Hello my Lovelies! Allow me to introduce myself and tell you my story.
Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then we shall begin...
My name is Amy, I am 40 years old and I have an undeniable passion for arts and crafts.
I am a single Mum of four children and I home educate my younger three.
I enjoy tending to my small kitchen garden, growing and harvesting our own fruits and veggies and I am excited to start making use of my new greenhouse very soon!
When it comes to my enjoyment of art, some of my earliest memories include:
Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then we shall begin...
My name is Amy, I am 40 years old and I have an undeniable passion for arts and crafts.
I am a single Mum of four children and I home educate my younger three.
I enjoy tending to my small kitchen garden, growing and harvesting our own fruits and veggies and I am excited to start making use of my new greenhouse very soon!
When it comes to my enjoyment of art, some of my earliest memories include:
- Creating collages with lentils, seeds and pasta at the local playgroup (Aged 3)
- Painting bubble pictures at nursery (Aged 4)
- Making and painting clay models at first school
(and somehow managing to knock over the pot of clear varnish that the teacher had literally just finished telling us to be careful with - oops!) (Aged 5)
-Designing my own simple cartoon characters. (Aged 6)
I find it fascinating that a lot of my strongest memories from my early years all involved art in some capacity.
I have been creative my entire life.
- Painting bubble pictures at nursery (Aged 4)
- Making and painting clay models at first school
(and somehow managing to knock over the pot of clear varnish that the teacher had literally just finished telling us to be careful with - oops!) (Aged 5)
-Designing my own simple cartoon characters. (Aged 6)
I find it fascinating that a lot of my strongest memories from my early years all involved art in some capacity.
I have been creative my entire life.
During Secondary school (High school) I remember more arty crafty ventures:
- We made key rings out of acrylic, mine was blue and clear acrylic.
- We made little trophies out of nails that were welded together, then dipped in a powder coating to cover them in plastic and finally mounted the piece on a small block of wood and stamped our names on to a small metal plaque that was attached to the base.
For some reason my trophy was in the shape of a footballer kicking a ball - even though I never had any interest in the sport!
- In my later years at school, we did woodwork. I designed what started out to be a large jewellery box and ended up being a box to keep all of my art supplies in, which was definitely more helpful at the time as I had way more paint than I did jewellery!
- We made key rings out of acrylic, mine was blue and clear acrylic.
- We made little trophies out of nails that were welded together, then dipped in a powder coating to cover them in plastic and finally mounted the piece on a small block of wood and stamped our names on to a small metal plaque that was attached to the base.
For some reason my trophy was in the shape of a footballer kicking a ball - even though I never had any interest in the sport!
- In my later years at school, we did woodwork. I designed what started out to be a large jewellery box and ended up being a box to keep all of my art supplies in, which was definitely more helpful at the time as I had way more paint than I did jewellery!
Whilst studying art at GCSE level, I was given the opportunity to attend a local Art & Design College as part of my work experience. I really enjoyed this.
I basically spent two weeks being a fashion design student at college! I got to see first hand what it would be like to study art at a higher level and was included in everything that was going on.
I can still picture in my mind, some of the artwork that I produced during my time there.
I basically spent two weeks being a fashion design student at college! I got to see first hand what it would be like to study art at a higher level and was included in everything that was going on.
I can still picture in my mind, some of the artwork that I produced during my time there.
In my early twenties, whilst working in the pub management industry, I was able to continue exploring my passion of art as a hobby, by doing sign-writing at the pubs I was working in, as well as a few other local venues that commissioned me to do work for them.
I would paint large A-boards that stood outside, smaller boards that were wall mounted indoors and I even did some window art!
At the time, I did consider actually starting a small business offering my sign-writing services but it never really happened, so I just carried on doing odd jobs here and there.
I would paint large A-boards that stood outside, smaller boards that were wall mounted indoors and I even did some window art!
At the time, I did consider actually starting a small business offering my sign-writing services but it never really happened, so I just carried on doing odd jobs here and there.
In my late twenties, I started working towards an open degree, through the Open University.
I studied a range of subjects, most of which were human sciences but I did also do short courses on Digital Game Development and Digital Photography.
So yes, once again, my creativity became involved in something that wasn't even really about art!
I studied a range of subjects, most of which were human sciences but I did also do short courses on Digital Game Development and Digital Photography.
So yes, once again, my creativity became involved in something that wasn't even really about art!
Around this time, my eldest son was meant to be starting Primary School but they didn't have any places available at our local school and so I opted for educating him at home.
I did this for the whole of Year 1. It was me that taught my son to read and write and together we studied lots of different subjects. Our lounge walls were covered in displays of our learning.
By the time my son was due to start Year 2, a new school had been built very near by and he was offered a place, that we accepted.
In hindsight, there's a part of me that wishes I had just carried on home educating.
My son faced a number of challenges as he grew up, including being diagnosed with ADHD and I do wonder if he would have had more success academically, if I had been able to continue working with him one to one, but hindsight is a wonderful thing right?
I did this for the whole of Year 1. It was me that taught my son to read and write and together we studied lots of different subjects. Our lounge walls were covered in displays of our learning.
By the time my son was due to start Year 2, a new school had been built very near by and he was offered a place, that we accepted.
In hindsight, there's a part of me that wishes I had just carried on home educating.
My son faced a number of challenges as he grew up, including being diagnosed with ADHD and I do wonder if he would have had more success academically, if I had been able to continue working with him one to one, but hindsight is a wonderful thing right?
In my early thirties, having had my third child, I decided to teach myself the art of cake decorating and as it turned out, I was actually pretty good at it!
I went on to set myself up in business and Amy Claire's was born. I spent the next couple of years, working for myself, creating hundreds of artistic edible creations.
I even won a couple of international awards for my cakes!
I went on to set myself up in business and Amy Claire's was born. I spent the next couple of years, working for myself, creating hundreds of artistic edible creations.
I even won a couple of international awards for my cakes!
Needless to say, my friends and family were also very pleased at my newly developed cake decorating skills as it meant they could put in requests for unique cakes when they had something to celebrate!
I have always enjoyed learning new skills. It was around this point that I also taught myself how to do cross stitch, a skill that I have made use of recently to create gifts for my children.
In 2019, having qualified as a Hypnotherapy Practitioner (as well as gaining qualifications in a number of other therapeutic modalities), I opened a Therapy Centre.
My goal was always to create a community centre type vibe, that brought people together and introduced them to the fascinating world of holistic therapies.
Over the summer holidays, I ran various workshops for children including:
-Pebble painting
- Making dream-catchers
- Making worry dolls
- Messy play
- Making book marks
- Painting internal/external portraits
These workshops were obviously designed to be enjoyable, but also to encourage the children to express themselves creatively and teach them a little about mental health and managing emotions, without them even realizing they were learning.
My goal was always to create a community centre type vibe, that brought people together and introduced them to the fascinating world of holistic therapies.
Over the summer holidays, I ran various workshops for children including:
-Pebble painting
- Making dream-catchers
- Making worry dolls
- Messy play
- Making book marks
- Painting internal/external portraits
These workshops were obviously designed to be enjoyable, but also to encourage the children to express themselves creatively and teach them a little about mental health and managing emotions, without them even realizing they were learning.
As we are no doubt all aware, 2020 was the year we basically spent all our time at home.
So I decided to use that time to my advantage and put my creative skills to use once again!
I painted murals on my lounge walls...
So I decided to use that time to my advantage and put my creative skills to use once again!
I painted murals on my lounge walls...
I built large wooden planters out of unused fencing panels, to start my kitchen garden, and built a netted frame for veggies that needed protection from butterflies...
And I made the decision to continue home educating my three youngest children, even once the schools re-opened after the summer.
I felt it was the right decision for my family, that enabled me to meet the needs of my children at the stages they are all at.
Obviously we do work on the core subjects such as English and Math, but we also spend a lot of time doing Art and Drama.
We have created huge pieces of art, to use as scenery for the drama lessons we are doing.
We also record videos of the sketches and stories the children act out and my son uploads them to his very own creative YouTube channel.
All of my children enjoy and appreciate art, in various forms, including video creation and animation and I am more than happy to support them along their creative journeys.
I felt it was the right decision for my family, that enabled me to meet the needs of my children at the stages they are all at.
Obviously we do work on the core subjects such as English and Math, but we also spend a lot of time doing Art and Drama.
We have created huge pieces of art, to use as scenery for the drama lessons we are doing.
We also record videos of the sketches and stories the children act out and my son uploads them to his very own creative YouTube channel.
All of my children enjoy and appreciate art, in various forms, including video creation and animation and I am more than happy to support them along their creative journeys.
So that pretty much brings us up to date.
At the end of 2020, as I was making plans for my therapy business, I decided that I was going to take the plunge and start a second business that revolves around my artwork, and thus Inspiring Amy was born.
I started uploading videos to YouTube and shared my artwork to my Facebook page and now I have this fabby website!
I have huge plans to bring you a wide range of arty products and services over the next year, so watch this space!
At the end of 2020, as I was making plans for my therapy business, I decided that I was going to take the plunge and start a second business that revolves around my artwork, and thus Inspiring Amy was born.
I started uploading videos to YouTube and shared my artwork to my Facebook page and now I have this fabby website!
I have huge plans to bring you a wide range of arty products and services over the next year, so watch this space!