A Warm Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my portfolio website! I have always had a passion for anything creative, ever since I was a little girl. Growing up, I was fortunate to be provided with endless opportunities to create and explore new hobbies. As my mother would tell me, "only boring people get bored". If I was at a loose end as a child, I would always default to making something.

From painting, to drawing, colouring, card making, crocheting, paper curling, plasticine modelling, scrapbooking, Christmas decoration making, sewing and textile making. It seemed there was nothing creative that I didn't try in my childhood. My mother enjoyed exploring new creative outlets, and I was always right there next to her joining her for the ride.

In 2018, during a trip back home when I was at university in Leeds, my mother had bought a pyrography wood burning machine, which she kindly let me try my hand at. This experimentation allowed me to divulge in a new wood burning hobby. At first, I was creating unique gifts for my nearest and dearest. Some of my earliest pyrography creations were a frame for my Grandma, a crochet hook case for my mother, and personalised Christmas decorations for my family members.

It was from this point that I set up Sarah Eliza Designs, as a brand to promote my pyrography creations. I started sharing my work on instagram @sarahelizadesigns and I managed to gain a handful of customers through the platform.

When 2020 rolled around, and COVID-19 was in full swing, I had a lot of people reaching out to order off me for their loved ones, especially during the festive period. I had my best period of orders over 2020 Christmas, which lockdown and restrictions certainly helped.

Although I loved, and still love, pyrography, it was just far too time consuming to keep the business idea going. With the time it takes to turn someones idea into a design, the hours that go into burning the design itself, followed by the aftercare and delivery, I simply didn't have a spare moment of my time when it came round to the festive periods. And, most importantly, I have never made a pyrography creation for myself. They have always been gifts, or commissions.

I haven't put down my pyrography machine just yet. I still make the odd commission upon request. But I have decided to use Sarah Eliza Designs to continue to delve into the other creative pathways I enjoy so much. This means more painting, more drawing, taking more photos and taking more time to learn how to illustrate. My current goal is definitely to just enjoy the process of creating again. But my dream is to turn my passions into a livelihood.

So join me on my creative experimental journey. This is a space for me to document the different little projects that I embark on, and to hopefully gain some more inspiration and motivation along the way. As well as creating a beautiful space to showcase my talents.

Love always, Sarah Eliza X