Selling handmade cards in the UK: can you use that artwork?

A handmade card can contain your own paper cutting, a purchased illustration and a short personalised message. The assembly may take considerable skill while the illustration still belongs to somebody else. Before making stock, examine the artwork separately from the physical materials. This guide addresses the copyright decision for a UK greeting-card shop, then shows how to keep approved designs linked to the cards you prepare and dispatch.

Can I sell handmade cards with pictures I found online? #

The UK copyright overview explains that original illustration and photography are protected automatically. A missing copyright symbol does not remove that protection. The guidance on using someone else’s work identifies permission, acquiring rights or an applicable exception as possible bases for use. Merely finding an image through a search engine does not tell you which basis applies to your proposed product.

Start with the source of the file. Find who created it and who can grant the relevant rights. A shop that supplies a printable design may have permission to supply it under particular conditions; that does not mean every use is unrestricted. Read the terms associated with the asset you bought. If you cannot connect the permission to that image and your intended card sales, resolve the gap before building the collection around it.

Also separate a finished card from an editable file. Selling the physical product, sharing the illustration with a printer and offering a digital download are different proposed uses to check. You do not need to assume that all are forbidden or all are allowed. You need terms that answer the activities your shop actually performs, including the product photographs you plan to publish.

Does buying a stamp or image file let me sell cards made with it? #

Buying an object or a file is not the same as acquiring its copyright. GOV.UK illustrates this distinction with buying a painting versus using reproductions of it. For a craft asset, examine the accompanying commercial-use permission and its scope. A receipt establishes what you purchased, but may not state what reproductions you can make. Keep the terms together with the receipt so the two parts of the decision remain visible.

Where a supplier offers a craft policy, check the exact assets and activities covered. Record any conditions relevant to your own production method or sales channel. Do not invent a quantity limit because another supplier uses one, and do not assume that another seller’s policy applies to this purchase. The useful outcome is a clear answer for your design, rather than a general statement that commercial craft assets exist.

Can I redraw or crop an image to avoid copyright? #

The Intellectual Property Office’s notice on images explains that copying a substantial part can infringe even without copying the whole work. Substantial is not simply a percentage of the picture. Taking an image and adapting it without permission will usually infringe, subject to relevant permitted acts. Do not use a supposed change-a-few-details rule as your product-development method.

For a card range, separate inspiration from a copied asset in your own design record. Save your sketches and note any external material you actually incorporated. This is a suggested studio practice, not a compulsory sketchbook format. It helps you answer a specific question later: did the finished fox illustration come from your drawing process, or from tracing a picture whose licence you never established?

Adding a name, ribbon or new background does not itself answer the rights question about an incorporated image. Review that part on its own. If a design depends on an unresolved source, keep it out of the ready-to-sell list while you obtain suitable permission or develop a different design. That is easier before printing than after the illustration has become the visual identity of an entire seasonal range.

Who owns artwork I commissioned for my card shop? #

The IPO guidance on ownership says the creator is usually the first owner. For commissioned work, the person or organisation creating it normally owns the copyright unless otherwise agreed in writing. The position for work made by an employee in the course of employment is different. Do not treat a freelance illustration invoice as though it automatically gives your shop ownership of the drawing.

Before commissioning, describe the use you need: physical greeting cards, shop photographs, packaging and any additional products you genuinely plan. Decide whether a licence meets that need or whether ownership is to be transferred. Make that decision visible in the agreement. A request for a birthday illustration can otherwise leave both sides with different expectations about a later wedding range or downloadable invitation.

Can I use a vintage illustration on a handmade card? #

The government guide to duration gives 70 years after the author’s death as the usual period for artistic work and notes that older works can require more specific guidance. The relevant fact is not simply the date printed below a picture. Establish the author and the work being used, then investigate the applicable protection rather than assuming that everything described as vintage is outside copyright.

Be careful about what you downloaded. The historic subject and the particular image file may raise different questions; consult the IPO image guidance when the source is a photograph or another reproduction. Note uncertainties instead of filling them with a guessed death date. For a small catalogue, prioritise artwork whose status you can establish clearly rather than spending the entire launch on a source you cannot identify.

If an image has been supplied with an open licence, check that licence as the basis for your use. Expiry and permission are different routes to a decision; you do not need to pretend one is the other. Retain the source information you relied on, particularly when the download page may later change. That record explains why the design was approved when you made your cards.

How do I keep licence terms linked to a seasonal card range? #

1. 1

   Identify every incorporated asset

   Record the illustration or photograph reference and its creator or supplier. Separate your original work from external assets.

2. 2

   Resolve the intended uses

   Check permission for the physical product and relevant shop images. Include outside manufacture or digital products only if you actually intend them.

3. 3

   Save the decision with the design

   Keep agreements, applicable terms and source information beside the approved artwork version. Mark unresolved designs as pending.

4. 4

   Prepare stock from the approved version

   Give each physical card a clear product reference. Revisit the permission before changing the design, sales use or manufacture.

Use a record you can maintain between seasons: design name, asset source, rights basis and approved use. Keep terms linked to a particular card rather than collecting unlabelled screenshots. For a snowflake design, you should be able to identify the exact asset without remembering last year’s purchase.

What does dispatch cost for a boxed handmade-card order? #

For a boxed order rather than one letter, AirPost’s carrier-only index, retrieved on 10 October 2026, showed UK → UK from €2.96 at 2 kg. The index displays euros; this is not a sterling quotation. If the packed order qualifies for the relevant small-parcel service, adding €0.85 platform cost and €2.25 recommended preparation gives €6.06 for those three items.

The sender chooses their actual preparation fee. Paper protection, the outer box, stock transfer and artwork licensing are outside this calculation. Measure the finished order before selecting the delivery product; a decorative card with raised components may need a different package from a flat pack. The 2 kg example does not establish the cheapest way to send one card, and should not be advertised as a universal card-postage price.

For packing, try your actual card in its proposed protection and check that the envelope and decorations remain correctly positioned. This is an internal preparation check, not proof of carrier compensation. With AirPost’s local fulfilment, a person near your customers can pack and drop off orders from stock you provide. The first-order walkthrough explains the handover; send only your approved card versions.