A FISHGUARD mum of two, who started her small business from her kitchen, has been shortlisted for a national award.

Rebs Hope, founded The Crayon Bug at her Fishguard home in August 2019. The business creates bright and colourful handmade crayons in all sorts of shapes and shades such as the popular solar system collection, the whimsical Unicorn Dreams crayon box and the delightful World of Love skin tone crayons.

Rebs also creates a range of recycled crayons and a seashore set which helps raise funds for local conservation charity, Sea Trust.

The Crayon Bug also sells story activity packs with themed crayons and activity sheets based on popular children's books; colouring in packs and a pick'n'mix selection.

The business has gone from strength to strength despite being founded shortly before a global pandemic.

It has now beaten more than 50,000 other small businesses in the UK to be shortlisted in The Independent Awards.

The awards are spearheaded by UK ambassador to creative small businesses, Holly Tucker MBE, the founder of Notonthehighstreet and Holly & Co. She is joined by small business supporters NatWest, Three, Dell, Royal Mail and Pinterest.

The Crayon Bug has been shortlisted alongside 19 others for the Newcomer Award, for businesses which are less than 18 months old, and is in with a chance of winning a cash prize of £10,000.

The winner will be chosen by a combination of public vote and expert judges. To vote go to: https://holly.co/campaign/independent-awards/newcomer-award/#nomination-47721.

Voting to help choose the winner of each category, combined with expert judges opinions, closes on December 3. However, voting for the People's Choice category, also in line for a £10,000 prize remains open until December 15.