About Me and My Craft Ideas

Hi, I’m Maria the human behind Mia the crafty fox and I too have lots of craft ideas. I love making things, I will share my craft ideas with you and I hope to hear about your craft stories too.

About Me

I am 41 years old and a single parent of 3 kids, so I understand what it’s like bringing up kids on a budget. I have supplemented my income over the years by making and selling crafts, which has helped for those extra’s that we otherwise just couldn’t afford. I have managed to have a part-time craft business whilst working full-time, it had to be fun or I wouldn’t have continued. As the sole provider for my kids I never felt comfortable leaving paid employment to concentrate on my crafts.

Being Disabled

I was diagnosed as being partially deaf when I was 12 years old. I have never let my disability stop me from doing what I want to do. I taught myself how to lip-read and got on with my life. Being deaf is a part of who I am and I learnt to accept it.

In March 2008 I collapsed at home and ended up in hospital, the Dr's think I may have had a stroke but are not sure. I found it very hard to walk properly my legs would give way for no reason. I couldn't keep my balance and felt dizzy all the time. I was suffering with severe pain in various parts of my body and I was extremely tired all the time. My skin felt like I had been severe sun burn and even my clothes hurt when I moved. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia 6 months later and I’m now officially unemployable. Fibromyalgia is hard to deal with as the symptoms of pain and fatigue affect every aspect of my life. I’m slowly coming to terms with it and learning to enjoy the good days and ride along with bad. Every cloud has a silver lining as I can now spend more time making things, and will share my ideas with you.

My Family

My eldest, Donovan, is 23 years old and is my full-time carer. I felt guilty having my child look after me but he's crafty too. As a musician and artist he is quite happy working from home and looking after his mum. My eldest daughter is 21 and has recently left home to live with her boyfriend. My other daughter Vicky is 15 she is mad about animals. She is home-schooled, though she goes to college one day a week to study agriculture. Last but not least is Josie our dog a German Shepherd and Border Collie cross. We bought her in January this year, when she was 8 weeks old and she has very quickly become a much loved addition to our family.

My Dream

I have always enjoyed making and it has been a dream of mine to have my own craft business. Until now I never had the courage to leave full-time employment to follow that dream. I have sold my crafts at fete's, craft fairs and ebay to supplement my income. With Mia's help I love to experiment with different craft ideas, crocheting with wire or painting with glue is just a couple of ideas we came up with. Our all time favourite craft is papier mache and we will soon have a whole section dedicated to this fantastic craft. We love creating with any medium and we will be sharing all our craft ideas with you here at Mia's Craft Ideas.

Mia the Crafty Fox

Now I’m sure you are wondering why I decided to hide behind an avatar like Mia. Mia is my muse she is the creative side of me and far more fun than I am, she quite likes to experiment with different craft ideas and is really not bothered if she makes a fool of herself. I on the other hand take things far more seriously and wouldn’t dream of putting anything on a web site that wasn’t perfect, that would mean no web site! Mia doesn't like paper work though she is far happier being creative so it will be me writing up the craft ideas we have.

Memories

This is one of my earliest memories, my sister and I were both preschool. It has stayed with me through the years as it has had a huge effect on my life.It was a really horrible day, hailstones, wind and rain. I grew up on a farm and hated being stuck inside. My sister and I were miserable being cooped up indoors, pestering our mum and getting under her feet, fighting and just generally being typical 'screaming kids'.My mum turned our big kitchen table upside down, we were intrigued. She found two old sheets and tied them to the table legs as sails then she filled the bottom of the table with blankets and a packed lunch. We sailed away from the rain in our home made ship and had some great adventures. This very simple 'ship' kept us occupied for hours and our mum got all her chores done. We went to bed tired and happy, excitedly planning our next adventure.My journey into the world of creative thinking had begun. This was such a simple idea but my sister and I had so much pleasure from our ‘ship’ we actually looked forward to rainy days.

Creative Thinking

Creative thinking doesn’t require degrees or any official training. I did attend Art College but that was many, many years ago. Most of my learning has been through trial and error. Creative thinking is simply using your imagination, children do this naturally without thought. We will help you regain that freshness of your inner child so you too can unlock your creativity. Mia and I have been working together for a long time and between us we have built this web site. We research, design, create and experiment with lots of different craft ideas. Everything on this website has been made by us unless stated otherwise. Join us as we continue our journey into the world of crafts and creative thinking.

SBI

With the help of Site build it I now hope to realise my dream of having a craft business that will pay the bills. SBI is so much more than just a hosting service or website builder. All the tools needed to build a successful online business are included in the subscription. SBI is not a get rich quick scheme, the tools will not work if you don’t read the action guide and work hard. Watch this space and I will keep you informed of my progress as I build my website business with the help of SBI.

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