An entrepreneur has been playing her cards right to build a successful new business.

Emma Goold, from Brighton, set up Belle Etoille six months ago to produce handmade greeting cards.

She has been selling the cards to boutique outlets around the city, including Malarkey and Graffiti and has just secured her first order from a London store.

Although she has no formal artistic training, her talent has already been recognised. Emma has been nominated as one of four finalists for the young designer of the year at the "Henry's" - the UK greeting cards industry awards.

Emma previously worked as a PR professional in London but decided to stop promoting other people's products and start making her own after returning from a year abroad with her husband, Pete.

She said: "Commuting back and forth wasn't ideal and I decided I wanted to do something creative.

"I'd always doodled and had done my own wedding stationery and a few cards for friends so I just decided to go for it - making cards was ideal because it was very immediate and didn't require specialist skills."

Emma started visiting local boutiques to show them her designs.

She said: "That was the most difficult bit because selling isn't my forte and it's quite scary because if they don't like your designs it almost feels like they don't like you."

But she now has a number of clients for her cards, which focus on emotions rather than annual events.

She said: "A lot of my friends thought I was using it as an excuse to sit at home and watch TV but I'm passionate about what I do.

"The other thing is, working for yourself, you quickly realise nobody else is going to make it happen, so you just have to get on with it.

"The best thing is when I go into a shop and there aren't any of my cards left. I go home and jump for joy, that's a great feeling."

Emma said she had kept her business plan simple but had been helped by doing a course at the Enterprise Agency Brighton, Hove and Lewes.