Join us on this episode of What's The Story, featuring the remarkable Anna Hamill. Hear her journey from deep personal challenges to launching a thriving business during lockdown.
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Hey there and welcome to What's the Story.
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Sadaf Beynon:And now, let's meet your host and our special guest for today.
Anna Kettle:Hi there and welcome to another episode
Anna Kettle:of What's the Story Podcast.
Anna Kettle:Today I am joined by guest Anna Hammel, who is a mum of four
Anna Kettle:children living in Belfast, and she's the owner of And Hope Designs.
Anna Kettle:Now that's the business that she started just before we entered into
Anna Kettle:lockdown, a crazy time for us all.
Anna Kettle:And it was a business that really grew out the need to be creative
Anna Kettle:when various other things in life felt like they were falling apart.
Anna Kettle:Anna, I know we'll get into more of that detail as we move through
Anna Kettle:your stories, but shall we start at, shall we start at the beginning?
Anna Kettle:Just tell us a little bit about you your background Yeah.
Anna Kettle:Tell, tell us how your early life looked.
Anna Kettle:Where did you grow up, were you always a Christian?
Anna Hamill:Yeah, so I'm Anna and I was born in London and lived there until
Anna Hamill:I was five and I am a missionary kid.
Anna Hamill:My parents moved us all me and my brother and them over to
Anna Hamill:Paris in France when I was five.
Anna Hamill:And yeah, as I say, I'm a missionary kid, so they are Christians, and I
Anna Hamill:grew up in a Christian household.
Anna Hamill:And I would say I gave my life to Jesus.
Anna Hamill:When I went to a festival in England.
Anna Hamill:When I was about 12 so it's called Soul Survivor, and I went there by myself
Anna Hamill:with a friend from England so having that space where it was just me and not
Anna Hamill:my parents and my parents faith gave that space to explore a bit more and to
Anna Hamill:make that faith my own So yeah that's when I became a Christian for myself.
Anna Hamill:I can't put a date on it really.
Anna Hamill:But, so I say that my faith anniversary is on my baptism, which was Easter
Anna Hamill:Sunday when I was 16, so in 2001.
Anna Hamill:Okay, cool.
Anna Hamill:. That, that's it really.
Anna Hamill:I've gone to church my whole life and.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, I've grown up knowing about Jesus and being taught about him.
Anna Hamill:Yeah,
Anna Kettle:it's interesting because I am from a Christian family as well.
Anna Kettle:I'm a pastor's kid, so I very much grew up in church, going
Anna Kettle:to church every week as well.
Anna Kettle:And, but I think it's interesting that so often talk to people who are like, even
Anna Kettle:if you grow up around faith, there's still this moment or this season of, as you
Anna Kettle:get a bit older, having to find it being real for yourself and Yeah, absolutely.
Anna Kettle:Absolutely.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, it's interesting that you say that, because that so often seems to be the
Anna Kettle:case, that people are like but there's a point moving away from your parents and
Anna Kettle:finding Kind of your own faith as well, so it's really interesting you say that.
Anna Kettle:I think it's brave as well just to go to a festival on your own with,
Anna Kettle:just a friend of that age and just think, explore this, so that's cool.
Anna Kettle:So that's your like earliest years, and then tell us moving into adulthood
Anna Kettle:then, so you came back to the UK for university, is that right?
Anna Hamill:Yeah, so I went to Edinburgh University.
Anna Hamill:I grew up in France throughout my teenage years.
Anna Hamill:And I went to Edinburgh for university when I was 18.
Anna Hamill:And so that was the first time that it was fully by myself.
Anna Hamill:And very much.
Anna Hamill:And my mom came over on the airplane with me the first time I went to Edinburgh,
Anna Hamill:but after that, I was on my own.
Anna Hamill:And one of the first things that I did was look for a church because I
Anna Hamill:knew that would be a place where I would be able to connect and get to
Anna Hamill:know people who were similar to me.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, there was a lot of other stuff that I was very nervous about, but Yeah,
Anna Hamill:going to church was something that I felt like I really had to nail down early on.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, it's funny though, because I ended up at one church for a term,
Anna Hamill:and then ended up going elsewhere.
Anna Hamill:And from then on, and throughout the rest of university, it just
Anna Hamill:sometimes takes a while to find the place that you want to call home.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:And university was a season in life where you met your
Anna Kettle:husband as well, is that right?
Anna Hamill:I actually met him after I graduated, but we met in Edinburgh, yeah.
Anna Kettle:And he was he still a student or?
Anna Kettle:Yeah,
Anna Hamill:so I'm five years older than him.
Anna Hamill:Okay.
Anna Hamill:So I'd graduated and I met him and he was we started dating
Anna Hamill:when he was in second year,
Anna Kettle:which seems, when you're that age, seems like it's a really
Anna Kettle:big gap, but now you look back at it, yeah, 20 years later or whatever it
Anna Kettle:is, yeah, it's not huge, like it's no big deal, or a few years is it?
Anna Kettle:Yeah, it's funny.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, it's just funny though, when when we first started
Anna Hamill:going out, people asked me, like his friends asked me what I'm studying.
Anna Hamill:I was like, Oh, actually I've already graduated.
Anna Kettle:I've got a job.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:Tell us a bit about early adulthood then you graduated, what did you do work wise?
Anna Kettle:You obviously had this fellow on the scene who was a few years younger than you what
Anna Kettle:did work look like in early life there?
Anna Hamill:So I studied environmental science at university and quickly
Anna Hamill:realised that was I didn't want to do that, much more than that, but while
Anna Hamill:I was at university, because I went to school in France and grew up in France, I
Anna Hamill:couldn't get a student loan, so I had to basically fund myself through university,
Anna Hamill:and I, through university, I got a job.
Anna Hamill:in afterschool care, so looked after children after school and throughout
Anna Hamill:the school holidays and things.
Anna Hamill:So really wanted to work with children.
Anna Hamill:And then I ended up getting a job in a special needs school after university.
Anna Hamill:So I was a, like a learning assistant for children who had autism
Anna Hamill:and other severe special needs.
Anna Hamill:So a lot were nonverbal amongst many other issues.
Anna Hamill:But that was really, Really interesting, really full on.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:Three or four years of doing that.
Anna Hamill:I felt like I was close to burning out and needed, I just needed a break from that.
Anna Hamill:So actually when Ian and I decided we were gonna get married we
Anna Hamill:decided, so I each month was saving up to be able to quit that job.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:And I wanted to start a wedding photography business.
Anna Hamill:Okay.
Anna Hamill:So I managed to do that and that kind of, I did that for the first four years that
Anna Hamill:we were married so yeah, that in its own way was quite stressful and there was no
Anna Hamill:small pressure to be the photographer at someone's wedding but absolutely loved
Anna Hamill:it and really thrived on having that creative outlet and Yeah, just met some
Anna Hamill:really cool people as well doing that.
Anna Hamill:So yeah that's really what I was doing.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, just trying to work out what I wanted to do each step, kind of thing.
Anna Hamill:Yeah,
Anna Kettle:and it's funny, isn't it, how one sort of thing
Anna Kettle:leads you into the next, so
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:And it's interesting that you found that a creative job was, I'm sure that's
Anna Kettle:maybe a better fit for you, after a few years in that sort of like educational
Anna Kettle:setting with special needs kids.
Anna Kettle:Like as much as I'm sure that was like fulfilling in some ways as well.
Anna Kettle:But obviously it wasn't quite, looking back in retrospect now, knowing that
Anna Kettle:you're running a creative business is like obviously it wasn't quite scratching
Anna Kettle:that creative itch in the same way.
Anna Kettle:Perhaps it's interesting.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:But it like you didn't know at then but it's like the early sort
Anna Kettle:of crumbs of where you're going is already there by the way.
Anna Kettle:So that's like early life and sets the scene for us, which is great.
Anna Kettle:But I know if we fast forward a bit to more recent times, I know
Anna Kettle:you've faced some really challenging seasons as well, haven't you?
Anna Kettle:Like actually when you said you went through one period of depression, like
Anna Kettle:before lockdown and stuff like that.
Anna Kettle:Do you want to tell us a little bit about kind of the context of that and
Anna Kettle:just like as much as you're comfortable with, but I'm really interested in this
Anna Kettle:whole idea that even though life is good and you're Christian and you have
Anna Kettle:a strong faith that's really central, it doesn't mean that life is always easy.
Anna Kettle:So
Anna Hamill:Yeah, and compared to other people, my life
Anna Hamill:has been really quite easy.
Anna Hamill:But I think I have a tendency and a personality that tends
Anna Hamill:towards glass half empty.
Anna Hamill:And I had in second year at university, I had a season, maybe just a term where I
Anna Hamill:was quite depressed and ended up going to see a counsellor for a couple of sessions
Anna Hamill:which I didn't find hugely helpful because I didn't really know what was going on.
Anna Hamill:So when they were asking me questions, I didn't really know how to answer.
Anna Hamill:But yeah, I think it was mainly just my hopes and expectations
Anna Hamill:of university weren't realized.
Anna Hamill:And that kind of led to that season of depression, and it lifted fairly
Anna Hamill:quickly but then in, so 20, when was this, 2018, I had our third child,
Anna Hamill:so I had three children at this point, three children, three and under.
Anna Kettle:That's a lot for a first, that's a lot.
Anna Hamill:Place together.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:I was very much kind of head just above the water, just
Anna Hamill:about keeping going and yeah.
Anna Hamill:Everything was just about Okay.
Anna Hamill:And then when he was six months old, I found out I was expecting a
Anna Hamill:fourth child, which was not expected.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:And at that point I felt, oh, I'm going to sink.
Anna Hamill:My head is no longer above the water.
Anna Hamill:I really struggle in pregnancy, so I get really sore pelvic
Anna Hamill:bone and hips and things, which means that I can barely walk.
Anna Hamill:So with three small children, that's not ideal.
Anna Hamill:That's
Anna Kettle:basically, you did it three times already do you know what I mean?
Anna Kettle:You said four wasn't planned, but yeah, I'm afraid to keep doing it.
Anna Kettle:Just
Anna Hamill:decided no, three, three is the limit.
Anna Hamill:I can't really do much more, but God had other plans.
Anna Hamill:And so at that point.
Anna Hamill:And I went to the doctor and said, look, I am not coping with this.
Anna Hamill:This is not ideal.
Anna Hamill:Is there anything that you can do?
Anna Hamill:But because I was breastfeeding and pregnant, I couldn't, they couldn't give
Anna Hamill:me any kind of medication or anything.
Anna Hamill:So I just said you're going to need to, look for alternative
Anna Hamill:ways to be able to cope.
Anna Hamill:And my husband had mentioned in passing a few times, oh, we should, what do you
Anna Hamill:think of moving to Northern Ireland?
Anna Hamill:And every time I said, no, I don't want to move to Northern Ireland.
Anna Hamill:But this time he said what do you think?
Anna Hamill:And I was like, okay, fine, let's go.
Anna Hamill:So his parents live in Northern Ireland and they both have, at the
Anna Hamill:time they both had jobs that enabled them to be able to come and help
Anna Hamill:and to give that assistance, etc.
Anna Hamill:And was that the thing that kind
Anna Kettle:of swung it for you, like feeling like you needed
Anna Kettle:extra help with the kids and you were drowning a little bit?
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:Practically?
Anna Hamill:Yeah, I would have their support like they're really wonderful
Anna Hamill:and supportive and just basically just do anything that they needed.
Anna Hamill:think will help.
Anna Hamill:And so they were keen to have the children over for sleepovers, and
Anna Hamill:even just coming over for an afternoon and just an extra pair of hands.
Anna Hamill:And that was really appealing at that time, especially because Yeah,
Anna Hamill:I knew that in the next four or five months, I'd barely be able to walk.
Anna Hamill:And so we moved over and we decided, I think, in the November, my husband
Anna Hamill:got a job in the December and we moved over in the beginning of March.
Anna Hamill:Wow, so
Anna Kettle:that's
Anna Hamill:quite short, not much time difference.
Anna Hamill:It was really quick.
Anna Hamill:It was really quick.
Anna Hamill:How long had you been
Anna Kettle:in, because you were living in the northeast
Anna Kettle:of England before that, right?
Anna Hamill:Yeah, we were in Newcastle at this point.
Anna Hamill:How long had you been in that area?
Anna Hamill:I think we lived there seven years.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, seven years.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:So my parents lived about an hour away from us there.
Anna Hamill:But they both had jobs, which meant they could barely help.
Anna Hamill:My mum's a palliative care nurse and she works shifts.
Anna Hamill:She can't say in advance when she can work.
Anna Hamill:And my dad was caring for church.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, it was the complete opposite.
Anna Hamill:Whereas my in laws could help and could come, like they were fairly
Anna Hamill:reliable in terms of when they could come and when they're available.
Anna Hamill:Whereas my parents were the complete opposite when they just didn't
Anna Hamill:know when they could come and help.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, we, we decided to move and when I realized just how soon
Anna Hamill:it would be, I best into tears.
Anna Hamill:'cause I, yeah, I needed a bit more time to process.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:But actually that worked out really well because we moved in March
Anna Hamill:and I was six months pregnant and that was the point where.
Anna Hamill:I really barely could walk.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, we ended up living with my in laws for six months.
Anna Hamill:So Daniel was born whilst we were there.
Anna Kettle:That really is close, isn't it?
Anna Hamill:Yeah, it was yeah, it was it was insane.
Anna Hamill:But it turned out incredibly because Daniel was quite poorly.
Anna Hamill:He had colic, which, is a medical name for goodness knows whatever
Anna Hamill:is going on with his tummy.
Anna Hamill:So he cried a lot and didn't settle very well.
Anna Hamill:Which means you're not getting a lot of sleep, right?
Anna Hamill:Exactly.
Anna Hamill:And yeah, so that was a really tricky time.
Anna Hamill:And we finally moved into our house in September 2019.
Anna Hamill:And within a couple of months, Daniel developed a rash.
Anna Hamill:Which I think is potentially his 16 week vaccine related because it was the
Anna Hamill:day after his vaccines but we have no idea what it is or what it was, and it
Anna Hamill:just caused his skin to go extremely dry and cracked and very sore and
Anna Hamill:painful for him so that continued on until he was diagnosed with SARS CoV 2.
Anna Hamill:Until Covid happened, because I remember going to the hospital and feeling like I
Anna Hamill:really shouldn't be there because there were other people who had so much worse
Anna Hamill:things going on, but they said you need to go to the dermatologist, so we did.
Anna Hamill:And they gave him some creams and a week long treatment.
Anna Hamill:regimen of putting it on twice a day and eventually that did help.
Anna Hamill:But yeah, so it was a, I don't know, a deep dive straight in the deep end
Anna Hamill:of parenting with four children then.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, you've got
Anna Kettle:on, you've got one child who's got some health problems, you've
Anna Kettle:had quite difficult pregnancies, and then you've got like this major relocation,
Anna Kettle:so quite a fast change as well, so you've not had much time to you know,
Anna Kettle:close off and say bye to everyone in the Northeast and then you're suddenly trying
Anna Kettle:to get to grips with a whole new life.
Anna Kettle:But that's quite tricky as well when you're, like, I know what it's like being
Anna Kettle:at home with a little person when you've got several of them that all need you.
Anna Kettle:It doesn't make it particularly easy to get to grips with a
Anna Kettle:new place and find friends.
Anna Kettle:Also, deep friendships anyway, that that takes time, doesn't it?
Anna Kettle:I can imagine.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:Lonely at points, but quite challenging.
Anna Kettle:So it's a brave thing to
Anna Hamill:do.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:And I think having moved quite a lot in my life, so moving from England over to
Anna Hamill:France, and then we moved a few times when I was in France, and then over
Anna Hamill:to Edinburgh and then to Newcastle.
Anna Hamill:I'm just used to somewhere not being home.
Anna Hamill:I've never really felt like somewhere is home.
Anna Hamill:And so in that kind of way, settling.
Anna Hamill:Was quite quick.
Anna Kettle:Yeah,
Anna Hamill:and maybe
Anna Kettle:moving is like not such a big deal because you're not so attached.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, I mean I have no friends from primary school at all, or secondary
Anna Hamill:school my oldest friends are from university so yeah, I feel like it is
Anna Hamill:in some senses easier to move somewhere and settle because I don't have that
Anna Hamill:many routes to pull up from elsewhere.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:But
Anna Kettle:then, all of that happened, and then, obviously, as you just alluded
Anna Kettle:to, quite soon after you'd moved, and you were just getting to grips with your
Anna Kettle:new life in Belfast, COVID happened and we were suddenly we found ourselves in
Anna Kettle:that really weird time where we weren't really allowed to socialise, we spent
Anna Kettle:a lot of time at home, suddenly quite isolated all of us, and I think that
Anna Kettle:wasn't an easy time for anyone's mental health, I don't think, it was just so
Anna Kettle:out of the normal for all of us, but I'm guessing that meant you spent a lot of
Anna Kettle:time at home with little ones, and, yeah.
Anna Kettle:Like, how was that a season?
Anna Kettle:Because you said you were struggling a bit even before that,
Anna Hamill:yeah it was horrendous.
Anna Hamill:It was absolutely awful.
Anna Hamill:And when people now, these days, sometimes say, oh, I wish lockdown I loved lockdown.
Anna Hamill:Lockdown was amazing.
Anna Hamill:No, it was not.
Anna Hamill:I had to look after, so I had to do primary school for a P2 and a P1, so
Anna Hamill:that's reception and P1 in England, but P2 and P1, and have a toddler and
Anna Hamill:a baby at home, and my husband was also suddenly working from home as
Anna Hamill:well, so we needed to be quiet for this work, and yeah, it was intense work.
Anna Hamill:One silver lining from that time, though, was because.
Anna Hamill:We had Church Online.
Anna Hamill:We didn't really know very many people at all, but because everyone
Anna Hamill:had their names on the screen, we got to know people's names quite quickly
Anna Hamill:and recognize people in church.
Anna Hamill:And then when we saw them in real life, it was amazing.
Anna Hamill:It was like, Oh, hello.
Anna Hamill:And I actually knew their names.
Anna Hamill:So that was one silver lining.
Anna Hamill:Obviously Church Online got old quite quickly.
Anna Hamill:But yeah, so that was actually really helpful.
Anna Hamill:And then when we went on our.
Anna Hamill:Daily walk, running into people that we'd seen on a screen was really nice
Anna Hamill:as well, and I don't know if it made us settle faster, but it certainly felt
Anna Hamill:like that kind of eased the process slightly so yeah, and we also live
Anna Hamill:an eight minute walk from church.
Anna Hamill:Meaning that a lot of people from church also live really close by and that was,
Anna Hamill:I think that is definitely something that helped us to settle a lot faster.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, that's good.
Anna Hamill:But yeah, the reason that we moved was to get extra support and that
Anna Hamill:we weren't allowed to see them.
Anna Hamill:Because you didn't have that
Anna Kettle:extra support that you'd moved for quite a while.
Anna Hamill:No.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, it was, yeah, I think I've blocked out quite
Anna Hamill:a lot of it, to be honest.
Anna Kettle:I think when all that, I feel like I was working as a key worker
Anna Kettle:a little bit during the pandemic, but I also had a, I only had one job.
Anna Kettle:I had a receptionist child, aged child in the house who was supposed
Anna Kettle:to be teaching at the same time.
Anna Kettle:So we did very little I think within the first week I decided no
Anna Kettle:school was happening in this house.
Anna Kettle:It's just not going to happen.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, we did very little school as well.
Anna Kettle:We struggled at times just with one, so I can't even imagine what it's
Anna Kettle:like to have four or different needs.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:But
Anna Hamill:I think they definitely kept each other entertained and each
Anna Hamill:other company which again was such a blessing because, yeah, single children
Anna Hamill:maybe struggled more in that sense.
Anna Hamill:But yeah.
Anna Kettle:And then obviously the other big sort of change is like in your work.
Anna Kettle:So obviously you're working before that as a wedding photographer.
Anna Kettle:When you were still in the Northeast in Newcastle, and obviously
Anna Kettle:that's not happening in COVID.
Anna Kettle:There's no one having weddings, or certainly not weddings you want
Anna Kettle:to take photographs of anyway.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:So what is that kind of where the seeds of your new business came from?
Anna Kettle:Tell us how did your business start?
Anna Kettle:Tell us a little bit more about it then.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, so I paused wedding photography.
Anna Hamill:And figured I would pick it up again when Daniel was a little bit
Anna Hamill:older, when I was more settled in Northern Ireland, because obviously
Anna Hamill:my website is keyworded to Newcastle.
Anna Hamill:So I had to restart all that kind of marketing stuff all over and
Anna Hamill:I just did not have the energy to do that, nor really the time to
Anna Hamill:actually photograph any weddings.
Anna Hamill:So I put it on pause for a while and figured I would wait until he's
Anna Hamill:maybe one and then start up again.
Anna Hamill:When he was nine months old, COVID happened.
Anna Hamill:So that paused that for longer.
Anna Hamill:But actually, even before that at the end of 2019, I was getting antsy and
Anna Hamill:really needed to do something creative to get some brain space and get out
Anna Hamill:of, everything that was going on and just give myself some time for me, some
Anna Hamill:time to do something that I enjoyed rather than looking after a poorly
Anna Hamill:baby who I didn't know how to help.
Anna Hamill:So I actually was thinking earlier on, I don't actually know where these paints
Anna Hamill:came from because I don't remember buying them or anyone getting them for me, but
Anna Hamill:I had a little set of watercolour paints.
Anna Hamill:So I took that, picked those up and started just doodling and I'd
Anna Hamill:always seen, the really nice hand lettered things and thought that
Anna Hamill:would be so amazing to be able to do.
Anna Hamill:But every time I picked up a brush, it just looked horrendous and I just gave up.
Anna Hamill:So I just painted like watercolor illustrations instead.
Anna Hamill:The first one that I did was like an elephant and I was really pleased with it.
Anna Hamill:So I thought, Oh, this is actually quite fun to do something.
Anna Hamill:And actually like the result as well is positive.
Anna Hamill:So that kind of spurred me on and I kept going with that.
Anna Hamill:And then I still really wanted to do the hand lettering, but yeah,
Anna Hamill:I couldn't do it just on paper.
Anna Hamill:So I invested in an iPad and practiced on that, and that process was a lot
Anna Hamill:faster, just the way you press down, etc.
Anna Hamill:It's much easier to know, yeah, get to do what you actually are wanting
Anna Hamill:the pencil to do, whereas a brush kind of, it can go wherever it wants to but
Anna Hamill:on the iPad it's much more controlled so that improved quite quickly.
Anna Hamill:And I was really pleased with that as well.
Anna Hamill:And then, so over maybe a period of three or four months, I came up with
Anna Hamill:some designs that I thought, oh, these would be quite nice as greetings cards.
Anna Hamill:So I thought I may as well just put them on Etsy and see what happens.
Anna Hamill:So I printed some of these off and yeah, put them on Etsy and actually I meant,
Anna Hamill:I think I must have mentioned them on my Facebook page or like my Facebook profile.
Anna Hamill:And a few of my friends bought them and then one, one of my friends bought 10.
Anna Hamill:I was like, oh, this is actually something that someone really wants.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:So it was a quote by Curry boom.
Anna Hamill:That says never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God and little
Anna Hamill:did I know that would be the perfect card to send what was about to come.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, I felt in retrospect, I definitely feel that God
Anna Hamill:was moving me towards this and changing my path and career.
Anna Hamill:And yeah, so that's really how it came about, was partly intentional
Anna Hamill:and partly by accident moving towards a different form of creativity.
Anna Hamill:And yeah, that it's, just grown from there in the last four and a bit years.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:And so
Anna Kettle:your business is called And Hope Designs.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:And that's what it grew into, like this, just initially doodling on
Anna Kettle:an iPad, as it were, and selling a few bits and pieces on Etsy.
Anna Kettle:So it's grown into this whole business and Hope Designs, which does, I've
Anna Kettle:had a look at the website, it's beautiful, so everyone check it out.
Anna Kettle:Great stuff on there.
Anna Kettle:But what was the inspiration?
Anna Kettle:Like, where did that name come from?
Anna Kettle:Did it yeah.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:From the 1st of January 2020, I decided that I was going to read a page of the
Anna Hamill:Bible a day, and that's how I was going to read the Bible, because I didn't, I could
Anna Hamill:not find any notes that I really wanted to go through or anything like that.
Anna Hamill:So I decided I'll just read a page of the Bible a day, and I started in Romans.
Anna Hamill:I don't really know why, but I just did.
Anna Hamill:And then in Romans 5, it says, we also glory in our sufferings because we know
Anna Hamill:that suffering produces perseverance character and character hope.
Anna Hamill:And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured
Anna Hamill:out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Anna Hamill:So those words and hope is where it came from.
Anna Hamill:And really it's because of suffering and those words.
Anna Hamill:Tough times.
Anna Hamill:I felt that's what had brought about this business.
Anna Hamill:So I wanted to yeah, include that in, in the name.
Anna Hamill:And really, yeah, it's funny because I remember as a teenager praying that God
Anna Hamill:would change my character and make it more like his and all these kinds of things.
Anna Hamill:And then reading that, I realized, ah, that's how he
Anna Hamill:makes characters, by suffering.
Anna Hamill:And then the character produces hope.
Anna Hamill:Which I've read that verse before, so I must have somehow assimilated it into
Anna Hamill:my brain, but it really hit home then.
Anna Hamill:Oh, this is how character is going to build is through these
Anna Hamill:times of suffering, big or small.
Anna Hamill:But that is, that's how God works and how God changes us.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, that's beautiful.
Anna Kettle:I really like that scripture.
Anna Kettle:And and I just think it sums up that season of life so well, doesn't it?
Anna Kettle:I just think it's amazing that God had that plan in mind for you, that
Anna Kettle:he turned what was like, essentially really hard and in some ways quite
Anna Kettle:hopeless season not just for you, but for like lots of people around you as
Anna Kettle:well, for lots of us into this business and ministry that it's all about.
Anna Kettle:Spreading hope to others, essentially.
Anna Kettle:And I love that God does that.
Anna Kettle:Like you say, he takes our suffering and he turns it into something that we can do.
Anna Kettle:It's hopeful and actually can spread hope to others and if we
Anna Kettle:let him engage in our stories.
Anna Kettle:So yeah, I just love the fact that you've got such a clear example
Anna Kettle:of that kind of redeeming thing that God does with our suffering.
Anna Kettle:It's amazing.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:I wanted to unpick a little bit more as well about this whole idea
Anna Kettle:of art because it's a theme through your life and I just wondered about
Anna Kettle:like that whole sort of idea of art as therapy because initially we were
Anna Kettle:doing it, just, fiddling about and stuff to help you express stuff, for you to
Anna Kettle:process stuff during a difficult season.
Anna Kettle:Thank you.
Anna Kettle:Have you always used art in that way, or is that something new, or
Anna Kettle:I'm just interested in art really as an outlet, creativity as an outlet
Anna Kettle:really, in terms of helping us manage mental health and process life,
Anna Kettle:and yeah, just interested in that.
Anna Hamill:Yeah I've always been creative, and I remember as a child
Anna Hamill:I enjoyed making things out of beads and then as a teenager I always had
Anna Hamill:a friendship bracelet attached to my jeans that I just do as and when.
Anna Hamill:I love to scrapbook and yeah, so I've always been creative and it is definitely
Anna Hamill:something that I lean towards and just do.
Anna Hamill:I don't know if I always did it to process things, but it definitely calms
Anna Hamill:me and it gives you space to focus on something, but you can be thinking
Anna Hamill:about something completely else.
Anna Hamill:So it keeps your hands busy whilst your brain is working on something else.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, definitely, it is definitely a way to process things.
Anna Hamill:I would also journal but interestingly, I have no journals from 2019 or 2020.
Anna Hamill:There's nothing.
Anna Hamill:I just.
Anna Hamill:I don't think I could bring myself to write anything down.
Anna Hamill:It was just too much.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, just used art instead.
Anna Hamill:And none of it has anything to do with anything that I was going
Anna Hamill:through, apart from some quotes that I practiced hand lettering.
Anna Hamill:But all the paintings and things that, yeah, completely unrelated.
Anna Hamill:It's just scottish mountain scenes.
Anna Hamill:So yeah I know you write and you use that.
Anna Hamill:I can't say that I would do the same, but I'm sure kind of different
Anna Hamill:creative outlets have the same impact and the same effect on mental health.
Anna Hamill:And
Anna Kettle:I think so much of it is about the way you use it.
Anna Kettle:God wires us each, doesn't it?
Anna Kettle:So for you, God's wired you as an artistic, creative person.
Anna Kettle:Like I'm creative, but I'm not an artist.
Anna Kettle:Like I wouldn't dream of trying to draw anything.
Anna Kettle:Like it would be horrible.
Anna Kettle:That is not my gifting at all.
Anna Kettle:But that's something God's made you to love and to be good at.
Anna Kettle:And so of course it figures that's how you would, one, process a hot
Anna Kettle:season, but two, just enjoy doing.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, enjoy it as a business, enjoy blessing others through it, connect with
Anna Kettle:God even through it yeah, whereas, as you say, I use writing quite a lot, that's
Anna Kettle:my creative outlet, but it's interesting, isn't it, that God will use and connect
Anna Kettle:with us through whatever, however he's made us, and what he's made us good at
Anna Hamill:yeah.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, I went to a place called Hutchmoot last year, and there are a lot of
Anna Hamill:songwriters and it made me think as well, like a lot of people do write
Anna Hamill:songs or write music as a form of therapy as well, just to process things.
Anna Hamill:And there are a lot of songs, sad songs and whatever, which probably
Anna Hamill:people are using for that as well.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, it's really true.
Anna Kettle:My husband, Andy, is a musician and he spends a lot of time just tinkering away.
Anna Kettle:I think music's the way he processes and just yeah, scratches
Anna Kettle:that creative itch really.
Anna Kettle:So that's his thing.
Anna Kettle:So I think, yeah, you're absolutely right.
Anna Kettle:So I wonder then, can you tell us a bit more about, so that was
Anna Kettle:how your business started and all of that, where are you to now?
Anna Kettle:Like, how's it?
Anna Kettle:Because it's gone from strength to strength, hasn't it?
Anna Kettle:So can you tell us a bit more about what you've been doing more recently, what's
Anna Kettle:next for Unhope yeah, tell us a bit more.
Anna Hamill:Yeah so I've done quite a lot of commissions which has been really
Anna Hamill:fun, actually, to get an email from someone saying, I would like to do this.
Anna Hamill:I don't really know exactly what if you have any ideas, and to collaborate that
Anna Hamill:in that way with someone, and to come up to use their ideas and their situation
Anna Hamill:and be able to bring something into that.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, a lot of collaborations and commissions of both.
Anna Hamill:So I paint houses these days, which again, I don't really know how it came about.
Anna Hamill:But yeah, it's been really fun as well to there's been a lot of church paintings
Anna Hamill:to commemorate and celebrate baptisms and weddings which has been really nice.
Anna Hamill:And people's houses, people moving home, first home, the memories from childhood.
Anna Hamill:So someone who's recently lost a granny wanted a picture of the granny's home
Anna Hamill:because they were selling the house.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, a lot of things like that.
Anna Hamill:And then I have over 200 card designs now, starting from five.
Anna Hamill:I have more than 200 for so many different situations and like birthdays and
Anna Hamill:baptisms and ordinations and condolence cards, new home, new baby, just.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, so
Anna Hamill:many different things.
Anna Hamill:And I've taught myself to pour candles.
Anna Hamill:Wow.
Anna Hamill:So
Anna Kettle:I have
Anna Hamill:a range of, currently three, but soon a fourth candle.
Anna Hamill:So the soy wax candles.
Anna Hamill:And I've used different words.
Anna Hamill:That I felt both matched the scent of the candle and also the feeling that I
Anna Hamill:want people to have when they have it.
Anna Hamill:There's one called Comfort, which is, I want it to be homely and welcoming and a
Anna Hamill:memory of Yeah, it's warm apple pie scent.
Anna Hamill:So that would bring that kind of yeah, hospitality into it.
Anna Hamill:Anyway yeah, so there's loads of things.
Anna Hamill:It's verging more on homeware these days, as well as stationery.
Anna Hamill:And it's been so exciting.
Anna Hamill:I've had people asking if they can stock my things in their shops so
Anna Hamill:I'm stocked in, I think, 16 different shops across the world some in America,
Anna Hamill:some here and my first one in Northern Ireland, which was really exciting.
Anna Hamill:And then I'm going to a thing called Big Church Festival next
Anna Hamill:month, so I'll have a stall there which I'm really excited about.
Anna Hamill:I'm really nervous because apparently 30, 000 people go to this festival
Anna Hamill:so yeah, that's really exciting.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, things are increasing year on year and pretty much any time I come
Anna Hamill:up with an idea, I just jot it down and work with it and sometimes it
Anna Hamill:becomes something and sometimes it doesn't, but it's still definitely
Anna Hamill:working for me is being creative.
Anna Hamill:And yeah, it's, I love it.
Anna Hamill:It's really exciting.
Anna Hamill:And I've met so many people, both customers and other small business owners.
Anna Hamill:And it's just, it feels like a really lovely community to be a part of.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, I think in a way, it's also helped me settle here and
Anna Hamill:feel like I'm a part of life here.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, it's just been fantastic.
Anna Hamill:I love it.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, it really comes across I think, when people are
Anna Kettle:looking for a card or whatever it is, a commissioned piece of work, it's I
Anna Kettle:think that kind of passion and love for what you do really comes across in it.
Anna Kettle:That's what people are looking for quite often, isn't it, rather than just
Anna Kettle:something that's been mass produced and perhaps not made with the same kind of,
Anna Kettle:connection by the artist and the same kind of, yeah so I really love that.
Anna Kettle:I love the fact that the intention is to bless each individual through, bring
Anna Kettle:some of that hope into each person as you sell stuff and create stuff for them.
Anna Kettle:So yeah it's really beautiful what you're doing.
Anna Kettle:And if anyone's going to, what is it called?
Anna Kettle:The Big Feast, or did you say?
Anna Hamill:Big Church Festival,
Anna Kettle:yeah.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, so if anyone's going there, obviously look up Anna.
Anna Kettle:If you happen to be going, but check out her website.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, there's a
Anna Hamill:few small businesses in the tea garden.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, there's a bunch of us
Anna Kettle:going.
Anna Kettle:Brilliant.
Anna Kettle:So look out for her there or just check out her website if not.
Anna Kettle:So that's a little bit about your business, Anna.
Anna Kettle:I suppose the other thing I'm interested in is what's your takeaway?
Anna Kettle:So you've been through this journey where you've had some big upheavals in life, a
Anna Kettle:big relocation a difficult season, some struggles with your mental health through
Anna Kettle:that, and that whole season of overwhelm, like pre and during lockdown and then
Anna Kettle:this whole new sort of calling, as it were, because it is a calling really,
Anna Kettle:isn't it, and business growing out of that God's really clearly led you into.
Anna Kettle:So what's the learning out of all of that?
Anna Kettle:What's the takeaway point?
Anna Kettle:What's the thing you've learned through it all, if you could pull out one thing?
Anna Kettle:I know that's a tricky question, but we always ask it.
Anna Hamill:Yeah I think that quote by Corrie ten Boom, never be
Anna Hamill:afraid to trust an unknown God, an unknown future with, to a known God.
Anna Hamill:This is not the life that I would have chosen if I'd been given,
Anna Hamill:okay, what do you want to do?
Anna Hamill:I would not have moved to Northern Ireland.
Anna Hamill:I would not have had four children, I would not have homeschooled for a
Anna Hamill:season, and those are three things that I said I wouldn't do, and God has
Anna Hamill:clearly moved me to do those things and to be here, and he knows best,
Anna Hamill:yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot, and
Anna Hamill:I don't think I would be as happy and as fulfilled if I was doing the things that
Anna Hamill:I do now would have chosen for myself.
Anna Hamill:And, that image of the tapestry and all we see is the back of the tapestry.
Anna Hamill:And, but God sees the front of the tapestry, and he knows what he's doing,
Anna Hamill:and he is making something beautiful.
Anna Hamill:And, yeah, I think it's taught me to just trust him.
Anna Hamill:Even though that's hard and you can ask questions.
Anna Hamill:You can say, why God?
Anna Hamill:Why are you doing this?
Anna Hamill:What are you doing?
Anna Hamill:Where are you taking me?
Anna Hamill:But ultimately there is, there needs to be a deep seated trust that he knows best
Anna Hamill:and that, he is doing something good and he has a purpose and a reason to take
Anna Hamill:you where he is taking you and to do the things that he is doing and yeah,
Anna Hamill:I know I'm saying this from a life that is quite difficult, quite comfortable.
Anna Hamill:But even in those dark seasons when I felt really depressed and really down
Anna Hamill:and there was no way out, looking back, I can see that there was a way out
Anna Hamill:and that he was working in those times and that he has, he's made something
Anna Hamill:beautiful, not just for me, not just for us as a family as well, but for
Anna Hamill:the people that get in contact with me and say, oh, I need help with this.
Anna Hamill:Or could you do this?
Anna Hamill:There have been some really cool.
Anna Hamill:I felt really privileged to be a part of some of the messages that
Anna Hamill:people have sent to each other.
Anna Hamill:And I was sending cards directly to people as well.
Anna Hamill:So I had a lady last week who was in hospital, so couldn't write the
Anna Hamill:card herself physically, but really wanted to send a card to a friend
Anna Hamill:who just lost her dad and said, are you able to do that for me?
Anna Hamill:I said, absolutely, of course I can, just let me know what message.
Anna Hamill:And I was able to do that for her.
Anna Hamill:So yeah, just to be able to be there for other people and bless
Anna Hamill:other people and encourage them.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, it's just amazing.
Anna Hamill:Incredible what God has done, really, just looking back.
Anna Hamill:Yeah, I love it.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, it really is.
Anna Kettle:I love that quote from Corey 10 Beam.
Anna Kettle:It's really cool.
Anna Kettle:And I think it's really clear, like what you're saying, in terms of you wouldn't
Anna Kettle:have picked what you're doing right now, or you wouldn't have, it's not the life
Anna Kettle:you would've chosen necessarily, but Yeah.
Anna Kettle:Actually really love it and, yeah.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:I think it's so challenging, but so encouraging to hear, and I
Anna Kettle:think it's really encouraging.
Anna Kettle:Maybe for listeners who are still right in the middle of something really difficult
Anna Kettle:right now to hear that, you couldn't necessarily see it in the middle of the
Anna Kettle:pain and the mess and the darkest days.
Anna Kettle:But he didn't know what he was doing, even in the middle of it.
Anna Kettle:And now you at the other side, you can see more of that.
Anna Kettle:And I think you're right.
Anna Kettle:It's that thing of we can trust God to Yeah, he, because he knows us, and
Anna Kettle:actually he's quite often, like you say, he knows us better than we know
Anna Kettle:ourselves, and he knows what's good for us probably better than we know,
Anna Kettle:or choose better things for us than we would choose for ourselves sometimes,
Anna Kettle:and that's so challenging, isn't it, when you're in the middle of it.
Anna Kettle:So encouraging to hear your testimony, though, to hear that's your experience.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:He is good.
Anna Kettle:Yeah, no, it's really good.
Anna Kettle:And that's what, why we do What's The Story, really, we want to
Anna Kettle:share these stories and encourage people who are facing challenges.
Anna Kettle:So yeah, it's really good.
Anna Kettle:So tell us then, just to finish, where can people reach out to
Anna Kettle:you if they want to connect?
Anna Kettle:Like, how can they find out more about your business?
Anna Kettle:Tell us about, website, social links tell us all the things.
Anna Kettle:Where do people find you?
Anna Hamill:Yeah my website is andhopedesigns.
Anna Hamill:com and I am at andhopedesigns everywhere you could think.
Anna Hamill:I've probably got some kind of profile but you're more likely to get in touch
Anna Hamill:with me if on Instagram or Facebook the others are just more like placeholders.
Anna Hamill:You'll probably not find me on LinkedIn, I'm afraid.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Hamill:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:Yeah.
Anna Kettle:Fair enough.
Anna Kettle:Brilliant.
Anna Kettle:That's so great.
Anna Kettle:And I definitely encourage anyone who's listening to, to check
Anna Kettle:it out if you're interested.
Anna Kettle:Looking for any art, or cards, or candles, or anything else, just go and check it
Anna Kettle:out because it's some beautiful stuff and it makes great gifts yeah thank you
Anna Kettle:so much for joining us today, Anna it's been really great to hear your story,
Anna Kettle:thank you for giving up your time and sharing a bit of your story with us,
Anna Kettle:appreciate that, and guys, thank you for listening in today, and we'll see
Anna Kettle:you again soon on What's The Story.
Sadaf Beynon:And just like that, we've reached the end of
Sadaf Beynon:another fascinating conversation.
Sadaf Beynon:Remember to check out Crowd Online Church at www.
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Sadaf Beynon:What's the Story is a production of Crowd Online Church.
Sadaf Beynon:Our fantastic team, including Anna Kettle, Matt Edmundson, Tanya Hutsuliak, and
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Sadaf Beynon:Thank you so much for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode.
Sadaf Beynon:Bye for now.