Meet The Maker Week 2016 - Day 2

posted: Tuesday, 29 November 2016

It's Day 2 of #meetthemakerweek and today's theme is... 'You' so here's some more information about me.

I'm a 42 year old Londoner who specialises in designing, teaching & writing about beaded jewellery. This began nearly 18 years ago as a hobby and grew & grew until it took over my life.

I work primarily by myself with occasional help testing instructions from kind beaders but I write all my own instructions, draw my own diagrams, take my own photos, answer all my emails and even do my own accounts (arrghh!!) but Mr Jean Power designs my website and provides immeasurable support behind the scenes.

It's a lot of work for one person (I've had one full day off in the past 4 years or so) but fortunately I love it.

Over the year I can bead anywhere from 50-150 items and spent a good 2000+ hours beading which keeps me very busy and my poor hands overworked, but I find it impossible to sit still without my hands working away so I'm rarely without beads & thread in my hand!

My family called me everything from Jeanniepoppers to Siobhan and in my past life I had the alter-ego Femme Fatality but sadly after developing Multiple Sclerosis and being so busy with work I had to give up roller derby but am always optimistic that one day I won't be so tired and can go back - I'm not so sure my poor old knees feel quite the same as I do though!

MS has taken quite a toll on my energy levels and I'm still learning, and failing, to manage that and keep a balance between work & non-work - especially when my poor body calls out for at least 12 hours sleep a day- but I think life's too short to worry about being tired and sleep it away.

I love colour, polka dots & stripes, sunshine (all that vitamin D is great for MS) & fun and try to have as much of those in my life as I can, hence colouring my hair and dressing as close to a clown as I can get away with!