My Etsy story started in 2016. I was working in a hospital, in an administrative role, and getting increasingly fed up with being sat at a desk and using a computer all day. For about five years prior to that I had started to become more and more interested in nature and being outdoors and, in particular, growing and propagating plants. Then I discovered succulents, cacti and air plants…... I became semi-obsessed with them and started looking for innovative and challenging ways of growing and displaying them. I would plant them in shells and driftwood, I would drill holes in pine logs for air plants to sit in and then I started making simple macrame hangers. I loved doing all this so much that I decided to open my Etsy shop, Foliage & Flotsam, to see if other people liked them too!
A few months later my life was put on hold when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I underwent surgery and radiotherapy. It seemed to take forever to heal again. I really struggled in work and found it almost impossible using the computer mouse because, as I later found out, I had suffered radial nerve damage as a consequence of the surgery. This was a mixed blessing; if I hadn’t had this blip with my health I would not have given up work.
Over the next year I gradually developed my macrame technique from reading books and watching videos and started making elaborate and intricate plant hangers, wall hangings and garlands.
I absolutely love my new career and can’t believe that I am finally making a living from being creative, something that was always in the back of my mind. If only there were more hours in the day!