All round creative junkie

The last four years have been pretty epic since I quit my job to embark on self-employed life. I’ve had opportunities I never imagined and I’ve learned so much about upcycling and blogging I couldn’t even begin to write it all down. I’ve presented furniture paint videos, given talks on blogging, won an award for my blog, run workshops for all ages at schools, festivals, art galleries and Swedish furniture stores! I said yes to every opportunity that came my way and I’ve loved every bit of it. I feel like a change is coming though.

I’m so proud of what I have achieved, working and collaborating with companies like IKEA, BALTIC, English Heritage, Rust-Oleum, Amara, Wayfair, Festival of Thrift, Gateshead College, Emmaus, Age UK and so many more.

So here’s the however…

I recently lost my friend Rebecca to cancer and she had such a huge impact on me and the way she lived her life, it’s really made me rethink the way I live and work. God I miss her.

As much as I love running creative upcycling workshops, there are now so many other people doing it sooooo much better than me, that I feel it’s time to pause for a little while and reassess where I want my business to go.

It makes me really happy there are now so many more opportunities for people to get creative and enjoy making and crafting. The very lovely Sharon and Kay at The Crafthood run fantastic workshops in various venues. There are all kind of opportunities at BALTIC and The Biscuit Factory to get creative. Restyled by St Oswalds are now running upcycling workshops using all their charity shop goodies across the North East too.

I’ll still be running a few workshops and writing blogs, I’m just pulling it all back to make life a little calmer. It’s been way too frantic over the last few years running two businesses, trying to be a good wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend, and since deciding to slow it down and focus a little more, I feel calmer than ever.

Future plans

• I’m going to rediscover my first love of design and concentrate my efforts on the graphic design consultancy I run with my husband.
• I’m going to use social media only when I feel it’s necessary and not feel bound to it.
• I’m going to go back to basics and just jump off the rollercoaster for a while and just live a little slower.
• I’m going to blog when I want to and not because I have to.
• I’m going to allow myself to say no to opportunities, I’ve realised it’s ok to say no, especially to unpaid opportunities that ‘help build my profile’.
• I’m mostly going to enjoy what the next phase will bring.

So watch out for more posts on graphics, typography, photography, with the odd workshop thrown in for good measure.

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has had faith in my ability in the last few years, you’ve had more faith than me!! I’ve also made some awesome new friends on this journey too, you know you all are and I bloody love you!

I suppose I should ask my husband if he’s ok spending more time with me again.