My Christmas Emporium

June 2019- Where I realised my Dream could be a reality

Firstly I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported my little dream of starting my own Christmas shop.

My dream of owning my own shop actually hit home when I met a lovely lady at another Christmas shop on the Isle Of Wight (I love to visit all year round Christmas shops-I kind of collect visiting them!) After chatting to her and being like a kid in a candy store I went back to my in-law house where I sat on the end of our bed and then I just impulsively set up an Instagram page called My Christmas Emporium. My first post was of my daughter in her mosses basket sleeping waiting for Santa to come. It has now basically become my logo. I starting posting and building up a network across the globe of Christmas Friends. I had wanted a name that evokes Christmas but also like a place that you could just get lost in with all the decorations and festive things hence emporium.

September 2019-Cruise & visiting a Christmas shop in Bruge

I had visited this Christmas shop on a previous visit but this was the first time I had taken our daughter to it and it was just as magical as I remembered. I went purely for"research" purposes you understand.

This sparked my dream even more and only gave me more of a drive to achieve it. I saw all the beautiful wooden decorations and I was so inspired. They were quite traditional decorations which I loved but I do like the quirkier decoration too.

March 2020- A Global Pandemic and losing my job

A Global Pandemic hit and I lost my New Job role, due to Covid-19 and I was now stuck at home shielding for the foreseeable, unsure of what to do and scared to leave the house because being classed as one of the most high risk groups scared me more that many people will every really know or understand.

We tried to live like everything was normal and we both had our Birthdays in Lockdown which was a bizarre experience But we made the best of I!

Thinking that I wanted to do so much after my second chance at life with my gift only for it to be potentially taken away from me and my family because of a deadly virus.

The start of the Pandemic made me really refocus on my dreams and what and where I wanted to see my self in 5 years time. I knew I wanted to start my own Christmas Shop and one day own a Christmas Tree farm. I knew had to break it down to make it more manageable. I knew my Christmas craft shop would be where I should start. I could do it from home. It became clear I needed more space to do my crafts. I started to come up with a plan!

I started to paint my Christmas plates (my dinner set I was painting for our Christmases) which kept me busy and my mind off the Pandemic but I would wake up at 4am (almost every day) and start painting because my mind was racing, I couldn't sleep and painting kept me sane!

I struggled mentally through out the Pandemic, but I fell back in love with painting and I loved that I was designing my own dinner set. It took me months and months to finish.

April 2020- Applying for funding and being turned down.

The Rainbow became our sign of hope through the Pandemic here in the UK. I made this with my daughter to show our support to the NHS and we had this on our door through out the whole of the Pandemic. I also made this hanging decoration for the door which I will frame and always remember how lucky I am to be here.

I decided to approach a Kidney Care would I had found out they could help buy a shed. I got My Kidney Transplant Specialist Nurse to help me by writing a supporting statement to go along side my application. I felt, after everything I had been through they would be the best port of call. I sent off my application and I was so nervous to hear back. Quite some time passed and I found out that they had turned down my application -it was a no. I was gutted, actually devastated to start with but determined that this "No" was not going to stop me achieving my dream. I went back to my Kidney Transplant Specialist Nurse and asked her to find out why I was unsuccessful as the letter hadn't give much detail.

May 2020 Setting up my Go Fund Me: A Magical Christmas for Children in Care

So in the middle of Global Pandemic I thought I would try and raise money for children in care to have a Magical Christmas. I received some donations which was lovely. I carried on painting my plates. I thought good karma brings karma too!

June 2020-Go Funding for My Christmas Emporium set up

While I did this, it suddenly occurred to me that I might be able to raise money for this Shed as a start up business. So I decided to go for it. I set up another page to raise money to help me set it up. I had seen other start ups do this and thought I could really achieved my goal. I sent it out to my family and friends to help me.

I wanted to share my story and why I was so passionate about doing this. it was received with some mixed reactions. Some people were so generous and I then I got the vibes others felt I shouldn’t be asking for help! I was definitely surprised! I had tried more conventional routes and was unsuccessful! I felt I need to do this now as at that point we really didn’t know how long this pandemic was going to last for. I shared my story about why a Christmas Shop:

"My Christmas story and why I want to own my very own Christmas shop. Some people may say I’m obsessed with Christmas (they may be right!) Christmas for me is reflected in everything I do from my fashion to my crafts, my home and it’s what I’m thinking about almost all the time, but mostly dreaming of owning my own Christmas shop! Christmas has always been an amazing time of year for me with a real range of experiences, being in foster care and only getting my first Christmas present at 8 years old when I was adopted, which is where my love of Christmas started! Getting engaged at Christmas, to spending Christmas in hospital after my kidneys failed, to receiving a kidney transplant just in time for Christmas and then having my miracle daughter at Christmas (a month early), it’s been such a special time of year for me. I’m passionate about Christmas and handmade crafts which is why I want to create my own handmade Christmas decorations and gifts! I’m asking for a bit of help to fund a garden studio shed to help me realise my dream of owning my own Christmas shop which will give me the space to create my crafts! I can’t go back to my old job because I’m shielding and being able to work from home will give me my independence back. Each year I give Christmas stockings to the Kidney Ward at my local hospital and I’m currently organising a big Christmas Party for Children in Care next year which is so important to me to give back, I want it to be part of my business ethos! Having a space to make my crafts will give me more freedom to do more for my community at Christmas in the future. I hope you can see my passion and my ethos for My Christmas Emporium shop which promises to create lovely handmade decorations and gifts as well as being kind to my local community and giving back every Christmas!"

July 2020-Mini office set up (in my hall) and Christmas Tree

So after a slow start with the money raising and no more news from the Charity I decided to try and set up a little desk by our back door to use as my little craft area. It was a compromise/temporary measure as it was a very small space,

I decorated it with my tiny fibre-optic tree and I hung my advent Calendar which I finally finished. I also painted my Christmas dinner plates at my desk, I found it sooooo therapeutic even at 4/5am!

(After Sam was told to work from home too we realised we realised how much I needed my own crafting space!)

I also decided to order “slim” Christmas tree which I the hung all my decorations I had already made. I chose an 8 foot tree to go along side my 7 foot! I had great fun decorating it but it was much wider than I had thought it would be and it became different to get past and too much of a temptation for little hands!

August 2020-Kidney Care Funding approved…

The news I had been waiting for that I wou get the funding that I needed to buy a log cabin and start up my business. I did a little update and then got peoples opinion on which style to go for. this turned out to be the most frustrating part as every time I went to order they were out of stock.

These were what I was picking from for me it was between C and E but in the end C won as that was in stock when I was ready to order (not until a few months later as I was still trying to reach my target for my gofundme page too.

I also finished my Christmas dinner plates! Which made so happy! they came out beautifully.

September 2020-lost all my Go Fund Me donation.

So due to an Error when I was setting up the page I hadn’t added my bank details to transfer the money each month! So because of this Go Fund Me refunded my donations and I was completely devastated and panicked ! Luckily everyone was kind enough to redonate and I was back on track but still only half way to my target! A very generous anonymous donor donated the rest of my target for me to reach my final target -spoiler in feb 2021!

I also kept my mind of things by doing more craft project! I made my daughter her own personalised Christmas Eve box.

October 2020-February 2021-Waiting

So I waited until all the funding was collected and then I had to keep checking for stock to come in! It was so frustrating to me as I was so ready to see my vision come to life! So Eventually it did come back in stock and the I had to wait 8-10 weeks for a delivery!

May 2021-Random Delivery

So waiting so long I asked if they could deliver on a weekend when my hubby could move it from the drive which is where they said they were only allowed to drop it to! Nope that was not allowed and my order would get cancelled (by this point we were so frustrated with the company ! Never using again thats for sure! our first installation date was cancelled so we had to store it under tarpalin which gave such bad anxiety when we had all that wet weather!

June 2021-installation

So it is the day of installation and the company weren’t happy with my base and nearly refused to put it up. Warrant is void but I just couldn’t wait any longer as I wanted to get in and start my business properly, to have a designated space to work in! This whole process has taken over a year as you can tell! I can’t wait to put my tree up in there a move my desk in! I think I will put insulation to keep all my craft stuff from getting damp or damaged!

Unfortunately there was some missing brackets so yet another delay! Ahhhhh! I’m so close yet so far! So to cheer my self up I’ve put my favourite Christmas film on Last Christmas. So no Junemas in my cabin and a few more weeks to get it finished but I’m so close!

July 2021-returned installation

So after the date for the new installation, it got moved again by a day! Then on the day of the of the first date they rock up! I was literally still in my PJ’s.

Anyway after a whole year of wait it is finally here!