My Sister.....

I never thought I’d be writing this.

I don’t want to be writing this. It feels wrong for so many reasons.  

People have been asking where I am, and (how lovely), they have been worried about me, so I knew I had to do a post, as not everyone follows Facebook.

Devestatingly, on the 29th May, my beautiful sister, Marianne, passed away. She was only 39, and leaves her husband, gorgeous little boy, and so many friends. 

Marianne was my fun loving younger sister, who loved to dance and party even more than me! She was my festival buddy, my partner in crime.  She travelled with me doing craft fairs, and supported me when I left my job to start on my crafty career. We had so many adventures. She even asked for me to be there when Charlie was born, which was such a honour. She was sensitive, caring and funny.

We all drank and danced and often took it to the edge - and beyond! But that’s the thing, isn’t it. Who’s to say when you cross the line from life and soul of the party to problem drinker? And even then, there’s still time to stop and reverse the problem by just not drinking so much! But some people get ill with alcohol. They have an allergy to it, and it kills them. They get addicted to it and can’t stop. I think that’s what happened to our Marianne. 

It killed her over many many years, slowly.

Alcoholism is patient. It takes its time. It comes and it goes as it pleases for years. It makes you believe it’s your best mate; it takes away the edge, it helps you relax, it relieves the anxiety. But every time, it grips you just a little bit tighter and pulls you into its trap just a little bit further. Until the day comes when alcohol is no longer your friend; but by then you can’t live with it - and you can’t live without it. 

It sounds crazy, but we didn’t realise Marianne had an addiction for such a long time. It’s so hard to accept. Drinking is such a social norm, and when you worry someone is drinking to much you don’t necessarily think they’re addicted to it. 

Sadly, a year ago it became very apparent she was poorly, and I know Marianne battled with it. I know she tried. That’s why I know it IS an illness. Alcoholism has nothing to do with a lack of will power! And there was absolutely nothing anybody could do to help her. God only knows we all tried! But it had her in its grip, and it didn’t let go. We are all going over the iffs and buts, what we should have, could have done....it’s so hard to accept my beautiful sister has gone.

I hate the fact I couldn’t save her.

I suppose the only comfort in this whole devastating tragedy is that she is no longer tormented by her addiction, and her wonderful little boy will grow up surrounded by people who had so much love for his mummy, and will keep her memory alive.

Many people have already been in touch with kind words, for which I sincerely thank you. I also thank a very close and dear friend who helped me pen this post....the words have been so hard to find.

I will, hopefully, be back at work next week, and then have workshops, and am exhibiting at Haslingden arts and crafts festival. It seems like a world away at the moment.

To sign off, all I can really say is I miss you Marianne xxxxx

(Backup) Next workshops

Where are we off next then. I look at my calendar and have a little rush of panic as I realise what we have got planned, and the time to prep these things. 

Workshop wise, the next one of the 16th june. This is going to be a joint workshop with a lovely lady called Angela....in fact, let me introduce Angela.....

“Hi I’m Angela and I’ve been crafting since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I started with sewing and knitting, moving to cross stitch and almost 15 years ago I started scrapbooking and papercraft. More recently I started working with mixed media and this year acrylic paint pouring. I love crafting and am lucky to be able to share this passion with others teaching monthly and quarterly workshops. These started at home over five years ago and are now run in village halls in Dorset, Somerset and Berkshire. What I love about the workshops is that the groups are so open to sharing and we all learn something new each month. I particularly like how everyone interprets the projects in their own way.


I’ve attached a photo of what I’m going to do. It uses pre-cut shapes, paints, ink, and stamps. I will ask for those joining us to bring some things with them, though I do plan on including some stamps.”

Let Leonie loose

I’ve been rubbish of late, and haven’t shared any of the makes from my Let Leonie Loose shows. Terrible behaviour. And I’ve had some cracking stuff on as well. Last week saw me getting out the spray paints. So cool. Quick. Effective. Really addictive. I teamed them up with MDF and clarity stamps stencils. I was so chuffed with the finished results

The week before that was Carabelle. There are so many fans of Carabelle out there now. I’m so pleased. This time I had picked some really unusual, and cool, stamps. And they flew out the door. I’d love to see what you have been making if you managed to get hold of them. Here’s a few pics of my finished samples. I hope you like them. I’ll try and remember to share more....mmmmm, may have said that before eh!

Joint workshop - success!

Summer finally hit us! Thankfully we didn’t get any sunburn, as Mandy and myself were tucked away running workshops - first we trotted up to Guildford, and then Sunday we had our first joint workshop in Rottingdean. I’m pleased as punch to say they were a great success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and the finished samples were fantastic.

Our hall in Guildford was lovely. It was originally a work house, so has quite a lot of history attached to it. Now it’s a wonderful venue, with light airy rooms. Perfect for a rather warm crafty day! I was lapse with the photos this time, and forgot to take pics of everyone’s creations, but I managed to get a few, along with the group photo...of course! 

Our second workshop on the Sunday, took us to our local haunt of Rottingdean. It was our first split workshop, in the morning the talented Anne taught us a little Zentangle. I loved it. Really relaxing, and the possibilities are enormous. Anne will be doing more workshops in Rottingdean, so please watch out for them, they’re definitely worth attending.

The mood changed for the afternoon, from chilled and relaxed....to me! The project did take a little longer than expected, but I was so pleased with everyone’s results,  they looked amazing. I didn’t get as many photos as I wanted, but here’s a few to show you the project we managed to finish! 

We have another joint workshop coming up, and a few places left, so please book soon if you like the look of the project...I better share the photos then eh 😄