Mums in Business: Samigail’s Handmade Personalised Gifts
Mother-of-two Fiona Morris, was a successful solicitor before starting her family. After having her second child, she soon realised that she wanted to stay at home full time with her young children. Added to this was the discovery that many other mums also make, the cost of childcare is so expensive that any financial benefit of returning to work would be lost. Pushed deep to the back of her mind, Fiona harboured a secret dream of running her own business. It was not long until a quiet Christmas hobby was to turn her dream into a reality.
Only as far back as Christmas 2007, Fiona found a craft hobby was to be her future business success. Fiona says “My husband asked me for some present ideas. I enjoy many crafts but wanted to learn a new one. I set about looking for a new craft so I could have materials as my Christmas present. I stumbled across pyrography (wood burning) and decided I would buy myself the pyrography iron in advance of Christmas as I had in mind to make the children personalised Christmas decorations.”
Teaching her self through trial, error and more than one ‘blobby mess’, Fiona soon got the hand of pyrography. So much so, that she made personalised Christmas decorations for the children of her friends too.
“The idea came about that there was a commercial venture in the decorations and I started to sell them at the occasional school fair,” she explains. “ To begin with, my children were my inspiration and I made gifts that were ideal for my own children – such as an artwork hanger for the kitchen, and door name plaques.”
As well as providing inspiration for her products, Fiona named her business Samigail, after coming up with a charming combination of her own children’s names.
“They provided me with inspiration for a lot of the gifts and the drive to make a go of it, it seemed only fitting they were at least included in the name in some way,” she says.
By the end of February 2009, Samigail stepped up pace. “ I decided if I was going to turn it into a business I had to get more serious about it and looked into an online shop of my own,” says Fiona. “I researched websites and decided to keep costs as low as possible I would make my own website. It certainly gave me a challenge and the learning curve was steep.”
With a healthy sized stock of 90 different items ranging from wedding gifts, new baby plaques and keyrings, Samigale’s first month of trading saw Fiona immediately begin to recoup her expenses.
Fitting in her business around her family has not been a major upheaval for Fiona either. “A lot of the work I do in the evenings or while my daughter is at nursery school, had the added bonus attached that I can still be a full-time mum to the children.”
She also feels a great deal of responsibility for creating such important landmark gifts for her customers. “I have been overwhelmed with the amazing comments left as customer feedback on the website, she says. “I always feel very privileged to be making many of the gifts – especially a gift such as a baby’s 1st Christmas as it’s such a special feeling celebrating your baby’s 1st Christmas. I feel very honoured with the faith put into my products that they are going to be part of such a special celebration.”
Chopsy Baby loves these Samigail Christmas decorations.
This wooden tree decoration can be personalised for a new baby. £4
This Christmas Nativity Plaque can also carry a personal message on the back. £5