Crafted by Mummy

Handmade, Wire Wrapped, Copper and Silver Jewellery and Charms by a mum with a passion for crafting.

Hi, I’m Lyn the mum behind the shop, Crafted by Mummy.

Who am I? That’s a really great question

Firstly, I’m a wife and mother and my family are my world! I was told that I couldn’t have kids so we started looking into adoption. Then my world was turned upside down as I became pregnant. I was so HAPPY! We discovered at the first scan that, not only was I pregnant but I was having twins! In November 2005, we went from a family of 2 to a family of 4 overnight!

I am now the proudest mum to 2 incredibly special and amazing children - proud mummy moment

It was obvious to us early on that our son had special needs and so began our battle to get him the help that he needs. I wont go into details here but, lets just say that 16 years on and we are still fighting for him although we have managed to get a diagnosis of ASD with Demand Avoidance, Anxiety, SPD and Agoraphobia. We were fighting so hard for our son that we were slow to realise that our daughter needed help too. Girls are so good at masking things, arent they! We have now rectified this and she is flourishing and coping amazingly well with her dyslexia and dyspraxia.

I can hear you wondering “what has this got to do with your shop” and, you know what? That’s a really great question. The answer? EVERYTHING.

I was running a very successful equestrian business when I found out that I was pregnant. Whilst I was able to keep the business going initially, not only did I break my ankle at 5 months but we lost our yard. Looking back, this was probably the time that my mental health started to become an issue but, at the time, I was 100 percent focused on my gorgeous kids. I kind of lost myself, something that I’m sure a lot of mums out there will relate to.

The only way that I was able to cope with life was to plan everything right down to the tiniest detail! Enter the world of planners and planning! I became obsessed and, yes, I really do have an obsessive nature - something that has really become apparent over the last few years. I bought my first Filofax and now have about 7…… (don’t tell my husband). It was at this time that I first came across Etsy and the world of stickers, washi tape and charms! I was like a kid in a sweet shop! I discovered that not only could I be organised but I could make being organised look pretty!

Now, whilst organisation was essential for me to be able to cope with what life was throwing at us, it wasn’t helping our financial situation. My husband was bringing in a wage but it’s not in my nature to rely on someone else. I was already running another business by this time helping people save money on their utilities but, as my son was now out of school (that’s a rather long and upsetting story) I found it impossible to go out and see people as I couldn’t leave him on his own.

What to do……

This is where my obsessive nature really helped. I had purchased rather a lot of planner accessories through one particular shop on Etsy. I was looking at the charms one day and thought to myself, I wonder how you make these! Not wanting to copy someone else’s ideas, I developed my skills and started creating my own design of clip-on chunky charms, something that, at the time, I couldn’t really find on Etsy. My love of working with wire was born!

As you will see from my shop, I’ve continued to develop my skill set and now make so much more! You will discover a wide variety of wire-wrapped pendants using various different types of gemstones. I use mainly copper which is by far my favourite wire to work with. I still make charms but the range has expanded to also incorporate zipper pulls, stitch markers and phone dust plug charms.

The next stage in my journey is Handmade Junk Journals. I fell in love with them and purchased several tutorials which taught me various different techniques for creating them. I have now found a method that I love and making them also satisfies my need to reuse and recycle things that would otherwise probably end up in a landfill. I’m passionate about trying to do my bit to help the environment and create a better world for my kids.

Now, I’m sure many mums will understand that, whilst it would be great to be able to go completely eco-friendly, this isn’t always practical. I hate waste and we don’t have an endless pot of money. What this has meant is that I do what I can when I can. For example, we now use shampoo bars eliminating plastic shampoo bottles, reuse packaging where possible etc. But, there is still so much to be done. Like a lot of people, I was using endless cotton wool balls and pads. These are single-use and therefore do not align with my passion to help the environment. There had to be a better way and I’m pleased to say that I’ve found it! I now combine my passion for crochet with creating reusable face scrubbies! I absolutely love them and Im sure that you will to