About us

I'm Lori, I live with my wee family along with our many pets on the incredibly beautiful Isle of Skye.  I was brought up in the Highlands, and although I moved away for my career, I was delighted to move back home to my roots once my family reached school age.  We live right on the shore, on the south end of Skye, surrounded by ever changing scenery and a plethora of wildlife, it really is a spectacular place to be. 

Wee Toaty Things started pretty much more by accident, than by design.  I first came across paper beads when researching historical fashion as part of coursework for my Museum & Gallery Studies course, they left a lasting impression on me.  my mum is an artist, so I have always been surrounded by colour, art and inspiration which in turn fostered a love of creating things.  My career in Museums took us to far flung places, but now we are back home, we are fairly rural and parents find themselves helping with things from sports to youth clubs; it was through volunteering at the Lochalsh Junior Youth Club and my need to recycle, that saw me creating beads for the kids to use for their crafting.  I got such lovely comments with folks saying I should really be selling the jewellery, so I thought why not give it a go?

I have now become utterly obsessed with collecting paper, from old maps, junk mail, gardening magazines, catalogues, gift wrap, even scraps of wallpaper left over from decorating - they are all gathered waiting their new life as glorious beads.