as William Arthur Ward once said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

January, February & March

Our beautiful boy was born. We chose to call him Chayah, which means ‘life in abundance’ and he has truly lived up to his name every day. He has brought us such life, joy and happiness. As I took time off to spend with my little one, Lauren and Laura worked hard to continue shipping our subscription boxes and products to our wonderful customers. I will always be grateful to my fantastic team for holding the fort while I was on maternity leave.

April, May & June

In Spring we did our big giveaway with Tom’s Studio and were so excited to welcome Lydia Millen; leading creator, influencer and bestselling author, as a new subscriber to The Calligraphy Box. Check out her unboxing videos on our ‘What’s Inside’ page. Christine, my mum, also joined our staff team and has been known as the Oracle of Operations and all things detail ever since!

July, August & September

These were our busy months, and when I say busy, I mean busy! I am not sure why I decided to plan three brand new and crazy business launches in one month, but we did it! First, we released our new community app. This has been a fantastic new space for our subscribers to connect, share and learn. The app also hosts our free downloadable content and our monthly video lessons which makes practicing very easy each month. We wanted to make sure that our first big launch would bless our loyal active subscribers first.

Next, we gave our online shop a new facelift, including new products, photography and offers which has been a real hit.

Last, but by no means least, we launched in America. Many of you may remember that I started talking about this back in early 2022. Mo, my husband, joined our staff team and we started to work towards this dream. It has taken 16 months of hard work to bring it to pass. Launching a business in another country is no joke (especially with a newborn), so I am so thankful to my team and the hard work we all put in to make this possible. We shipped our first international pallet and I felt like I was holding my breath for an entire week while 3000 inks flew across the Atlantic. But they arrived without a single jar being damaged and I breathed the biggest sigh of relief.

October, November & December

The launch of our fantastic new advent calendars was an absolute blast. I still am shocked that they sold out in less than three hours! Thank you so everyone who supported us in this new venture. You can be sure that we will be creating more next year and offering them to you sooner as well.

Sadly, in December we said goodbye to Lauren as she is moving on to start and grow her own business – The Olive Collective, offering delicious Italian foods and artisanal products. We will be opening the doors to new people joining out team here at The Calligraphy Box in the New Year which is very exciting.

This year was a mammoth year. We reached our target of shipping a total of 20,000 boxes and taught many different topics including lowercase flourishing, quill drawing, thank you card & artwork creation, brush calligraphy, calligraphic drawing, capital stem flourishing, gossamer script, business cursive, Christmas designs and border flourishing.

Can I finish with a big thank you! To be able to continue my business after the horrors of Covid is one thing, but to be able to still have a thriving business while I am resting at home with my newborn is truly mind blowing.  Thank you for supporting our small business. You can know that as you do you are not only blessing me and my family but the families of our staff team too. We are here to serve and have so many exciting plans for you in the new year.  

From my heart, thank you.

Jenni