Welcome (once again) to Mrs Bee's Emporium!

Hello gang

I haven't been around for an age - I am a bad blogger. I will hang my head in shame. I shall endeavor to do better.

So, for those of you new to our blog, and to old friends, I thought I would provide some background with an interview we recently did for a craft magazine.

Catch you later

How Did You Get Into Your Business?

I think its fair to say it's taken me a while to find my niche in life. Creative subjects were never taken seriously by my school, or by my parents (I was always guided towards more academic subjects) so I never gave myself the luxury of choosing to study them. I loved English and found my creative expression in reading and creative writing. As I progressed through the system the career suggestions that seemed available to me were always the same: journalist, teacher, librarian.


I did work experience in a library and quickly realised that it wasn't for me. I worked for a local newspaper, then a local TV station as a junior researcher. I loved the work - it was frenetic and stimulating - but I was uncomfortable with how some of the individuals were treated once their time in the spotlight was over. After this I trained to teach English. There were aspects I loved - I am a people person and always enjoyed the interaction with students, parents and other teachers. I also loved creating beautiful learning materials. I found I had an aptitude for working with disruptive, less able students and bringing them on-board, usually by using crafts. 

I taught secondary school for 15 years, moving into Senior Management. I spent less and less time doing the creative stuff I enjoyed and my love for the job waned. Instead I indulged my creativity at home, baking, sewing, quilting, crocheting and knitting. I especially loved giving home-made gifts to family and friends.

In 2014 the school that Dom, my husband, and I worked at was taken over by an Academy chain. I realised very quickly that I would be unable to work in the new manner that was required and maintain my mental health, so I quit without anything to go to - the first time in my life I had taken this bold step. Six weeks later, my husband was made redundant. This was unexpected and a very frightening time - we had a son about to start university, a 10 year old boy and a 3 year old daughter - and now no family income at all.

We used the opportunity to take stock of our lives. We are both creative souls who had been guided towards academia, so hadn't really explored the gifts we'd been born with. Dom has always enjoyed working with his hands - making beautiful tables and wooden bowls in his spare time, and he's an expert DIYer. I'd had many private commissions for work over the years, which I had handmade in my spare time. We had always dreamed of having a smallholding and escaping the rat race together, which we achieved, in part, when we moved from London to a 200 year old cottage near the East Yorkshire coast.

We decided that it was time to take a huge leap of faith and believe that we could develop a way of life earning a living using our hands. We hoped that would provide a simple way of life that would allow us to work hard and bring up our children peacefully and quietly. We didn't - and don't - aspire to be millionaires. We want to work creatively and imaginatively, linking our hearts and our heads in honest hard work, living for the moment.

One thing that became evident right from the conception of Mrs Bee's Emporium (so named because our surname is Boynton, and we are beekeepers) was that we wanted to make a positive contribution to the world. Mrs Bee's Emporium came from a dark part of our lives, so we wanted the change to embody positivity; to be a ray of sunshine in an otherwise grey day. We were happy to work in our business and we want to pay that positivity forwards. We do that through innovative design, humour, top notch quality (we want you to love what you buy!), through outstanding customer service and through charitable work, such as our SATs Stars Project (we sent 200 stars and handwritten letters of encouragement out, free of charge, to 11 year olds who were anxious about sitting their school SATs tests.)

- What is your background?

In addition to the above, I trained to be a seamstress. I have taken courses in tailoring and bridal wear. I especially enjoy making items from my own patterns.

- What makes your process unique?

We try to make the act of giving as pleasurable as it is to receive a gift. We work closely with our customers to co-create a future family heirloom. We pride ourselves on top notch customer service, which I thinks makes us stand out from the competition. We want our customers to kinda feel part of the family.  It should be a pleasure to work with us. Our gifts can't be bought from anyone but us, so they are absolutely unique and, of course, we ensure they are of the highest quality. Our customers trust us to help them express their love for their nearest and dearest. It's such a blessing. We can't wait to start work each day!