Every morning Jayne Read looks forward to the day ahead. Walking on to the shop floor she is surrounded by shelves full of glitter and thread, fabric swatches and beads. Each and every piece has been specially chosen. The mum-of-two scours the merchandise of suppliers across the globe to fill her Redcar shop. The result is a small haven for Teesside cardmakers. In fact, the little store in Farndale Square attracts customers from much further afield. Jayne says the variety simply adds to the enjoyment of each day. "I love working and meeting new people," she says. And she adds being her own boss is definitely a bonus. Jayne is owner of Creative Hands, a new craft supplies shop. Her daily tasks involve meeting and greeting customers, hunting out new and exciting stock and, on quieter days, she might even sit down to make a card herself. The mum-of-two describes it as her dream job and what's more the 38-year-old can take pride in the knowledge that she is the one that made it happen. It is a massive turnaround for Jayne who says just three years ago she felt her world was falling apart. "My marriage went belly up after 15 years," she says. "And I started to suffer with depression." Jayne's son Karl also has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and she says she and her husband had always shared the load. When the marriage ended, Karl's father moved to the States. Jayne decided to make a fresh start with kids, Steffiane, 16, and Karl, 15, in Redcar. "I had to pick myself up off the floor. For a while I didn't know if I was coming or going but I had to cope," she says. Needing to be on constant call for Karl meant that Jayne was unable to work. It was then that she took up card-making. "I stumbled in to it just as a way of getting a little bit of me time really," she says. It didn't take long for her to discover that getting hold of the necessary supplies could be tricky. "I had to travel about quite a lot and then buy in bulk. "It was also difficult to get hold of what I wanted and the prices were through the roof," she says. With the difficulties that she was having Jayne realised it must be a problem for others too. The seed of an idea was planted. When the family then moved in to a new flat above a vacant shop in Farndale Square, she says, it seemed like fate. "Being my own boss would give me the freedom that I needed," she says. "I also saw it as a chance to become my own person again." Creative Hands opened its doors to customers in December. Now Jayne says every day brings something new and special. "My aim is for the whole atmosphere of the shop to be welcoming. "I want people to be able to come in here and feel relaxed." Page 2: How it all started | 
