Where Have I Been? Balancing a Buisness, PGCE and Everything in Between

If you’ve visited my website or social media recently, you may have noticed things have been a little quieter than usual.

The last year has been one of the busiest—and most rewarding—years of my life.

Alongside running Gilyatt Designs, I’ve been completing my Primary PGCE, working towards becoming a qualified teacher. Anyone who has completed teacher training will know it’s much more than simply standing in front of a classroom. Between lesson planning, assignments, university deadlines, school placements and endless evenings of preparation, it quickly became a full-time commitment.

At the same time, life at home certainly hasn’t slowed down either.

I’m incredibly lucky to have a wonderful family, but balancing life with three children at home, pets, family responsibilities and running a growing business has definitely been a juggling act. Like many small business owners, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day, and sometimes something has to take a back seat.

Unfortunately, that meant my website and social media.

While things may have looked quiet online, Gilyatt Designs never stopped behind the scenes. I continued attending events, creating new designs, planning for the future and working on exciting new ideas whenever I could find a spare moment. I've expanded Gilyatt Designs into Mini Makers - arts and crafts for children as a afterschool club and events, where we have slime parties, create creatures out of clay and transform ideas in our brains to beautiful felt landscapes. (More to come to the website about Mini Makers soon).

I’m so proud to say that all of the hard work has paid off. I’ve now completed my PGCE and will be graduating on the 15th July where i will officially hold a QTS—something I’ve worked towards for many years. It’s an achievement I’m incredibly proud of, and one that has taught me so much about creativity, organisation and working with children, all of which I bring back into Gilyatt Designs.

With university now complete, I’m excited to finally give my business the time and attention it deserves again.

Over the past few days I’ve been giving the website a complete refresh, updating pages, adding new features and making it much easier to browse. This is just the beginning.

You’ll also notice some more exciting additions coming soon…

One of the biggest changes is the launch of Gilyatt Designs Events, starting with our beautiful 12ft x 12ft all-white, fully customisable bouncy castle. This marks the beginning of a much bigger vision, with plans to expand our event hire range over the coming months and years.

I’m also looking forward to sharing more of what happens behind the scenes, from preparing for festivals and community events to creating face paint designs, packing for events and everything else that goes into running a small creative business.

Thank you to every single person who has supported Gilyatt Designs over the last year—whether you’ve booked me for an event, recommended me to a friend, stopped by at a festival or simply followed along online. Your support genuinely means the world to me and has helped turn a passion into a business that continues to grow.

This feels like the start of an exciting new chapter, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Thank you for being part of the journey.

MadisonOwner & Lead Artist, Gilyatt Designs