Gift Guide: Ashley Kruse of Candy Letters Highlights their Top Product

Today we’re excited to be connecting with Ashley Kruse again. We’re excited to feature one of their products in our gift guide – learn more below and we encourage you to use your gift budget to support small businesses & creatives whenever possible.

Ashley, so thrilled to have you joining us again, this time to talk all about products and so let’s jump right in. Please give our audience some background on the product side.
Candy Letters is a Colorado Springs based company that designs, 3D prints, and sells letter boards and decorative letter board icons. What started as a fun idea to personalize our own letterboards in our home has turned into a family business that brightens thousands of homes, businesses, and classrooms around the world!

Letterboards have grown in popularity as a fun way to share messages and announcements via social media and in-person at events, in homes, and in businesses and store fronts. But when someone purchases a letterboard, they usually just receive a set of letters with very basic symbols/icons. But with Candy Letters, all of that changes. Our icons are thoughtfully designed to combine modern style, shapes, and colors with the classic letter board look. They’re made of a type of biodegradable plastic, so they seamlessly match the look and feel of traditional letterboard letters. Easy to use without a lot of arranging or setup, you can add them quickly and easily to any message on your letterboard. Perfect to use in your home, your office, your business, your rental home, and more. You can keep them in the collections they came in, or mix and match for endless possibilities! Sturdy and durable, our icon pieces are meant to last for as long as you need them. Candy Letters helps you do more with your letter board by adding your personal touches and style to your letter board. And the more your letter board feels like you, the more you’ll want to share it with others.

Our Advent Calendar is a fun way to unwrap a sweet surprise icon everyday while you count down to Christmas! With 25 icons in total, it includes limited edition designs and some of our classic favorites that are perfect for dressing up your letter board this holiday season. Crafted with love from Colorado, our advent calendar is a unique Christmas gift for friends, family, kids, teachers, and yourself! Pair it with our “Letter Board & Icon Gift Set” for the perfect present.

Do you have any interesting customer success stories you can share about folks for whom your product was a great fit?
Since we sold our first collection, it’s been amazing to see all the messages our customers create and the moments they share with us. We’ve always known there are so many ways to use letter boards, but hearing our customers’ stories and seeing their photos always blows us away. One customer recently shared with us that she used our icons and her letter board to help her friend’s fiancee propose to her! Other customers love taking phtoos with their pets and their letter boards. And we have many customers who are teachers and we love seeing their photos of their classroom letter boards featuring our icons.

We especially love helping our customers feel seen and represented. One of our customers shared with us that she used our wedding icons – specifically the collection that featured two wedding dresses – for her and her wife’s bridal shower. And we’ve had many customers use our IVF icons to document their fertility journeys for family and friends. We’ve also had a couple of custom order requests from regular customers turn into amazing creative collaborations to create icon collections that are as representative and authentic as possible. The first one was a custom request for a Hanukkah icon collection, and the second one was a custom request for a Lunar New Year icon collection. Thanks to both of those customers’ creative input and feedback, we created icon collections that truly resonate with their target audiences and are among some of our best sellers.

Is there a core message, value or ethos you are trying to communicate through your branding and marketing?
Since we sold our first collection, it’s been a dream to see all the messages that people create and share. Especially in today’s world where there’s so much negativity, it’s more important than ever to share messages of support, celebration, and love. As humans, we’re compelled to express ourselves, share milestones and good news, express sympathy and solidarity. Our goal with Candy Letters is to just help add a little fun to that process – make it easy, fun, and personal, and to help everyone “share a little sweetness”.

We believe that the more your letterboard feels like you, the more you’ll want to share it – in pictures, on social media, or in your office cubicle. And from there, who knows where your message might go, who will see it, and how it could make a difference.

What’s next on the product or brand roadmap?
We currently sell online on Etsy and on our website at candyletters.com. In 2025, our goal is to start selling wholesale to storefronts and boutiques. Also keep an eye out for us on Youtube! There will be lots of new exciting things in store.