The cards that say 'It's Christmas ay it!'

Maisie Stokes, from Halesowen, set up Black Country Cards during the pandemic

It's the most wonderful time of the year, or as people from the Black Country say "It's Christmas ay it".

And for artist Maisie Stokes, preserving that phrase and the whole region's "bostin" history, humour and dialect has become a mission, with a range of greetings cards she has designed and produced.

The 24-year-old, from Halesowen, started with Christmas cards designs for a competition while she was at college, but when the contest was over the ideas were shelved for some years.

It was only when she struggled to find work during the pandemic that she decided to set up Black Country Cards and offer a Christmas gift "From our 'ouse to yowers".

Ms Stokes said lockdown left her "feeling quite despondent about the whole ordeal".

"That's when mom said, 'Hey you've got the greeting card design', it's got the Black Country flag on, why don't we sell it."

"The rest is history," she added.

She described how her parents often come into her office with "a phrase at the ready" and a loose idea of a drawing.

Ms Stokes said she reinterprets her parents' ideas to create designs that include Black Country slang linked to animals, with inspiration taken from the likes of 1930s cartoons.

One of her cards features a rabbit that is saying "Tara a bit", another has a zebra and the caption "Z is for stripey oss".

"I'm very into history myself and from there we started looking at words and messing around and here we are today with all sorts of things," she said.

Ms Stokes also sells Black Country themed tea towels and mugs.

The Black Country Living Museum was one of the first businesses to stock the cards.

Ms Stokes said approaching businesses and asking them to sell her products was "intimidating" and left her with "a sense of trepidation", but securing a deal with the museum signified a turning point.

"Once we got into there, we could get into everywhere else," she continued.

"I don't want to sugar-coat it, it is a challenge of course, but it really has been quite dreamlike."

Ms Stokes, who also sells her work online, as well as in shops across the region, hopes her reach will continue to grow.