Teen has raked in £74k since summer thanks to mum's £150 Christmas gift

A 17 year old lad is raking in nearly £15,000 a month with his personalised sticker business, all thanks to a craft kit he received as a Christmas gift from his mum. Caelan McDonald was gifted a £150 Cricut Joy - a digital drawing, cutting and printing machine - two years ago by his mother, Karen Newsham, 49.

The teen, from Lancaster, began creating transfers which he applied to glassware and acrylic, and after sharing his creations on Facebook, he started receiving commissions for personalised items. By the start of 2024, he was selling around 200 personalised items a month, working three hours a day after college.

Now, having left school and invested in large industrial printers, he has sold £74,000 worth of goods on TikTok shop and other platforms since July. His best seller this Christmas is a bauble featuring personalised angel wings.

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Working 16-hour days six days a week, Caelan is on track to make £100,000 worth of sales by the end of the financial year. "It's 100% the best Christmas present I ever got - it's the gift that keeps on giving," said Caelan.

"I never imagined it would get to this point. If you'd have told me last year that this would happen I'd have just laughed."

"It kind of started accidentally. In June I thought 'I'll just give it a try', and it's gone crazy."

"Now I'm so busy I hardly ever stop. The last few months have gone so fast it feels like they've been about two seconds.

"I just invest everything back into the business, but it's nice to be able to update my phone or iPad when I want or need to."

Karen, who is employed in hospitality, said: "I'm incredibly proud of him, and so glad he's followed his