I live in Old Trafford in Manchester, and have two daughters, my eldest is almost 13 years and my youngest is 11. 

There are two sides to life in lockdown, one positive and one negative.

I found that we became very lazy, we were all stuck in the house, sitting on the sofa, eating and watching TV. We were limited in what we could do and our minds and bodies were restricted. We couldn’t socialise or meet people, or share ideas with friends and as human beings that is really very hard. 

We need people! 

Stress levels in our house increased and leaving the house became difficult, we weren't allowed to shop together as a family and only one person could leave the house at a time. And of course there was the fear of catching Covid. It made us weak. It was a really strange time. 

When we first heard the news of Lockdown, we thought that we could manage. We enjoyed cooking and eating together, but slowly we realised the reality that this was going to be for a long time. We thought about what we could do to use this time, we knew we needed to keep ourselves busy, but there was nothing to do. The kids were spending time watching videos and I had done all that I could do around the home. This was when I decided that it was time to do something for myself; a new project. 

Up until this point I’d had the children to look after, it was a busy life. I usually spent so much time looking after the family, dropping them at school, doing the housework etc that I’d never really had much time for myself. But the kids are now getting a bit older and when Lockdown hit I found that I had all this time. 

I love art and handicrafts and I always like to keep busy so when one day I saw a facebook advert for a crafting machine it really caught my interest. I decided “why not?” and I bought it. The machine enabled me to make all sorts of items- it cuts out all sorts of different materials to make jewellery, paper craft, leather, vinyls and personalised items. I was so excited about all the possibilities that it would give me and since owning it I have become so much more creative. It has pushed me to explore different types of creativity and hidden talents that I didn't know I had! 

Me and the Children spent so much time learning how to use the machine and then making things in Lockdown. The children made cards and gifts for their friends and I would make gifts and commissions for people. The machine and the act of making really brought me and the children very close together. We were so restricted in lockdown and had nothing to do until we put our time and effort into learning these new creative skills. 

Everyone was so supportive of me too, my Husband really pushed me to learn new skills and encouraged me to go for it! I’ve also had a lot of support from a local artist called Lynda Sterling who runs a community arts space  OT creative SPACE. She’s provided a great platform locally for me to show the work that I've been making by letting me exhibit my work in the studio window during lockdown. It’s a blessing that she’s created this art studio in our local area. English is not my mother tongue so I'd had some difficulties getting my creations out there and off the ground, but it’s been great to have the motivation and support from Lynda. Together with my daughters we worked day and night to create lots of things for the OT creative SPACE window and it looked really beautiful. Everybody said that it looked great - so colourful! - and there was something there for everyone to enjoy. Art brings everyone in the community together whatever your religion or your ethnicity. 

I really love art and I love how it allows you to find new ways to describe and express yourself. 

I feel that there are no limits to my creativity now, and I enjoy it so much. It’s so exciting and I am so happy and proud to have found this new skill. My husband and children are proud of me too. When we all saw the exhibition for the first time over lockdown I had tears in my eyes. When my daughter saw it and all that I'd done and created she said “Mama, you're famous!”

We all have our own small dreams and I feel that over lockdown mine have been achieved. I feel that I've shown my girls that they can also achieve their dreams too.