I started my Esty shop in order to continue to indulge my passion for crafting. Being retired means I can spend my free time crafting - in fact most of my time - if I am not making I'm thinking or researching. I hope what I do inspires other to craft as it keeps my brain active and alive.

I try to ensure that my items are reasonably priced and reflect the resources used, they do not reflect the time involved in designing, developing and making them. This is not a job for me this is my hobby so I use any small profits from selling what I have made to purchase new resources to make something else.

I try to make things as realistic as possible and they also reflect my life experiences. My passion for nursery items comes from having been the eldest of a family of five, my two children and my soon to be eight grandchildren. Having seven grandsons means sport (particularly football) and the outdoors therefore when they are not around I want to do girly things like playing with dolls houses. My soon to arrive granddaughter will legitimise my girly activities.

I also love animals, children and sculpting so combining all of these enables me to make a unique range of items. This is a developing area and I will be adding more in the future.

I love Victoriana, art deco and the 40s/50s and in my future I will be developing a range of produces to reflect this

As I stated earlier I love crafting as it keeps my brain active I love a challenge and am always learning new things. My new challenge is 3d printing. I am in love - I have had to learn CAD design, design, 3d sculpture, some mechanical engineering (maintaining the printers - yes I have more than 1) and painting. I am still learning so come back to see more.

Have a look at my site and my website: www.helensooakminiatures.com - come back on a regular basis as the items will change as new things are added.