Life Behind The Keepsakes

Starting a business at 60, how I'm trying to manage my limited time, energy, money and skills.

Have you ever noticed that lighting a candle somehow seems like the appropriate thing to do for almost any situation? And if the candle is important, shouldn't it have a holder that's just as special?

The deeper I've ventured into social media, the more confusing it's become. I think the thing I struggle with most is confidence. Some days it feels as though I could spend every waking hour creating content and still not be doing enough. Surely I didn't start Heart & Resin so I could become a full-time content creator?

The problem wasn't that the website was ugly. In fact, it looked quite nice. The problem was that I'd built a website for me rather than for the people I hoped would use it

Because sometimes a single word can be more honest than a hundred. Resin Charms - simple but meaningful This week's product is my resin charms. They're simple pieces, each carrying just one or two words. A word of love. A word of encouragement. A word of support. A word of friendship. A hope for the future. I started making them because I wanted to give someone a gift that expressed how I felt without having to find a speech. I've never been someone who uses lots of words. I'

If you'd told me a month ago that I'd be running a website, posting on social media and learning video editing, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Yet here we are. It's now been a couple of weeks since launching Heart & Resin, and for the first time I feel like there's a little bit of momentum building. I've had visitors to the website. My posts, pins and reels are being viewed. I had my first online order from the UK and sold a piece to someone who lives just up the road

"How a handmade light catcher became one of my favourite personalised keepsakes to create." The first thing I ever wanted to make was a light catcher. I'd always been drawn to them. In my head, they looked wonderfully simple – just a few pieces of resin hanging together on a chain, catching the sunlight. Easy. Or so I thought. As it turns out, there is quite a lot to learn when you know absolutely nothing about making light catchers. How many beads should there be? How long s