"Chat" with Natalie of NOfkants Curio's

Hi, I'm sure a lot of you will know Natalie, so I thought it only right we find out a bit more! Here's our chat:

You have a lovely shop on Folksy, how would you describe it to someone who’s never seen it?
My shop is a mix of all my passions, this is why the shop has ‘Curios’ in the title, I hope it is like stepping into an old fashioned style Curios shop, where you can get unique and bespoke items and rummage through items you would not see anywhere else.  I try to make it as personal and personable as possible.

What is your favourite item in your shop at the moment?
Gosh that is a tricky one, as they are all my babies!  I tried to look at this question as someone from outside and I still had difficulty, but if I am pushed I do love the Tiger’s Eyes Fox Keyring / handbag charm, as Tiger’s Eye is one of my favourite gemstones, and this is such a substantial piece.

In the handbags selections, I think my favourite at this moment is the Wool Cashmere combo, as I have so many outfits it would go with.

But tomorrow I will have new favourites, so on this question I am very fickle.

You enjoy a variety of crafts, do you enjoy any one more than another?
Like most people I have phases, I will have a mad phase on fossil hunting and preparation, usually in the warmer weather, but not necessarily, I have been known to fossil hunt in the rain and snow!  I enjoy knitting and crochet as I find it relaxing and am drawn by differing yarns and colours, and can create like crazy for a few weeks, then not touch it again whilst something else takes me over.  I tend to knit and crochet mostly in the evening, which is great as I can still be with my family and spend time together.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would you like to see play the lead role as you?
Obviously someone stunning, gorgeous and a femme fatale! LOL.
Most likely it would be some pudgy little mousy lady who no one has ever heard of!  I always thought my Mum in her younger years looked like Sophia Loren, not me unfortunately, but it would have to be someone with dusky looks, as I am dark haired and have an olive complexion, not many of those about in Hollywood at the moment!
You have some fantastic fossils in your shop, what’s the story behind these?
Just a joy of fossil hunting.  I have lived all over the world as Daddy was in the army as I was growing up, and having the opportunity to explore I have grown up loving fossils and gemstones.  I spent my formative years in Dorset – The Jurassic Coast – and my secondary school emblem was an ammonite, so it is only natural that my love of fossils deepened and developed further in my teens.  Although I no longer live in Dorset, I take regular trips back to fossil hunt in my favourite spots, luckily for me, my hubby and children are in awe of fossils too, so we make it a family occasion.
Fossils are the inspiration in themselves, Millions of Years old and still there for us to discover and examine!  What’s not to love!?! 

You obviously love to knit/crochet – where did this love spring from?
My Mummy, we did not have a lot of money as we were growing up, and Mummy used to make all our clothes, in fact she still knits jumpers for me now!
I grew up watching and learning from her, hense why I never learned to knit from patterns, she always made up her own designs, and now so do I.  I would not know where to start if you put a pattern in front of me!  LOL!  It is like reading a foreign language!

Is there any other craft you would love to learn one day?
I adore Buttons!  I have memories of being a child and playing with my Mummy’s button tin!  I especially love vintage glass buttons, which I use in my creations.  I would adore to make jewellery from them some day!
Is there a particular item you’ve made that you’re especially proud of?
Gosh, again a very difficult question, am pleased and proud to finish any item.  Probably it would have to be my first ever fossil pictures.  If anyone could see my house, it is full of display fossils, and the pictures were one step further.
I love them all as they are all unique, 

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?
Nutty Knitting Natalie!
Who would your 6 dinner guests be if you had a choice of anyone, ever.?
Yet another difficult question!  Of course my close family and friends would be a given, but if I could choose six from anywhere, time and place I think I would like David Tennant, Ian McKellan, (both wonderful actors I would love to chat to) Ewan MaGreggor, another wonderful actor and scrummy to look at, has a great singing voice too, so would be good for a song at the end of the meal. I suppose I ought to have some ladies to even things out, Joan of Arc, I’m sure she would have some interesting tales to tell, My Nanna, Alice, she was such a card and she would put on her telephone voice and make us all ‘chortle’. She died when I was in my teens, I would love to know what she would make of things today and I would have loved for her to meet my hubby and children. And lastly, gosh this is so hard, Dawn French I think would be amazing company and have us all in fits!


Thanks Natalie for that little nosey into your life, visit Natalie's shop by clicking on any of her product pictures.