First, please allow me to introduce myself.....

Hello,

I have finally succumbed and am dipping my toe, somewhat, timorously into Blogging waters. I am a mother of two fantastic children and 4 cats, and have a husband with an abundance of patience - much needed in this mad house.

I have always wished to be artistic, although as art teachers at school would have said, not been a natural artist! I however very much believe that you can be creative and artistic in so many ways, we just seem to automatically relate artistic and creative to drawing and painting, when there is a plethera of mediums we can use. My grandmother was my first inspiration and I have fond memories of the sound of her knitting needles racing along, the smell of her extra strong mints in her bag and the joy of receiving a knitted article through the post, also containing the delicious smells of my grandparents home when I opened it. I would take the garment and breathe in the smell. My grandmother helped teach me to knit, but as they lived a long way away, most of my knitting was taught to me by a lady at my junior school. I especially loved to make baby clothes and bootees. My love of knitting fizzled as I grew older and my pile of unfinished adult garments had grown, my mum bought me a tapestry of an owl and all the frame etc to go with it - still unfinished some 24 years on. I then moved on to Counted Cross Stitch and am pleased to report finishing many of these and a good number of wedding samplers.

Once I left home I moved to Worthing, "home of the newly weds and nearly deads" and started paper crafting in earnest, I soon took over the spare bedroom with my paper supplies, stamps and embossing powders. Then came my 1st child, and after little fingers finding acrylic glues, glitter powders, stamps and some rather oily paint substances and a carpet covered in green embossing powder, crafting took a long break. I dipped in and out for a while,  then 6 years later along came child number 2 who discovered at age 2 how scared mummy was by red glass paint down his face - stating on the school run "NO - don't feel sorry for him, it is NOT blood, it is paint!" A lesson for my GP that day was that glass paint, whilst it smells and looks bad is not too toxic, althiough I can certainly vouch thatit comes off skin far easier than carpet! Not much later upon discovering the same child covered in black boot polish, and when asking "why?" as you do, he informed me "I wanted to be a dog!", all items that could be used in this way were boxed up and put away for a very long time!! I hasten to add he is almost 9 now and fit and healthy (although his curiosity can still get the better of him - as I discovered a floor covered in holographic glitter the day after attendig the show at FIVE)!!!

I then went back to work to gain some sanity and unfortunately I was suddenly taken ill and subsequently diagnosed with a damaged disc in my back (resulting in being stuck in a wheelchair for several months), fibromyalgia and an autoimmune condition. I then began crafting again 4 1/2 years ago - getting all my wedding bits ready and have improved massively in so many ways. Crafting gives me days to look forward to, encouraging me to leave the house and take part in something, unfortunately days do come when I cannot do this but I am sure the promise of a craft session speeds recovery up no end. I love all kinds of crafts and have a horde of supplies and almost as many different projects on the go at any one time. I love going out to classes and meeting with all the amazing people out there, and the wonderful people who take the time to teach me new skills and giving me a lifeline. My passion at the moment would appear to be altered art - shabby and vintage and bead weaving with all and sundry in between. I still dabble in all the other bits and pieces too.

Above is the result of one of my most recent classes taught by the lovely Brenda Brown of
bumblebeesandbutterflies.

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Thanks for taking the time to get to know me and reading this first post, and as they say "idle hands ......."

Sharon xx