About Me:

Hi, my name is Stephanie and I live in Sale near Altrincham in Manchester/Cheshire in the UK and I'm very pleased to meet you! And if you're not familiar with UK geography, no, Manchester is not near London, and I am very sorry, but I don't know any of the Royal Family. But I do have a cat called Harry, does that help?

I have five 'children' - my gorgeous darling horse Merlin and my pussycats - Princess Mia (MiMi), Harry Tippy-Toes, Harley Cuddles and Charlie the New Boy; I love my furry babies and I work solely to keep them in the style to which they have become accustomed. The other women at the stableyard where my horse is kept used to be quite amazed that some nut-case would feed a horse strawberries, but these days they're used to it, and they often come to gaze in wonder at his lovely, lovely clean bed. Yes people, my house might look like the Tasmanian devil just tore through it, but my horse and cats live in the lap of luxury.

I make jewellery and tiaras for a living (because it sure beats working!) via my websites - www.slcdesigns.co.uk and www.tiaraonline.co.uk - I also own a bead website, www.beadaddict.co.uk.

I can frequently be found working at 3 in the morning, getting up late the next day then working in my pyjamas and forcing my husband to answer the front door if the doorbell rings in case the postman thinks I am a total slob. Whether you think I am or not is up to you.

I love taking my horse for walks to the pub, singing to my beautiful cats (who frequently join in because they have better voices than I do), baking and cooking (some day, remind me to tell you about the 'nervous breakdown' cake I made for my Mum's birthday this year), reading (until around 5 in the morning, when I usually drop my e-reader on my face, thereby waking myself up and giving me another hour or so of reading time), finding interesting stuff to use in my jewellery, travelling round the world (having secured my parents services to act as servants to the cats and horse), and looking for pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I guess mostly I believe in the good in people rather than any sort of religion, but if I were to adopt a religion I think it would be Buddhism...I am pretty sure my cats are already Buddhists, and really, I don't mean that to offend anyone, I think that is a marvellous thing - cats already have that inner peace thing down to a 't'.

I adopted this bizarre lifestyle a number of years ago when I was firstly diagnosed with endometriosis (following a series of misdiagnoses by our dear medical profession) which means I can actually only have children with fur, and then later, when I was beginning to go through IVF for which I am pretty darn sure I was quite unsuited, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I tell you, it seems that the chap up there in the clouds, whomever he is, agreed I wouldn't stick with the IVF.

Its never worth forming the words 'why me?' in your head because its a waste of two words and a question mark, and if I didn't have these little challenges I woldn't get to work for myself, have my fur babies (well, ok, I'd probably still have them), or work in my pyjamas at any time of the day or night I please.

Seriously though, there was a time I was very very unwell and I went to a big hospital in the States...then I saw these little kids with no hair, dragging oxygen tanks around, clearly in a very very bad way, and I realised, relatively speaking, I didn't have it so bad at all.

So, I thank you for stopping by, and if you've read all this you qualify for a certificate....(and to be honest, you need to get out more.)

Sending good thoughts, kindness and love your way. Because all we all need is a hug or a smile. Or sometimes both. But don't hug me on ouchy days.

Stephanie


Above: Merlin and I....

All Content, Design, Text and Photographs Copyright Stephanie Lewis-Cooper
www.beadaddict.com, www.tiaraonline.co.uk, www.slcdesigns.com™, 2002-Present