Carte Blanche Greetings might not be the most familiar name within the garden centre community, however nearly all will have heard of the much loved Me to You brand with its cute signature character, Tatty Teddy, the unique grey bear with a blue nose. With an established heritage producing beautiful, quality plush, 2018 sees the exciting launch of new animal-centric soft toy brand All Creatures. 

  Founded in 1987 by Stephen Haines on a dream and a collection of just 12 greetings cards, Carte Blanche Greetings has grown from strength to strength. Today, the Carte Blanche Group is an award winning creator, distributor and licensor of character-branded products, including greeting cards, toys, gifts, apparel, confectionery, nursery and homeware. 

  Its latest creation, All Creatures, is testimony to Carte Blanche’s passion and expertise in creating highly desirable soft toys. It also sees the return of Paul Haines in a key consulting role. Paul was involved not only in the creation of the first Tatty Teddy plush, but also has 30 years of experience in the plush business, producing everything from the first BBC approved Pudsey Bear for Children in Need to own-label plush for Claire’s and Next. 

  Paul’s 30-year pedigree in plush is matched by his credentials on the animal front, as a proud owner of his own West Country farm with resident sheep, alpacas and chickens. This setting within a beautiful part of the East Devonshire countryside provided plenty of inspiration during character development. The little tuft of hair on Camilla the Cow from the All Creatures Farm Collection has a real life twin out in a field enjoying farm life. 

  It is the combination of cute with real-life animal characteristics that gives each All Creature its unique personality. Every animal comes with its own name and fascinating ‘Did you know?’ fact. For instance, did you know that the humble chicken is actually the closest living relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex? 

  In addition to perfecting the blend of cute and real, a huge amount of attention has been spent on refining their tactile appeal. Premium quality fabrics and materials have been used to bring these animals to life. 
  There are three themed ranges in this new brand debut: Safari, Wildlife and Farm, encompassing 18 animal characters, across two sizes of plush as well as a plush keyring, available on a specially created FSDU. With many toys suitable from birth, these have great appeal as a gift as well as a self-purchase item. 

  Since its launch in March, these new All Creatures collections have had fantastic reception from buyers and customers alike. Among the new All Creatures fans is Lauren Wareing - Buyer at Bents Garden and Home (The UK's Best Garden Centre 2017/2018), who says, ‘The new All Creatures Collection has flown off the shelves, our customers cannot get enough of all the different characters and we love them too!’  
 

For more information about the new All Creatures collections or to keep up to date with new collections like the new All Creatures Frozen Collection launching in October, please contact National Account Manager LAURA LEIGH MILLS mobile number 07739 297084 or email Laura-Leigh.Mills@cbg.co.uk. Please visit www.allcreaturescollection.com to view the full collection.