I have always been a very creative person and even as a child you would often find me drawing, painting and making things. As I grew up, I would always love to be outdoors in nature investigating insects, finding mushrooms, Catkins, Pussy willows and bluebells in the local woods. I have always loved animals and found them fascinating to watch and read about, so much so that most of my books and encyclopaedia’s as a child were about animals of the world. I have been lucky enough to grow up within a family where we have always had animals as part of our lives and over the years this has given me an understanding and great appreciation and love for the animal kingdom who share our lives either as companions or in the wild.
As time has gone by, I have continued to have animals in my home and can never see myself living without them as part of my family, they bring such joy and unconditional love into our lives!
I loved helping my Dad in the garden as a child and my love of gardening has never gone away, I can spend hours watching the bees and listening to the birds singing as I tend to the flowers. Although my work life put my creative side of painting and crafting on hold for many years, I have never lost my love of nature and the outdoors.
I later found myself being taken towards more of a spiritual journey where I became interested in healing and my mediumship started to develop. I qualified in Spiritual Healing, Reiki Healing and Body Massage. As my spirituality grew and took me in several directions over the years, I have been lucky enough to meet many wonderful people who became my teachers and inspirers along the way.
In 2014 I became interested in Shamanism and as my connection to nature grew stronger and stronger, so it was that I found myself following my own shamanic path. I found my creative spark was reignited and I started to make my own shamanic tools. I loved making something that was inspired by nature and it was my chance to honour Mother Earth, the animals and the trees. As people started to see my items they would ask if I could make something special and meaningful for them. And so, it was that Running Bear Crafts came into being.
All of my creations are handmade and inspired by the colours, shapes and textures of nature and the birds and animals of the world.
I particularly like working with leather, wood and wool as the textures are very tactile, and as each piece is unique each piece of my work then becomes individual. I make every item in ceremony by honouring the spirit of the animal the hide has come from, the tree from which the branch has fallen and the stone or crystal from the earth, often when working on a piece I feel guided by spirit to make it into a particular item or to use a certain combination of colours.