Hi I am Sarah (Saz) and I run Spratt's Designs. I am now proud to say I am also Queen of Eclectic Crafts.
Many Moons ago I trained & worked as a Stage Manager eventually they became the perfect skills I would need for my Spratt's Designs and the Eclectic Crafts I Create. An injury & the Theatre life was gone in a flash. The work I then moved into crushed my creative side, I had came close to stopping crafting completely. Life again changed & ill health left me disabled, mainstream work medically retired me, but I was too young to yet take a pension. Although my body was letting me down, my brain was still chirping away. So with some wonderful encouragement from loved ones, Spratt’s Designs was born. I even turned a little sketch I had done in remembrance to my mother into my logo so that every time I looked at my shop I would smile while I thought of her. I have good days & bad days with health, but crafting has allowed me to be creative and of use again. As a professional crafter, I’m always growing, my problem is that I am a designer with a mind full of magical creations. My Mind loves to create, but, also it loves a challenge & I have some wonderful creations because someone like you asked me 'would it be possible if…'
I’m Eclectic I know, and in the future I may streamline my creations for you to see more of a brand from me, but right now I’m just creating a lot of love, and in truth what you see from me is only the tip of the iceberg, there are creations that never make the listing stage as I think they are not good enough to go onto a forever home and there have been many commissions that have gone on behind the scenes.
I think my most special moment was with an order that was a stretched canvas with a customer’s own poem overlaid from one of my photographs. I knew the poem was special but it was later I would find out how special, so I poured my heart into it too. As a crafter, I think I am not alone when I say that when we send off an order we have our heart in our mouth hoping that they like it, we have put so much of ourselves into every makes. So when they send a message you hold your breath as you open it. Well, this message began ‘I am in tears’, my heart sank. But I read on to read not only were these tears of joy, of how I exceeded her expectations but how despite being in her pj’s and slippers she had run straight to her mother’s to show her. It was then that I found out this canvas was a poem she had written for her daughter who had died in a car crash, at that point I too was in tears. This lady has gone on to be a regular customer, not only buying off the shelf from me but also challenging me to even more designs.
It’s moments like that customer and many others that make crafting special for me. I love the fact that customers know they are getting my handcrafted creations, be it a Fridge Magnet or a Cascading Glass Beaded Watering Can. I sell a little bit of my creative love in everything I do, I hope they feel that when they get their creation and hope that goes on as long as I do.
I hope you have liked finding out a little more about me and how Spratt's Designs came to be and I hope you go on to discover some of my handcrafted creations for yourself.
